We’ve sought the best advice and training possible to set up our business, with the aim of ensuring our customers receive the type of the service that we would expect.

When it came to gift wrapping we knew we were in safe hands when we contacted Jane Means, Britain’s Gift Wrapping expert!

Jane set up her company in 1995 and travels nationwide running private tuition courses in customer’s homes and workplaces - in addition to her own workshops based in Lincolnshire and London.

Other than the Gift Wrapping School, Jane has provided a luxury gift wrapping service for Selfridges, Blackwell Books, The White Company and at the Country Living Fairs and also consults many companies and runs corporate courses for retailers and charities. Her portfolio includes services for Selfridges, House of Fraser, The Queen Elizabeth Foundation, Meadowhall, W.H.Smith, O2, Philips, Marks and Spencer, NSPCC and Claridges to name a few.

Jane is also a regular with the BBC on radio and television and has judged the ‘Gift Wrapper of the Year’ final live on This Morning and The Richard and Judy show.

With this excellent CV and feeling daunted we contacted Jane and arranged a training course - stocking up on lots of sello tape and plasters for paper cuts. However we quickly discovered that Jane’s skill’s lay, not only in making us into competent ‘Blue Peter’ presenters - complete with double sided sticky tape, but also at putting us at ease, so that the day became one to remember and turned us into competent wrappers. Unfortunately this means we have raised the bar of expectation amongst our relations come Christmas, but we hope that you the customer will benefit from this.

Jane’s workshops are instructive and fun, catering for corporate clients to private customers in their home. It’s an entertaining day and full details can be found by clicking on this LINK to her website.

We are delighted to announce that we now have a great new presence on www.squidoo.com! The new page showcases some of our wedding anniversary gifts in a different light. We also have a selection of romantic DVDs for sale and will be adding to the range over the next few weeks.

Wedding Anniversary Gift Ideas - Squidoo

Please feel free to have a browse. We’ll be setting up a few more over the next few weeks so watch this space!

A court hearing in Harrogate this week declaired a Viking hoard, discovered by a father and son out metal detecting, as treasure - meaning it can sold it to a museum at a price set by a tribunal, or kept by the finders if the museum refuses.

The find itself is deemed to be the most important Viking hoard discovered in the last 150 years, harking from the 10th century and estimated at a conservative cost of £775,000. A full account of which can be read by clicking on the link here.

The father and son discovered the treasure in a field in Yorkshire on a Saturday afternoon whilst metal detecting - a hobby they have been doing for about five years. They told the BBC News website:

“We ended up in this particular field, we got a really strong signal from the detector…Eventually we found this cup containing the coins and told the antiquity authority.”

Believed to have been buried by a wealthy Viking leader after unrest following the conquest of the Viking kingdom of Northumbria in AD927, the British musuem and the York museums trust are now looking to raise funds to purchase the collection so it can go on public display. The proceeds will be split between the finders and the owners of the land.

We recently trialled the Digital Scanmaster Metal Detector that we sell, under the Anniversary Year 6 - Iron, in a field in Derbyshire whilst visiting the in-laws.
It’s a super little toy and after reading this… the rewards could be greater than you expect!

If your looking for a different idea to show your love - we can recommend a great service provided by Royal Mail called Smilers® stamps, which allow you to add a photo of your choice to the stamp.

This is a great way to personalise a letter, or a card to a loved one (especially for the first anniversary:paper) and you could also use a picture of the pair of you on a letter of invitation to friends and family if you decide to throw a party.

Its simply to use and prices start at £14.99 for a sheet of 20 first class stamps, including delivery.

You can create your Smilers® stamps by clicking on the link and using Royal Mails simple online application or, if your chosen photo is not in a digital format, simply download the order form and post it to them - they’ll do the rest.

In true Blue Peter fashion - I’ve attached a photograph of one we made earlier!

Not a great deal has changed in the art of marriage if Blanche Ebbutt’s ‘Don’ts’ books are anything to go by. Last published in 1913 but revived to celebrate their publishers 200th Anniversary (A&C Black), these pocket books are perfect as either a wedding or anniversary gift.

Released in 2 editions ‘ Don’ts for Wives‘ & ‘Don’ts for Husbands‘, the books dispense humour and wisdom in equal doses.

“Don’t scowl or look severe. Cultivate a pleasant expression if Nature hasn’t blessed you with one.“

“Don’t refuse your wife’s overtures when next you meet if you have unfortunately had a bit of a breeze. Remember it costs her something to make them and if you weren’t a bit of a pig you would save her the embarrassment by making them yourself.”~ Don’ts for Husbands

Who could argue when Ebbutt says that there is an art in being married and that you should not “exhaust your artistic power in getting married” but put some effort into staying that way…

“Don’t forget to ‘feed the brute’ well. Much depends on the state of his digestion.”

“Don’t refuse to see your husband’s jokes. They may be pretty poor ones, but it won’t hurt you to smile at them.“ ~ Don’ts for Wives

What is required, the author hints, is simple niceness: be as considerate towards a life partner as towards a friend… which is not rocket science - we just sometimes make it that way.

We’ve had a busy few weeks at The Anniversary Present. The range is growing fast. Last week we had a delivery of fantastic fine leather products from UK company Daines & Hathaway. Next week, we’re expecting an even wider selection of our bestselling photo albums and journals.

In the middle of all this activity, Alistair and I also managed to take a break and visit the brilliant Artisan Workshops in Lindfield, Sussex. Set in a lovely barn, the workshop offers a number of one day courses in art and crafts - from building a dovecot through to creating stained glass panels. We found it really difficult to choose, but in the end we opted for metalsmithing.

We had no experience so it was a relief when we met our friendly hosts, Jane & Paulus and our patient tutor, Bernadette . They totally put us at our ease and soon we were feeling completely at home with our hammers and blowtorches. By the end of the day, we’d been so productive that we came home with two copper bowls, two bracelets and an entire set of napkin rings! Not bad for a day’s work.

We would thoroughly recommend Artisan Workshops to anyone wanting to make a truly personal gift for a wedding or anniversary. It’s a great experience and the food is delicious. We enjoyed it so much that we’re already trying to decide on our next craft adventure…

Sadly the Artisan Workshops are no longer running.