Candy Favors and Gifts

Laura raced across town wishing the distance between her 48th-floor downtown office and her daughter's school in the suburbs wasn't so far. Hopefully she wouldn't miss any of Caitlyn's end-of-year program. After all, how often does your child graduate from kindergarten?

At every traffic light, Laura punched in URLs in her smart phone hoping to find an idea for promotional products and corporate gifts to give at her company's upcoming corporate retreat. ("Where's a long red light when you need one?")

When she pulled into the school parking lot, she met Michael at the door and they quickly walked to Mrs. Sheldon's classroom just as the program was getting started. Caitlyn was adorable in her bee costume ("We've been busy bees all year long.") and Laura loved hearing the songs and listening to the kids recite what they'd learned.

A quick round of Pomp and Circumstance (the kindergarten version), and Mrs. Sheldon gave each child a gift. A Peekaboo Tin filled with candy favors–Jelly Belly beans in the school colors. As a business executive, Laura had seen her share of promotional giveaways and conference gifts and promos, but she'd never seen anything like this. On the lid of the Peekaboo Tin was a beautiful full-color photo of Caitlyn and Mrs. Sheldon. Laura looked around at all the other kids, and they were each holding containers with their own photos on them.

"I know you're a miracle worker, but how in the world did you pull that off?" she asked Mrs. Sheldon with a smile and a shake of her head.

"I'll tell you my secret: MyJellyBelly.com."

On the drive home, Laura was praying for red lights. She found MyJellyBelly.com on her smartphone and looked at all the possibilities for corporate gifts for the company retreat. By the time she got back to her office, she'd decided on the iSlice Cutters. She uploaded the company's full-color logo, added appropriate text, and voila, she was done.

It's amazing what you can learn from a class full of kindergartners.