Don’t get me wrong, I too have embraced the gift-to-self concept. I just believe in gifts for everyone, including self. So in the spirit of giving ~ gifts to yourself or to others, here are a few things anyone who loves to bake would appreciate.

I know a lot of baking friends that share in my fetish for cake plates. I love this Rosanna Rococo one in black, so classy!

Baking is messy, so if you’re going to get messy, at least do it in style. This Reversible apron is from Debbie’s Etsy storefront, DebzDoodlez . She has lots of other prints to choose from.

You might have read one of my posts about this before, but it’s worth repeating. I think this Wilton 50 piece decorating kit is the best out there for someone getting start. It’s reasonably priced and comes with tips, couplers, gel colors, spatulas, bags, and more!
Ruffles are all the rage, and this ruffle pie plate is on sale for $19.99 and ships for free.  If you know someone with a cake plate fetish, it’s probably an issue with pie plates too.

 If you’re looking for cookbooks, here are two great reads. As much as I love pretty cookbooks, I find most of the recipes I try from the Internet. These two books are not your traditional cookbooks. They explain the science behind cooking and baking so you can be successful in creating your own recipes. Ratio came out in 2010 and Ruhlman’s Twenty was just released this fall.

This is the only baking sheet worthy enough to go in my oven. These Airbake sheets are only $14.99 at Target and by far the best and only sheet I will use at this point. Just don’t submerge it when you clean it, trust me on this!

I love my Babycake Cake Pop Maker. When I bought one for my sister’s birthday in September, I bought one for me too. Happy Birthday to me! They are currently sold out online at Kohl’s, but they should have them in stock in the store. It’s on sale for $26.00 and with the $10.00 coupon they send every month, that makes a great present for a great deal. If you can’t find it at Kohl’s, you can also buy it at the BabyCakes online store.

When decorating cookies, I could not live without Kuhn Rikon squeeze bottles. Sur La Table is selling a new cupcake set which includes a cupcake corer and silicone baking cups. It’s $30… a great price for everything you get.

Anyone who bakes will tell you that measuring cups are not all created equal. I happen to think Williams Sonoma makes some of the best. They have a gift set right now with all of the cups and spoons for $39.00. It’s worth the investment.

Prince Charming, really you can skip the jewelry this year and get me this. Yes, I’m picking a Kitchen Aid mixer over diamonds. This KitchenAid®  7-Quart Bowl-Lift NSF Commercial Stand Mixer is the Rolls Royce of Kitchen Aids. Now I happen to LOVE my aqua blue 5 qt Martha Stewart Kitchen Aid. If there was a fire in the house, I’d grab the boy, the Naughty One, and the mixer. That’s how much it means to me. But I’m pretty sure I could fall in love with this one too. Christi from Love From the Oven was given one to try out (I am seriously jealous!) She wrote a great review of it on her site. The best part is this can make up to 14 dozen cookies at a time. But if you don’t generally make 14 dozen cookies at a time, go check out the rest of the stand mixers that Kitchen Aid has to offer. You’ve got to love the rainbow of colors.

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend!

If you’ve come here for something absolutely adorable and free you’re going to love what I’ve found! These are three of the most talented bloggers that I stalk visit on a weekly basis. I always leave their sites inspired with new ideas to add to my never-ending “to-try” list.

Thank you Amy, Kathleen & Laurie for making Valentine’s even sweeter!

iPhone Valentine Printable designed by Amy at LivingLocurto.com

This is what my son will be giving to his friends (I haven’t showed him yet, but this valentine is going to make him the coolest kid around). Each little iPhone box holds a box of conversation hearts. Amy even designed each app. icon with a Valentine’s theme.

Valentine Brownie Bags from Kathleen at Twig & Thistle

Do you remember Kathleen’s adorable valentine brownie bags from last year? She updated her design for 2011. To make it even easier, she sells these brown bags in her Etsy store with instructions on how to print them. They are also available in white and cost $5.oo for 25. Make a batch of homemade brownies and this becomes an inexpensive treat for your list of valentines.

Heart Cupcake Toppers posted at Tip Junkie and created by Kate at Smitten Blog Designs

Tip Junkie is one of those places I often discover creative bloggers to add to my weekly stalking visiting list. I’m amazed at how Laurie manages so many different topics on her blog. These cute cupcake toppers were created by Kate at Smitten Blog Designs. I love the color combo!

Enjoy this last week of January! Hope it’s filled with sunshine!

Last weekend, a friend came by and brought these Lolita “Naughty and Nice” wine glasses ~ they’re plastic! Not only did my friend know I love wine, but also knew my happy hour regularly convenes in my cul de sac, catching up with neighbors, while the kids burn off some energy… thus, the need for plastic. If you’re not familiar with the Lolita company, they have a huge selection of festive martini and wine glasses. Each glass has a particular theme and a cocktail recipe on the bottom. They make a great hostess gifts!

Here are a few other fun hostess gift ideas and some great gift sites to check out:

There are a ton of fun bottle openers that would make fun, inexpensive gifts for your wine lovin’ friends. I found this cute, penguin bottle opener at Pop Deluxe. One of my girlfriend’s house is full of penguins (as a result of her six year-old’s obsession). This and a bottle of KJ would be perfect to take along on a visit.

Staying at someone’s house over the holidays? I love this pancake pen from cooking.com. Pancakes are a staple in our house, not only do we eat them for breakfast, but they also find their way onto our dinner table some nights. This novelty item is the perfect gift for a sleep-over.

This magnetic kissing dachshund salt and pepper shaker set was given to me from someone who knows that we have a naughty dachshund, who thinks she runs my house. There are some pretty crazy salt and pepper sets out there. Take a look at this post on oddee.com and you’ll see what I mean.

Another clever gift, for a friend who always looks on the bright side, is this half full glass. The glass is never half empty; it’s always half full. This comes from one of my new favorite websites, The Spoon Sisters. If you’re looking for that special gift or just something fun and different to give, this is a great site to search.

Any other great ideas for hostess gifts? I’d love to hear them!

There are 116 shopping days or baking days until Christmas, depending on how you want to look at it. I have gone without a paycheck since June, and am officially poor. (It’s not easy being a teacher!) The word “shopping” has been banned from my vocabulary, so I prefer to think in terms of baking days. I know it seems like there’s plenty of time before the holiday madness starts, but it always seems to sneak up on us.

These peppermint candy cookies are festive for the holiday, but you can use any colors to coordinate with your party theme, and they’d make cute cookie favors.  I tried two different decorating techniques for two different effects.

 OR

The fabulous people at Wilton are letting me give away one of my most used baking items… this 50 Piece Tool Caddy Decorating Set. This kit will keep your baking tools totally organized, so you’re not always searching for what you need. I keep my caddy in a kitchen cabinet right above my Kitchen Aid, and pull it out whenever I’m decorating.

Here’s what’s inside this 50 piece set:

• A bunch of decorating tips organized in a removable tray

• Flower nail

• Disposable bags and a reusable soft touch bag

• Tip brush for cleaning decorating tips

• Couplers

• Spatula

• 4 of the most popular Wilton gel icing colors

• Beginner’s guide to decorating

This kit is perfect for both beginning and advanced bakers. If you already have a baking tool caddy, this would make a fabulous Christmas present, and you’d be able to check someone off your gift-giving list.

But this is a holiday give-away, right? To get you inspired for all of your holiday cookie baking, Wilton is also including a copy of the Wilton book, Cookie Exchange. It is full of original cookie ideas, and step by step photo instructions.

Here’s how to enter*:

You have a total of 4 chances to win:

(Be sure to leave a separate comment for each.)

We have a winner! Random.org selected comment #105, Miss Jillian. Check out her adorable blog if you have a chance www.missjilliandesigns.blogspot.com . Thanks for playing along everyone. Grin and Bake it will be hosting a fall give-away soon, so stay tuned!

1. Leave a comment telling me what your favorite Wilton product is. Here’s the link  if you want to shop!

2. Follow Grin and Bake it ~ Join the Grin and Bake it Facebook group, follow me on Twitter, or sign up for the RSS feed. Scroll down on the sidebar and click under “Follow Me”. (If you’re already a follower, let me know in a comment how you follow the blog.)

3. Subscribe to Grin and Bake It and receive emails when new posts are published. To subscribe, scroll down on the sidebar to “subscribe” and enter your email address. I promise this is totally safe! Post a comment letting me know you subscribed.

4. Tweet this give-away “Christmas comes early… Enter to win Wilton’s holiday giveaway @grinandbakeit http://wp.me/pnls6-2O1

Contest ends on Friday, September 3rd at 9 P.M. Pacific Standard Time. The winner will be selected randomly at random.org, and will be posted on this post. I will send the winner an email letting him/her know that he/she has won. The winner will have 24 hours to respond to the email, otherwise, a second winner will be selected.

*This contest is only open to people living in the U.S. (I do apologize to my Canadian blogging friends.)

Each February I go in search of a clever valentine for my son to make for his friends. It has to be something that reflects whatever he’s into that year.  Third grade is somewhat of a transition year from what’s cute to what’s cool. Cutesy valentines aren’t going to fly this year. We needed something that would earn cool status.

And you know what’s cool… the wii! The boy loves video games. Lucky for him, he was born the son of the Atari Frogger champion from the 80′s. I mastered that game! And whenever I see an old Ms. Pac Man game, I can’t resist the urge to play.

I don’t think video games are evil, as some parents do. And I don’t think they will negatively impact this generation of kids. It’s all about balance. As long as there is still plenty of outdoor play with friends and other activities going on, I have no problem with a little Wii. In fact, if you stop by unannounced, you may just catch me playing Guitar Hero or singing into the microphone for Simon on the American Idol Wii game.

Last month, I went in search of a Wii valentine, but couldn’t find anything. I remembered reading about a bowling Wii tournament party on Hostess With the Mostess, so I went back for some inspiration. It is full of great Wii themed ideas. I, then, found a template online to make a paper, Wii-mote. This served as the envelope for the valentine. It is a pdf file and perfectly to scale. I printed one on my printer and ran the rest on the copier. The quality was still great. These would make perfect party favors too. Take my advice, use a glue gun to put these together, regular glue will make you a crazy person. There is a little cutting and folding involved, but it’s a great excuse to catch up on Tivo.

 If you’re familiar with the Wii, one of the first tasks you do is to create a Mii (pronounced “me”), a graphic version of yourself. There are a few sites on the web that allow you to create and print your own Mii’s, just for fun, including MakeWee and My Avatar Editor. For the valentine, I had the boy go on the site and make his mii. I then cut and pasted it into Photoshop and created a valentine note to stick into the Wii-mote. The boy is one of three other Blake’s in his class and is referred to as Blake R. I’m hoping that doesn’t stick. To finish these off, we filled the Wii motes with AirHeads and other smaller candies. The boy can’t wait to share them later this week.

One of Blake’s best friends made Ipod Valentines this year, using small conversation heart boxes. The Ipod valentines are complete with peanut butter cup headphones attached. I love this idea! Family Fun shows all of the directions on how to make them.

Do you have any other great ideas for valentines, do share!