Serenity/Firefly Themed Gift Basket

A little late I know, but I wanted to share my experience from this past Valentine's day.

Now, I don't generally go overboard for Valentine's Day- the beau's birthday is just the month before and our anniversary is right afterward so those holidays get priority in the budget. This year, I decided on a creative, budget friendly little gift basket themed around his favorite series, Firefly.

When I hit the internet I couldn't find another example of anyone doing this, so I decided to record my process in pictures so I could share it here.

Allons-y!


First off, the tools and components:

• Small wood crate- Amazon
• Shredded paper- Michael's Art Supply
• Swing-top glass bottle- Amazon
• Scissors
• Double-stick tape
• Aluminum foil
• Nature Valley Trail Mix Bars
• Kahlua
• Skyy Vodka
• Fruity Oaty Bar wrappers- deviantArt
• Mudder's Milk label- deviantArt

Not Pictured:

• Bao
• Milk

A couple things to touch on here- There are actually quite a lot of recipes on the internet for Mudder's Milk and Fruity Oaty Bars, but the Mudder's Milk recipes all contain dark beer which gives beau headaches and I'm crap at baking so the bars were out as well.

Back to it! I chose Nature Valley Trail Mix bars for my Fruity Oaty's because they have (you guessed it) fruit, and oats! Since the label was proportioned more for a flat chocolate bar than a granola-type bar, I had to smoosh the trail mix bars- luckily they were pretty soft so I was able to do this without any additional tools. 

Nestle it up in some foil...

Wrap 'er nice and snug in the label, and tape...

Repeat as needed!

To mix up my beer-free version of Mudder's Milk, simply do a 1-to-1 ratio of vodka and Kalhua into your glass bottle, and top with chocolate milk, to taste (wipe the outside of your bottle clean at this point if need be). Next, cut out your Mudder's Milk label, hit that bad boy with some double-stick tape and throw it on your bottle!

Bam.

I actually wound up unable to find any bao, so I picked up the most similar pork-buns I could find at a local Chinese place. All I did was place it into my wood crate atop the straw and all was well.

The "bao" looking like boobs was just a happy accident.

I welcome questions and/or comments! Thanks for reading!

  

The happy recipient!

Joss Whedon Loves Sailor Moon

... That, or he saw it once and it was locked away into his psyche. I'm convinced, watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, that Joss Whedon had to have been at least influenced by Sailor Moon. And if not, we have one kooky coincidence on our hands here kids. Allow me to break this down for you, nice and clean starting with the name similarity:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

• Buffy
• Blonde, popular, pretty
• Cheerleader
• Raised by her mother
• "Chosen"/ "The One"
• Starts out spoiled and bratty, eventually growing into a strong, mature leader
• Battles demons/monsters
• Elder English mentor- Giles
• Awkward nerdy friend- Xander
• Lesbian couple friends- Willow & Tara
• Handsome, dark-haired love interest who fights for good- Angel
• Family member (younger female) from an alternate reality/future- Dawn (sister)
• Rival turned ally- Faith

• Large ensemble cast

Sailor Moon:

• Bunny
• Blonde, popular*, pretty
• Tried out for cheerleading squad
• Raised by her mother
• "Chosen"/ "The One"
• Starts out spoiled and bratty, eventually growing into a strong, mature leader
• Battles demons/monsters
• Elder English* mentor- Luna
• Awkward nerd friend- Ami/Mercury
• Lesbian couple friends-  Haruka/Uranus & Michiru/Neptune
• Handsome, dark-haired love interest who fights for good- Darien/Tuxedo Mask
• Family member (younger female) from an alternate reality/future- Rini/Mini Moon (daughter)
• Rival turned ally- Minako/Sailor Venus
• Large ensemble cast

        And here's even one more little bonus for you... The ship in Firefly, as you likely know is called the Serenity, the same name as Sailor Moon takes on when she takes on her alter-ego the Moon Princess, Princess Serenity.

Bunny as Princess Serenity

Bam.

Thoughts?

       Note, Serena/Bunny/Usagi: In the original Japanese, Sailor Moon's name is Usagi, which is Japanese for "rabbit". This is a play on an old Japanese myth that a rabbit lives on/in the moon and in the US Manga, she is called "Bunny" to try and maintain that reference. Why her name was changed to Serena for the US dub of the anime I have no idea but "Bunny" is the most common name used by English-speaking fandom.

*in some versions she's more spazzy but overall she was the preppy/popular sort.

*in US dub

New Avengers Trailer

       A proper theatrical trailer for The Avengers was released yesterday, and it looks AMAZING. Kind of shitty that they just sort of tacked the Hulk on as an afterthought at the end, but then again his wasn't the face that appeared in the most recent incarnation of his character. I'm just glad they left out fucking Ant-Man. Although if Nathan Fillion got signed, I might be inclined to retract that statement. At any rate, here's the theatrical trailer for The Avengers, in all it's high-def glory:

NOTE: You may need to view on YouTube (just click the YouTube logo on the video) in order to see the 1080p option.