Prepare for Christmas Early This Year

If you're like me, Christmas gift shopping is a double edge sword. The desire is still there: we want to show our friends and family that we care and think about them. We want to symbolically tell them that they are still special to us.

The down side is that it can be so inconvenient to Christmas shop. We need to pay for parking (if we can find a parking spot!), we often have little ones in tow that do not want to be with us in the first place, we've worked long days and are tired, the weather is really bad and we're worried about getting to and from our favorite shopping places, or packing and sending parcels in the mail can take longer than originally planned for. The list can go on and on.

This is why I am offering an Early Bird Christmas Offer. If you order soaps from me as Christmas gift between now and the end of November, I will package your soaps in holiday colored wrap, include a small Christmas/holiday note, have your package ready addressed with stamps and will send it off on November 25th, which is generally the last shipping day which will guarantee that all packages will reach their destination before Christmas. (I can also send it earlier if you give me instructions to do this).

Purchase your Christmas gifts in September, October or early November. Simply write a message to me in the 'Message to Seller',give me instructions on what I should write on the little holiday card to the recipient of your gift, and where I should send it. Then cross those names off your list and breath a sigh of relief. Your work is done! That's it.

And all of this for no additional cost.

Then you can spend the time before the holidays concentrating on the important things: decorating the house as you wish, baking the Christmas treats you remember from your childhood, attending your children's Christmas concerts while being able to pay full attention to what your youngsters are doing.... not thinking about all the other things you need to get done.

Nothing could be easier. Everyone deserves to have a great holiday this year.

For any other questions, just contact me in my store: Ultimate Organic Soap

Gift Wrapping and International Sending

I have always been willing to gift wrap and send my soaps off to different addresses for my customers. I am asked about this from time to time, and while I do have a note about this here and there in various places in my store, this is not something I've actively promoted.


I for one know how difficult it is to send gifts to overseas friends and family. All of my family is in Canada, and the longer I live in Norway, the harder it is to show. The children grow fast and it's difficult to purchase clothings, and I certainly cannot purchase books in a foreign language. My other relatives are all getting older and often have everything they need already. And, with me in a full time job, two kids and a lifestyle that includes rebuilding a cabin and adding improvements to our existing house, my trips to Bergen are few and far between. I actually only travel into Bergen maybe 4 - 5 times a year now, which suits me just fine. But it also means that I miss out on finding a big selection of gift articles that I could purchase.


I've been buying more and more of my gifts on the internet and this is something that I have finally been getting good at.


And apparently I am not the only one as I am getting more and more customers who are asking me to do this for them.


Above is a parcel I packaged for a woman living in the USA, to be sent to her father living in the UK. When I sent her a link to the picture of it, she was clearly quite happy and appreciated the fact that she did not need to re-package the gift and pay for postage a second time to send it to her father herself.


But what was a stunning extra treat, is this great feedback she left for me:

Not only wonderful customer service - Nicole went above and beyond when she added a personel note and gift wrapped & sent to my father for Fathers Day for me. I live in the USA. She lives in Norway & my Father lives in England - so it saved me time and $$$ by her sending it direct to him. I will be buying from this seller again for sure. A Very Happy Customer here!

It seems to me that a lot more Etsy sellers could increase their business by offering this service. It takes very little time, and if the right materials are chosen (for example, I use brightly colored tissue paper instead of wrapping paper because it is less expensive and also weighs less - in addition I use lovely, recycled yarn/material as ribbon), it can be very inexpensive.


I personally do not charge any fee for wrapping my soaps. But even a small fee should not stop customers from taking advantage of this time saving offer.


Something to think about.

A Spicy Winter Special

A lovely, lovely soap that smells like Christmas and looks like antique artwork.

A lovely soft soap with a great lather which is then swirled with nutmeg.

On top of this lies a slice of orange, which seeps its crisp fragrance into the air. Combined with the nutmeg, this soap promises to be a great and unexpected gift to any who receive it.

Don't miss out!