(I was given a $25 gift card to HomeGoods. Because the value was less than $40 and I wasn’t otherwise paid, BlogHer Ads is allowing me to do the post on my regular blog, instead of on the review blog. Normally I LIKE keeping the two areas separate, but this particular post involves a present for someone, and I wanted the someone to be “a reader of my regular blog,” so I’m doing it here. If you are sort of like, “You know, if I wanted to read about reviews/giveaways, I would read that other blog of yours I’m not reading,” I agree, which is why I normally like to keep them separate. This one is an exception, not a portent of bad things to come.)
The day before finding out I was going to be participating in the BlogHer/HomeGoods gift card program, I had a happy shopping trip at HomeGoods. I’d already taken the photos and written a shopping post ANYWAY, so that makes a nice intro to this now-partially-sponsored-via-gift-card-contribution post:
This set of wall stickers was marked down to $3. I copied the branch arrangement exactly as shown on the package, but I did the birds and the falling leaves differently. My sister-in-law did some bird wall stickers in my niece’s room, and she put one of the birdies way over on top of a window, and I loved that idea so I put one of my birds on the little round mirror. Another bird was shown on the package coming in for a landing, and I just put him/her higher up in the air.
I don’t put cream in a creamer, so this was a little bit of a silly purchase. But I plan to use this little pitcher decoratively, on a little shelf with other bird knick-knacks—AND, then if I ever DO have people over for coffee, I can call it into service! $4.
Cute magnetic turtle clips! (My dad: “Are those turtles, or are they green ladybugs?”) I have a lot of stuff from this Animal House line, and I would have had these a lot sooner if I’d realized they existed. I use our fridge as an extension of my brain: I put up notices I have to remember to act on, or spelling words I have to remember to practice with one of the kids, or whatever. Clips are better than regular magnets for this, for a variety of dull reasons. $5.
Set of eight cards. I LOVE these. And I almost didn’t get them, because the sunflower (my least favorite) was the top card and I assumed they were all the same. But then I was looking at a different set more closely, and saw THAT one had an assortment, so I went back and checked these and LOVED them. Clearance $3.
Ladybug paper assortment: one lined pad, one unlined pad, one square sticky note pad, two rectangular sticky-note pads. Clearance $3.
So I came home with a big bag of fun stuff to put all over the house, all for $18, and took photos to show you.
Then I got the gift card. The assignment was to buy one or two gifts, worth a total of $25, for anyone we wanted: teachers, mail carriers, family, friends. I went to Home Goods and looked around, and I decided it would be most fun to choose a present for one of YOU.
My first idea was to go back and buy all the things I had just bought for myself and give THOSE away—but when I went back the next day, everything was gone except the bird pitcher. So I looked a bit more, but I was getting overwhelmed by all the possibilities, so I went home to regroup and plan.
I made a list of possible gifts. I wanted it to be something that wouldn’t be heavy or fragile, because of shipping it. I also wanted it to be something I thought a lot of people would want (as opposed to, say, a decorative item, which I might LOVE but maybe I’d be the only one), and something kind of FUN and interesting, and ideally something that the winner could keep OR might be able to give as a gift to someone on their own list, if things were tight for them this year. AND I wanted it to be something fun to buy. So you can see this was a Shopping Challenge.
I considered doing kitchen linens: oven mitts, dishtowels, hot pads—maybe holiday-themed. Or an assortment of stationery, maybe with a journal. Or a set of wrapping paper and ribbons and gift tags. Or a bunch of holiday paper plates and napkins. Or cloth napkins and napkin rings. Or whimsical kitchen things. Or a brownie pan plus oven mitts, or a muffin tin plus silicone muffin cups. Or a coffee/chocolate assortment. Or a throw blanket and throw pillow (MUST we throw them?). Or mixing bowls and measuring cups. Or a photo album and a frame. Or Spode serving utensils with Christmas trees on them. ….Are you beginning to sympathize with my mother, who was dragged along on this trip and subjected to many happy ditherings by someone in no hurry to make up her mind?
This is what we chose:
(I used my HomeGoods dark turquoise leather chair as the backdrop!)
My mom and I have been admiring that pink salt cube with grater, but it is THIRTEEN DOLLARS, which we’re sure is totally worth it, but we are more accustomed to the 49-cent cylinder of Morton’s salt, so this wouldn’t be something we’d buy for ourselves—but we’d be delighted to get it as a gift so we could TRY IT! Furthermore, you would not believe how special and awesome this salt claims to be: “purest salt on earth,” “primordial Himalayan sea salt,” “unique, subtle flavors of HimalaSalt’s essential minerals, created 250 million years ago during a time of pristine environmental integrity.” PRISTINE ENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRITY. It goes on, too, with more praises of this salt.
I also got the refill container of more pink salt (“Ethically sourced. Artisan made.”), which was $8. That left $4, so I bought a container of Aleppo Chile Finishing Salt that was on clearance down from $6 or $7.
All this fancy salt can be yours (er, as long as you want me to ship it to a U.S. or Canadian address), a holiday gift from me to you (or to a recipient of your choice: I can ship it directly, and in fact, heck, I will wrap it and stick on a gift tag if you like), and I will barely even taste it first, only if a little salt breaks off and falls out of the package!
To enter, leave a comment on this post by December 6, 2010. It doesn’t have to be any particular comment, but if you need inspiration you can tell me if you normally spring for Morton’s salt or if you save a dime and get the store brand, or if you have tried fancy salts before, or whether you would keep it yourself or give it as a gift. Pitiful-situation stories accepted, but will not increase odds of winning, which will be random.
FURTHERMORE, BlogHer is giving away a $100 HomeGoods gift card and twenty $25 HomeGoods gift cards, so even if you don’t win the salt, you might win a card and can go buy your own thing. To get to the card giveaways, go to the BlogHer page. (But leave a comment HERE first if you want to win the salt.)
Oh that looks cool! I hope I’m not really comment #1, because that’s stinky odds. But if I were to win I’d give it as a gift… probably to my mom because she loves this kind of thing!
I actually have a fancy-salts story! I also have never splurged for them on myself, but once I included an awesome little fancy salts jar in a care package to my brother. It was from Fox&Obel in Chicago, which probably means I spent like $10 on this tiny jar. You see this coming, right? It was a glass jar, and by the time it arrived, the entire care package was full of big crunchy salt and glass shards. :(
Why do I always think that Home Goods is a grocery store?? (I don’t think that will ever get old…haaaaa.)
I have Morton’s Salt for cooking, and we have a grinder with sea salt in it for the table.
Pretty interesting salt, what the heck I’d like to try it!
i cann’t even TELL YOU how much i love those birds, *especially* the one on the mirror. ADORABLE.
oh my, i would probably give the salt to my mom, except for the fact that she already has like 45 artisanal salts. so maybe i would give it to a friend instead :)
MAN, every time I try to comment, Blogger gives me an error. *sigh*
One last try, but my wit has failed me now.
I keep cheapo salt for baking. I only use sea salt, freshly-ground for stuff where the salt is for taste.
THANK YOU!!!
I adore fancy salts! For everyday use, it’s kosher salt for cooking/baking, and french gray sea salt for finishing/putting on foods.
Salt. Yum!
If I win the salt, I will INSIST you open the box and try a smidge before sending it. :)
I’ve seen you mention HomeGoods a couple times before, but I’d never heard of them so I went to their website to see where they were located. And there are about 40 within driving distance of my house. I guess I don’t get out as much as I thought.
I generally get the Costco salt grinder for table use, and cheap salt for cooking. And I usually get the cheapest salt at the store that day, as it is not seen by anybody but me.
I have always thought about trying pink himalayan salt, but was put off by the price. I am a sea salt girl, both for cooking/baking and eating.
I did this too, with the gift card! And, like you, I found out that I’d be participating the day AFTER I happened to have been to HomeGoods and spent $25 on two gifts. Except this time, with the gift card, I bought four gifts (one for myself) instead of one-two? I didn’t realize that was a requirement. Also, I had the opposite problem: I WANTED to post about it on my regular blog, but the gifts I got are for people who READ my blog, so I contented myself with a comment and photo on the BlogHer HomeGoods post.
Also! My HomeGoods had your chair in red and in green. I thought of you!
GAH! Pink salt, LOVE!
My SIL buys artisan salts and cooks with them for us, but we stick to the store brand seal salt that comes with the grinder.
That salt sounds very fancy indeed! I would love to try that.
Sea salt, not seal.
Fun! I have never tried pink salt. You’d be broadening my horizons!
I only buy sea salt, but I buy it at Trader Joe’s where a huge thing of it is like a dollar-fifty.
I’d want to re-gift this to a friend. She LOVES salt. As in she carries around her own salt shaker. No joke.
I love you, Swistle!
I buy a huge thing of sea salt that I mostly use and then I still have regular salt for my husband and guests and sometimes baking. But I love the sea salt because you can use only a teensy bit and get TONS of SALT. I love salt. But I’ve not ever really seen other kinds of salt and I’ve only heard of grey fleur de lis salt (or something like that) because I have a recipe for caramels with it and I just used regular sea salt because I couldn’t find the fancy French grey salt anywhere but online.
That’s the fanciest salt I’ve ever seen! I’d love to be that chi-chi for awhile!
I generally use Kosher salt to cook with, but I always have some cheap salt on hand too for making play dough.
I am fascinated by $13 (which I assume is actually worth much more, since HomeGoods usually has stuff already discounted) salt. I would very much like to impress my snobby friends with it on some sort of roasted winter vegetables.
I personally buy regular old Morton’s, mostly because I cannot resist that little girl in the raincoat, but I also have a box of Kosher Salt (although it’s also Morton’s) that I use for cooking because…I don’t know. Better Homes & Gardens told me it was better. Or something.
p.s. I am coming to your house and stealing the adorable bird decals IMMEDIATELY. Or at least as soon as you send me your address.
I’ve never had any sort of fancy salt before. I think I bought kosher salt once, but it doesn’t fit in my salt shaker.
I would totaly keep this for myself, because I always WANT to try fancy salt, but it is generally price prohibitive. As far as the salt at our house, we use a bowl of kosher salt for sprinkling at the table and also for cooking. Much better than iodized, which is only good on fast food french fries :)
that is awesome. I’ve never tried fancy salt before. I’ve never SEEN salt like that before. COOL. :D
I totally LOVE those bird stickers! I cannot believe they were only $3. Must.Find.Nearest.Home.Goods.Store…
I don’t buy fancy salts but this is something my husband would love. He is adventurous like that.
Ooh, pick me! I have a sea salt grinder, which I LOVE, but I’m always up for trying new kinds of salts! :)
I would like to try fancy salt! I purchase the cheap stuff as our budget is so very, very tight, but I do have some sea salt for finishing foods with – it just tastes better!
Those salt chunks look just like chunks of my salt lamp, which is a large lump of Himalayan salt with a hole gouged in the center for a light bulb. It’s very pretty lit up.
The local health store here sells hundreds of salt lamps every year, some of them as tall as four feet tall and weighing over seventy-five pounds! That’s quite a chunk–or boulder– of salt.
So– all that to say, I had no idea you could actually EAT that kind of salt. But hey, I guess why not? So if I had some, I would definitely try it. I’m usually a cheapest-brand-of-table-salt-you-can-buy shopper, but I like the idea some of the other commenters have about having fancy salt on the table. Maybe that would be a good excuse to get a salt grinder to match my pepper grinder, and would definitely feel more gourmet.
That is a good gift. Definitely something that falls into the I wouldn’t buy it for myself category. But normally I use regular salt or this sea salt that comes prepackaged in a disposable grinder.
I am in love with the salt sales copy. That alone is enough reason to covet this amazing mineral!
I have actually never tried any sort of special salt. But I enjoy salt, especially big flakes of sea salt on top of chocolate-covered caramel. YUM.
Also I love the bird pitcher and the branch decal. It’s so fun to see what you buy!
I love that the salt comes with a little grater ;) How much fun, to grate your own salt! I’m a salt fiend, but I’ve never been a picky one – as long as the food is salty, I am happy!
Love fancy salt! I have gray fleur de sel right now, so pink would make a lovely combination.
as it so happens, I recently read another blog post with a delicious sounding recipe using this exact salt. I must own it. Please pick me.
here’s the link to the delicious recipe, if you are interested, and a small block of salt falls out of the box before sending:
http://www.mooseinthekitchen.com/2010/11/21/kale-salad-that-in-no-way-resembles-an-unfortunate-dinosaurs-hide/
I am a sucker and always go for the Morton’s. The BEST salt is the Morton’s Popcorn salt. PERFECTION with my stove top popcorn. Mmmm!
Pink salt – how fun!! I have recently discovered finishing salts and now I love them. Great choice!
I’ll be honest, I have no idea what kind of salt we use. My brother left a big container when he moved out (2 years ago) and we’ve been using it ever since. I probably shouldn’t admit that…BUT fancy pink salt sounds awesome!
I would love to win.
I buy store brand salt…I did buy my sister fancy salts last year for christmas (Hawaiian, sel gris, and one other I cannot remember).
livinia@gmail.com
I just went to Home Goods yesterday – I LOVE that store! Didn’t see those salts, but how fsuancy!
Hang on, there’s such a thing as fancy salt? I am SO uncultured.
We use Morton’s Sea Salt, but we did buy some fancy salt (large crystals in a tin with a clear lid) for appetizers and fresh tomato & mozzarella salads. I have to say the fancy salt is definitely yummier than plan old salt or the sea salt.
They say exotic salts are the new gourmet gift (replacing coffee, wine and even chocolate!). So sign me up.
I’ve always wanted to try out salts like that..I think that’s an awesome gift idea too!
I am a generic/Kosher kind of cook. Scott would LOVE this, though. Perfect Christmas gift.
I LOVE fancy salt! It is so yummy, and much of it is far healthier than plain table salt–lots more minerals and less sodium with delicious taste!
I use kosher salt for cooking a lot, but sea salt for the table shaker and nicer sea salts for sprinkling on top of fancy stuff!
Wow, how cool! I didn’t even know this kind of thing existed! I normally get the cylinder of store brand or the box of Morton’s Kosher salt. Nothing fancy round here!
Hmm I can’t decide if I’d want to keep it or gift it! I’m a food blogger so it WOULD be cool to use this on the blog. However, I have relatives who would like this sort of thing too… a dilemma!
i love fancy salts! we use sea salt everyday but had the pink salt for a while and used that everyday and loved it. i have a selection of flavored salts that we use for popcorn or topping off a steak or in dressing and we love truffle salt to make things taste just a little bit better.
I have that lady bug notes set! Apparently, Canadian or American, that set is available to all! (I found mine cheap at a store called Winners… which is sort of like a discount brand name clothing and other random items store).
I bought fancy salt at a famous salt mine in Poland (Wieliczka) as a souvenir gift for my grandma.
Now I’m armed with so much Polish knowledge and no reason for it. That’s pathetic enough, right?
I am very intrigued!
I have been wanting to buy exotic salts for my dear sister but the choices! Pink! Grey! French! Himalayan! It’s all too much! But if I win, voila! problem solved.
Ohhhhh Ive always wanted to try that Himalayan salt!!
I have been wanting to try Himalayan salt for a long time but have been working through my supplies of iodized salt :P
Very strange this post is on salt because I spent at least 5 minutes tonight looking at salt in a large grocery store! I was on the hunt for some garlic salt for my pizza. I had no idea so many “salts” were out there! Sea salt and garlic! I’m so going back to check this out even further. I have normal morton’s salt, but that is soon to change!
Ooo I’ve been looking at all the prettily colored salts lately and wondering whether I can justify the purchase. Now I might not have to :)
The salt fascinates me. I’m definitely a Morton’s girl, and I am wondering why this stuff is pink? Still, it sure would be fun to try.
Thanks for your generosity! I am still working on a canister of sea salt from Trader Joe’s, but now that we live 25 miles away from the nearest TJs, I’ll probably just buy the store brand. (Plus, iodine to prevent goiter!) I’d love to try the shmancy salts: I bought a set of 3 for my sister a few Christmases back.
MMMM I love me some salt and would love to try some fancy salt.
yum…salt…my mouth waters just thinking about it
I love fancy salt. We mostly use Mortons though but would love to win!
That might be the weirdest thing I have ever seen. And therefore worthy of investigation personally…or with my friend Lauren who likes to investigate weird foody things…
Pick me!
How did I ever miss out that there were so many different kinds of salt??
Oh, man, I’ve never tried fancy salt beyond the sea salt and the salt that came in my salt grinder, but I’d love to. And that’s because I’d straight-away make your salt brownies with it.
(I made them for the first time to take to Thanksgiving weekend, and OMG I DIED.)
I’d love to try this salt. Yum.
OHMYGAH fancy salt! Fancy! Salt! Squeeeee!! One of my favorite useful/decadent things is fancyness in kitchen forms! Wheeee!!!
i currently find myself with 2 kinds of salt in my cupboard, which is pretty unusual for me! i do have 6 kinds of flour though, and i use them all so no doubt i need more salt!
I’ve never seen salt like that. It seems like it would be such a luxury to have fancy salt! We have Morton’s for baking (not the store brand), and a grinder for most seasoning.
I LOVE SALT.
Is it a sin that I have never given a moment’s thought to the idea of fancy salt? Sure, we use big chunky kosher salt for grilling steaks, but that’s just so it doesn’t all dissolve away, I think. Not really sure.
That being said, I buy whatever salt is iodized and cheapest. But I am fascinated enough to want to taste fancy salt.
I go for the rock salt or flake salt for cooking, regular ol’ salt for baking.
The flaked salt is SO GOOD because of the way the crystals melt on your tongue in just the right way.
Mmmmm yummy!
mmmm salt. However, I usually only use regular salt. But I’d love to try fancy salt! can I say it again… mmmmm salt!
I love the turtle clips! I like clips too for the fridge and for a long time had quite the turtle collection going.
Oooh! Pink salt! I would go and try and find it at my HomeGoods, but that place is a roll of the dice. I am sure it is impossible to find the same thing on more than one visit. But now you’ve got me wanting to go there and see what they have! Fun! Pick me!
Count me in for the salt. I always buy the Morton salt, and despite having a pepper mill, could never spring for a salt grinder. This sounds awfully fancy!
nightchild84 (at) hotmail (dot) com
Oh man, kitchen stuff is my weakness. We don’t even HAVE a Home Goods (I know!!!) so I can’t even go out and buy it myself… so I hope I win!!
I just wanted to let you know I ran across your site via Sundry and am now working my way through the archives…I love your blog!
Sounds like something fun to try. Thanks for the giveaway! We use Morton’s Kosher Salt on a daily basis.
I used to work at an organic market that sold this brand of salt….though the only variety we had was in a small shaker. I love the idea of the big cubes and the grinder! So cool!
Ooooh, I’ve wanted to try this kind of salt since I bought my Salt Rock Lamp! I think it’s made of the same thing? I guess I could just go lick my lamp, but it’s so pretty, I’d rather not ruin it by eating.
Seriously, great gift idea!
Oh yay! I’d love this, but never buy it for myself.
If I won, I’d have to make your salt brownies with it to see how those are.
I cannot express how much I want this! Being raised by hippies- salt was prohibited by my father because of some “salt war” that happened in ancient times. The details of that story I have somehow forgotten over the years. I do use salt in my home but only sea salt and I would love to try this fancy stuff!
We buy the Morton Kosher stuff.
That looks like a great giveaway. I get the Mortons sea salt.
dawniawnie (a) aol.com
Oh cool! I always see the Iron Chefs using big ol’ slabs of this stuff, and for some reason, I always want it although what would I do with a big hunk of salt like that? Oh well, even if it’s not the most special stuff on earth, my brain now thinks it is. Thanks, Food Network!
Ooh lala! this is so fancy, although it reminds me of the salt licks in my grandpa’s cow pasture…
I love the wall decals!!!
I’m with chellebird. You must taste it if I win!
I have birdstickers like that and DH made fun of me because I had one perch on the frame around the closet. He told me I broke the fourth wall.
And I LOVE LOVE LOVE the bird pitcher! I would find excuses to use it.
I can almost taste it already in the salt brownies…
mmmm, mmmm
We use mortons and kosher salt but that looks interesting!
At our house I don’t usually use a lot of salt, but after reading the salt brownie recipe and seeing these lovely items, I am going to get to baking! Great site as well, thanks for sharing!
We use Morton’s Kosher salt, but this stuff looks fun! I wonder how this salt would work with homemade salted caramels. mmmmmm…
That’s pretty neat! Good choice.
If I won, I would ask you to send it direct to my brother and SIL, since they live in America and I’m in the UK.
Cool idea! Growing up near the Great Salt Lake, special salt is not really that big of a deal. But pink salt! Now that would be a change.
I usually use the kosher salt. But that pink salt looks awesome, totally something I want to try, but wouldn’t get for myself. I really love the wall decals, might go to Home Goods this week.
I like kosher salt for the bigger crystals, so that pink stuff would be right up my alley! But you’re right, I’d never spend that much for salt for myself. My email is adlib and my ISP is netcarrier, with a com at the end.
The fanciest salt I’ve ever bought was the crystal sea salt to go into my Pampered Chef salt and pepper (twist to come out) shaker I received as a wedding gift.
I have Morton’s salt and I hardly ever use it, except for baking. I almost exclusively use kosher salt. I’ve always wondered if fancy, special salts would taste different. After all, NaCl is still NaCl (presuming these fancy salts are still sodium salt and not something else)
I would love to try this salt! I use Trader Joe’s Sea Salt on a regular basis, but have not tried artisanal salt before. How fun!
I’d love to try some fancy salt! In general, I find that sea salt is tastier in my cooking than regular brand salt from the grocery store.
looks like fun
I actually love pink sea salt and don’t ever use the cheap white kind anymore it’s so much more flavorful. Oh, and I LOVE that wall mural! I did a similar one in my baby’s nursery – cute.
You’re right. That’s totally something I would not buy for myself, but I would love to get as a gift!
And I usually buy the generic salt–unless the Morton’s is on sale or something. But I buy it so infrequently, I haven’t the foggiest idea how much it actually costs! (Just bought some last week, no clue what I paid for it!)
Love the idea of fancy salt, but can’t justify the price to my hubby. Usually we by the store brands
I have always wanted to branch out into fancy salts. The most diverse stuff we have tried here is Kosher salt (whoohoo are we “risk takers”). So…. pick me. Pick me!
I love HomeGoods and this is totally the stuff that I tend to hone in on, but then decide against splurging on myself. But to WIN it would be fabulous!!
-Laura
tslwhite(at)yahoo.com
I love HomeGoods and this is totally the stuff that I tend to hone in on, but then decide against splurging on myself. But to WIN it would be fabulous!!
-Laura
tslwhite(at)yahoo.com
Oh I LOVE salt.
Totally adore salt, I’d love to try a new kind! :)
The pink salt would make a lovely gift for the hosts of one of the holiday get-togethers on the calendar in the next few weeks. I love coming up with something a bit special for host/hostess gifts!
I would love some fancy salt, but it would make a great gift….decisions, decisions.
I use kosher salt generally. And I am so very cool and wordly that I had to read your description to figure out if it was the kind of salt you eat or put in the bathtub. I’m not sure what I thought the grater was for . . .
I love fancy salt so I would keep this for my very own self. Stingy? Maybe, but it looks too awesome to give to someone else.
ooh! fancy salt is the best! we switched to seasalt a few years ago and can’t go back. we still have the regular old mortons but it hardly gets used.
I was long obsessed with the sea salt grinders where you have the bigger chunks of salt and a grinder, like a pepper grinder, to create finer grind. It is still a little coarser than your average kosher salt but I do like it. In your awesome salt caramel brownie recipe I did use kosher salt since I wanted the flakes to be more uniform in the brownies. Goodness, I guess I do have an opinion about salt. And I’d like to try the fancy pink salt for sure.
I have never tried “fancy” salt before unless sea salt counts as fancy but I don’t really think so. I wonder what makes that Himalayan sea salt that beigy/pink color! tylerpants(at)gmail.com
i have tried fancy himalayan salt before, and it is delicious. it’s not something i would get for myself, so i would totally keep it. fingers crossed!
Tylerpants- I get the impression from the packaging that WHATEVER causes the pinkness, it MUST be something LIFE-GIVING and AWESOME!
I’ve always wanted to try this stuff! Mostly because it is pink!
Ooooh, intriguing!
Oooh, intriguing!
The color is lovely. I’m curious about what mineral causes the pinkness, too.
I would combine it with some homemade sauerkraut as the perfect gift for my secret santa for my family’s gift exchange.
Posting again just to say I am BLOWN AWAY by someone with my same first name who also uses the same nickname for email and stuff. Wow. (Said person is Libby above who posted on Nov. 30.)
I am all about the salt…and i’ve never tried anything fancier than kosher salt, so this sounds neat!
This looks so interesting. I’ve never seen such fancy salt. Thanks for the giveaway.