So You Don't Know What to Get Your Mom for Mother's Day...
Locally owned companies Wish Llama, Small Packages and The Gift Concierge are here to help. Plus: the downtown business that reopened this week, speed dating returns and more.
This is not a gift guide, per se. As someone who doesn’t even know what to get her own mother for Mother’s Day, I certainly can’t tell you what to get yours. But I can point you to some people who do know. Refresh your memory on what Saratoga moms really want for Mother’s Day, and read on for more gift-giving inspiration.
Wish Llama
“I’ve always said this,” my friend Maddy told me the other day. “Can I have a wedding registry just for myself?”
Maddy isn’t getting married anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a mental wish list of small kitchen appliances she’s hoping someone will buy her at some point. Thanks to Wish Llama, a new service created by Amsterdam-based entrepreneurs Rich and Laura Holoday, that mental wish list now has a digital home.
“Our problem was that we have so many kids,” Rich says. “We have five now, but we had four at the time. And birthdays and holidays are kind of hard. You end up getting a lot of stuff that you don’t want.” It was when Laura was browsing a friend’s wedding registry that Rich got an idea for a solution. “It just dawned on me,” he says. “Why isn’t there a registry for gifting?”
And so, the Holodays set out to create one. The end product was Wish Llama, an online service for which anyone can sign up for free that’s currently in the beta phase. You create a profile, and then can begin adding items from all across the web (unlike with an Amazon wish list, which limits you to Amazon items). You can search for your friends and family members—it’s almost like a social media site—and see their wish lists. When you purchase something off a wish list, it’s removed, just like with a wedding registry. There’s even a Create a Fund function for people who would rather have money to put toward a trip; gift-givers can chip in on a trip to Disney rather than purchase a physical item.
A quick look at Laura’s Wish Llama account reveals that she’s hoping for a set of remote-controlled LED candlesticks, a Hydro Flask and a wooden salad bowl. Which one will she get this Mother’s Day? Well, it’s a surprise, of course!
Small Packages
If you’re in search of a thoughtful gift for Mom, but don’t have the time to actually put much thought into it, you can’t go wrong with a gift box from Small Packages. Locally owned by Riham LaRussa, the website offers a wide range of products from which you can pick and choose to create the ultimate gift. But it gets even easier.
“Some of our gift boxes are already pre-curated, so you can just go, ‘Oh, it’s a birthday gift? I’m going to get the birthday box. The end, I’m done,’” Riham says. “It really just takes the burden off the gift-giver.”
Just in time for Mother’s Day, Small Packages has unveiled two new curated boxes. One of them, the Mother’s Day Box, comes with a “Love You Mom” candle, “Best Mom Ever Shower Steamer,” “Cup of Love” Tea, a mug and extra-dark chocolate. The other, Lavender Haze, is more subtle, and comes with a relaxation candle, lavender shortbread cookies, Dry Botanical lavender bubbly, lavender mint shower steamers and lavender hand lotion. All boxes include a personalized message from you, hand-written by the Small Packages team.
The cornerstone of Small Packages’ ethos is supporting women- and minority-owned businesses; 85 percent of its products come from companies that fit that bill. “I come from an immigrant family and always say that my dad is the American Dream,” Riham says. “I hope I can help other minorities achieve that dream.”
Meet Riham and learn more about Small Packages at her Mother’s Day Self Care Event, featuring facials, breathing exercises, Awakened Tonics (a brand Rich and Laura Holoday started and have since sold) and shopping, coming up on May 2 from 6-8pm at Palette.
The Gift Concierge
When it comes down to it, gifting expert Saratogian Lyndsay Patel says, giving a good gift is really about setting aside time. “Everyone can go get a great gift, and we live in a vibrant town with a ton of amazing stores,” she says. “But it's really about setting that time aside.”
Lyndsay’s goal? Give people more time. Through her company The Gift Concierge, she works with clients to really get to know the person they’re buying for, and builds out a sort of profile and “registry” for him or her. Then, as she’s out in the world shopping and sees something she thinks that person would like, she’ll snap a photo and send it to her client. “I'll take a picture,” Lyndsay says, “and be like, ‘Hey, I thought of your wife, or your sister, and I think she would love this. Can I grab it for her? I know her birthday is coming up.’”
Since becoming a mom herself, Lyndsay has a newfound appreciation for all the other moms out there who may not receive as many gifts as they give. “Moms are always giving and thinking and being generous with their time and their love,” she says. “It’s important, even if it’s a couple of days a year—Mother’s Day and their birthday—to take the time to really be thoughtful and get them something super kind that shows, ‘Hey, we didn’t just go to the mall on Christmas Eve and grab whatever we could find. We actually thought about this.’”
While Mother’s Day is coming up quickly, Lyndsay says that if you reach out to her soon (email her at team@giftconciergeny.com or DM the @giftconciergeny Instagram account), there’s still time to find the perfect gift. “You are about 14 days out from Mother’s Day,” she says to all you potential clients. “As long as you’re OK with that expedited shipping if it’s something we have to do, I don’t care. I’ll make it happen.”
—Natalie
Quote of the Week
“We might as well spend the whole day here.”
—a Night Work Bread customer after ordering both breakfast and lunch at the Ballston Spa bakery
Home Sweet Home
The news of the week is undoubtedly the homecoming of Kane, the outdoor cat that, back in January, was picked up and dropped off outside the Saratoga County Animal Shelter by a local business owner when it was closed. (ICYMI: Here’s the full story.) Video camera footage showed Kane take off into the woods, and in the weeks that followed, Saratogians helped owner Jamie DiGiovanni look for Kane, or donated to a Go Fund Me to aid in the search. Nearly four months after he was taken, many of us lost hope. But not Jamie. “I meant it when I said we are not giving up on him and this is why,” she wrote in a post on Facebook yesterday morning. It turns out, a couple on Mann Road have been feeding a stray cat for more than a month, but haven’t been able to get him in a cage to verify that he was Kane. They finally did on Thursday, and called Jamie shortly after. Kane spent his first night back home curled up in Jamie’s son’s room.
Happiest Hour
According to a new study by Zinnia Health, it’s socially acceptable to drink in the afternoon. The study surveyed 3,000 people and found that the average New Yorker considers 2:43pm to be the magic time when drinks can start flowing without drawing concern from friends and family (though 60 percent of respondents said they wouldn’t drink alone before 5pm). Contrarily, Wyoming residents are ready to toast at noon, while North Dakotans and Montanas like to wait until 4:30pm. One in three members of the survey consider weekends and holidays a good excuse to start drinking earlier, though. Happy Saturday, Saratoga! 🍻
Save the Date
It’s not every day that the Rotary Club of Saratoga Springs turns 100, so the local club is throwing a celebration. The black-tie optional event will take place at the Canfield Casino on Saturday, May 18 from 5-10pm and feature Druthers beer, food by Wandering Food Dude, entertainment by DeJa Vu Jazz, a silent auction, wine pull and a program presented by David Patterson. Tickets are $150 or $250 for a couple—get yours here.
Perfect Pairing
On Thursday, Whitman Brewing hosted its first-ever beer dinner. The evening kicked off with a welcome “Dick Murphy Light” (the Champagne of beers) served in a coupe glass, before Chef Robbie and Head Brewer Nick launched into a five-course meal with beer pairings. Some standouts? The “Now, Forager Blueberry” vinaigrette on the salad, the scallop and broccolini second course and the “Allfather, Hear Me” hazy IPA with honey that was released this week.
A Need for Speed (Dating)
Take a look at that picture from the Whitman dinner above, and imagine all those people are just meeting one another. That’s what’s going to happen on May 8, when we bring our popular Single in Saratoga: Speed Dating Edition event to the brewery from 6-8:30pm. Since hosting our first sold-out speed dating event, we’ve gotten so many requests to host another, so we’re bringing it back to a new location and with new age ranges. The 6-7pm session will be for ages 21-35, and the 7:30-8:30pm session will be for ages 35-50. Get your tickets before they’re gone.
Open for Biz
PSA: The Starbucks on Broadway has reopened. Here’s a photo of the inside, courtesy of The Saratoga Report’s Dan De Federicis.
Racing Royalty
This week, the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame announced the nine new members that will be inducted this August. The contemporary category welcomes jockey Joel Rosario and racehorses Gun Runner and Justify (all of whom were elected in their first year of eligibility); the pre-1900 category welcomes jockey Abe Hawkins and racehorses Aristides and Lecomte; and the Pillars of the Turf category welcomes Harry F. Guggenheim, Clement L. Hirsch and Joe Hirsch.