Christmas in July

Posted by Jennifer Sergent Tuesday July 29, 2008 - 05:24 PM

Not even the big department stores have their holiday decorations up yet, and it’s starting already. Retailers want us to start thinking about our gift-giving obligations for the holidays. But that might not be such a bad thing. Many stationery shops offer great discounts if you order holiday cards before Labor Day, and gift purveyor Tara Riceberg is offering her consulting services now, so you can secure all the “IT” gifts before they get snatched up later in the fall.

And besides what you give, see how beautifully she wraps the gifts?

a pair of professionally wrapped gifts

Riceberg is the owner of Tweak America in Los Angeles, but as an interior stylist, she hops the coasts with clients in DC and New York as well. She has an uncanny ability to talk to you about who you are buying for, and then come up with the perfect item even while you still have no idea what you would get.

I wrote a story about her holiday-decorating prowess when I used to work for HGTV, and she’s great at taking things you already own and turning them into centerpieces. A standard orchid that you have out all year, for example, becomes a holiday focal point when you put the plant in a silver champagne bucket and hang a single ball from its stem. It’s a great tweak, hence the name of her company.

Give Tara a call before August 15, when she leaves on her next buying trip – especially for business gift-giving needs where you need a corporate logo added to the gift. For those of us outside of California, she points out, there’s no tax on the gifts. And she packs the items so lovingly that just opening the box seems special.

an opened package