Archive for August, 2009

I found a beautiful, cheap jewelry box online!

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

Finding everything I needed for my wedding ceremony and reception was a lot of work, but went I went to pick out a gift for I bridesmaids, I realized that the other things had only been half of the battle. I had a really difficult time finding exactly what I wanted to get for them. I saw all kinds of possiblities for wedding favors for bridesmaids and wedding guests on the Internet. Narrowing it down was the big challenge. I stumbled across some wonderful low-priced thank you items as well. I got a really good deal on a wedding set that had a ring bearer pillow, a flower girl basket, a guest book, a pen, and eight pieces in total. That was a big savings. Buying them together rather than individually saved me a pretty penny.
I knew my bridesmaids would be thrilled if I got them an elegant jewelry box, and I found just that while I was perusing through the thank you gifts. As I looked, I discovered a variety of high-quality wedding jewelry boxes. The choices for what to get my bridesmaids were so many that I finally just went back to planning the rest of the wedding because my head was spinning. I still had to get supplies and accessories for the reception even though the wedding ceremony was all but taken care of. The wedding favors for relatives and close acquaintances hadn’t been settled on, so I looked at doing that, and then there was also the matter of a wedding cake topper to look into. I opted for a bride and groom salt and pepper shaker set and a bottle opener made to look like doves that had a beautiful chrome finish. Normally, I would have gotten some containers for the chrome openers, but the boxes they came in were so adorable that I just went with those. The groomsmen all got a Swiss Army Knife type things from my groom, complete with a file and cork screw.
We got a figurine of a bride and groom holding each other to put at the top of our cake. The newly weds were my ultimate choice, but I checked out a lot of options, and I nearly settled on one with crystals and initials written in silver. Now, I had everything but the gifts for my girls, so I had to make a final decision. I did go with leather jewelry boxes for each of them, and also bought a piece of unique wedding jewelry to put inside. I chose a beautiful rhinestone bracelet for all of them. It was just perfect for them even though it probably sounds like a bit much. There were a lot of choices of discount wedding jewelry available, which meant I could get them something really nice, and still save money. The pearl wedding jewelry I picked out to wear at my wedding was from the same spot. There were some awesome bargains on very elegant jewelry items. The women in our wedding were elated with what I got them, and the men seemed pretty content with their thank you presents, too.
The wedding day was everything that I had fantasized it could be. My groom’s brother caught the garter, and my sister, who’s also not dating anyone, managed to grab the bouquet. Might something come of it? If they did get together and someday took the plunge, he would still be my brother in law, but my sister would also be my sister in law too. You never know!

The Most Affordable Best Baby Shower Gift!

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

Baby showers are growing bigger and bigger every year, it seems like there are more and more ideas and themes to choose from when hosting a shower. Baby showers are the most fun to attend because of all the very cute gifts invitees bring. As for baby shower gifts ideas, there is no shortage of them if you’re looking at putting on a shower. Check out the web and you’ll find plenty of ideas and advice for how to throw a baby shower party, along with great options for gifts. The day can be everything you want it to be if you get the right supplies and accessories for the party. Place card holders or shower favors or whatever you want can be found on the net.
Are you interested in a best baby shower gift to spice up the party? You can help decorate the baby’s room if that still isn’t done with a teddy bear night-light, a wall chart where they can keep track of the baby’s growth, or a cartoon picture album. You can get creative baby shower gifts, like a bunch of diapers made up to look like a cake with baby toys and booties all around it, or perhaps some bubble bath. You can use just about any little item for baby for this super diaper cake, and it’s very decorative too. The new mom will appreciate getting personalized baby shower gifts. Cute little first curl and first tooth containers are an outstanding choice, in my opinion. The boxes come plated with silver, and they are a wonderful thing for the mother to treasure. As with many things, there are ones with blue liner for boys and ones with pink liner for girls. Those small, unique things are what you want to always have a memory of, like the child’s footprints and handprints. Smaller gifts are wonderful, even though a lot of guests will want to give something like a crib or a stroller. You can insist on getting a good present and still find plenty cheap baby shower gifts to choose from. These are things that every new mother can never really have enough of. Clothing for the baby is frequently a popular choice, from socks to hats and anything in between, rather than spending an arm and a leg for a gift. All these gifts a new mother will surely need and use.
A bag for carrying diapers or diapers themselves are not only among the best baby shower gifts, they are also the most practical. I shopped online and found so many items that every young mother has on her must have list. Don’t forget to give your guests baby shower favors if you’re the hostess. A few memorable baby shower party gifts could include little picture frames or brag books. You can buy everyone little candies as well, say a box with baby designs that has cream-filled chocolates inside. There are quite a few options when it comes to gifts for a baby shower. When you get a bunch of presents that you’re going to use as thank you gifts, you can also keep some of them out to be given away as prizes for winning the baby shower games you play.
The Internet offers a plethora of shower gift options for you, whether you’re hosting a baby shower or just going as a guest. I found my baby shower presents online, along with almost all of the items I needed for my wedding as well. It’s easy, convenient and there is just such a fantastic selection of party favors to choose from for almost any occasion you can think of.

Lovely Memory Books!

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

We go through a lot of days that we’d like to remember forever in our lifetimes. If only the bridal or baby showers that family and friends gave you , or your wedding day could go on forever. I keep these memories alive with my cheap memory books, which are some of my most treasured possessions. I have my girls night out discount memory book from the night my sister and my friends threw me a fantastic wedding shower. We took a lot of pictures that serve as wonderful reminders of what a fabulous night that was. I’ve got pictures of the lovely decorations they had for my party and all the places we went that night, and all the fun things we did. We really had a wild time and I’ve got super photos to prove it. Some of the exotic male dancers we saw posed for a couple of shots. They didn’t have any trouble holding our attention. That was my only foray into the world of exocitc dancers, and it was memorable. They may not be as famous as the Chippendale dancers, but these were more than entertaining, that’s for sure.
I got a wedding memory book along with everything else I was buying when I was preparing for our wedding. I’m glad I got one with as many pages as I did. Actually, I had to get two of them to hold all of the pics. Even after filling our wedding photo album with pictures there were still many photos left to find places for. There were also pages for our guests signatures in one of the albums. They were both lovely personalized memory books with my first initial on the left, the initial of our last name, and on the right my husbands first initial. The ribbon made of satin and the special fabric made the album have a very classy touch. There are also refill pages available if needed, and we certainly need them.
I have picture books for every major moment that I’ve lived through. The number of keepsake memory books I have will only go up since I hang on to them all. Right now, I have my bachelorette book, my wedding book and my baby shower books. My boy is one year old and my daughter’s about to turn three. My son has a blue book and my daughter has a pink one; we got the right colors because we found out what they’d be before they were born. All of their momentous occasions are recorded in there, such as their first steps and baptisms. The baby memory books have pictures, handprints, and birth certificates stored there, too. The shower and wedding albums contain one of the inviations that were sent out for each occasion as well. I have so many memories stored in our closet that I could probably start my own picture gallery.
My husband complains all the time about the space these books take up on our closet shelf, but it’s like this, I want to hold on to all the great and special moments in our lives, and the best way to do this is through pictures. With the new video camera I just bought, it’s going to be a little different, because now I have to clear room on some shelves in the den for the videos I’ll be making. With all the videos I plan to record and all the picture albums and memory books I’ve acquired, not to mention all that I intend to aquire, I’ll probably have to make more room in other closets around the house. Well, a person needs to be able to go back in time every now and then, that’s just a part of who I am. These are the most precious years in a mothers life and I’m not letting anything get by me.

An Excellent Wedding Keepsake!

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

I decided that the day I got married was going to be a memorable day for everyone that was close to me. So when I when to pick out gifts, I picked out things that they could remember it by. The gifts I bought were meant to be reminders of what an outstanding wedding day and night we had together. I began by selecting keepsake gifts and moved on to things like a discount keepsake gift. On the web, there are a ton of ideas and options for wedding and reception accessories and supplies. I was able to find everything I needed for my wedding reception as far as accessories go.
On all of my reception tables were floral centerpieces I had made up at the florist and gorgeous floral scented candles that looked as if they were covered in lace and came with a pretty little ceramic holder. I found those online along with the place card holders that were really exceptional too.
The place card holders I decided on were beautiful beaded picture frames that the guests could all keep after the reception. I made up my mind that the people at my wedding woud get practical favors that, afterwards, would be wonderful cheap keepsake gifts. If you’re giving a present anyway, I’ve always felt that you might as well get something that they can make use of somehow. Otherwise, the recipient of the gift will most likely forget about it shortly after they get it. I did my best to make sure that the gifts handed out to our relatives and other loved ones were going to be remembered. Since almost everyone drinks coffee or tea, I got all of the people at our reception a bistro coffee mug. It’s a product that any person can utilize, and the ones I got looked really cool. They came in their own little packages, so I didn’t have to worry about finding favor boxes, I just ordered some festive hang tags to put on each one.
Reception supplies and accessories were easy to find on the world wide web. The cake topper we got ‘took the cake,’ so to speak. I decided to go with something with special meaning to us.
We were playing football together the first time we met, in a friend’s backyard. I got a couple in wedding garb in the middle of a football game to remind us that his first move on me was when he was trying to tackle me. When I look at the wedding cake topper, I think of both our wedding day and the day he first tried to tackle me. [spin]I was really surprised that I had found such a novel wedding cake topper as this one was, and not only that, I also found gorgeous wedding

The Most Elegant Personalized Wedding Guest Book

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

The amount of possibilities can be overwhelming when you’re when putting together a ceremony and reception, but it’s also quite a thrill at the same time. My daughter and I were planning her wedding day together and the hardest part of the whole thing was getting her to make up her mind. She had to select the kind of wedding she wanted to begin with, either one with a specific type of motif, or to go with a more standard type of ceremony. She studied every possible variety that we could think of, and she just ended up getting more and more confused. For her special day, she thought about building the wedding around a lakeshore setting, and then she considered a wedding in an outdoor garden setting. After all the debating, she ended up with the traditional. When she eventually made that decision, it allowed us to get the preparations underway.
We shipped out the invitations, and we signed up to reserve the church for the ceremony and a reception hall for the reception dinner. She had her gown and the wedding party attire was all taken care of, so mostly what we had to concentrate on now, was the reception supplies and decorations. We had to pick out a wedding guest book and a photo album and a few other items that we’d need. A lot of the many wedding guest book and pens we found had gorgeous art work on them. We had our pick of adorable wedding pens that went with the guestbooks, too. We still had a few items to find when my daughter ran across a six piece wedding set that had a solid white satin cover with satin bows and rhinestones. There was a lovely unity candle, ring pillow, flower basket and wedding garter. This gorgeous satin set also included a wedding guest book and pen that also matched perfectly. The price was so reasonable and the selection of wonderful choices was so wide that we were stunned. We also found the perfect wedding album with a place for special keepsakes and scrap-booking pages as well. It really was a beautiful photo album.
At last, we got around to buying wedding favors, a topper for the wedding cake, and place cards holders for the reception. That was all we had left to pick out. Our blushing bride picked out a pair of glazed porcelain doves to use as her cake topper. The pair of doves will make an exquisite figurine that will help her memories of the wedding day last a lifetime. Every guest got a place card holder at the reception that was silver and in the shape of a picture frame. She said she liked those best because after the reception the guests could take them home and use them to display their favorite little picture. After looking at all of the items she selected for her ceremony and reception, I’d say she did a pretty good job of it. The extra cash she was able to hang on to by finding good deals is going to get spent when they go on the honeymoon.
It was a beautiful wedding, and the reception looked fantastic. Their first dance together made us all realize what a handsome couple this really was. I think my feet are still sore from tearing up the dance floor, but I’ll never foget what a magical night that was, and it was worth every second. My own baby, now married, may have a baby of her own some day. Well, when that day comes, I know exactly where I’ll go to get the supplies and shower favors for the baby shower I’ll throw. Anything you need to plan, any kind of get-together, is on that site. As far as purchasing things on the web goes, that is my number one place to look.

Great Wedding Candle Centerpieces

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

There are so many options for wedding favors for friends and family attending your ceremony and reception. You can choose from a variety of picture frame place card holders, whimsical little novelty gifts for beach themes and others, and many more selections of gifts. I wanted to give our friends and family something that was gorgeous, but at the same time, something I knew they would use, so I decided on candle wedding favors. I found just the right wedding favor boxes I wanted to use and I also ordered special hang tags for each.
For each of our reception tables I ordered beautiful wedding candle centerpieces, just for display. They really looked nice with all the other decorations and the lovely centerpieces I got from the florist. You should see the fantastic wedding unity candle for bridal showers, and all the choices there are for candle party favors for graduations, birthdays and other important events. But there’s a lot more that candles and wedding favors at the place I shop at for wedding accessories.
I bought a complete five piece wedding set which has a wedding guestbook and matching pen set, flower basket, ring pillow and a very nice wedding garter. Buying it in a set was less expensive than buying each piece individually. They carry a lot of discount accessories and supplies, like wholesale candles wedding favors and many other products for ceremonies and receptions.
The cake topper we ordered was really unique and was worth a lot more than what it cost us. Our guests got a real kick out of our cake topper because the bride and groom looked just like us. All that was required of us was to turn in a couple of head shots of each of us so they would have something to work with. The three tiered chocolate wedding cake we had made was just gorgeous and was decorated with all red and pink flowers surrounding it. Right beside our lucsious chocolate perfection was the most gorgeous cake knife serving set I’ve ever seen, and I insisted on buying this lovely calla lily set.
The crystal flutes we got for our friends and family were for them to keep and we ordered special bride and groom flutes for our bridal table. We figured it would make more sense to let our guests have them as souveniers then to try to find a place to put 200 champagne flutes. Besides, we were stocked with keepsakes from our wedding and reception, with our wedding guestbook, album, cake topper and more. Our lovely five piece set that I ordered in gorgeous claret, had our guest book with a small area for little keepsakes, pages for the guests to put their names and list the gifts each guest brought. I think the guest book is important, not only to have everyones’ name that attended, but for later use when you are filling out thank you notes. You want to be able to mention the gift they gave you when writing out your thank you cards, it’s much more personal that way.
Some of our friends and family complimented me on my choice of unique candle wedding favors as their thank you gifts, and told me how much they liked them. Looks like a made a wise choice in wedding favors. As we were leaving for our honeymoon, many of the guests wished us well and told us they had a great time at our reception. Our wedding day is a day that will live long in our memories.

Wedding Party Invitations

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

The first thing I did when I decided to give my girlfriend a bridal shower was to put together a list of everything I was going to need for thte shower. The first priority was finding a graduation party invitation. Dragging myself from shop to shop hoping to find a good deal or a decent selection isn’t my idea of a good time, so I went searching for supplies online. Boy, did I luck out in that department. The prices and selection were both better than I expected. Some of the deals were just incredible. The bridal shower invitations were really nice with silver writing on the front and pearl embossed borders. It wasn’t a place that specialized in bridal acessories, either; they had basic party invitations and wedding party invitations, too, along with other things.
The place card holders they had were adorable, so I got those, along with other supplies. Another item I picked out for the bride was a sign-in book for guests so that she could keep track of who gave her what gifts easily. There was also a cute idea for a place card holder that I really liked. They had these little plastic handbags that I filled with colorful little candies and found place cards with pink lilies printed on them. Next to the other decorations and presents, they were a real eye-catcher. No matter what the reason for the gathering, they have an appropriate favor box to go with it. The boxes I selected had floral designs, and I piled them neatly on a cake platter and set them on the table with all the presents. Every person at the bridal shower took a gift from the platter, and it looked classy that way. I settled on manicure kits for our thank you gifts, and then I got a few more things to be handed out to the winners of the contests that we were going to hold. I got little decorative soaps, purse mirrors, novelty key rings and many other little trinkets that made great prizes.
I went online and got some great game ideas for the party too. In the the game ‘Take It Off,’ each person put a bag over their head and they have to take off one piece of clothing when the leader of the game tells them to, and it doesn’t occur to all of the women to take of the bag; it’s very amusing to watch. This is really a hysterical game to play. We had a hoot playing bridal bingo and some other activities, too. I’m so glad I thought to browse the internet, else wise I wouldn’t have gotten such great deals and accessories. I know I got a super deal on the favors and invitations I picked out. Not only did I get high quality accessories, but they didn’t cost me half of what I had expected to pay for it all, and there were so many options to choose from. This site I found also has wedding invitations and favors, so I made it a point to inform my friend who was getting married about it, since I was sure she would want to know about this place. She’ll have a lot of options when she uses this site, and it will save her a pretty penny, which all newlyweds need. I know it helped to make this bridal shower a success. We all had a super time and all my favors and other accessories really impressed my guests. Now that the party is over, I’m filling out the guest thank you cards thanking them for attending. Naturally, I bought the cards for thank yous over the Intenet as well. Now I have to go back online because I’m helping my friend plan her sons’ birthday party and they have quite a bit to offer there too.

Mikasa Favors!

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

The wedding I went to last week was all set up with gorgeous mikasa crystal accessories for all the reception tables. The place settings were so lovely with all the mikasa wedding favorsand gorgeous mikasa crystal glassware. What excellent taste the bride has in decorating a wedding and reception tables. The mikasa accessories she had really added sparkle and elegance to her already beautiful table settings.
The place cards rested on the tails of these very beautiful little silver doves. The elegance of her reception tables were enhanced by the lovely centerpieces she had chosen. A beautiful floral arrangement was placed around pillar candles as the centerpieces. They gave out fantastic party favors for everyone at the reception. Each one of us received beautiful mikasa crystal wedding favors. The beautiful mikasa crystal was packaged in such lovely favor boxes with nice little thank you hang tags attached.
Deep chocolate cake with chocolate cream cheese topping each of the five layers with the fantastic wedding cake they had. As the cake topper she had a really unique idea. She shopped online for almost all of her wedding accessories and reception supplies and found out they customized cake toppers for weddings. The bride and groom on the cake topper look just like the wedding couple and they did this with only a couple head shot photos of the bride to be and her fiance. They did a fantastic job capturing the faces of the bride and groom. I had to find out where she ordered her wedding accessories from, the cake topper would be great for my mom and dads’ renewal wedding for their anniversary.
One of the highlights of the evening was when the bride gave up her garter for the toss. Seeing all those men as their excitement grew when the garter was being removed by the groom. As the garter flew through the air, they were all falling into each other as they tried desperately to grab it up. One guy didn’t want to be in the garter toss contest, but the other guys persuaded him to do so, and this sweet little widower in his 70’s walked away with the lace garter. As the old man walked off with the garter in hand he was smiling from ear to ear.
The champagne flutes we raised for the wedding toast had the names of the wedding couple and date of the wedding on them and we were given these flutes as extra little gifts. As soon as the toast was finished, the happy couple took to the dance floor for the traditional bride and grooms first dance. They made such an elegant couple as they danced across the dance floor. After their first dance was over, the dance floor was over run with couples. My poor feet suffered the consequences of my all night dancing.
We all wished the bride and groom good luck as they left for their honeymoon. Hawaii was the honeymoon destination, from what I was told by one of the guests. Looks like their honeymoon will be just as fabulous as their wedding was. We all stay for quite a while after the bride and groom left and partied ourselves into exhaustion.
I received my thank you note for my gift and my presence at the wedding and reception, after only two weeks. I was surprised to receive a thank you so soon. I did manage to get the information on the website that she ordered everything for the mikasa crystal wedding from and the unique wedding cake topper too. In fact, I’m getting ready to place my order right now for my mom and dad’s anniversary wedding.

Jewelry Boxes on the Market!

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

Today, we have watch jewelry boxes, earring jewelry boxes, other types of boxes for jewelry, but years ago, pretty much everything was put into standard jewelry boxes. The boxes can be designed in a wide variety of ways. The women who stood up in my daughter’s wedding all got a jewelry box from her, and she picked one out for herself as well. That was just the beginning of what I discovered while surfing the web for gift ideas. All kinds of ideas are on there for weddings in a specific theme, or more standard, old-fashioned types of weddings. Prince Charming and his lovely princess was the theme that my daughter and her fiance went for. They pulled it off in stunning fashion, her with long flowing veil and him with his extravagant tuxedo. It really was a beautiful wedding. A horse drawn carriage with a driver in classical attire swept the two of them away from the church after the ceremony was over.
At the reception, tulle with tiny white lights was draped in a circle and there were elegant flower vases placed everywhere around the room. An arch with green plants and red and white roses climbing up an arch stood behind the newlyweds’ table, while the wedding guests had at their tables an exquisite bouquet of flowers with sparkles that shimmered silver. The reception tables twinkled even more with the silver tea light dove place card holders she selected. The small jewelry boxes each woman at the wedding got as a favor had crystals and flowers beautifully interwoven in their design. All the guys got a key chain with a frog wearing a crown and royal robe on them, which represented the infamous frog prince. The cheap jewelry boxes for the bridesmaids had black velvet-lined interiors and were made of wood and sliver-plated. The date of the wedding and name of the happy couple were inscribed in the boxes. The bridesmaids were very appreciative of what my daughter gave them as a thank you gift. It was a box like I used to have, I had no idea it was a wholesale jewelry box, it was so expensive looking. The guys all got wine gifts sets with their names engraved on a small plaque. I thought that was pretty unique for a thank you gift.
Her wedding cake topper was a really unique little dream castle that really showed off the lovliness of their three tiered wedding cake. My daughter picked out champagne flutes and a cake serving set to tie in with the fairytale-themed cake. Many of her decorations and supplies were top of the line, but she came in well below where I had expected on their wedding budget. They were firm about the fact that they did not want us to cover the bills from the wedding even though, as parents of the bride, we made it clear to them that we expected to pay for everything.
The first dance for the bride and groom was like something in a movie, and it was very emotional for me. It truly looked like something out of a fairytale, just like the ball in the Cinderella story. The guys got so rowdy trying to catch the garter, during the garter toss, that they had me laughing to no end. Everything turned out perfect and my little girl got the kind of wedding and reception she always dreamed of. They are off on their honeymoon, and I’m certain that it will be every bit as fantastic as the wedding. I can hardly wait for them to get back and tell me all about the fantastic sights they saw.

Gorgeous Groomsmen Gift Ideas!

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

When my best friend informed me of a online shopping store for wedding accessories and supplies that could save us a little on the wedding expenses, I thought I’d give it a try. She was right, they had everything from wedding invitations to wedding favors and none of it was really expensive. They even carry super groomsmen gifts and bridesmaids gifts along with all the other fantastic wedding items they have to offer. Naturally, after getting a look at their inventory, I made the decision to order all my needed wedding supplies and decorations at their online store.
First of all, we decided to have a winter wonderland theme wedding since we were getting married in December, and I found so much to work with. I ordered very decorative winter wedding bulletins to send out as invitations. While I was browsing through the flower basket and ring pillow selection, I discovered a great deal on a five piece set with a wedding guest book and pen, wedding garter and the flower girl basket and ring pillow. I thought it would cost a lot more than it did for the matching five piece set. I was reading up on wedding ceremonies and that since throwing petals as the bride and groom leave the church may not be exceptable in many churches and couples are substituting bubbles in place of petals. So I ordered bottles of bubbles from this online shopping site I’m using and they also send you little bubble cards for each bottle.
You should see all the accessories I was able to get for our reception. I bought all the gifts for the entire wedding party from there, including gifts for the bridesmaids, flower girl and ring boy. With all the cheap groomsmen gifts that my fiance had to choose from, it was hard for him to make up his mind.
A mug was the choice for the groomsman favors that he choice and each mug said groomsman on it. Now we had a groomsmen gift idea, gifts for my bridesmaids and everyone that was in our ceremony, so now, I needed to concentrate on what to buy for our guests. There were so many wonderful gift ideas for a winter wedding to give to our guests. The wedding favors I chose were glass winter votive candles with a wintery frosted look for everyone attending the reception. The glass candles had wintery snowflakes all over it. The votive candles came in adorable little wedding favor boxes with a lovely silver thank you tag attached.
The place card holders I chose were beautiful little snow ornaments that the guests can take home as a little momento. I found champagne flutes, cake knife set, and the most adorable whimsical wedding cake topper for a winter wonderland wedding. Our topper was of a bride and groom skiing and I had the top layer of our cake made into a mountain of snow for the happy couple to placed upon. The cake really turned out nice and I made sure there were lots of pictures of it for my gorgeous winter wonderland wedding album. Right after we took care of the cake cutting, and my brother in law toasted us, we stepped out on the dance floor for our first dance together as husband and wife. With all eyes on us as we danced, I felt as magical as a princess in a fairy tale.
This reception was perfect, from the beginning to the end and all of our guests truly seemed to be enjoying themselves. All of my girls in the wedding party loved their thank you gifts as did the guys and their wedding groomsmen gifts. We also got quite a few compliments from our wedding guests about the decorations and the lovely wedding favors they received.

Selection of Gifts For Groom!

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

The bachelor party, the girls night out party, and engagement parties, all have one thing in common, the favors and gifts. You can get the future husband or wife a gift chosen from a lot of different options at these gatherings. I loved some of the stuff my hubby and I got. At our engagement party we got mostly cash in cards, which is also an awesome gift idea, but we got other things too that were really quite neat. Many of the presents we received from our friends and family were small items, like champagne for our wedding, gift cards, sports tickets, and theater tickets. A lot of our loved ones gave us presents, even though it was not required for engagement parties.
The guys at the bachelor party got my fiance a shirt that said ‘I survived my bachelor party, but I don’t remember how,’ along with some other crazy shirts and things. He got more than one bride gift, including some wine bottles and a sun visor that said ‘Groom’ on it. Plus he got a few things that were gag gifts, like the inflatable lady they handcuffed him too, and the ball and chain they made him wear for the party. There were a few other gag bride gifts too that the guys had a lot of fun presenting to him. My girls night out party was fantastic too and I got a lot of gag gifts, but also quite a few nice bride gifts too. I received a present with a big ribbon on top that turned out to be an elegant white evening bag made of satin with a crystal clasp on it. They put a pin and a shirt inside the bag that I had to wear for our night on the town, and there were some make-up and manicure accessories inside as well. They got me a ‘tonight’ pillow that, when you flipped it over, said ‘not tonight’ to go with whatever mood I’m in. What a crazy present that was, and I know I’ll have a lot of fun using that .
We didn’t get any joke bride and groom wedding gifts on our wedding day. We got about three toasters, four blenders and lots of waffle irons, but that is to be expected when you have so many people attending your wedding. We filled out a bridal registry and we received a food processor and china from that, along with some other things I had written down. My mother- and father-in-law gave us a bar side set and a pool table, and my husband thought it was absolutely wonderful, and has already planned a get together with the guys. My parents got us tickets to Greece for our honeymoon. We received a lot of wonderful gifts on our wedding day from our loving families and fantastic friends.
Most of all, our friends and family being at our wedding to share that magical experience with us was the greatest gift. We were able to spend our engagement party, wedding, and reception with them, and we are so glad about that. They have always been there for us no matter what, and I’m so glad we have so many wonderful friends and such a devoted family, in our lives. It’s also great to have such wild and crazy friends in the mix to throw you such fantastic girls night out parties and bachelor parties. Having friends in your life like ours can really make life worth living. The magnitude of our gratefulness for having them as friends, along with the most fantastic families, just cannot be expressed in something as small as a thank you note.

Remarkable Duck Baby Shower!

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

I associated babies with childhood, and I associate childhood with Ernie singing ‘Rubber Duckie You’re the One’ on Sesame Street. It seemed like such a unique idea that I wasn’t sure if there would be enough duck baby shower around to plan a theme around, but I realized what I started looking into it that the idea was more popular than I had imagined. They are really so cute and it was a lot better than I thought it would be with all the online shopping help I got for ideas. All kinds of duck favors for baby showers or birthday parties for little ones are out there on the web, and they all look so cute.
I was holding the shower in my rec room in the basement so I had plenty of room to set up indivdual tables to seat four guests at each. I put baby shower gifts in one corner, and then at the opposite end of the den was a table with appetizers, drinks, deserts, and a layered cake in the form of a rubber ducky and the words baby girl written on it. On the wall I had a huge cut out of Daisy Duck and smaller cutouts of Donald, Mickey and the whole Mickey Mouse Gang.
At each table were little pink picture frames that I used as place card holders and each frame came with a baby duck in the corner. The table settings had duck themed napkins, cup, paper plates, duck candles, and a duck-decorated punch bowl. I bought a bathtub for an infant that was in the form of a duck at a local retail place, and I put the punch bowl inside of it. It was really kind of cute. I found an ice cube tray that made little duck ice cubes, so I put yellow water in them and froze them. Believe me, it was the most ducks you’ve ever seen in one place at one time.
On the world wide web, I found a bunch of great ideas, and that’s pretty much where I found everything I needed, but I did get a few recommendations from some of the people at my school. On the Internet is where I found duck shower favors, such as the precious rubber duck favor bookmarkers I found, and the duck candles, too. The people at the shower thought they were to die for, and they got handed out to the winners of the games we did at the shower as well.
Before the guests starting arriving I filled a big square container with water and placed little rubber ducks in it. Every duck had a number on the under side of it, and every guest grabbed one duck out of the tub as they walked in. A couple of hours into the shower, I picked a number out of a jar, and the person with that numbered duck received an award. We also did the old game where you try to guess which person belongs to which baby picture. I hung a baby photo of every guest who brought their baby picture along on a bulletin board. All of the people at the shower got a good look at all of the pictures on the board, and then they sat down and attempted to guess who was in what picture. The winner was the person who guessed right on the most of them, and they were awarded a shower favor.
The new mom had a bounty of awsome gifts for her baby, and good times were had by all. Going on the net to help me put together this shower was an outstanding decision. I didn’t know how it would all come together, but it all worked out very well in the end. The idea of centering it around ducks made for an absolutely adorable theme.

Finest Energy 8 Hour Energy Shot

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

In an age when Americans will go out of their way if it means they’ll spend less on gas, there is a booming new energy drink category that costs 20 times as much per ounce as Coca Cola – energy shots.

An increasing amount of people are dropping their $3 coffee, and instead purchasing $3 2-oz shots of energy liquid – and most of them taste repulsive.

The market for energy shots is expected to increase by 100% this year, to 700 million in sales – and Living Essentials will likely be responsible for over 80% of those sales, as they created the original product – the 5 Hour shot.

Several companies are already following in 5 Hour’s footsteps – energy shots such as 6 Hour Power, Fuel 7 Hour, and 8 Hour Energy are all attempting to tap into this new industry.

8 Hour Energy, though the name is similar, has taken the industry a few steps further. Aside from caffeine, it includes Acai, Gogi, and Tahitian Noni – three berries known for their natural energizing and dietary properties. Currently, the only other way to get a serving of Acai berry is to purchase a $40 bottle.

In addition to its improved ingredients, The 8 Hour shot contains no calories or carbs, and it tastes great!

“I’ve seen the 5 Hour ads plastered all over the media. But if people read the labels before they buy, I think they’ll go for 8 Hour Energy. It’s just a better quality product,” says Darin Steen, one of the top 10 health and fitness trainers in the world.

In a blind test conducted at the University of Florida, 9 out of 10 students preferred the 8 Hour shot over 5 Hour Energy. Other groups were given samples of the Mr Energy 8 Hour Energy shot, and returned with overwhelmingly positive reviews.

“Wow… after taking the 8 Hour Energy, not only was I able to stay up to study for finals, I picked up a basketball game after! Without it, I probably wouldn’t have managed to do either,” laughed Troy Smith, a Finance major in his last semester.

8 Hour Energy shots are amazing. I stayed energized and focused, and totally aced my final. It’s like time in a bottle,” said Stephanie Wilcox, a grad student in the UF School of Dentistry.

Despite 5 Hour Energy’s fierce advertising budget, Bhelliom Enterprises, the creator of 8 Hour Energy, is confident that their product is superior. “The ingredients speak for themselves,” says CEO of Bhelliom Enterprises, Casey McCarthy.