Saturday, March 1, 2008

Planning A Surprise Party

Use your imagination and know exactly what the likes of the “celebrant” are as well as his/her schedule so you can successfully host a surprise party that your “guest of honor” will love.Here’s a guide to help you out:1. Guest list. As this is a surprise, then you can not coordinate with the “celebrant” who she wants for her party. Ask her best or closest friend, co-worker or the mom so you can have an idea. 2. Date. This can be really hard when you do not know your “guest of honor’s” schedule. Here again, ask people who she often sees or works with daily.3. Theme. When you know her preferences, then it will be easy for you to decide on a theme. Is she a movie fan? A sports fanatic? Loves to cook? Loves the beach? Loves to play cards?4. Party location. Keep in mind to consider how many guests are coming when choosing the party’s location. Keep in mind, too, that this goes with the theme that you have chosen. For example, you choose to have a Caribbean theme party. Select a restaurant fronting the beach or with a pool. If you have chosen a casino party, choose to have it indoors with air-conditioning.5. Setting up the party. If you have chosen a Caribbean theme party, have the guests come in their colorful costumes and you can decorate the place with lots of tropical plants and flowers and torches. See to it that you also serve a little assortment of Caribbean food.If you have chosen a casino party (when your guest of honor loves the game of cards) you can set up tables of poker and rent slot machines.Should the party require a costume, better have one ready for the “guest of honor” so that when she arrives, she can readily change into it.6. Music. Select music that would best suit the personality of your “guest of honor”, or one that would suit the theme of your surprise party.7. The day of the party. Have someone pick up the “guest of honor”. For example, have her best friend invite her to dinner and bring her to the surprise party instead.Have some close relatives and friends say something about the “guest of honor”.Hire dance instructors to dance with the guests as well as a party DJ to make the party lively.Enjoy and feel contented; a happy “guest of honor” is soon to thank you for a surprise party well planned.

Hosting A Party For Your Teens

It entails a lot of effort, but yes, it can be done. Here’s how:Choose a theme together with your teen. Listen to your teen what he/she wants to have in her/his party. When having difficulties in choosing the theme, you both can look on the internet for teen party ideas. Or here are some suggestions to help you get you started:1. Pool steak barbeque or beach party. If you have a pool at home, this can be a great idea. To imitate a beach scene, you can cover certain areas of your yard with white sand and serve refreshments along with making a barbeque. Here, you can create seashells attached with thin ropes and tags carrying your party details.2. Beads and crafts party. For teen girls who love accessories, a beading party can be a lot of fun. Consider providing trays of different beads and craft materials as well as books on beading so teens can be very creative with their necklaces and bracelets. Each gets to take home their finished bracelets after.Serve pizza and cold drinks or fruit shakes to satisfy their hunger after all that work!3. Home movie theme. You can have movie ticket reproductions as invitations and serve popcorn and colas. Rent some videos and set your living room so that it imitates the inside of a movie house. Don’t forget to close the windows and blinds to make the room as dark as possible.4. Arabian inspired party theme. This is great during the evening. Decorate the yard with torches and spread all creatively in certain areas. Teens can dress up as Arabian prince and princesses. Serve salads, pita bread and roast chicken. Provide a small tent with a “fortune teller” inside. Belly dancers can add excitement to the occasion.5. Baseball inspired party theme. Rent out baseball videos and ask the guests to come in their favorite baseball shirts. Set out different booths, each serving different types of food such as hotdogs, popcorn, chili dogs, cotton candy, nachos and drinks. Baseball caps are excellent give-aways!6. Luau. Teens can come in their Hawaiian costumes. The party host can welcome her guests with a lei. Serve lots of fruits, especially pineapples and coconut juice if available. Set the mood with Hawaiian music or drum beats. Hula dancers can create a lot of enthusiasm among guests.Whatever theme you choose, make sure that your area can accommodate your desired guest list. Plan ahead and enjoy watching your teen delight in the party you both had planned!

Unique Party: Spa Pampering At Home

A spa party is a unique way of hosting a birthday party for a dear friend or a teenage daughter, for a bridal shower or for just getting together to relax with friends.Mobile spa offers everything that is needed for your unique home get-together complete with rejuvenation and wellness services that include products and professionals. Your Unique Home Spa Party Guest List:When putting together the guest list, coordinate with your friend (to whom the party is for). As much as possible, keep the list small to insure intimacy and privacy as well as everyone will have enough space to relax. Your Unique Home Spa Party Budget:Before committing to any mobile spa service, shop around first through the internet or the phone and make inquiries about prices for certain professional services like facials, massage and therapist(s) fees, manicure and pedicure, foot spa and hair spa.Rates are usually based upon the number of your guests, treatments, and the duration of your spa party.Your Unique Home Spa Party Invitations: A potpourri in a cute jar or net casing along with a scented card for which your invitation will be written or a scented candle with a card can be an attractive invitation for a spa party.Have These Special Instructions Clearly Stated:1. Wear loose clothing like a cotton T-shirt, comfy shorts or yoga pants.2. Bring a robe.3. Have no makeup on.Your Home Spa Environment:Set up an atmosphere of calmness and peace by providing defused lighting, relaxing music and scented candles in each nook and cranny of your living room as well as the yard outside.Tidy up your living room and provide a lot of space. You can also set up your yard, providing lots of comfortable outdoor plain wooden benches dressed in white linens for massage and facials, dress up iron garden chairs with white throw pillows for pedicures and make certain to supply enough white pillows, towels and magazines. On the grass, spread a rug with large white cushions, lighted incense and pots of hot rejuvenating tea.Prepare light and healthy snacks like veggies, fruits or cheese and crackers. Your Pampering Treatments:The most common treatments for spa parties include manicures and pedicures, facials and massages; often these are done in “express” lasting for only twenty minutes per treatment. As to whether you spend a little or a lot, remember, it’s for a dear person and this unique home spa get together is a different way of having fun as well as a friendship celebration that will demonstrate how much you appreciate them by way of pampering!

Hosting A Valentines Party

Your valentine’s party should speak for romance from the invitations to the give-aways sent home with the guests at the end of the party.The internet is full of Valentine’s Day party suggestions, tips and ideas, all you have to do is search the web, gather some ideas and guidelines and be creative. If not, you can follow these suggestions that would insure a romantic and memorable Valentine’s Day celebration for couples spent at your home. Heart-Felt Invitations:A long stemmed red rose with a gold tag board hand delivered to all your guests is certain to charm and bring excitement to your guests. Write in with a red metallic pen all the details of your party. Make sure to ask your guests to come to the party dressed in any red outfit or as a romantic hero or heroine.Set The Room For Love:Decorate your party room with red, gold and white heart-shaped balloons, crepe paper and creative lighting such as scented red, gold and white candles creatively distributed within the room, lamps and lots of potpourri.Play romantic music, making certain that it is not too loud to allow couples to have an enjoyable conversation.Romantic Table Setting:Cover the tables with a combination of red and white linens. Make a centerpiece for each table with an assortment of red and white roses and small balloons of the same color gathered together with a gold shimmering ribbon. Be sure to make the center piece low enough so as to allow guests to see each other while conversing.Food For Love:Be sure to make the food look as good as it tastes. Present dishes with a lot of garnishing to make it look attractive as well as go with the theme. Strawberries, edible roses and herbs can draw appeal to any dish that you will serve. Also serve the food on attractive platters.Serve crab and cheddar cheese sandwiches cut into hearts (using a heart cookie cutter) garnished with fresh tomatoes.For refreshments, you can mix up a fruit punch and add a bit of red food coloring. Give-Aways With Love:Finally, have something your guests can take home and remind them of a lovely time they had at your place. Here are suggestions:1. Romantic scent of cologne with a love poem attached to it.2. Small box of chocolates.3. Romance novel tied with a red ribbon.4. A bottle of red wine.Try hosting a Valentine’s Day party; you’ll be glad you did, when you see couples going home with a contended smile!

Celebrating Victory!

Be it graduation, winning in a baseball game, being chosen as a lead in a school play, having high grades in school or making it on the cheerleading team. These are all your loved one’s victory and what better way of celebrating it than having a get together at your home.Here’s How:1. Guest list. Coordinate with the “victor” on who she/he wants to have in her party. This would mainly include her classmates and friends. Consider though, the space that is available in your home, so as your home will not be overcrowded. 2. Theme. Consider when, what, where, how and why. You can research on the internet to get great ideas. As soon as you have decided on a theme, just let your imagination soar and be creative.Here Are Some Suggestions:Barbeque partyLuau partyMexican partyDessert and coffee barOr compose a theme from your loved one’s recently acquired victory such as when he/she won in a swimming competition, a swimming and barbeque party can be a good idea. Or if he won in a football game, a football inspired party can be a lot of fun.3. Location. A perfect place for such a celebration is your garage or backyard. Should you decide to hold the celebration outdoors, make certain that there will be shelter in case of rain. Tents are great for entertaining outdoors and are readily available for rent.4. Food. Plan the food according to the theme that you have chosen. For example, when you have a football inspired party, you can serve hotdogs, popcorn, snow cones, etc. Or nachos, tacos, punch and chili dogs for an exciting Mexican party.Keep in mind that the food really does not need to be expensive and elaborate in order to be excellent. It can be a wise idea to serve simple foods so you can take the time to be with the guest and enjoy the celebration; as simple food preparation will not require a great deal of work as well as clean-up. 5. Party decorations. Your decorations should enhance the party’s mood, so make an ambience that can really add flair to your victory celebration. You can have lighted lanterns, strobe lights, paper lamps, black lights, candles or if you are having a Mexican party, you can make attractive use of inverted Mexican hats filled with white sand with a lighted candle at the center; placing these abundantly at different locations in your yard will certainly create a lively and heartwarming atmosphere to your victory party.6. Relax and have fun! Its time to relish in your loved one’s victory!!

Your Wedding Reception Party

Your wedding party reception should bring you a lot of happy memories when you look at your wedding pictures later on. Therefore you have to plan it that everything should look, feel and work out as you have perceived it to be.As the wedding reception is basically a celebration after your wedding ceremony, keep in mind that above all, you ought to enjoy it and savor every moment of it.Things To Do Before The Wedding Party:1. Decide where to host the reception. Take into consideration the comfort of the place that will host your reception. When you want your wedding reception party to be held in a garden or outdoors, always consider these factors: wind, rain and humidity. Require the hotel to put up tents attractively decorated with flowers and lighting to solve the problems of rain as it also adds to the mood of the party. 2. Choose the decorations, most specially the flowers. Talk to the florist of your choice about what you want, where you want it, how you want it and what kind of atmosphere you wish to create in your wedding reception. Make sure that aside from decorating the place, the florist must work together and coordinate with your food caterer so both can complement each other. 3. Choosing the caterer. Here again, make sure that you know what you want before selecting a caterer for your food. To whatever decision that you will make, the caterer should understand all that you are envisioning in your wedding party reception. When he easily understands, it means that you both can work easily together, with peace! 4. Choose the wedding cake. When selecting a wedding cake, make certain that it goes with the motif of your wedding reception. Consider your color motif as well as the style of your wedding. Choose it well, as the cake often is the center of attraction of the reception, aside from you (the bride) of course. 5. Decide on the music. Select the style of music that best conforms to the style and again, the motif of your wedding reception.Normally, it begins as a background, making the music slow and soft as the beat picks up encouraging everybody to dance after the meal. Decreasing the music speed as well as slowing down the volume usually signals the conclusion of the celebration.During The Reception:Just sit back, relax and enjoy your wedding party. Go dance, and have the best time ever with your husband and with your loved ones!

Energy Saving Ideas Guaranteed to Save You Money!

Did you know that a bigger and heavier automobile is more expensive to use? They take up more fuel. So if you have more than one vehicle, and you’re not planing to car pool, why not use your car instead of the family van? This is a wonderful energy saving idea that would save you some money.Another good energy saving idea when it comes to transportation is to not always use your car. On those beautiful, sunny days, why not try walking or taking your bike for a ride for those short-distance destinations.Now that we’ve got your transportation covered, let’s talk about your home. One good energy saving idea that you can incorporate into your lifestyle is to use fluorescent lighting.Fluorescent lights take up lower wattage, but effuses the same amount of light as regular light bulbs, therefore taking up less energy.Make it a habit to turn off the lights when you are not using it. This is an energy saving idea that would not cost you a single penny.Always unplug appliances when you are not using them. This is a great energy saving idea, especially around the living room where most of the entertainment appliances are kept. Some appliances take up energy even if they are not being used.Now for your kitchen, it’s a wonderful energy saving idea to always keep your refrigerator clean. A clean refrigerator takes up lesser energy, because it runs more effectively. So make it a habit to clean your refrigerator regularly. Plus, always keep your freezers and refrigerators full. An empty refrigerator requires more energy to run.When it comes to baking it would not be a bad energy saving idea to use your toaster instead of your oven whenever possible. Economize your use of your oven by baking in batches.Also a good energy saving idea is to use the microwave instead of your regular stove. You can use your microwave to boil water, cook dishes and make desserts. Microwaves cost less to run that traditional stoves.A great energy saving idea for your washing machine would be to wash in full loads. Don’t throw just a shirt or two in the washer. Wait until your dirty laundry piles up before you do your washing. Try using warm or cold water temperature. This is an energy saving idea that once it becomes a habit will lessen the cost of your electricity bill over time.