Archive for August, 2009

Unforgettable Shower Duck Favors!

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

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.’ 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. 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. On the wall I had a huge cut out of Daisy Duck and smaller cutouts of Donald, Mickey and the whole Mickey Mouse Gang.
I got pink picture frames with tiny ducks on the edges to use a place card holders for each person’s spot at a table. 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. When you looked at it, you just wanted to say, ‘aww, how sweet.’ I got some duck-shaped jello molds, and I put yellow water in them and froze them so that our ice cubes for the shower looked like little yellow ducklings. 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. I got a baby shower duck favor that was a candle holder, and some duck shower favors that were rubber ducky bookmarks. 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.
I filled a square tub with water and, prior to any guests arriving, I put a bunch of duck bath toys in it. On the bottom of the ducks I wrote numbers and as the guests arrived they each had to pick a duck out of the little pond. 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. Another fun thing we did was when we tried to match each person to a photo of her that was taken when she was a baby. Everyone was asked to bring a baby picture of themselves and I put them all on a board, and hung it on the wall. Everyone looked over the photos and tried to figure out which picture belonged to which person who was present at the shower. The duck baby shower favor went to the one who guessed accurately on the most pictures.
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. Going with the whole duck genre worked out swimmingly.

5 Hour Energy Drink good?

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

During a time where Americans will go out of their way to save a few pennies on fuel, there is a booming new energy drink category that sells for twenty times more than Coca-Cola – energy shots.

More and more people are turning away from $3 coffee, in favor of $3 2 ounce shots of solid caffeine – and most of them taste horrible.

The demand for energy shots is expected to double this year, reaching $700 mil 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.

Many companies are attempting to capture the energy shot market – similar energy shots like 6 Hour, 7 Hour, and 8 Hour Energy are attempting to break into this growing new industry with their own products.

The Mr. Energy 8 Hour Energy Shot, though it sounds similar, has raised the bar for the industry. In addition to caffeine, it includes Acai, Gogi, and Tahitian Noni – three popular berries known for their dietary and energizing properties. Usually, these berries can only be attained by purchasing a $40 bottle of juice.

In addition to its improved ingredients, The Mr Energy 8 Hour Energy 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 taste test of college students at the University of Florida, 9 out of 10 preferred the taste of 8 Hour over any other energy shot. Another study gave out samples of the Mr Energy 8 Hour shot during finals week, and students returned with rave 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.

“The 8 Hour Energy shot is 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, 8 Hour Energy’s developer, is confident their product will succeed due simply to its superior ingredients. “The ingredients speak for themselves,” says CEO of Bhelliom Enterprises, Casey McCarthy.