Hello Dears,

Welcome to the final week of June! With half of the year officially under our belts, we’re feeling inspired and hopeful for the remaining summer months and this coming fall.

We kicked off this weekend with some well-deserved family time after a busy week sorting inventory, shipping orders, and prepping for The Washington Ballet Virtual Gala (thanks to everyone who tuned in and helped make this event an unprecedented success with $830,000 raised)!

We hope all of you had the opportunity to celebrate the dads, husbands, grandfathers, stepfathers and father-in-laws in your life this past Sunday! We did, and in honor of Father’s Day, we’re giving you a “blast from the past” with sweet photos of us and our fathers (scroll to the bottom of this week's issue), the men who helped shape us into the strong, kind, creative, and entrepreneurial women we are today!

Speaking of entrepreneurial women, we have the pleasure of introducing you to Gabi Green this week, and we could not be more supportive of her mission! Gabi is an eighth grader at Sidwell Friends School, and the founder of Soaps For a Purpose. In this week’s “Local Spotlight” column we’re sharing details on Gabi’s company and its efforts to distribute handmade soaps to homeless shelters and medical facilities across DC.

We’re also showing off a bright, brand-new addition to our office this week (see the photo above for a big hint)! Our custom logo sign by Echo Neon, adds the perfect modern, feminine touch to our conference room, and we have a special code for Secretly Gifting VIPs interested in purchasing one of Echo Neon’s signs for an office, bedroom, or living space…scroll down below for complete details!

Finally, we're continuing to take orders on best-sellers like our custom beach towels, wipeable acrylic activity boards, and custom beaded passport holders this week. Scroll down for details, pricing, and available designs…and visit The Gift Vault or email info@secretlygifting.com to place an order. Keep in mind that portion of proceeds will be donated to the NAACP this month, and your purchase will help us meet our June goal!

Wishing you focus, fortitude, and plenty of fun this week!

xo,

Ashley and Candace

Co-Founders, Secretly Gifting

Congratulations to @RachMoon

We’re offering a hearty congratulations to @RachMoon this week, the winner of our Instagram giveaway with Sarah Phillips and Michelle Marcinowski of 52 Thursdays (@fiftytwothursdays)! We teamed up with this blog and lifestyle brand to gift one lucky follower a customized beach towel from our Summer Pop-Up Collection, and we cannot wait to see how she styles it this summer!

To shop our pink cheetah print (pictured below) and three other towel designs, click here. Towels can be personalized with a name, nickname, saying or initial monogram. They’re $58 each and make the perfect gift for any sun worshiping adult or kid!

Gifts for Summertime Travelers

With hotels, resorts and vacation communities opening up there’s no better time to reschedule a spring or summer trip that was put on hold! And to make traveling fun again, we have the perfect pick-me-ups for adults and kids:

1. Wipeable Acrylic Activity Boards

$30 each | email to order

Keep children challenged and entertained on summer trips with these durable (and reusable) acrylic activity boards! Each board comes with an erasable marker, and we’re offering four designs for pre-school and early elementary learners: letters, shapes, penmanship, and addition/subtraction. Boards can be personalized with a child’s name or nickname (see examples below) and orders can be gift-wrapped as well! Turn around is lightning quick, and we cannot recommend these boards highly enough for your own kids, grand-kids, or a friend’s little ones! $30 each, two for $50 or four for $95.

2. Hand Beaded Leather Passport Covers

$125 each | email to order

The perfect gift for a fashionable girlfriend or globetrotting teen, these exquisite beaded passport holders must be seen to be appreciated! Silk thread and glass beads are sewn onto the back and front of each sturdy leather cover creating your choice of four different novelty patterns. The interior features three credit card slots allowing this piece to double as travel-friendly wallet for IDs, hotel keys, and credit cards. Each piece can is handmade in India, entirely unique, and customizable with a name or single letter!

*Global shipping times vary for this item. Allow 3-4 weeks. Expedited service may become available pending COVID-19 restriction rollbacks.

Chic Neon Accent? Say No More!

We could not be more pleased with the installation of our custom LED neon sign from Echo Neon (@EchoNeonStudio), and we're thrilled to share this striking décor company with all of our readers! Choose from 15 fun designs including a colorful rainbow, swirly “chill” sign, and Jeff Koons inspired balloon dog… or customize your own with any saying, brand name, or emblem!

Echo offers a limitless range of fonts, colors, and sizes to choose from and Secretly Gifting VIPs are entitled to an exclusive discount on web orders. Simply use code “FRIENDS” at checkout to score $30 off your purchase! Allow 3-4 weeks for shipping custom signs and one week for standard designs. Click here for tons of neon sign inspo, and be sure to share your design with us when you order!

Local Spotlight: Soaps For a Purpose

While most kids her age were making Tik Tok videos or tie-dyeing sweatsuits during quarantine, Sidwell Friends eighth grader Gabi Green was dreaming up business plans for a company that would serve an essential purpose and give back to communities in need. We’re sharing her story with you today because we're blown away by her drive, creativity, and business acumen!

Soaps For a Purpose was born when Gabi opened her Etsy shop, which sells heart shaped soaps made of pure shea butter in a variety of pastel candy colors. Mini soaps are sold in bags of six, and for each unit sold, two are donated to local organization or facility in need of essential hygiene products.

We met Gabi when she teamed up with Chloe Amore Kaplan of Amore Learning in Georgetown. Chloe runs private small-group summer camps for DC-area children, and saw an immediate opportunity to weave Gabi’s mission into her camp programming. As an arts and crafts project, campers (including our children, pictured below) draw and paint notes that are enclosed in the donated soap bags.

But this sweet business isn’t simply a hobby or feel-good project! Thus far, Gabi has donated hundreds of soaps to organizations like Sasha Bruce House, Brooks Place, and MedStar Health in Chevy Chase. You can help her reach her goal of 5,000 donated soap bags by purchasing your own soaps from her Etsy shop! Congratulations of your efforts, Gabi and we can’t wait to see your reach your goal!

Thanks Dad!

As promised, we leave you with two fun photos of our favorite father-daughter moments! We’re incredibly blessed to have supportive, affectionate, and doting dads in our lives, and Secretly Gifting wouldn’t be what it is today without their encouragement. Cheers to fathers, grandfathers, stepfathers, and father-in-laws for all they do for us!