Italian charms come to the rescue - all you need is a starter bracelet ($3 to $5 retail) and a couple of charms ($1 to $3 retail).  So for less than $10 you can have a personalized bracelet with special meaning for the receipient.

Of course, there are also many charms specifically designe for Valentine’s.  For example, “Be My Valentine” and “Happy Valentine’s”. 

You should also consider charms with the “love” theme.  For example, “We (Heart) You Mom” and “I (Heart) My Sis”… also, “I (heart) my Wife” and many others!

In conclusion, if you are looking to give a special gift on this valentine’s day take a closer look at Italian charms to see what you can find!

If you are going a gift to your sister, there are also many charms that say “Best Sis” and double charms — charm with two links already attached — that say “Big Sis, Little Sis.”  This kind of charm also has hearts on it; very cute!

There are also many styles for people who love animals.  And charms — like family of 4 — that also has a picture of a family pet.  So, that’s also a nice charm to wear to signify your family and any pets that you have.  Especially, if it feels like they are part of your family too.

There are also quite a few kid charms… like “I love my kids” and “I (heart) my boy” and “I (heart) my girl”…. Look around you can see many styles that everyone in you family can enjoy!

So, what can you do to avoid delays when ordering online?

Here are my top 5 tips:

1) Make sure you are ordering from a legitimate merchant! — One easy way to check is to see if they have any contact info on their website. Do they have an email address? Their phone number? Any other information?

2) Always provide the correct billing address, especially if you are shipping somewhere else! — This is probably the biggest one that most people miss. Many merchants use automatic Address verification to make sure that your billing address matches the address where you receive your credit card statement.

This is done to prevent fraud and to prevent people from using stolen credit cards.

But, if ordering you put in the wrong billing address, this can flag your order as potentially fraudulent and then the merchant has to verify your information by hand… or worse, call you bank!

This can result in significant delays getting your order out to you! So, if you are shopping for Italian charms, or other products, always double check your billing address to make sure it matches the address where you receive your credit card statements.

3) Check your shipping address, especially if there is an apartment or unit number! — Many times people forget to add their unit / apartment number to the address line. Big mistake! Many Postal workers will not take the time to find your name on your mailbox or tenant list and will simply return back your order.

4) Communicate with the merchant — Most merchants send out confirmation email; if you do not get it, check your Junk / Bulk mail folder first. If it is not in there, contact the merchant to make sure they have your order!

5) Pick a reliable shipping carrier. Some carriers, like UPS and FedEx provide tracking… others, like US Postal Service do not.

Well, this is my 5 points for getting your Italian charms order fast! And, I hope it will help you with your online shopping when looking for other things as well.

While in the case of classic charm bracelets individual charms hang off of the bracelet base, Italian charm bracelets have flat rectangular charms that connect to each other to form the actual bracelet.  That is, each Italian charm has a hook that connects it to the next Italian charm forming a loop.

As such, the length of an Italian charm bracelet can be adjusted simply by adding or removing individual charms.  For example, you’d need about 18 Italian charms to create a 7-inch Italian charm bracelet.

When you are just getting started and don’t have enough charms, you can purchase an Italian charms starter bracelet.

A starter bracelet has 18 individual blank charms already connected together.  As you purchase more charms, you simply replace the blank charms with the new charms.

There are many places that sell Italian charm bracelets online, and they typically carry a large selection of individual styles to choose from.  Also, the prices have come down quite a bit, so you can build a complete bracelet for not that much money.

Italian charm bracelets are really a fun and affordable alternative to their classic counterparts.  Give them a try and see what you think!