Shower Favors and First Ever GIVEAWAY!

As I said yesterday, my Bridal shower was a complete success on Saturday! As far as favors went for the shower, my mom and sister threw around a ton of ideas. My mom came across some handmade soaps on etsy and other sites, but didn't like that she couldn't feel, smell, or see the soaps in person. It made her nervous to place the order with blind faith. I'll let my mom take the story from here:

"Life got in the way and the idea of the soap was pushed to the back of my mind. Then it finally hit me: I have a friend, Jackie, who makes beautiful hand crafted bars of soap which I use every single day. Why not call her?

I hadn't spoken to Jackie in quite some time. When I called her business to inquire about the soaps, I was told that they do not have any pear scented soap. I explained to him what I wanted and again was told there was no pear soap. I said what about another scent? I could have “Laura and Chris - Makes perfect 'sense'” put on the label. The guy on the phone seemed impressed with my creativity and suggested that I call Jackie personally with my inquiry. He gave me her personal phone number and referred me to her website Dragonfly soaps at www.dfsoaps.com.

http://www.dfsoaps.com./

I called Jackie the next day and told her what I wanted. She said she didn’t make pear scented soap, but she would research it and see if she could find someone who made a pear scent that was up to her standards. I got excited about this. I trust Jackie’s work implicitly and knew she would do a superb job. When I told her that the shower was about three weeks away, she replied “Oh.” in a tone that made my heart sink, “The soap needs three weeks to cure and I need time to research this and…here’s the thing, my daughter is expecting her baby any day now! I’m going to be a grandmother!” As disappointed as I was about the soap I was so thrilled for Jackie as her jubilance could not be contained and was dangerously contagious!

I accepted that pear soap from Jackie was not going to happen for this occasion and we hung up. Why didn’t I think of this sooner? I use Jackie’s soap every single day and could have kicked myself for not asking her sooner. But there was still some hope. I talked to Jackie a few days later when she said “Well…I could ask my niece to research this. It’s a long shot but I’ve taught her everything I know about soap making and she actually makes the soap now.”

A few days later, I got another email saying that Jackie’s niece had found a scent-maker close by and was satisfied with the quality of the product. She asked if I wanted her to go ahead and make some test soap? Absolutely!

The next day or so, I found an unwrapped box of something in my mailbox. I opened the box and there was a sample of delicately scented pear soap! With a sample of the band that goes around the wrapper and gift boxes. I was so excited, I couldn’t wait to tell Laura and Melissa!

All in all, Jackie made me 80 bars of soap (we have extra for Out-of-Town Bags), gave me gift boxes, ribbons, and custom made wrappers that said “A perfect pair, Laura and Chris, May 21, 2011” all for $150. Pretty sweet deal. The gift boxes came from Michael’s which she bought with a coupon and passed the savings on to me. They gave the bars such a classy look. Jackie loved the scent of the pear so much she is considering adding it to her line and she may market it as a soap for bridal showers!

The most exciting thing of all? Jackie's daughter gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Gemma, in the middle of all of this!! Everything worked out so well. Don’t you just love when all the stars line up and the universe comes together so perfectly?!  Be sure to check out Jackie’s soaps here, she has an incredible selection of handcrafted soaps!"

The favors all together

In addition to the soaps, each place at the tables had Hershey kisses wrapped in green tulle tied with a brown and green ribbon.

In addition to THAT, my mom also made makeup bags for each of my bridesmaids. Being quite the blogging savvy lady that she is, she followed this tutorial on the blog Noodlehead, to make them.

Now I have somethiing very exciting to share...my FIRST EVER GIVEAWAY!
I have a hand-made makeup bag that my mom made complete with one hand-crafted pear soap to giveaway to one lucky reader!

To enter: 

• Visit Jackie's site at Dragonfly Soaps and leave me a comment below which soap scent you would most like to have. Be sure to check out her extensive selection of scents including: Ginger, Orange and Honey, Peppermint Ice, Triple Chocolate Mint, etc. etc.

To get an extra entry:
1. Tweet the following: "Check out @Lwoodsny first ever Giveaway - makeup bag and handcrafted soap at Saying "I do" http://ow.ly/4DjE"
2. Leave a second comment that you tweeted it.

Enter by 8:00pm on Thursday April 21st. Winner will be announced on the blog Friday!