A few days prior to the wedding, (I'm perfecting the art of procrastination), I drove to "town" to run errands and purchase a wedding present. I stopped off at Bed, Bath, and Beyond but the boys had fallen asleep in the car, so I decided to look at the registry on my phone while I waited for the boys to wake up. It's a good thing I looked on my phone because the couple wasn't registered at BB&B! I'm glad that I saved the time and effort of pulling the kiddos out of the car, into the store, fighting the shopping cart, just to find out that there was no Bliss registry. So, I decided I better get a game plan and look around for a store that they were registered at. Target - everyone registers at Target! The other two stores they registered at were nowhere near me, and since I had procrastinated so long, I knew that Target was the place to go. I headed to Target, the boys woke up, and we got out of the car, into the store, and fought the shopping cart. Unfortunately, this was not my lucky day. They hadn't registered for very many things at Target, and most of the items had already been purchased. What was I to do? Well, I could go with the garden hose - nah! I'm too girly to bring a garden hose to a wedding. A trash can?! I got it - I would fill the trash can with odds and ends that a newly married couple might need. Wait a minute? What was I thinking? I can't put a garbage can on a wedding gift table!! Then, it hit me. I wasn't going to get anything on their list, and they would just have to deal with it. Years ago I bought a laundry basket for a friend's wedding and filled it up with various things from her registry. I don't really remember what I put in it, but I know that I used the basket as the gift wrap. I was going to do the same thing, BUT, I had to theme it. I remembered those cute candy cards where you write, "To my Sugar Daddy...Love, your Hot Tamale" with candy bars. (Yes, I totally did one for my high school boyfriend, don't judge!) I decided to use cleaning supplies to fill the basket with, and then I would write up a little note using the cleaning supplies names. I thought I was so clever, but I'm sure it's been done many times...just don't tell me that it has and let me feel special about my light bulb moment.
I walked down the cleaning supplies aisles, one child crying to go home, the other crying to be held, and threw anything in the basket that I thought I could use for a little story. I literally would think through the name in my head and try to use it in a sentence, and if it worked out, the product went into the cart. I added a small ironing board, and after a second trip to the store, some towels, a picture frame, and a sweet ornament to decorate the laundry basket with (Christmas is right around the corner) that said "Mr. Mrs., 2013." Perfect! Now, to put it altogether. I put the children to bed the night before the wedding, and made sure that my husband was snoring so that he wasn't bothered by my absence from the room. Then, I headed downstairs to the office, and started brainstorming some ideas for the little story. I'm pretty proud of what I wrote - it just took me hours to do. I don't know why I had to write and rewrite the little thing so many times, but I'm happy with what I decided to use. I designed the poem from scratch on a scrapbooking program on the computer. Again - hours of arranging and rearranging - for a silly little note!
If they don't want to keep the note as a decoration, they can take it out and add it to a scrapbook, or GULP, throw it away, and use the frame as a wedding picture frame. Just let me think I'm clever, okay?!
Here is how the basket turned out...I added tissue paper around the outside and a little fluff in the front. The laundry detergent made the basket so stinkin' heavy! Word to the wise - maybe opt for the small box. :)
Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Bliss - may you find happiness for the rest of your lives. Have fun cleaning!
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