Gareth Parkin asked:


Many types of promotional items are oriented towards office use. Items such as pens, mouse mats, paper products, calendars and calculators are designed to keep your advertising message in the work-places of companies that you do business with. But what happens when your clients and business associates leave the office and travel on work-related business? They won’t be viewing your promotional messages while they’re out of the office, and you lose some potentially valuable advertising exposure.

Change all of that with travel-oriented promotional items. These are items that are designed for people on the go, who aren’t necessarily working in a job that confines them to an office for eight hours every work day. Travel items that are designed to make life on the road more convenient are perfect items for your sales employees, or for any client who travels frequently.

Items such as travel mugs, car tool sets, torches and sunglasses are ideal promotional items for people who routinely spend a lot of time driving. These items make traveling more convenient, and safer, too. For people who travel by air or rail frequently, a high quality set of laser engraved metal luggage tags can be a welcome gift. Laser engraving is a particularly good printing method for such items, as engraved messages have much more longevity than a standard printed design, and the great quality of a good set of luggage tags means the items will be used for years to come.

Personal items such as a radio or MP3 player are welcome items, too. Long journeys by rail quickly become less than interesting to people who travel this way frequently, and anything that provides a distraction is sure to be appreciated! Electronic hand-held games are also a great idea, and games such as electronic Sudoku are sure to be popular, considering the world-wide craze for the game that has sprung up in recent years.

Travel kits containing a variety of useful items are also popular gift ideas for clients and employees who are frequent travelers. First aid kits, shoe shine kits, manicure sets, hairbrushes, and traveling toothbrush kits are all specially designed to make life on the road more convenient—each contains several items that will help the recipients of your items look and feel their best while traveling. This can be particularly important for your employees, as presentation is of high importance for your salespeople, and any items that help them achieve a high standard of personal presentation while traveling are sure to be appreciated.

A really special gift for a valued employee might be a travel bag, an executive bag or laptop case. These provide an enormous amount of convenience in terms of storing and moving luggage from place to place, and also give you excellent advertising exposure too, as the bags are moved around between travel vehicles and hotels. This concept presents one of the true advantages of giving items oriented towards being used while traveling—items such as these can really boost your advertising exposure, as they’re very often items that will get used in public.

David Palmer, Ph.D. asked:


School’s in session – and although most of their parents don’t realize it, millions of early elementary age kids are being screened, tested, and sorted in an attempt to find those who need gifted education support services to flourish.

While it may seem that gifted kids should be able to do well in any setting, parents, researchers, and specialists who advocate for this sometimes overlooked group point out that many of our brightest child minds become bored, frustrated, and tuned out – both socially and academically – without placement in a gifted program that allows them to move through the curriculum at their own pace and connect with “mental mates” who may hold similar interests.

While many schools do an excellent job of finding these kids using screening methods like teacher recommendations and group IQ testing, parents shouldn’t be entirely dependent on the schools when it comes to identification. Keep in mind that many teacher training programs require little, if any, course work in giftedness, so some teachers and school administrators may not have all the information they need to recognize gifted children. There are also gifted kids who are not particularly high achievers in the classroom or who don’t do well on group tests. These kids may have problems with attention, have poor organizational skills, or simply not mesh with the teaching style in the classroom, and therefore may be overlooked when it comes to selection of gifted program candidates.

These types of scenarios are not unusual. In fact, some estimate that the majority of gifted children in the schools are never identified. That may not be a tragedy for some, but it very well could be for others who truly need special programming and support to get through school successfully.

I recall one boy he tested privately at the request of his mother who was concerned because her son was getting poor grades, having conflicts with the teacher, and becoming more and more disinterested in school. He was having social conflicts too, being teased and picked on by other students who liked to see his overreactions when they provoked him. It had gotten to the point where home schooling was being considered since it was getting harder to even get him out the door to go to school, which he considered torture. The school had never tested her son for giftedness. Whatever screening process was in place had missed him. Possibly because he didn’t fit the high-achieving, cooperative, wunderkind image that some teachers look for when making recommendations for gifted screening. Yet it turned out that his IQ measured in the 160’s – in the exceptionally gifted range.

This boy’s problems at school are not unusual for unidentified gifted kids. Had he been properly tested and placed in an alternative program, many of his academic and social problems might have been avoided. At the very least, the boy’s parents and teachers would have had a better understanding of his problems and been able to collaborate from a more informed perspective to come up with solutions.

Because schools can sometimes look over gifted kids who may need special programming, your insights as a parent are important. The more knowledge you have, the better position you’ll be in to collaborate with the school to help assure that your child’s potential and learning needs are not overlooked.

SO HOW DO YOU TELL IF YOUR CHILD IS GIFTED?

As you’ve probably guessed, without proper assessment, which involves a professionally administered IQ test, there is no easy answer. There are no universally accepted traits that you can look for and no definitive signs that will tell you for sure whether your child is gifted. However, many gifted children share some common characteristics, and knowing these is a good place to start.

Language Skills

While most children are able to form recognizable sentences and understand complex language by about two years of age, gifted children often reach these milestones earlier. As they approach school age, other language skills may appear advanced or sophisticated.

Learning Abilities

All children (all people really, big and small) have an inborn desire to learn about the world around them – to seek out new experiences, figure out the relationship between themselves and their surroundings, to discover, and to learn. What distinguishes gifted children from others is the apparent natural ease and joy with which they go about doing this. Their brains appear to be mental sponges, effortlessly absorbing and incorporating new information and ideas.

Emotional and Behavioral Traits

Gifted children are often more emotionally intense than others. They can also be more sensitive to others’ feelings and circumstances and may display a great deal of empathy in situations where others their age appear indifferent.

Motor Skills

Gifted children may also be advanced in skills involving balance, coordination, and movement and in some purposeful fine-motor activities such as assembling small objects (e.g., legos, transforming toys, blocks) or putting puzzles together.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU THINK YOUR CHILD HAS BEEN OVERLOOKED

So what should you do if your child has shown many of the above traits, and you feel that he has been overlooked by the school’s gifted screening process? While you don’t want to be perceived as overly protective or pushy, you also want to make sure that those making the decisions have all the information they need to truly understand your child.

Start by talking with your child’s teacher and sharing your thoughts. Parents and teachers are a child’s most important allies and they need to keep each other informed and up to date. Each sees the child from a different perspective and each has a particular insight into a child’s learning needs. As a parent, you’ve watched your child’s development since birth. You’ve seen him at home, at play, with friends, and with family. You’re in a good position to truly understand his specific interests, temperament, unique gifts, strengths, and limitations. The teacher, on the other hand, has had an opportunity to evaluate your child’s learning style, academic skills, and social and cognitive development in comparison to a large number of other children of the same age. It doesn’t take long for most experienced teachers to develop an intuitive sense of their students’ strengths and needs – to evaluate how quickly they learn, the type of instruction they respond to best, and t heir attitudes toward school. The teacher may also help you to better understand the district’s gifted education program and how it is different than what your child is already receiving.

Together, you should be able to get a more complete, objective view than either of you had on your own. Maybe you’ll come to realize that your child would be better off in a general education program since his learning style would not mesh with the type of curriculum being used in the district’s gifted program. On the other hand, in light of the extra information you have given her the teacher may recommend to the district administrator in charge of gifted placement that your child be tested further, maybe with an individually administered IQ test.

If you’ve already talked with the teacher and you still feel that your child’s needs are not being met, then consider following up on your request with an administrator. Find out through conversations with other parents, or by a phone call to the district office, who is in charge of the gifted program selection process at your child’s school. Then write a politely worded letter stating your concerns. Also consider sending a copy to the district’s coordinator of gifted education, the school principal, and the teacher.

Now all you need to do is allow those involved to respond and let the district’s screening process take over. Districts generally want to work with parents and will follow up on most reasonable requests.

Editor’s Note: David Palmer’s Book, Parents’ Guide to IQ Testing and Gifted Education: All You Need to Know to Make the Right Decisions for Your Child (2006) is available online and through Barnes and Noble and other fine book sellers.

SIDE BAR MATERIAL: Remember, IQ tests are best seen as predictors of academic achievement. An IQ score only tells us how a certain child has performed on a certain test at a certain time, and says little about that child’s true potential. Children can be gifted in many ways that are not measured on an IQ test.

Tina Rinaudo asked:


If you have a promotional budget, giving promotional gifts should be a given. Everyone loves getting gifts and getting something with your business’s information on it has the potential to bring in a lot of customers. On each and every promotional item you are giving out, you should make sure your business name shouts out loud and clear.

Although there are many pieces of information that can be put on promotional gifts, your business name and logo are the two most critical items. There will be people who do not recognize your logo, even, so having your name prominently printed on each and every promotional product you purchase and give away is crucial. This will give anyone receiving the promotional gifts a chance to check out your website or call your business phone, since they will have the company’s name to look up.

The order most businesses place information on promotional gifts are as follows:

• Company name – this piece of information on each and every promotional item you have printed will bring in the most customers. It should be in a prominent position on the promotional item, either above or below your company logo. In the event that only one piece of information will fit on a promotional item, or that is all you can afford to have printed, your company name should be that one piece on information!

• Company logo – having your company logo on promotional gifts, especially if it is unique, colorful and eye-catching, can draw a person’s attention to the promotional items. This is a good strategy, since getting a person to look at the promotional gifts is what you need to bring in business. However, a logo alone (unless it has been around for a very long time and is well known) won’t lead people to you.only your company name can do that!

• Other company information – adding your business phone number, web site address and slogan may be possible on many promotional gifts. There is room for all of this information, so long as you have the budget to cover the printing costs. Keep the design as simple and uncluttered as possible, though, so it will be easy to read by those who just get a glance. This is why your company name in a prominent position on the promotional gifts is a must.it has to advertise in just a glance.

• Company address – this piece of information is rarely found on promotional gifts, as it just takes up too much room and makes the item look cluttered. Paper products and folders are two promotional gifts where this information may fit, but again the company name must take precedence.

Promotional gifts vary in size, so the room you have to print company information will vary, as well. If you keep the above order of information in mind, you can surely create a design that will print well on most promotional gifts. It never hurts to have several designs for promotional gifts, though, with various amounts of information included.

Todd Daones asked:


Have you ever seen a product that you would like to promote but you are caught between a rock and a hard place? Promotion is a daily concern. At one point you might be having problems with overseas suppliers or, you are doubtful if your products will ever reach you.

Quick shipment, high satisfaction, affordable prices and free samples are some of the things why people choose Wholesale Promotional Products. More still, you can see products before throwing in your money. There are plenty of photo images that you can view and select from.

Pre production samples show you what to expect at the end of the work. In trade show events, giveaways are very important. But it’s nice to check and recheck promotional items before they are finally made and presented to the target audience. On the area of communication for example, a hitch in translation can mean something else.

Here, include your entire marketing team in decision making. Messenger bags, electronic accessories and apparels are few items and that’s not all. Vases, picture frames, business cards, banners, flyers, glassware, curtains, gifts, and many more others are few more other products.

By exposing marketing messages on products, the visibility of a company is enhanced. Whether the messages are as simple as personalized pens, umbrellas, ashtray, badges and pins, the buck stops at the marketing message printed on them. In few business days, usually two to four, all inclusive product quotes are directly shipped to you.  But how do you select these promotional products before placing an order. Some people do not know the exact products they want. Theme, key word and category are some of the ways of selecting wholesale promotional products.

Keyword for instance, can refer to the characteristic of an item of your choice. If you want “sport entertainment”, “sport” would be the keyword. By typing away several keywords and searching, several results are listed for you to choose what is relevant to you. There’s no shame in this.

Selling can be limited to promotional products. But you might not know how to select the products.  We want to make the task as self sufficient as possible by offering you professionals to aid you when for instance you want customized promotional products. 

How can you import directly from the factory? Cut the middlemen if you want to reap from promotional items. You could put together tens and thousands of dollars by importing directly from us.

At a time when prices of items are climbing and companies cutting down on staff, affordable wholesale promotional products can not burn a hole in your pockets. Factory direct importing can save you a lot if done right. Watch your investment grow by trying Wholesale Promotional Products.