Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Miami Spice 2012: The Good, the Great, and the Grudging, Part One
http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/shortorder/2012/07/miami_spice_2012_the_good_the_2.php
http://www.ilovemiamispice.com/
Miami Spice runs from August 1 - September 30, 2012
http://www.ilovemiamispice.com/
Miami Spice runs from August 1 - September 30, 2012
Birthday Parties at Books & Books
Birthday Party Packages
At my tenth birthday party, I ditched my guests and huddled in a corner to 
read my
favorite gift, a copy of Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth. If only
my parents and I had the idea to throw a book party, I wouldn’t have
been so anti-social. This memory, along with my continued love of books
(and parties) has led me to create the Books & Books Birthday Party
Packages. With three different packages to choose from, there is
something for every need (and budget). Encourage your child’s love of
reading! Celebrate in our gorgeous Mediterranean style book shop! Let us
worry about all of the details! Books & Books hopes to help
celebrate your child’s love of reading. There is nothing like a life
full of books.
read my
favorite gift, a copy of Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth. If only
my parents and I had the idea to throw a book party, I wouldn’t have
been so anti-social. This memory, along with my continued love of books
(and parties) has led me to create the Books & Books Birthday Party
Packages. With three different packages to choose from, there is
something for every need (and budget). Encourage your child’s love of
reading! Celebrate in our gorgeous Mediterranean style book shop! Let us
worry about all of the details! Books & Books hopes to help
celebrate your child’s love of reading. There is nothing like a life
full of books.
Becky Quiroga Curtis
Children's Book Buyer & Event Coordinator
For more information on any of the packages listed below, please email Parties@booksandbooks.com
The Bookworm Package
This
package has all you need to throw a simple party. No bells, no
whistles, just pure book-loving fun. Celebrate your child's special day
with stories and crafts, lunch and cake, family and friends. We take
care of everything; all you need to do is show up.
This package includes:
- Private story time and take-home craft for each child based on one of four books
- Ages 1-6:
- Don’t let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
- The Cat in the Hat
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
- Ages 7-11 (includes book discussion & trivia game):
- Magic Tree House
- Junie B. Jones
- The Phantom Tollbooth
- Percy Jackson
- Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches with chips, or individual pizzas; lemonade or juice box for 12 children
- Cupcakes and candles
- All paper goods (plates, napkins, utensils, etc.)
- Use of courtyard space
- Decorations (balloons, streamers, etc.)
- Personalized oversized birthday card
- Books & Books gift registry
- Personal Bookseller Host / Hostess
- 20% off any purchase made the day of your party (applies only to the parents of the birthday child)
- 1 hour of complimentary parking, for any vehicle in attendance
The Bestseller Package
With a
few more choices, this package allows more flexibility. We still do all the
work; you just have to make some decisions. Would you like to be outside in our
lovely courtyard? Or inside surrounded by hundreds of books? Either way, we’re
here to help make your child’s party a memorable event.
This package includes:
- Private story time and take-home craft for each child based on one of eight books:
- Ages 1-6:
- Don’t let the Pigeon Drive the Bus
- The Cat in the Hat
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
- Fancy Nancy
- Where the Wild Things Are
- Madeline
- Curious George
- Ages 7-11 (includes book discussion & trivia
game):
- Magic Tree House
- Junie B. Jones
- The Phantom Tollbooth
- Percy Jackson
- Charlotte’s Web
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid
- Charlie & the Chocolate Factory
- Harry Potter
- Choice of peanut butter & jelly sandwiches with chips, or individual pizzas; lemonade or juice box for 12 children
- Cupcakes or personalized Standard cake with candles (A Standard cake is a single-layer ¼ sheet cake available in your choice of chocolate or vanilla).
- All paper goods (plates, napkins, utensils, etc.)
- Choice of courtyard or indoor space
- Decorations (balloons, streamers, etc.)
- Personalized oversized birthday card
- Themed book for the birthday child
- 12 themed invitations
- Books & Books gift registry
- Personal Bookseller Host / Hostess
- 20% off any purchase made the day of your party (applies only to the parent of the birthday child)
- 1 hour of complimentary parking, for any vehicle in attendance
The Bibliophile Package
Imagine The Very Hungry Caterpillar showing up at
your child’s party to eat cake and take photos! This package includes
everything you need to give your child the book party of a lifetime. We’re so
excited about this package; we’re including gift cards for all children in
attendance, as well as a special gift for the birthday child. With so many
options, everyone in attendance is sure to be satisfied. We promise your child
will remember this party forever.
This package includes:
- Private story time and take-home craft for each child based on any one book chosen from the list of available costumes.
- Character costume making an appearance just for your child
- Choice of peanut butter & jelly sandwiches with chips, individual pizzas, hot dogs with chips, or grilled cheese with fruit cups; lemonade or juice box for 12 children
- Cupcakes or personalized Signature cake with candles (A Signature cake is a double-layer ¼ sheet cake available in an array of flavors and fillings)
- All paper goods (plates, napkins, utensils, etc.)
- Choice of courtyard or indoor space
- Decorations (balloons, streamers, etc.)
- Personalized oversized birthday card
- 12 themed invitations
- Themed book for the birthday child
- A $5 Books & Books gift card for each child in attendance; plus a 10% discount
- Books & Books gift registry
- Personal Bookseller Host / Hostess
- 20% off any purchase made the day of your party (applies only to the parent of the birthday child)
- 1 hour of complimentary parking, for any vehicle in attendance
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Thursday, July 12, 2012
We made it!! Happy 6 months "Out and About with EC"
I can't believe it it's been 6months since I decided to start "Out and About with EC"! Woohoo I'm still here!! I just wanted to thank all of you who supported me and encouraged me on this crazy mission. When I started 6months ago I never thought anyone would care or read my posts, but here I am 8,000 hits later (I know someone is reading lol). My goal although expanded has always been to provide you with great events, freebies, specials and great articles. Thanks to all who keep reading everyday and for those of you who don't, come...check it out! Out and About with EC thanks you!!!!
Hostess with the Mostest
by Stacy of "Parent Unplugged" (mamapedia.com)
Birthday Celebrations for our kids have reached a
new level of absurdness. From the money spent, to the gifts given to
the guests, to the elaborate event planning before the party, we parents
we have lost complete perspective when it comes to kids parties. Gone
are the backyard birthday parties where kids have fun by playing
whatever comes naturally to them at the moment, before a birthday cake
is devoured on the porch, sometimes even without the need for a custom
party plate. Pin the Tail on the Donkey is all but a figment of our
imaginations, as we watch our 4-year-old party guests dress up as
fairies and then choose the outfit they want to take home as a party
favor. And forget about asking your child to actually choose a few
friends of his own to invite to his party, as today we feel obligated to
invite the whole class of kids, and often more!
When I lived in Texas, I thought maybe it was a geographical issue and that Southern people just spoil their kids with these crazy parties. Over the five years we lived there, my daughter was invited to hair and fashion parties, Cheerleading parties, Little Chef parties, and Santa Sleigh Ride parties. The Grand Poohba, though, was the Cinderella party, where a three-year-old’s mother hosted a princess party for 30 kids and their parents, where a catered lunch was served on rented miniature kid-sized china, which was set on child-sized, lined tables with matching chairs and each girl got her own princess cake with a miniature doll in the middle of a cake skirt. The girls were instructed to wear princess gowns so their clothing would match the makeup artist’s masterpieces drawn on the children’s faces. Of course the event was catered and photographed, as midway through the party, a real-life Cinderella arrived in a Pumpkin Coach drawn by a horse and took each girl for an individual ride around the neighborhood ‘kingdom.‘
I thought I had seen it all in Texas and had truly convinced myself when we moved back to Chicago that this type of excess didn’t exist in the Midwest where I had grown up. I was proven wrong in baby steps. The off-site craft-house parties for the whole class were mixed in with the house parties in the basement. The museum parties didn’t seem so extravagant when wedged in-between the pizza parties where the birthday girl was allowed to invite one or two friends. I was brought up to speed, though, when a fellow mom told me about her twins’ upcoming birthday beach party. Anxious to hear about it as we had done a beach party a few years back for my daughter and 8 of her friends with a bucket of chicken and some dollar-store sand buckets, I was shocked to hear that the party had been for 200+ people! She had provided lunch for all and toys for the 80-some kids. After recovering from the staggering reality of the size of the party, I was able to ask why so many people for a kid’s party.
“Well, there are two of them,” she said in earnest.
God Bless you all for your creativity, hard work, and good intentions. The sheer extravagance, though, whether it’s quantity, quality, or monetary, is almost more than I can comprehend. I worry about our children and what that immoderation says to them. I worry about what effect the money spent on parties these days has on both our children, as well as on our fiscal responsibility as parents and citizens.
The biggest issue of all for me with the grandiose birthday festivities for kids, though, is the expectation you set for your child for future parties, which then equates into expectations for life. If Johnny gets a $175 party at Chuck E Cheese for 20 of his closest friends at 7, what does he expect at 8? Is it an extreme sports party or a sporting event? As the birthday ages escalate, so do the child’s expectations of greatness for their parties. By 10, it’s no longer a paint-ball party expectation, but a DJ’d dance party cruise on Lake Michigan. How can you top that at 14? A limousine ride and VIP backstage passes at a popular concert for the birthday girl and her besties?
A birthday party is meant to celebrate the day of a child’s birth. I can’t imagine there’s much celebration going on with the parents who are responsible for planning, executing and crowd-controlling the elaborate birthday parties they’ve put together for their kids. And the kids, although they’re most likely having a blast, aren’t necessarily feeling special or revered in the throws of people or activities. The kids, no matter what they say or do, will be fine with any sort of recognition you provide for them, even if just a family dinner together or a special outing with a close friend. They only way they won’t be happy with that is if you set them up to expect bigger and better.
When I lived in Texas, I thought maybe it was a geographical issue and that Southern people just spoil their kids with these crazy parties. Over the five years we lived there, my daughter was invited to hair and fashion parties, Cheerleading parties, Little Chef parties, and Santa Sleigh Ride parties. The Grand Poohba, though, was the Cinderella party, where a three-year-old’s mother hosted a princess party for 30 kids and their parents, where a catered lunch was served on rented miniature kid-sized china, which was set on child-sized, lined tables with matching chairs and each girl got her own princess cake with a miniature doll in the middle of a cake skirt. The girls were instructed to wear princess gowns so their clothing would match the makeup artist’s masterpieces drawn on the children’s faces. Of course the event was catered and photographed, as midway through the party, a real-life Cinderella arrived in a Pumpkin Coach drawn by a horse and took each girl for an individual ride around the neighborhood ‘kingdom.‘
I thought I had seen it all in Texas and had truly convinced myself when we moved back to Chicago that this type of excess didn’t exist in the Midwest where I had grown up. I was proven wrong in baby steps. The off-site craft-house parties for the whole class were mixed in with the house parties in the basement. The museum parties didn’t seem so extravagant when wedged in-between the pizza parties where the birthday girl was allowed to invite one or two friends. I was brought up to speed, though, when a fellow mom told me about her twins’ upcoming birthday beach party. Anxious to hear about it as we had done a beach party a few years back for my daughter and 8 of her friends with a bucket of chicken and some dollar-store sand buckets, I was shocked to hear that the party had been for 200+ people! She had provided lunch for all and toys for the 80-some kids. After recovering from the staggering reality of the size of the party, I was able to ask why so many people for a kid’s party.
“Well, there are two of them,” she said in earnest.
God Bless you all for your creativity, hard work, and good intentions. The sheer extravagance, though, whether it’s quantity, quality, or monetary, is almost more than I can comprehend. I worry about our children and what that immoderation says to them. I worry about what effect the money spent on parties these days has on both our children, as well as on our fiscal responsibility as parents and citizens.
The biggest issue of all for me with the grandiose birthday festivities for kids, though, is the expectation you set for your child for future parties, which then equates into expectations for life. If Johnny gets a $175 party at Chuck E Cheese for 20 of his closest friends at 7, what does he expect at 8? Is it an extreme sports party or a sporting event? As the birthday ages escalate, so do the child’s expectations of greatness for their parties. By 10, it’s no longer a paint-ball party expectation, but a DJ’d dance party cruise on Lake Michigan. How can you top that at 14? A limousine ride and VIP backstage passes at a popular concert for the birthday girl and her besties?
A birthday party is meant to celebrate the day of a child’s birth. I can’t imagine there’s much celebration going on with the parents who are responsible for planning, executing and crowd-controlling the elaborate birthday parties they’ve put together for their kids. And the kids, although they’re most likely having a blast, aren’t necessarily feeling special or revered in the throws of people or activities. The kids, no matter what they say or do, will be fine with any sort of recognition you provide for them, even if just a family dinner together or a special outing with a close friend. They only way they won’t be happy with that is if you set them up to expect bigger and better.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Miami Daily Deals for July 9
Here are today’s deals:
 | Ft. Lauderdale: $99 for 6 Laser Hair Removal Treatments ($275 value) |
| Ft. Lauderdale: $39 for Xrays, Exam and Cleaning ($249 Value) |
 | $36 for a Personalized iPad Folio Cover or Snap-On Case - a $73 Value |
| $18 for 1-Year of Meal Planning Plus a Preprinted Grocery List Notepad - $25 Value |
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