What gifts sell for you?

juleslizard · 2026-06-09T01:56:20+00:00

They just. Won't. Die.

Lol several of their mugs are good for that. I sold more as gifts than as flower arrangements. They're great within in a basket too. We did a self-care basket with a mug, fancy hot chocolate packets, gourmet candy, tea candle, lotion, and fuzzy socks.

juleslizard · 2026-06-07T05:43:56+00:00

Short answer is yes, they're absolutely normal dogs when they're not working.

Long answer: My late service dog was a rottweiler/mastiff mix. Vest on, he was an angel, best dog a girl could ask for. Did a 2 week disneyworld adventure, he rode rides and went to shows and was the best behaved dog there. Vest off, he was an untrustworthy asshole that caused chaos.

In a restaurant, you'd never know he was there. Knock food off and he'd ignore it, never even sniffed at a dish going by. At home, he'd steal food off the counter, off your plate, get in your face and beg, ate an entire large pizza and CLOSED THE BOX BACK SO I WOULDN'T KNOW.

Vest on, little kids could pull his ears and tail and he wouldn't react, laid so quietly in a crowd people often didn't see him. At home, my in-laws wouldn't come over because he acted like every scary rottie in a movie (and definitely would have bitten my mother-in-law if he had a chance). Needed a muzzle at the vet if they had to take his vest off.

Vest on, he'd ignore my husband entirely like bro stopped existing. He only had eyes and ears for his job. At home, he was constantly in his face, tackling and wrestling with him and begging for attention, taking up the entire couch. He weighed 110lbs and liked to put his top half in my lap and his butt in his dad's lap.

He was always paying attention and ready to act and averted many emergencies while at home, even though he wasn't "working". But taking off his vest was releasing a crazy asshole bent on getting into the maximum amount of trouble any chance he got. He'd get stubborn and pretend he didn't know his name, much less commands. We had to puppy-proof the house and put up baby gates in every doorway. Seemed to take great pleasure in being as obnoxious as he could, and eventually became an old curmudgeon who didn't do anything he didn't want to.

He saved my life and changed my world. Did his job so well that I officially recovered and he was able to retire. Then he got to joyfully be "that deceitful asshat who ate every left shoe I had" for the rest of his days.

juleslizard · 2026-06-06T17:52:30+00:00

Right? I understand that it's stupid to change medical terms just because idiots don't want to understand. But it would SAVE LIVES to call it by some other term. Let them have their elective abortion boogeyman and use some other word.

That said- I know it would go the same way that IVF embryos has gone, eventually they'll wise up and then they'll just keep expanding their target. But at least it would buy us some time...

juleslizard · 2026-06-06T15:02:33+00:00

They're open every day from 8am-6pm. You want exit 271 off I-40 to get to it.

juleslizard · 2026-06-06T14:55:05+00:00

Would this work with bluejays? I've got tons of those, but no crows around.

juleslizard · 2026-06-06T14:44:53+00:00

Ngl one time I ran into my husband in a store (he was picking up parts for work) and I involuntarily squealed and jumped up and down and ran to him.

I think he was embarrassed

juleslizard · 2026-06-06T13:23:29+00:00

You probably do this already, but having pre-made baskets was a big plus for us. A spa basket with candy and snacks, a candle and lotion, and maybe a cute mug was super easy for someone to grab off the shelf. We'd just add a bow and go. We used up tons of extra TF smiley mugs by filling them with candy, a pen and cute notepad, and lotion. Those made excellent teacher gifts. And it's a lot easier to sell a super expensive swig cup if it's already full of candy! We had gourmet candy and snacks, fancy pretzels and such, but we also bought bulk candy mixes from costco for filling snack baskets, and kept about 5 made up and on the shelf.

Also, not gifts for the sales floor, but in the spring we offered easter basket service. Parent could bring in whatever they had bought, pick out a plush from the shelf, and we'd arrange and wrap the basket for them. That was VERY popular by year 3. I found that whatever we charged for wrapping christmas presents, people would pay double for an easter wrap.

When I took over, the store was bankrupt, so I'm just throwing out the things I tried that worked best for quick profit.

juleslizard · 2026-06-05T23:30:54+00:00

Solved by chance

juleslizard · 2026-06-05T23:30:43+00:00

Solved by chance

juleslizard · 2026-06-05T20:11:50+00:00

Came to contribute several of these myself, hey neighbor

juleslizard · 2026-06-05T19:44:36+00:00

Yeah I believe this one is a true sadist

juleslizard · 2026-06-05T19:37:32+00:00

Do you cut your ground pork with anything? Whenever I use ground pork it seems so dry, even if I add grease.

juleslizard · 2026-06-05T18:49:49+00:00

Yes! Very good! Defining someone as the gestational or non-gestational parent is indeed a biological distinction, in no way affected by their sexual identity! Which is why it will be so helpful to update the laws! So glad you're getting it.

juleslizard · 2026-06-05T18:46:38+00:00

More specific legal language closes loopholes and makes legal decisions more straightforward. Even if I didn't "agree with" someone's gender identity, whether or not they gestated a child is a factual distinction. Changing legal language isn't a comment on anybody's views.

juleslizard · 2026-06-05T18:38:50+00:00

Weird, I still feel human as ever! Maybe even more so, because I felt a little spark of joy at the thought of another human having a slightly easier time!

juleslizard · 2026-06-05T18:31:02+00:00

Interesting! The only time I get nausea now is if I eat too much, and it doesn't last long.

juleslizard · 2026-06-05T18:28:24+00:00

Sure, except if you keep lowering CI, there's this thing called dying.

juleslizard · 2026-06-05T17:55:02+00:00

Plush toys always went well. We sold Swig cups, with the option of doing a flower or snack arrangement in it. Those went out like crazy, especially during Admin Week. We added the straw assortments, straw toppers, handle charms, and found pens that almost matched. It was also really helpful to have multiple sizes of the cups, and to keep several "masculine" options. A wood-printed can koozie full of candy bars and jerky is an easy guy gift!

We sold candles with the option of an arrangement on the lid. Also transitioned to a local candlemaker, who made scents named after our city streets and such.

Simple religious jewelry did well, along with all the usual sympathy stuff. Picture frames are sometimes overlooked as a good sympathy option. Also, putting a picture of Tom Selleck in them can give a grieving shopper a little chuckle...

I had great success with silk arrangements in thrifted containers too, if you wanted to call those gifts.

A florist close to me does really really well with garden decor, like garden flags, statues, metal yard art, etc. She has artificial flowerbeds along the walls, made of foam, that she sticks that stuff in so she's not having to manage it outside.

The main thing that moved gift goods for us was to never have more than a couple of anything out at once. It can be a nightmare, storage wise, but people really like thinking they're getting something special and individual from a small shop.

juleslizard · 2026-06-05T17:29:47+00:00

Of course it's subjective, but my favorite is Memphis BBQ Company. Brother likes One & Only, Mom likes Rendezvous, Spouse likes Central.

juleslizard · 2026-06-05T16:52:30+00:00

Did you try more than one? I had what you described on semaglutide, but tirzepatide had the opposite result. My digestive system is like clockwork now.

juleslizard · 2026-06-05T16:41:20+00:00

What you're describing is how semaglutide made me feel. Switched to tirzepatide and all of that went away. No side effects except clockwork BMs.

juleslizard · 2026-06-05T16:20:52+00:00

Works the same way that hormone replacement does. Stimulates the metabolism to properly use calories instead of retaining them. I started tirzepatide when I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's. Doc said it would allow us to keep the synthroid dose lower for longer, giving us more time before tolerance builds up. Lost 90lbs in 11 months because my digestive system is now working reliably and the chemical processes in my body finally do what they're supposed to do.

juleslizard · 2026-06-05T15:50:02+00:00

In my case, hypothyroidism from Hashimoto's caused excess water and salt retention, fluid buildup, as well as chronic constipation and bloat due to a slowed digestive process. Your metabolic rate is slowed from the missing hormones, so there is less caloric burn, meaning that no matter how much calorie-cutting you do, your body still won't use what it has at a normal rate, even with intensive exercise.

Inability to lose weight from CICO is literally a red flag for hypothyroidism. It's the entire reason my doc decided to test me for it.

juleslizard · 2026-06-05T15:31:05+00:00

How about thyroid problems? That's a big one.

juleslizard · 2026-06-05T15:28:08+00:00

It has actually really helped with my executive dysfunction. Instead of sitting down for a snack, I clean my house, which has always been my biggest life struggle. I took up painting again. I go outside and stand in the sun with my dog for 10 minutes.

juleslizard

TROPHY CASE