By Kerrianne of Kerrianne.org
So, you’re going to a party! You’ve received an invitation, happily accepted, and are choosing just the right shoes to wear with just the right dress. Maybe it’s the type of party wherein you’re arriving with a gift for a little one, an expectant mother, or a bride-to-be.
What you might not remember in all the hustle and bustle of pre-party planning is that there is someone else to potentially gift in this equation.
Parties take planning, provisions, invitations. In short, they cost money, and time, and while your presence and shining personality is no doubt a great gift in and of itself, remembering your hostess (or host) with a thoughtful and material “thank you” is beyond classy, and lets your hostess (or host) know that you appreciate everything they’ve done to make the party a great one. (This is especially true if said party is being thrown for you.)
OK, OK, so now that we know hostess gifts are grand, what sorts of things should you be giving?


I am a pretty typical working mom balancing a pretty demanding job and a really demanding pre-schooler and you know what I don’t need?
1. Bury your head in the sand. Given the doom and gloom of the news lately, it’s hard to blame anyone who wants to turn off the TV and just tune out the news for the next 12 months. But while hibernation works for a bear, it won’t work in this bear market. Now is not the time to be blissfully ignorant of what’s going on. Right now IS the time to stick to the boring basics of personal finance: get out of high-interest debt, refrain from taking on new debt, and start, or add to, your emergency fund.
Going green. It’s so trendy, even Hollywood A-listers are doing it. It can be daunting, we hear that to save the environment we must become a vegetarian, stop driving, use cloth diapers…it’s enough to make anyone throw their hands up in the air and say, it’s too hard, I can’t do it!
How often do you go to the grocery store? Target? Warehouse stores? Some people I know visit the grocery store up to three times per week! That seems like a huge time-sink and a waste of gas.
This is where I reveal what a huge dork I am.
Meal planning can feel like one of those necessary evils. It’s not always fun, but it sure does make life easier. No one likes to stare at the fridge at 5 p.m. and wonder what they can concoct from ketchup, an onion, and a cheese stick.
One problem I know I still have is that I haven’t finished my gift shopping. Not even close. And at this point if I don’t order the gifts now they will be terribly late. So I was thrilled to find out that 200+ online merchants are offering free shipping today (presumably to get last-minute over-stressed shoppers like me to finally cross things off my gift list.)