This week we will  be highlighting China! 

In many cultures Lady Bugs are considered a sign of good luck and fortune, in the world of adoption the meaning of the Lady Bug symbol is more specific. It is thought that if a lady bug crosses your path then its a sign that your referral will be arriving soon. But its long standing tradition of representing good luck makes it a popular choice when decorating and buying gifts for adoption showers! 

This fleece adoption blanket bears the colors of the Chinese flag and "Adopted With Love" embroidered in Chinese. The blanket also has two ladybugs embroidered, symbolizing good luck. This blanket measures 29inx37in (74cmx94cm) and is made with a 2in (5cm) satin embroidered trim. The standard blanket is single-ply, while the deluxe blanket is double-ply (same design, same colors, just thicker and more durable!)
This adoption blanket makes a wonderful first gift for your adopted child, bringing warmth and comfort without words. Plus it is lightweight and easy to fit in your suitcase! Let it become their security blanket as they become part of your family.

When welcoming a new child into your family it is important not to forget where they came from. With biological children they are raised along side their heritage but for an adopted child they have an opportunity to learn the heritage they are raised in and the one they came from! 

Thats why we offer gifts that come from a wide range of countries! So your family can incorporate your child's heritage into your daily life! 

 We will be highlighting a different country in our upcoming entries to show you what we have to offer to help you celebrate your child's heritage! 

 Some examples of these are our Matryoshka Doll ornaments, pens, and key chains! They are special keepsakes and an original way to celebrate your Russian/Ukrainian heritage!

In honor of national adoption celebration month we want to share your stories, and to start us off we want to share our adoption story with you, how "Adopted With Love"came to be and why we do what we do. So here is our founders story;

" My husband and I chose to explore adoption after being unable to conceive naturally. Initially, we intended to adopt domestically. However, a year into the process we decided that the Ukraine Adoption Program was a better fit for us. I am from Europe, so the required travel and language barrier were not enough to scare me away. We were still basking in the excitement of learning that the process would take only 2-3 months, when the Ukrainian government put a one year hold on all international adoptions. So, we waited. It wasn’t easy,but my husband and I got through it together. Things moved quickly after receiving our appointment date in Ukraine, and I was a mom two months later! All in all I feel like I was pregnant for 3 years and in labor for 8 weeks. The journey to our daughter was a roller coaster ride filled with the highest highs and lowest lows I’d ever experienced. Sometimes I feel like I’m still on the roller coaster, as adoptees often face unique emotional and developmental challenges that can be difficult to manage at times. However, I would not change a single thing about the entire experience. I created Adopted with Love to help those touched by adoption. We offer a variety of gifts that celebrate adoption as well as therapeutic resources meant to prompt discussions. Our newest social media feature, Family of the Day, allows you to share your experiences with foster care or the adoption process.
Thank you to all who have shared. " - Anne

Our Adopted With Love coloring book is here! Featuring some beautiful drawings this book is an amazing tool for therapy and communication. Coloring is believed to have therapeutic benefits for children and adults, and according to the American Art Therapy Association "coloring is an active process that can serve as a practice of externalizing focus and redirecting individuals who are pre-occupied in unhealthy internal dialogue"

According to child psychiatrist Dr. Gail Fernandez, both children and parents/caregivers can benefit from interactive activities in the following ways:

1. Children feel more important and loved;
2. Children are given the opportunity to learn from and model parents’ behaviors;
3. Caregivers guide more effectively by learning children’s strengths and weaknesses;
4. Children are more likely to voice opinions and share feelings; and
5. Parents/caregivers and children develop a stronger familial bond.

This is a fun way to spend time together as a family and start communication, its inexpensive and can be added into any families daily routine! 

Adoption Shower: Table Center Pieces (Part II)

Table center pieces can be a great accent to set the tone of your adoption shower, but what if you are celebrating a domestic adoption?  Instead of using country flags, there are plenty of alternatives to celebrate adoption.


Adopted With Love ornaments in pink or blue can be a great way to accessorize your adoption shower.  Hang them from an ornament stand, and place them in the middle of each table.

Want to personalize them even more?  No problem! Grab a Sharpie and add a name and adoption date in the hearts!

Don't want to focus so much on the adoption aspect but more on the love being shared by all those involved in the adoption process?  How about an ornament that emphasizes loving families?

Or just focus on the love everyone has for the adoptee, to which there is no end:

Once you have picked out your center piece ornament, you can easily accessorize everything else: matching balloons, confetti, cupcakes, ...

If you have any creative ideas, please post them on our blog or email them to us and we will discuss them with your permission.  The more the better!

Adoption Shower: Table Center Pieces (Part I)

Table center pieces can be a great accent to set the tone of your adoption shower.  When celebrating an intercountry adoption, the country’s flag can serve as a great basis.  Using a very simple flag, you can make some very creative and festive center pieces on a small budget if you incorporate napkins and confetti.


Chinese Flag Table Center Piece

Indian Flag Table Center Piece

Here is an idea with the Chinese flag.  We placed the flag on top of a red napkin, and laid gold confetti stars on the napkin to imitate the pattern of the flag. Very easy to do! The flag and base are available in our store and the napkins can be found at any party or dollar store in your area.

Another idea, as shown with the Indian flag, is placing the flag in a small vase filled with beads. We found this little glass vase for $1 at our local dollar store and filled it with decorative clear beads and orange metallic confetti.

Ethiopian Flag Table Center Piece

You can expand on this idea by adding confetti with words, and also sprinkle confetti around the vase. This looks really nice on round tables!

And of course these ideas can also be combined with two flags to show the joining of two cultures in one family.

Ukrainian and American Flags Center Piece

If you have any creative ideas, please post them on our blog, our website (www.adoptedwithlove.com) or email them to us and we will discuss them with your permission.  The more the better!

Planning an Adoption Shower: Intercountry Adoption

If you are planning an adoption shower, I’m sure you have discovered there are little or no adoption-specific supplies readily available.  Standard baby shower supplies can be useful if throwing a shower for an infant, but “IT’S A BOY” or pink stroller and baby bottle decorations are not exactly appropriate when celebrating the adoption of a pre-teen or teenager.  Also, with the many uncertainties that come with adoption process, adoption showers are often celebrated after the adoption is finalized and the child(ren) can attend the party as well.

An adoption shower is, much like a baby shower, 
a celebration of family and mother/parenthood.  But with an intercountry adoption shower, you also celebrate the merging of different cultural backgrounds into one family. The adopted child’s country is part of his/her life story and has special meaning to the adoptive parents who spent a significant amount of time in the country.  The adoptive parents’ country becomes a new chapter in the adoptive child’s life story, and over time, s/he will start to feel at home in the adoptive country.

A creative way to celebrate an intercountry adoption shower is to incorporate country flags. You can do this either directly (using the actual flag in your decorations) or indirectly (simply using the flag’s colors, but not the actual flag). The great thing about this approach is that you can fit your designs within your party size and budget, whether large or limited. You can limit your decorations to a simple one-table center piece or color-coordinated streamers, or coordinate dessert tables and cupcakes with elaborate decorations and matching guest goodie bags.  

Over the next couple of blogs, we will outline some specific ideas for table center pieces you can dress up or down, as well as creative suggestions for cupcakes and guest goodie bags.  We will also offer some original ideas for domestic and foster-to-adoption showers.  There are so many things to cover, we can’t wait to share them all with you.

If you have any creative ideas, please post them on our blog, our website (www.adoptedwithlove.com) or email them to us and we will discuss them with your permission.  The more the better!

Welcome to our Adopted With Love boutique

The idea behind our Adopted With Love boutique (www.adoptedwithlove.com) originated from our personal experience of becoming parents through adoption. It was a rollercoaster ride, with ups and downs, tears and laughter, uncertainty and hope, despair and blessings. Throughout our journey, we had friends and family supporting us in a variety of ways, whether a small note with encouraging words, a thoughtful gift, or a listening ear.

When our baby came home, our friends and family threw us a baby shower. It was a wonderful party, a celebration of family and adoption. Many people commented on how they wanted to celebrate adoption with us, but found it difficult (if not impossible) to find adoption-related items. Plenty of newborn and baby gifts, and some books on how to explain adoption to children, but in a time when adoption has become more acceptable and open, still very little to actually celebrate families created through adoption.

So we thought of all the things we found important about our and our daughter’s lives coming together, and the little things we do to honor our history as an adoptive family. The holiday season spent with our loved ones, the memories of our travels abroad to finalize the adoption, our lifetime bond with a foreign country we never thought we would travel to. We tried to capture each idea in a thoughtful item and before we knew it, our adoption gift boutique was born.

We created blankets to give your children comfort on their travels home, bracelets celebrating adoption and family, journals to chronicle your adoption journey for your child, and of course gift bags and decorative table stands to really make a baby shower adoption-specific.

We hope you enjoy our gifts as much as we enjoy creating them. And we look forward to offering plenty more adoption shower ideas to personalize your celebration. Because in the end, the only thing that really matters is a family full of love and support, whether through birth or adopted with love.