Gift Giving Guy

This past weekend, Cuba came to our patio. My wife and I teamed up with her three sisters to celebrate their father’s 70th birthday with a vintage Havana surprise party. None of us are Cuban, but the party theme gave a good excuse to serve mojitos. (And I got to wear a guayabera shirt.) We offered two gift favors to our guests.

When I think Cuba, I think cigars. We opted for milk chocolate cigars, keeping it healthier and legal. The chocolate cigars are wrapped in gold foil with an imprinted generic cigar band. To customize, I picked up one-inch-wide round labels (Avery 5410) from OfficeMax. I downloaded the Microsoft Word template from Avery.com. Then I added a picture of my father-in-law to each label on the sheet and printed the label sheets through my HP DeskJet printer. We applied round labels with his smiling face across the band of each chocolate cigar. To display to guests, we arranged the personalized cigars in an old wooden cigar box.

The second gift favor doubled as a table arrangement and a favor: lucky bamboo. Bamboo is plentiful in Cuba, used for furniture, fences and handicrafts for centuries. My sister-in-law bought live bamboo shoots, and she wrapped them in burlap and jute string. We set the lucky bamboo plants in wooden cigar boxes, lined with gray pebbles. Each leafy bamboo arrangement included a small scroll explaining care and how some value bamboo for its luck in bringing wealth.

I didn’t realize that bamboo is an indoor plant that should stay out of sunlight. Simply change the one inch of water once a month and watch as fortune shines upon you. Happy birthday, Dad!