Spoyled Rottyn Party Planning

Let me tell you about an amazing little girl I had the pleasure to meet this week. Her name is Gabrielle McDonald, Gabby to friends and family. Gabby is 4 years old and has been diagnosed with Metastatic Medulloblastoma, large cell anaplastic. This is the second most common cancer in children and hers is the fastest growing type of this cancer.

Gabby was diagnosed on June 17th, 2009 with the disease and was given approximately 2 weeks to live. Gabby and her family made trips to Columbus’ Nationwide Hospital and St. Jude’s Hospital to find she had a tumor on her brain. Two weeks after removing the tumor, another golf ball-size tumor replaced it. It has since added tumors on her brain stem, spinal column and in her stomach. Again, the doctors told her that she didn’t have very long to live. Her mother Nichole fought for Gabby to start on chemotherapy and radiation though the doctors told her it would do no good and she wouldn’t survive. Gabby proved them wrong. When this course of treatment showed to be too much for Gabby’s little body, they started with oral radiation. Again the doctors told them it would do no good and she wouldn’t survive. Gabby is still here.

I met Gabby’s Aunt Tanya at the Parent Expo at the Columbus Zoo over the weekend. Her aunt was telling me about Gabby’s journey and that she had one wish - to meet Sponge Bob Squarepants. It just happens that I own a company that provides costume characters for parties. We set a date for Monday, May 3rd for the special appearance in Gabby’s home in Marion, OH. Surrounded by family and friends, Gabby opened the door and was surprised to see her guest. She said “I’m so excited. I don’t know what to do next.” They spent time talking and sitting on the couch.

My heart explodes with love and compassion for this family and I am so happy that I was able to make Gabby happy, even for just a little while.

Financial freedom is not a luxury because of the demands this illness has put upon the family. They struggle with the travel to appointments and special diet needs of Gabby. They even have a treasure box that is filled with small treats for Gabby to choose from when she takes her medication or has bandages changed. If you would like to help this family, there is a special account set up at Huntington Bank in the name of Gabrielle McDonald. Every little bit helps.

I personally am pledging that every time the Spongebob costume is rented out, I will donate $20 to Gabrielle’s fund.

I was looking on the internet to get ideas for some of the best wedding songs of all time.  Thought this would be great information to have on hand because my little brother just got engaged.  Congratulations!!!!!

Instead I found something better.  I found GREAT songs for those special occasions during the reception.  Those wonderful moments that are not going to be forgotten, especially when you add a little humor to them!  Here are some that I found.  (If you don't read these and smile, then you haven't a bit of imagination)

Bouquet Toss Songs

*  Girls Just Want To Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper

*  This One's For The Girls - Martina McBride

*  Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend - Marilyn Monroe

*  Another One Bites The Dust - Queen

*  Barbie Girl - Aqua

*  Girl Fight Tonight - Julie Brown

*  Mission Impossible Theme

*  Hit Me With Your Best Shot - Pat Benatar

*  Hands Up - Ottowan

Bride and Groom Introduction Songs

*  I Want To Grow Old With You - Adam Sandler

*  I Feel Good - James Brown

*  Let's Get It Started In Here - Black Eyed Peas

Cake Cutting Songs

*  Hit Me With Your Best Shot - Pat Benetar

*  Eat It - Weird Al Yankovic

*  Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leopard

*  Jaws Theme

Garter Toss Songs

*  Wild Thing - Tone Loc

*  You Can Leave Your Hat On - Joe Cocker

*  You Sexy Thing - Hot Chocolate

*  Fever - Peggy Lee

*  Stroke It

Dollar Dance Songs

*  If I Had a Million Dollars - Barenaked Ladies

*  Big Spender - Shirley Bassey

*  Money - Pink Floyd

*  The Money Song - Monty Python

*  Take The Money and Run - Steve Miller Band

Who knew that there were some crazy and even wacky holidays that we weren't celebrating?!  I went on a search and found some funny, silly and good-to-know holidays that we all need to add to our calendars from now on.  Thank you to www.gone-ta-pott.com and www.about.com for these wonderful ideas.  See what ones fit into your schedule:

January

1/2 - Boo Boo Bear’s birthday

1/13 – Rubber duckie’s birthday

1/16 – Nothing Day – celebrate doing nothing

1/18 – Winnie the Pooh day

1/19 – Popcorn day

1/24 – Beer can appreciation day

1/27 – Chocolate cake day

1/28 – Ernie’s birthday (Sesame Street)

1/31 – Backward Day

February

2/3 – Elmo’s birthday

2/6 – Monopoly board games go on sale in 1935

2/7 – Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Birthday

2/8 – Boy Scouts’ Day

2/9 – Read in the bathtub day

2/10 – Umbrella day

2/11 – White t-shirt day

2/15 – National gumdrop day

2/17 – My way day

2/17 – Random acts of kindness day

2/20 – Love your pet day

2/26 – Tell a fairy tale day

2/28 – National tooth fairy day

March

American Red Cross Month

3/2 – Dr. Seuss’s Birthday

3/4 - Toy soldier day

3/8 – Working women’s day

3/9 – Barbie’s birthday

3/12 – Girl Scout Day

3/16 – Lips appreciation day

3/18 – Birthday of Sparky the Fire Dog (NFPA)

3/19 – Leg’s laugh day

3/20 – Big Bird’s birthday

3/21 – Single parents’ day

3/22 – International goof-off day

3/27 – Viagra day

April

Be kind to spiders week (1st week)

Scoop the poop week (1st week)

Autism Awareness Month

4/10 – National Sibling day

4/11 – Eight-track tape day

4/15 – 1st McDonalds opened

4/16 – Wear your pj to work day

4/17 – Daffy Duck’s birthday

4/21 – Kindergarten day

4/22 – Girl Scout Leader appreciation day

4/23 – International pick your nose day

4/24 – Pigs-in-a blanket day

4/27 – Tell a story day

May

Teacher appreciation week (1st week)

National police week (celebrated whichever week has May 15th)

5/1 – Hawaiian Lei Day

5/1 – Mother goose day

5/3 – National scrapbook day

5/4 – Make-a-book day

5/6 – No homework day

5/7 – National family child care provider’s day (Friday before Mother’s Day)

5/8 – No socks day

5/11 – Jigsaw puzzle day

5/14 – Star Wars day (George Lucas born)

5/15 – Dinosaur day

5/15 – National chocolate chip day

5/19 – Hug your cat day

5/19 – Circus Day

5/24 – Scavenger hunt day

June

National Safety Month

Zoo and Aquarium Month

6/1 – Donut Day

6/1 – Oscar the Grouch’s Birthday

6/2 – National Bubba day

6/3 – Repeat day, repeat day

6/5 – Richard Scarry’s birthday (children’s author)

6/6 – National yo-yo day

6/11 – E.T. movie premiered in 1982

6/13 – Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen’s birthday

6/14 – World juggling day

6/16 – National fudge day

6/17 – Eat your vegetables day

6/19 – Eat an oreo day

6/19 – Garfield’s birthday

6/19 - Tasmanian Devil’s birthday

6/23 – National pink day

6/23 – Take your dog to work day

6/26 – Eric Carle’s birthday (children’s author)

6/27 – Melody for Happy Birthday song written in 1859

6/30 – Superman’s birthday

July

7/1 – International joke day

7/1 – National postal worker day

7/4 – National country music day

7/7 – Macaroni day

7/8 – Video games day

7/9 – Sugar cookie day

7/10 – Teddy bear picnic day

7/13 – Embrace your geekiness day

7/15 – Be a dork day

7/15 – Gummi worm day

7/16 – National hot dog day

7/16 – International juggling day

7/19 – Stick your tongue out day

7/20 – Ice cream soda day

7/20 – National lollipop day

7/20 – Ugly truck contest

7/21 – National junk food day

7/24 – Marvin the Martian’s birthday

7/25 – Candles on a cake day (1st birthday cake 55bc)

7/26 – Bert’s birthday (Sesame Street)

7/27 – Bugs Bunny’s birthday

7/28 – Hamburger day

7/29 – National lipstick day

August

Home business Month

National clown week (1st week)

8/1 – Respect for parents’ day

8/1 – Sport’s day

8/5 – International beer day

8/6 – Odie’s birthday (Garfield)

8/9 – Betty Boop’s birthday

8/11 – Hulk Hogan’s birthday

8/11 – Play in the sand day

8/13 – left handers day

8/15 – National relaxation day

8/16 – Roller coaster day

8/17 – Wizard of Oz premiered in 1939

8/19 – Mr. Snuffleupagus’s birthday

8/25 – National banana split day

8/26 – Toilet paper day

September

Baby Safety month

Read-a-new-book month

Women of Achievement month

National Dog Week (4th week)

9/5 – National cheese pizza day

9/6 – Read a book day

9/8 – nose hair maintenance day

9/9 – teddy bear day

9/12 – national Grandparents day

9/13 – Scooby Doo’s birthday

9/15 – Make a hat day

9/16 – National working parents day

9/16 – Stepfamily day

9/18 – National play-doh day

9/19 – Talk like a pirate day

9/23 – checkers day

October

National pizza month

10/3 – Captain Kangaroo day

10/5 – Bath tub party day

10/9 – The Count’s birthday (Sesame Street)

10/10 – Bring your teddy bear to work day

10/11 – It’s my party day

10/11 – You go girl day

10/14 – Grover’s Birthday (Sesame Street)

10/14 – Chocolate covered insect day

10/14 – Be bald and free day

10/18 – No beard day

10/24 – Mother-in-Law’s day (fourth Sunday in October)

10/24 – National bologna day

10 /25-31 – National magic week

November

Peanut butter lover’s month

National children’s book week (2nd week)

11/2 – Cookie Monster’s birthday

11/3 – Houswife day

11/6 – I love nachos day

11/10 – Forget me not day

11/12 – Happy hour day

11/13 – Mom’s and Dad’s day

11/14 – Clean out your refrigerator day

11/15 – Pak your mom lunch day

11/18 – Mickey Mouse’s birthday

11/30 – Stay at home because you’re well day

December

National hand washing awareness week (1st week)

12/4 – Santa’s list day

12/6 – Mitten tree day

12/9 – Christmas card day

12/20 – Games day

12/21 – National flashlight day

This is the last full week before Christmas and there are still a million things to do.  How will you ever survive?  Here are a few tips that might help, and please add some of your own.

• Keep things as simple as possible.
• Make a master calendar for school parties, work parties, Santa appearances, etc.  This way you can plan your schedule and know where you are going.
• Make your list of all the people who you plan to buy gifts for, including their sizes, things they would like and how much you can spend.
• Mark off that person when you make the purchase.  This will allow you to track your progress and see how much more you have to do.
• Make your list of people you are senidng cards to and address the envelopes.  You can keep them with you and fill them out during "waiting moments" such as at the doctor's office, picking up the kids or on your break at work.
• Send your Christmas packages early.  You can save a huge amount of money by doing this.
• Before making purchases, ask about return policies & always get a gift receipt.
• Do your grocery shopping when the stores are quiet.  This is usually early in the mornings and late at night.  You'll get better parking this way too.
• Don't cook everything.  Some stores stock tasty appetizers, fresh or frozen (no one will even notice)
• Decide what cookies and candies you're going to make.  Pull out the recipies and make sure you have all the ingredients.
• Decide what you are going to have for holiday dinner.  Pull out those recipies and make sure you have those ingredients.
• Many types of cookies freeze well.  Mix up the dough several weeks ahead and freeze.  It will be ready when you're ready to bake.
• For cookies that don't freeze, measure all dry ingredients and put in plastic storage bags.  Don't forget to label it so you know when you go back to it!
• Participate in a cookie exchange with friends and co-workers.  You'll get an assortment of cookies to serve to holiday guests without all the work.
• Set up a wrapping station where all of your wrapping supplies are all together.  This will make it simple when you're ready.
• Wrap gifts as you purchase them instead of waiting to do it all at once.
• Don't experiment.  New=stressful.  Dont try new hair styles, recipies or that tan in a can for the first time.
• Enjoy yourself.  Don't sweat the small stuff and pat yourself on the back for a job well done!

Okay ladies, we have all been on the receiving end of those horrible gifts from our spouse.  I saw this article and I just had to share it because we can all sit back and chuckle, hoping that it doesn't happen to us...again.

Bad Christmas Presents For Your Wife

Christmas is just around the corner and husbands everywhere are beginning to get stressed. While money, time and screaming children are all potential stressors, the real stress comes from something else – what to buy their wife for Christmas.

Every year at Christmas, some poor wife opens up that gift that no husband should buy their wife. Why is it that husbands cannot seem to find the right thing? Better still, why are husbands so good at picking the wrong thing? In an effort to help out husbands everywhere, I have assembled a short list of Christmas gifts that no husband should ever buy their wife. Here they are in no particular order:

Kitchen Utensils

Some men are very fortunate to still have a wife that cooks supper every evening. Unfortunately, those are the same foolish men that will turn around and buy their wife a griddle for Christmas. This is a really bad idea. (Unless you enjoy getting bashed in the head with a griddle)

Clothing That Is Not One-Size-Fits-All

Clothing is simply too risky because you are likely to pick the wrong size. Too big and they think you are saying they are fat, and too small means that you are hoping they will lose weight. Either way, you come out looking like a fool. Leave that whole category alone.

Self Improvement Anything

Along the same lines as the clothing category a husband should never attempt to be a self help guru. Buying your wife that “How to Become a Sex Goddess Overnight” book or video is not likely to draw rave reviews. Leave the whole yoga, weight loss, personal growth area to the men that like sleeping on the couch.

Any Small Appliance

Okay so you really do need a new vacuum cleaner. Gentlemen, if you attempt to slide that in as a Christmas gift you will likely be the only one that ever uses it. A gift for Christmas should not be something that requires her to do daily work.

Tickets to the Local Tractor Pull

Now, unless your wife is the biggest fan on Earth of tractor pulls, then you better not make this mistake. The point is, if the gift is really for you and you are trying to disguise it as a gift for her, you are risking a very early divorce. Keep your priorities on her, and buy those tickets to the tractor pull separately.

Fake Anything

While most men are smart enough to not try to the fake jewelry thing, they are not above going for that fake Gucci bag or Ipod. Have the common sense to buy your wife a Christmas gift that did not come from the back of someone’s van. Yes, guys. They know the difference.

The wrong Christmas gift is a really bad mistake, yes. While some women are immune to it after years and years of mistakes, we men should still make an effort this holiday season to do better. Head out and actually take some time to think about it. Consider what they will think when they open the gift. Consider if it will evoke a kiss or a slap upside the head. But most of all, consider whether it tells your beautiful bride just how much you love her.

There is nothing more fun than planning a party around a theme.  This gives you a starting, middle and ending point to base your work.  It helps you know what colors, decorations, favors and even food to purchase.  With small items you can pull the whole thing together too.  If you are looking for a theme to base your party on, here are a few ideas.  Some are quite creative and you can go crazy with it.  As always, if you need help in putting it together or coming up with some ideas, give me a call or send me an email.

• Santa Claus is Coming to Town
• Land of Misfit Toys
• A Grinch-ful Party
• a Victorian Christmas
• Holiday Dreams
• Ugly Sweater Party
• Red Neck Christmas
• Santa's Workshop
• Let It Snow
• Childhood Christmas
• Christmas Around the World
• Christmas Friendship Luncheon
• Winter Wonderland
• July in Christmas
• Cookie Exchange
• Tree Trimming Party
• "Wrap It Up"
• A Christmas Carol
• Miracle on 34th Street
• Christmas Vacation
• Babes in Toyland

Feel free to give your own unique ideas as well.  Happy Partying !

With the holidays just around the corner, many of us are starting to think about what to get family, friends and co-workers.  I am going to give you a few ideas of easy items that you can use to give as stocking stuffers and for those that you just don't know what to give.

Personalized Holiday Cocoa Mix - You can either purchase packets of cocoa from the store or you can make your own and package in a holiday baggie.  To jazz it up, you can add a large label with a personalized message on it.  You can make variations to this by putting them in festive coffee mugs.  You can add chocolate covered spoons.

Small Christmas Baskets - You are able to find small baskets for very cheap.  You can then fill them with Christmas themed candies and enclose the whole thing with green or red tule and tie it off with themed ribbon.

Kiss Under The MistleToe - A very cute idea is to purchase clear 2"x2" treat boxes and fill them with Hershey Kisses.  If you are doing this for a corporate event, you can make personalized stickers to place on the bottom of them with your logo on it.  Upon closing the boxes, wrap them with festive ribbon and place a mistle toe on top ~ real or fake will do.

Gift of Life - If you are going for something different, you can purchase starter Christmas trees and decorate them with inexpensive ornaments.  This is a wonderful gift because after taking them home, your guests can plant them and help the environment.

Super Simple - Ok, here is one that just can't go wrong.  If you are not a baker, you can always visit your local bakery for help.  Simply gather a variety of cookies and stack 3-5.  You can either wrap them in holiday wrap or use baggies that you tie off.

Holiday Votives - If you have a little creativeness in your blood, this one will be right up your ally.  There are many different varieties of mini ornaments available including string lights, presents, and many more.  Purchase a variety of these, clear glass votive holders and different holiday-scented votive candles.  Simply hot glue the ornaments in any pattern of your choosing onto the votive holders.  Place a candle in the holder.  You can either give them individually or in a group - wrapped in tule.

I hope that these ideas have kick-started your holiday thinking.  Keep an eye on my blog for other holiday ideas as they come.  As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on what I write and any ideas that you might have for future blogs.