Greetings and welcome to all our new subscribers! Time sure flies ... in the blink of an eye it seems like the fall blew by and now we're into the start of the holiday season. Wow! I'm still catching my breath ...

The good news is we have some great holidays specials coming up in the next few weeks, starting with our Early Bird holiday special (see details below). If you plan to do some holiday shopping with us this year, I encourage you to set up an account on the dropwise.com web site (for those of you who haven't already done this yet).
There are a number of benefits to having an account already set up and populated with your information. With an account you can

• Save your billing and primary shipping info so you only have to type it in once, making future checkouts a breeze
• Set up a personal address book with the shipping addresses for all the people you want to purchase gifts for, so you can place all your orders at once and designate which items are to be shipped to whom (a HUGE time saver)
• Create a Wish List of your favorite items and share it with family and friends, so you get more of what you really want for the holidays (birthdays and other special occasions too!)
• Log in any time 24/7 to track the status of your orders, so you can rest assured they are merrily on their way.
• Send and receive messages and notifications from customer service

Of course your information always remains secure and totally private. And to get you into the spirit of gift-giving, this week's article is all about the Art of Holiday Gift-Giving!

Yours in health and prosperity,

Donya

EARLY BIRD HOLIDAY SPECIAL: Take 35% OFF Gift Sets

The Art of Holiday Gift Giving: 5 Unique Ways to Share Your Gratitude and Touch Their Hearts

For many people, giving gifts, especially during the holidays, is an obligation rather than a sincere act of love, kindness, generosity or gratitude. Doesn't that explain those completely random gifts we receive that have little practical or even sentimental value?

We all know the tendencies; some of us use gift giving as a way to over-compensate for a perceived lack of self-worth or desire to be liked, while others feel the need to keep score. They're the ones who make decisions about who to gift based on historical performance (i.e. who gave a gift the previous year), or try to level the playing field by giving gifts of approximately the same or perceived value as the ones they receive. This mental score-keeping is time-consuming, emotionally and mentally exhausting, and distracts us from the true intention of gift-giving, which truly is acknowledging those we love and care about.

A gift is an important way of expressing how you feel about another person – it's your way of showing them gratitude for having them in your life. And while our gift-shopping and gift-giving gyrations don't always reflect that, I believe that it's still the driving force behind why most of us give gifts.

Here are 5 quick gift ideas that can support the real intention of giving this holiday season. Read full article here.

Dropwise Essentials is a San Francisco-based manufacturer of pure aromatherapy and organic plant-based personal care products that give people a safe and effective way to relieve stress, increase vitality, improve confidence, or manage their emotional state any time or place without popping a pill. Our products are:

• Free of synthetic chemicals and petroleum ingredients
• Made with high quality certified organic oils and pure essential oils sourced from around the world
• Packaged in re-usable or recyclable materials
• Hand-made locally in northern California

Dropwise Essentials was founded by Donya Fahmy, a writer, producer, and consultant whose avid interest in the curative powers of aromatherapy and herbs ultimately led her to design and create the seven products and seventeen unique essential oil blends that make up the current Dropwise product line. She has studied aromatherapy with Carol Schiller - a successful author of several aromatherapy books - and with Dr. Daniel Penoel - a renowned expert in the field of medical aromatherapy.

Dropwise Essentials is a proud member of the Indie Beauty Network (formerly the Handmade Beauty Network), the Green America Business Network (formerly Co-op America), Green Product Alliance, Natural Ingredient Resource Center, and a Friend of PETA. We were among the first companies to join the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics by signing their Compact for Safe Cosmetics - which simply formalizes our existing commitment to formulate products free of known or potentially toxic ingredients.