By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
December 20, 2000
Sure, everyone loves the holidays. But if the preparations and chores surrounding the season to be jolly make you want to spit out, “Bah humbug!” simmer down. There are plenty of people who’ll provide services to make your holiday that much easier.
For a price, of course.
HOLIDAY GREETINGS: Now that you’ve received a stack of holiday cards, it’s your turn to give back. Don’t dread it. The folks at Snow & Graham (312-243-7305) not only will address and mail out your cards for you, but they’ll even create handmade ones. Cards start at $3 each, plus $1 per card for addressing and mailing. (The customer pays for postage).
Or Just Call Jodi (847-926-4053). The personal assistant service charges a flat rate of $25/hour, plus postage or overnight delivery costs.
And if it’s simply a matter of your hideous handwriting being illegible, you might consider handing over your database of addresses to your local Kinko’s. The photocopy experts will print out address labels at 30 cents per entry. (You still have to do your own mailing.)
BON APPETIT: Still haven’t recovered from roasting that Thanksgiving turkey? Try catering in your holiday dinner or hors d’oeuvers for your New Year’s Eve celebration. Most of the grocery chains, including Dominick’s (800-894-2100) and Jewel (800-539-3561), offer crudites, sandwiches, dips and desserts.
Over at Hearty Boys Caterers (773-244-9866), blue cheese and spicy walnut tureen is the most popular item. “It’s a soft cheese spread for crackers and a lot more special than just sticking a slab of cheese on a marble table,” co-owner Steve McDonagh says. “Our customers can’t get enough of it.” But you can–at $14 per pound. Other favorites are the spinach parmesan balls ($6 per dozen) and the sesame chicken satay ($7.50 per dozen). They will deliver (about $25), but you can save yourself bucks by picking your order up.
Mitchell Cobey, owner of Cobey Foods and Catering (312-397-0090), says that he virtually never runs out of hors d’oeuvres because his shop keeps a freezer full of selections for customers on the go. Cobey will also make up special delicacies. Customers may pick up the food or have the treats messengered (prices vary depending on distance).
LOOKING A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS: Still cleaning out the pine needles from your car from hauling home last year’s Christmas tree? This year it might be worth trying Fertile Delta (773-929-5350). You pick out the tree–or have the staff pick one out for you–and staffers will deliver it to your home, set it up and even decorate it if you ask them to. Costs range from $8 to $35 for tree delivery, $10 to $25 to set up the tree and $35 per hour to decorate the tree–the customer provides the decorations. And when you’re sick of looking at it, they’ll come by and haul it away for $10 to $25, depending on the size of the tree.
THAT SOMETHING SPECIAL: Sometimes it’s best to call in the professionals when it comes to buying gifts for finicky folks. “I do a lot of gift buying around this time of year, especially for men,” says Holly Pappas (630-660-8715), a personal shopper for the last 19 years. “Most of the time we have things already preset up–I’ll already know what the wife or girlfriend’s tastes are. But sometimes you just have a make a judgment call and go with your instinct.” Pappas charges $100 to $150 per hour for her services.
“I ask appropriate questions about the person who’s getting the gift,” says personal shopper Mark Gill (312-421-8757). “I ask if they enjoy the opera or the racetracks, if they collect art or go to raves. Do they hang out with their buddies from their fraternity, where do they live, where do they go on vacation–that sort of thing.”
All this is yours for a flat rate of $200 per hour. If there’s time left over, you can use Gill’s services to update your own wardrobe. He has two of the sharpest eyes for fashion in the city.
ASSEMBLY LINE: Bought a bicycle for the kid but you don’t want to put it together? If you purchased it at Toys R Us, you’re in luck; crews there will assemble a bike for $10.
*****
In a season when one-stop shopping can be the greatest gift of all, Complete Concierge (773-975-0228) is ready for almost everything. Staffers will assemble your gifts, select and trim your tree, even “personalize” your cards, all for a fee of $25 an hour.
“We’ve done cards in the the past that looked personal, rather than like someone was paid to do them,” says head concierge Sheryl Wilson. “We’ll put things on there so that it’s not just a card with a name on it. We’ll write, `See you in the new year,’ or `Let’s get together for a drink soon.'”
If you’re going to be out of town, Complete Concierge will water your plants and look in on your pet.
“A lot of people want special toys for their cats,” Wilson says. “And one woman wanted something for a puppy. But it had to be something unique. So I flew to New York to this really weird store in Soho and found the perfect little tiara.” Laughing, she adds, “We buy gifts for people, too.”
