GIFTING HAPPINESS
FROM QUIRKY WALL CLOCKS, POTTED PLANTS, OLD HOYLLYWOOD MOVIE POSTERS ON CIGARETTE CASES, SIMPLY BANGALORE SUGGESTS SOME OFF BEAT GIFT OPTIONS THIS FESTIVE SEASON
Move over mithai boxes and photo frames. Gifts are getting quirky, colourful and fun. With the festive, wedding and partying season setting in, there are ample occasions to floor your loved ones with offbeat presents. Out of the box ideas is the key with store owners trying their best to experiment with gifting. From champagne bottle-shaped candles to intersting potted plants, the city is flooded with ideas to revolutionise the way Bangaloreans gift.
SWEET ADDICTION
If a basket full of goodies is what you would love to gift your loved ones this time, head to Au Bon Pain. This international chain does some great festive hampers. Spread some festive cheer with baked goods such as crunchy almond biscottis, banana and walnut cake, and sinful brownies. Spoil your sweet-toothed friends with an assort- ment of chocolate truffles, some pound cake and premium Swiss jelly.You can pesonalise your hamper with messages as well. The wicker basket that all of this comes in resembles a picnic basket and conjures feelings of celebration and togetherness. PLACE AN ORDER AT 9900330368 PRICE Rs 249 onwards
KEEP IT GREEN
In an age where everything is commercial, mass produced and impersonal, nothing adds beauty to a home like a potted plant, especially for a person with the green thumb. Gardens no longer require acres of space or oodles of time to tend to. My Sunny Balcony has a range of fun, colourful products that instantly make a home garden stylish, ideal for urban homes and small spaces. From a brightly painted watering can-shaped jar to house a sapling rather than a plain looking pot, from flower pots that can be conveniently moved around and hung at various place to a cone-shaped pot that can also be hung, this little store is packed with surprises for gardners and plant lovers. Some pots also come with handles for easy transportation.
AT My Sunny Balcony Garden Shop, Ulsoor
PRICE Rs 400 onwards
AROMA MAGIC
Certain smells can trigger happy memories and can perhaps become the ideal gift. Iris, a fragrance brand, has a range of aroma-related products to usher happiness and beauty this festive season. Like a handmade paper lampshade with acrylic tealights inside, which when lit, create a warm golden glow that comes through a decorative cover. Or a “glow light”, which is a decorative glass that has an acrylic tealight inside and can be a pretty alternative to the traditional diya. Potpourri, which is a mix of dried plant material that emanates a subtle, pleasant smell through the room, is available in different sizes and comes in fragrances like jasmine, lavender, rose and apple cinnamon, and is also packaged attractively. Accessories like potpourri sprays are also available, which help maintain optimal fragrance levels. Thoughtful and useful, these products make the ideal accompaniment to someone’s new home or office. Also on offer are reed diffuser sets, dainty fragrance pouches, aroma candle gift packs and boxes of specialty incense sticks. AT Iris Aroma Boutique, Lavelle Road TEL 22225063 PRICE Starts at Rs 125 onwards
QUIRK BOX
Life is too short to be taken very seriously. Whysoserious.co.in helps you remember that with a range of quirky products that make for great non-traditional gifts. Perhaps your friends have recently got married and moved into their first home or one of your single friends needs some acces- sories to dress up his new bachelor pad. Whysoserious has accessories for these occasions. You could pick up football-themed coffee mugs, funky wall clocks in bright colours, an ice tray that shapes cubes like the Superman symbol or shot glasses in the shape of mini jars. Pop up designs and embossed accents bring products to life. Highlights of the collection are candles that look like real chocolates and also masquerade as champagne bottles. Old Hollywood movie posters, from the times of Marilyn Monroe and the like, as well as The Beatles, adorn the front of cigarette cases. PRICE Rs 500 onwards ATwhysoserious. co.in
OVEN FRESH
For some, the festivities are all about sweets and savouries which bring cheer to their house. And if that is how you want to plan your gifts, it is best to go to the experts. This Diwali, the Marriott at Whitefield is getting the best of its in-house bakery, Whitefield Baking Company, in an attractive gift hamper that makes for a great festive option for close friends and relatives. Available in different sizes and options, contents include delectable treats like an eggless saffron and almond cake, delicious cookies and premium roasted nuts in a jar. Inedible things such as a candle in a satin pouch, special sandal incense that comes in a jute pouch, apple and cinnamon potpourri and a set of five aromatic
diyas, are perfect for this time of year. Customise your order by opting for a bottle of red wine and assorted Indian sweets or create your own basket of goodies with cakes and champagne. Bulk orders are possible on advance notice as are personalised packages, which add a nice finishing touch. Add some sweetness to your loved ones this festive season. PRICE Rs 1750 onwards
AT Whitefield Baking Company, Marriott, Whitefield
TEL 67320000
AESTHETIC IDEAS
Who said only people with deep pockets deserve beautiful walls? Dress up blank spaces in your home with affordable art by some of the masters in watercolour, acrylics or pen and ink on paper. Kynkyny, unlike most other art galleries in the city, allows patrons to take a bit of their love with them through a range of moderately-priced paintings by the likes of Sivabalan, G. Subramanian and Durga Bai Vyam. This initiative helps make contemporary art accessible not just to serious collectors and investors but to just about everyone. Art as a gift option is understated, sophisticated and lasting.
PRICE Starts at Rs 7,000 plus taxes AT Kynkyny Art, Infantry Road TEL 40926202
LADY LOVE
Jewellery and clothes never go out of fashion as far as women are concerned. And with plenty of online portals flooding the internet with trendy clothes and accessories, theres enough to choose from. Log on to limeroad.com and win your lady love over. Imagine the look on her face when you gift her a chevronedged neckpiece, which will effortlessly find a place in her wardrobe. Available in purple and covered in navy blue sequins, and embellished with cutdanas embroidery, the chic statement piece can be teamed with a peplum blouse tailored trousers. Or remind her of her school days with a sling bag that can instantly transform a look from drab to fab. Using baroque embroidery patterns, the faux leather and velvet piece also has shimmering details in zardosi. Metallic trims, floral printed lining, an internal zipped pocket and mobile phone pouch make this fantastic find perfect to put in all essentials while keeping the style quotient high. Also up for grabs are pearl jewellery, wreath-shaped candle holders etc.
PRICE Rs650 onwards AVAILABLE AT limeroad. com