The Party Thai

All the reception tables were set up with lovely mikasa crystal accessories at a wedding I attended last week. They had mikasa favors and mikasa crystal glassware on every reception table. What excellent taste the bride has in decorating a wedding and reception tables. The tables just shined with lustre and elegance with all the different mikasa accessories.
They had little silver doves as the place card holders, and on the end of their tails were little place cards with a bride and groom printed on them. The centerpieces she chose really helped to bring out the beauty of her reception tables. A beautiful floral arrangement was placed around pillar candles as the centerpieces. They also chose very impressive thank you gifts for all of the guests. Mikasa crystal wedding favors were given to each and every one of us. The favors boxes with the little thank you hang tags was almost as gorgeous as the mikasa crystal favors that were inside.
Five layers of chocolate heaven with chocolate flavored cream cheese on each and every layer was the choice of wedding cakes they had. As the cake topper she had a really unique idea. Since she ordered most of her wedding supplies and decorations from an online wedding store, she decided to check out the cake toppers too, and found out they customize wedding cake toppers. They make figurines that look just like the bride and groom for the topper and all it takes is sending them a couple head shots of the happy couple. It was absolutely perfect. 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.
I think one of the funniest part of this whole thing was when it was time for the garter toss. All those single men gathered together with a growing excitement while they watched the groom remove the leg garter from his bride. Then watching them fall all over each other, trying to be the lucky guy to catch it. 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. The old guy walked away with a big smile on his face.
For the bridal toast we all had crystal champagne flutes, that we were also given to take home, with the names of the bride and groom, and date of the wedding printed on them. As soon as the toast was finished, the happy couple took to the dance floor for the traditional bride and grooms first dance. Watching them dancing together, so elegantly, was so moving. The floor quickly filled up with couples right after the wedding couple finished their first dance. I know I went overboard on the dancing, my feet hurt all night long.
Then it was time for the happy couple to leave the reception and begin their honeymoon, so everyone was yelling good bye and good luck. One of the other guests told me they were honeymooning in Hawaii. 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.
It was only a couple of weeks later that I got my thank you card from the happy couple thanking me for sharing their wedding day with them and for the wedding gift I bought for them. I was surprised to receive a thank you so soon. By the way, I did find out how she could afford a mikasa wedding and that fantastic cake topper. So today, I’m placing my order for the special cake topper and other accessories for my parents special renewal ceremony and reception.

In my day, jewelry boxes were just a box that all the jewelry went in, but now, you can buy watch jewelry boxes, earring jewelry boxes and boxes that are specifically made for necklaces only. There are a lot of very decorative ideas for the many different types of boxes. 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. She purchased a lot of things besides that, including her accesssories and reception supplies. No matter what look your going for at your wedding, a specific theme or a more customary look, you’ll find loads of suggestions there. My daughter and son in law chose to have a fairy tale themed wedding, with all the trimmings. They pulled it off in stunning fashion, her with long flowing veil and him with his extravagant tuxedo. It was a picturesque wedding. After the ceremony was over my daughter and son in law left the church in grand style with a horse drawn buggy and a driver dressed in a top hat and tails.
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. She picked out tea light place card holders in the shape of silver doves that made the tables shine even more. All the lady guests received small jewelry boxes with sculpted flowers and little crystals to add to its beauty. 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 girls that were in the wedding party got gorgeous wooden, silver plated affordable jewelry boxes that had black velvet lining. My daughter and son in law had each of them engraved with the bride and grooms name and date of the wedding. The bridesmaids were very appreciative of what my daughter gave them as a thank you gift. The cheap jewelry box I saw looked like an extremely expensive jewelry box! The men each got a commemorative inscription in a small plaque and a set of wine related gifts. I thought that was pretty unique for a thank you gift.
A tiny castle sitting at the top of the three-tiered wedding cake lent the cake a mystical appearance. She even found a cake knife set that matched up with her storybook theme and champagne flutes to go with it. 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. As mother and father of the bride, we felt obligated to cover the cost of the wedding, but they were adamant about not accepting our assistance.
I cried as I watched them dance their first dance as husband and wife, it looked as if they were the only ones in the room. It was as if I were watching the real prince and princess in the Cinderella story dancing together. You would have thought that it was a real princess tossing her garter the way the guys jostled for position to get it; it was a very amusing sight to behold. 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.

After being told about a website that had reasonable prices and a super selection of accessories for both wedding ceremonies and receptions, I decided to take a look for myself. 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. Of course, my wedding décor and the supplies I would need, I intended to buy there.
Since we had planned our wedding date to be in December, I wanted to have a winter wonderland wedding and reception and this was the perfect place to get what I needed for it. First I ordered winter wonderland wedding bulletins to use as our wedding invitations. When I went searching for my flower girls basket and the ring boys pillow I found a wedding set that not only had both those things but also, a guestbook, pen set and a lovely wedding garter too. 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.
The lovely accessories I ordered were unbelievable. I was able to find gifts for not only my bridesmaids, flower girl and ring boy, but for everyone in our wedding party. My fiance found quite a few gift ideas for groomsmen gift ideas.
The groomsman favors of his choosing were glass mugs that had the word groomsman printed on the mug. We could cross off the list of things to buy as far as a cheap groomsman gift, my bridesmaids and the rest of the wedding party, so I could now choose thank you gifts for the guests. There were an awful lot of winter wonderland wedding favors to choose from for our reception. The wedding favors I chose were glass winter votive candles with a wintery frosted look for everyone attending the reception. They each had little silver snowflakes as decoration. They each came in their own little favor box with a silver hang tag.
The little snow ball ornament place card holders I bought make great little thank you gifts too. They had it all, winter themed champagne glasses and serving set and a funny winter wedding cake topper too. I asked the baker to turn our top layer of the wedding cake into a ski slope, since the topper I picked was of a bride and groom on skis. Our wedding cake was confection perfection and I wanted as many pictures of it as I could get for our beautiful winter wedding album. After we cut the cake and had our toast done by my super brother in law, it was time for our bride and groom dance. I really felt like a princess in some kind of dream world while we glided across the floor, with everyone watching.
Everyone was having a fantastic time and this reception was perfection from beginning to end. All of my girls in the wedding party loved their thank you gifts as did the guys and their wedding groomsmen gifts. Many of the guests at the reception commented on how lovely the winter wedding reception was and how much they appreciated the lovely wedding favors.

Be it a subdued engagement party or a more risque bachelor or bachelorette party, there are going to be some favors and gifts given out. Such get-togethers present a fun opportunity to give your almost-married friend a unique gift or two. My husband and I received some pretty awesome gift items. 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. We were given movie and dinner certificates, a bottle of champagne we could use for our wedding toast, two tickets to a Reds game, that we really enjoyed, and little things like that. A lot of our loved ones gave us presents, even though it was not required for engagement parties.
My man’s bachelor party must have been fun because he got some funny tee shirts that they made him wear with funny little phrases printed on the front. He got more than one bride and groom gift, including some wine bottles and a sun visor that said ‘Groom’ on it. He came home from the party with an inflatable doll and a ball and chain that he said they made him wear the whole time the party was going on. There were a few other gag bride gifts too that the guys had a lot of fun presenting to him. The bride gifts I received at my bachelorette party were sweet, although some were meant as gag gifts too. They gave me a shimmering white satin purse with a clasp made of crystal on it and a ribbon on top to boot. 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. It was certainly the most unique throw pillow I’ve ever seen.
At our wedding reception there were no gag gifts, just very nice bride and groom wedding gifts from all of our friends and family. We did get extras, like a couple of extra toasters, two identical set of dishes, and more waffle irons than we’ll ever need, but that’s par for the course with such a large 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 husband just adored the billards table and bar set that his parents gave us, and I know we will get a lot of use out of that. My parents got us tickets to Greece for our honeymoon. We got a tremendous amount of lovely presents from our friends and relatives, all of whom we adore so much.
Most of all, our friends and family being at our wedding to share that magical experience with us was the greatest gift. They were with us every step of the way, from our engagement party to the wedding and to the reception dinner. 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 also helps to have friends that care enough to throw you a wild night with a bachelor party or a mind trippin girls night out bash. Having friends in your life like ours can really make life worth living. We will send out thank you cards to all our friends and family, but that doesn’t really show just how much we adore them.

Kids need bathtub toys, and Sesame Street’s Ernie even sang a song about one of the classics, a tune called ‘Rubber Duckie You’re the One.’ I wasn’t really sure about this theme at first until I checked out all the cute little accessories and all the possibilities of having duck wedding favors. It was a lot simpler to put together such a baby shower than I anticipated it would be, especially with all of the outstanding input I gleaned from suring the Internet. You can can a ton of different duck favors online, not just for showers but for birthday parties for younger kids as well.
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 got a yellow ducky cake with a couple of layers, the bottom one of which said baby girl in red frosting, and then I put that next to plates, drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and other deserts; on a table on the other side of the room, I put all of the baby shower presents. Each had a poster or two of Mickey Mouse or one of his friends; the ones of Daffy Duck and Daisy Duck were enormous.
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. There were duck favor candles at each table too and on the buffet table were paper plates, cups and napkins all with little baby ducks on them and even the punch bowl was unique. I went to a department store and purchased a little duck shaped baby bathtub and placed a glass punch bowl inside. When you looked at it, you just wanted to say, ‘aww, how sweet.’ I also bought duck molds and filled them with yellow colored water for duck shaped ice cubes. Believe me, it was the most ducks you’ve ever seen in one place at one time.
Other than a few things that people at school suggested to me, I borrowed most of my ideas from things I saw online. On the Internet is where I found duck shower favors, such as the precious duck baby shower favor bookmarkers I found, and the duck candles, too. Everyone thought they were so cute and they made super party gifts for the games we played too.
I put some rubber duckies in a large, square-shaped, makeshift tub that I filled with water before anyone got to the shower yet. 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. The guests were told in advance to take a baby picture of theirs to the shower with them, and then we put them all on a board and put the board in the front of the room. 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.
Everyone enjoyed themselves, and the new mommy picked up quite a pile of wonderul presents for her baby girl. I’m so glad I found this idea for the baby shower online. I didn’t know how it would all come together, but it all worked out very well in the end. The duck theme really was a cute idea.

During a time where Americans will go out of their way if it means they’ll spend less on gas, there’s a flourishing new type of energy drink that goes for 20 times more per-oz than Coke – the energy shot.

An increasing amount of people are dropping their $3 cups of coffee, and picking up $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 Energy drink.

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. In addition to caffeine, it includes Acai, Gogi, and Tahitian Noni – three incredibly popular berries, each known for their natural energizing and dietary benefits. Currently, the only other way to get a serving of Acai berry is to purchase a $40 bottle.

On top of everything, The 8 Hour shot is carb and calorie free – and it tastes delicious.

“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 10 top 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,” said Troy Smith – a Finance major.

“Mr Energy 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 student at the UF College of Dentistry.

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