Gift Guide 2015

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Happy Holidays 2015!

I have been overwhelmed with requests from all sorts of manufacturers & marketers asking me about my 2015 Gift Guide… offering to send samples to my office in exchange for an opportunity to be part of “The Produce Mom’s Gift Guide.”

My answer to all of them was “Thanks, but The Produce Mom isn’t doing a gift guide.”

Now that we are thick into the month of December & holiday cheer… Hanukkah just ended & we are 10 sleeps from Christmas… I changed my mind.  I do have a 2015 Gift Guide.  Below are 10 “Produce Mom-esque” gifts I hope to share with my family during our upcoming Holiday break from school & work.

My wish for you this holiday season is that you spend time with the people you love the most.
All the other stuff is just that… stuff.

Life & motherhood are stressful enough.  The winter obsession with buying the perfect gift is such a joke.  I vow to never fall into the trap of pushing more consumerism to you with a gift guide full of affiliate links that will put some extra change in my pocket.  You all mean too much to me.

I wish you peace and I hope you can be vulnerable to the greatest gift we all have to give and receive… TIME TOGETHER.

1.  Go Grocery Shopping… without a list or a time frame.

It’s amazing how much fun my children and I can have at the grocery store when we just browse.  I usually let my boys pick a few items to bring home.  Consider allowing your children to pick 1 fruit & 1 vegetable during your special trip together.  Maybe do a scavenger hunt & see who can first locate produce that is grown in Chile, Mexico, USA, Italy, and more!  Or make it a rainbow race and try to find 5 items in the produce department that match each color of the rainbow. 

2.  Drive through Farmland

Even if you are a city slicker, farmland is nearby.  Go find it.  Drive through it.  Stop & take pictures.  Or better yet, stop and just take in the view.

3.  Watch the Sunrise

Why do we only watch the sunrise when we are vacationing at the beach or in the mountains?   Make coffee, tea, hot cocoa or breakfast smoothies for the family and watch the sun come up together from your home.

4.  Watch the Sunset

Of course this is on the list, too!  Sunset can be a more formal affair… brush the dust off the champagne flutes & pour the kiddos some sparking apple cider or apple juice.  You get a glass of champagne 😉

5.  Make a Family Favorites List

What’s your favorite fruit?  What’s your favorite vegetable?  What’s your favorite meal that mommy makes?  These questions and more… put together a Family Favorites List this holiday season.  A great way to get organized & continue the spirit of giving throughout the year.

6.  Blind Taste Test

Divide the family into 2 teams – even if that means it’s 1 vs 1 – each team selects food from your refrigerator & pantry.  Use a blindfold & see how many household foods you can identify during the blind taste test.  The expression “We eat with our eyes” is so true… chances are you will have a handful of wrong guesses.  Guaranteed laughs for all!

7.  Do a Random Act of Kindness… to Mother Nature

Pull weeds, pick up trash, recycle, reuse packaging, use less water or electricity, create a household sustainability plan & appoint a member of the family to be the sustainability manager.

8.  Exercise Together

Teach your children yoga poses, walk or jog around the block, have a push-up & sit-up contest, skip (I mean… when was the last time you skipped?)

9.  Write Down Your Favorite Recipe

One of my favorite gifts ever is a book with photo copies of my grandma’s handwritten recipe cards.  We live in a digital age where everything is typed out, emailed, texted, etc.  Find an old fashioned recipe card, write out your favorite recipe & don’t forget to include “From the Kitchen of…”  – your family will one day be so thankful to have your favorite recipe, written out by you.  A priceless gift.

10.  Start a Tradition

This is where you use your imagination.  Do something this holiday season that you can repeat each & every year in the future.  Something so enjoyable that it will be what your family thinks about when they look back on the Holidays, and something they continue and pass along to the coming generations.

One of my favorite things about working in the food industry is how big of a role food plays in everyone’s culture.  We celebrate holidays, family traditions, milestones, heritage and more with food.  It warms my heart to think about all that I have done with my children in our home kitchen.  It brings tears to my eyes as I remember times in my mom & dad’s kitchen, or my grandparents’ or my aunts’ kitchens.

I look back on my holidays and I can’t tell you what was given to me, but I can tell you who was present.

Happy Holidays 2015.  I’m taking the week off between Christmas & New Year so that I can give my family the gift of time.  I’m working overtime this week to have the website & our social media pages pre-loaded with content.  I know it will be worth it 🙂

Thanks so much for all your support.  I can’t wait to kick off 2016 with you all… lots of exciting plans & goals for The Produce Mom!

With love & gratitude,

Lori
Founder & Owner, The Produce Mom

About Lori

Lori Taylor is the Founder & CEO of The Produce Moms. For ten years she sold fresh produce to over 300 grocery stores throughout the United States, and today she is fully focused on working with the produce supply chain, media, and government to increase fresh produce access & consumption in the US and around the globe. Connect with Lori on LinkedIn.

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