Happy Holidays To You!

Celebrating traditions and making memories with family and friends is the hallmark of the Christmas season. It is also a time to thank those who have shared in your successes, inspired you with new ideas and challenges as well as giving and sharing with those less fornutate. At Midwest-CBK we love nothing more than working on seasonal and holiday decor and gifts because we cherish those values and love the magic of this season - so from our family to yours - we thank you for your business and we wish you and yours a very happy holidays and a happy new year!

Wild, Wild West!

I had the opportunity to visit Austin, Texas a few weeks ago. What a fun, vibrant and welcoming town. People were very nice – and we had fun walking the city and visiting retailers, restaurants and a few musical venues as well. While a true Texas college town – home of the University of Texas, Austin was rich in western history, style and culture. The city was starting to decorate for the holidays. What was truly refreshing was the mix of styles – part Tex-Mex, part country-rustic and a splash of elegant refinement. When we were back in the office we created this wreath display to try and match the vibe we picked up from our retail research. Elegant and festive with the right about of western influence.http://www.mwcbk.com/

Bottle Stoppers Add Style to Any Party

Bottle stoppers make great hostess gifts but we sometimes wonder if people really use them since any great bottle of wine goes pretty fast – at least from our experience. After some debate and sharing observations from a string of recent holiday parties – the answer is a resounding “yes”! Our light up bottle stoppers perched on open bottles of wine on a party table or bar area adds a great sense of style with festive colors, shimmer and shine. They are eye-catching, colorful and even a bit funny. So next time you see them at your local gift or wine shop – buy a couple and keep them on hand as gifts or for your own entertaining. Retailers - shop www.mwcbk.com today and have them in time for New Year’s parties.

Fresh Vintage Style

Hello, we are just back from a two week round of holiday open house events at our retail partners across the country. Our specialty, gift and garden center stores have transformed from everyday merchandise centers to a magical, winter wonderland of great ideas for decorating and gift giving. Every year I am amazed at how quickly these stores turn over their displays and create warm and inviting spaces that put you in the holiday spirit the minute you walk through the door. This year, one recurring trend that was clearly evident in all the stores I visited and from diplays I saw was elegant vintage Christmas themes. Now this isn't retro or old fashioned by any means - it's a bit nostalgic but more "inspired by" cherished holidays gone by. This "new" vintage style borrows style, design, color, materials and techniques from times past but is re-invented to feel right at home today. From chunky glitter, to pastel colors and slight distressing, these vintage style elements make each figurine, ornament and decorative accessory an instant collectible. The photo featured here is our Vintage Collection which you can find at retail right now www.mwcbk.com and as you can see it creates a stunning tablescape and blends well in a traditional and contemporary room settings.

What Year Is It?

What year is it? This may sound like a crazy question to ask. Well, as Trend Manager here at Midwest-CBK, I can tell you it’s not. Check out the view from my desk – truly – this is organized!

After reading this blog post – you may find yourself asking “What year is it?” too.  November is a very busy month at Midwest-CBK – it’s when the seasons collide. You have to look deeper than just the approaching 2011 Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays to see what I am talking about. We are at the peak of our business cycles, where three seasons of product development and design cycles converge. Picture this . . . our 2011 holiday and gift collections just hit the retail market and we are busy helping our specialty, gift and garden center retailers promote their Holiday Open Houses. At the same time – my ROCKSTAR marketing team just finished sending our 2012 Holiday, Halloween and Gift catalogs to the printer (almost like Vogue’s September issue we are at 625 pages). Yes, I said 2012 Holiday, Halloween and Gift. . . those collections hit the gift marts in January and we are busy preparing to showcase and present our new collections to retailers at showrooms across the country. Now, you may be thinking this doesn’t sound too complicated but here is where it gets tricky. . . layer on top of all that I just described - we are also busy looking at incoming product samples for Spring and Easter 2013 . . .2013!

So when you hear the question “what year is it?” from one of our staffers it sounds completely normal!

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