Saturday, February 3, 2018

What is trending this year?  Let's talk.

Returning from the Gift Market, I can report that INSPIRATION is definitely on the rise.   Everything from jewelry to t-shirts to signage, there are words of wisdom, inspirational thoughts, clever quips and more which are meant to raise us up and put hope and a smile on our faces.

This is really nothing new.  Every few years we see INSPIRATION return as a theme for the year.  And this year, with all the politics, division, etc. etc. going on around us, there is no doubt that we need some positive thoughts and a means for making our journey through life a bit happier.

We also saw once again HOME as the center for where we spend our most important hours, with our most important people.  Along with HOME is everything associated with FOOD..accesories for the kitchen, new cookbooks and ways of cooking food, new super foods, new recipes and even a subscription for a box to be left on your front door with all the ingredients for a yummy dinner.

Apparel is popping up in every gift store.  We are done with collectibles (who has the space for more figurines??).  But there is always space in the closet or dresser for new clothing.  Hey, I have even heard of subscription services for "renting" outfits which you can either buy or return after wearing them.

In the gourmet food section, we are seeing a great deal more experimentation with ingredients never to be found in chocolate.  I have saved an article about rose chocolate...more about that in another post.  And to quiet our guilty consciences, more and more goodies are being packaged in 100 calorie packages so that we believe we aren't over eating those delicious snack foods.  Americans are known to be "snackers" and why not make us all feel better about that!!

The Pantone color this year is a variety of purples and that is right down Sweet Tooth's alley.  We have always associated ourselves with that color and even the walls in our new store are a purplish color, our take out bags are purple and some of our favorite jewelry is purple.  This month's birthstone is amethyst and we are showing all the wonderful jewelpops from Kameleon jewelry in that wonderful purple color.

Hey, Valentine's Day is right around the corner.  And Valentine's Day is always a high point of February.  We've got INSPIRATION, FOOD, PURPLE JEWELRY, NEW SCARF VESTS, NEW EVA'S SCARVES , PURPLE ICING ON OUR VALENTINE COOKIES...what more can our sweethearts ask for?  See you soon. Watch this space.