gourmet gifts with a conscience

I recently ran across a new gourmet gift basket website that I think I am going to try out for Mother's Day. In addition to fruit gift baskets that are popular this time of the year, they offer some very unique gourmet ethnic, wine, chocolate, BBQ, and even special occasion baskets that any Mother would enjoy - even my crusty old Mother-in-law.

Sure, there are lots of gift basket sites on the internet, but there are a few reasons why this one caught my eye. First off, I am a sucker for video web presentations lately. I don't know why, but I really dig surprise video clips that integrate nicely into a website, as opposed to obnoxious you-tube-styled "windows" that often break the overall theme or "flow" of a website.

Upon reaching their site for the first time, I was welcomed by "Ryan", a little guy in the lower right-hand corner of my screen who proceeded in explaining why Gourmet Gift Baskets was different fro their competitors, and why their reputation and experience has earned them a #1 position in their industry with Alexa. We're talking about a company that's been around since 1940, too - not some fly-by-night operation. Ryan's legs would disappear whenever I scrolled up or down during his presentation - an obvious limitation of the programming, but it didn't interfere with his short but effective one minute message. Little touches like this make a big difference to me when shopping online, although if I didn't have a high-speed internet connection, I'd probably be singing a different tune.

One of the most surprising features of their service is their same day delivery offering. Are you sitting at home with one foot in the doghouse, and need to get something delivered today? They can do it. Although I thought I would pay through the nose for that type of speedy delivery, their shopping cart was showing me $9.99 for hand delivery. Can that really be the cost of such severe procrastination? Very impressive.

So now I just have to figure out how much to spend on each of my Mother's Day recipients, and what type of basket is going to keep my Mother-in-law off of my case for another year or so.