Planning a Baby Shower? : these tips make it stress free

Written by Claire Bowes


Continued from page 1

Here’s a fun shower that will helprepparttar guests determine what to bring as a gift. Inrepparttar 110806 invitations, assign each guest a random time of day and have them bring an appropriate gift. For example, blankets for naptime. Or assign each guest a different room ofrepparttar 110807 house, likerepparttar 110808 bathroom, and have them bring an appropriate gift.

Have guests bring something that was a favorite of theirs from their childhood forrepparttar 110809 new baby. Books, movies, security blanket and etc make great gifts with added special meaning.

Have a birthday party! Get a birthday cake, streamers, party hats, and party games! Can you think of a better way to celebrate a birth?

Once you set a date and make a guest list, and pick your theme, you will need to choose a location. It is perfectly fine to haverepparttar 110810 shower in your own home, but it can be anywhere with enough space. Depending upon your theme, you may even choose a restaurant or an out ofrepparttar 110811 way tearoom!

Asrepparttar 110812 Date Nears

Now thatrepparttar 110813 big decisions are over, you can take a deep breath. You are almost there! Asrepparttar 110814 shower date approaches, however, you may again feel a bit of stress. Do you have everything? Have allrepparttar 110815 details been taken care of? Here is a great list to help you knowrepparttar 110816 answers to those questions.

Two To Three Weeks Before The Event · Prepare and mail invitations with directions to event. Be sure to keep one forrepparttar 110817 baby book! · Place order forrepparttar 110818 cake if ordering from a bakery. · Choose and purchase decorations and party favors. · Purchase prizes for games.

One Week Before The Event:

· Determine an accurate guest count. · Make follow-up calls, if necessary. One Day Before The Event:

· Purchase food and prepare platters and/or pick up any special food platters ordered. · Purchase beverages. · Make sure camera has film and/or video camera is loaded and has batteries, etc. · Wrap gifts for game winners and review instructions for games. · Clean house and party area.

Day Of The Event:

· Decorate · Buy any last minute items · Prepare area for gifts · Prepare table forrepparttar 110819 food · And most importantly – HAVE FUN!

That’s all there is to it! You are now ready to throw a memory-filled baby shower for a special mom-to-be.

Copyright. All rights reserved.

About the Author: Claire Bowes is a successful freelance writer and owner of Baby Gifts Unique where you will find further tips on baby showers and baby shower games


15 Ways to Create Some Extra Holiday Money

Written by Skye Thomas


Continued from page 1

9. Sell something at holiday bazaars. I suspect that you have to get these kinds of events lined up ahead of time with a bit of preplanning and such, but plenty of folks make a decent seasonal income by selling cool arts and crafts type items at those holiday bazaars. Often a percentage ofrepparttar sales goes towards a fundraiser, but you still make enough to make it worth your time and energy to createrepparttar 110805 art and to hang out atrepparttar 110806 art shows.

10. Sell your plasma. We all know how important it is to donate blood duringrepparttar 110807 holidays, but many people don't know that you can get paid for sitting through a procedure quite similar torepparttar 110808 donation process. The difference is that they run your blood through a machine that separatesrepparttar 110809 plasma fromrepparttar 110810 red blood cells and putsrepparttar 110811 red blood cells back into your body. It take longer and I guess that's why they are willing to pay you for your time. Years ago, I used to do this when my kids were really little and we needed some extra money for upcoming birthdays and such. They wouldn't let you do it more than once a week or so and they only paid about $25 each time, so you had to plan ahead if you were going to raise $100 or $200 for something you wanted to purchase. Contact your local Red Cross or other blood donation centers for help findingrepparttar 110812 plasma centers.

11. Clean houses for others who have holiday guests coming. Typically, if someone has out of town guests coming forrepparttar 110813 holidays, they have a lot more on their to-do list then just cleaning their toilets and shampooingrepparttar 110814 carpets. You could become a real lifesaver for those in a crunch who are too busy, too old, or too tired to do a thorough deep cleaning beforerepparttar 110815 guests arrive. Some might even hire you again to clean up afterrepparttar 110816 guests leave too! Teens can do this just as easily asrepparttar 110817 adults can.

12. Run errands and do odd holiday jobs like wrapping gifts or delivering packages torepparttar 110818 post office. You could start a little side business where all you do is run other people's errands for them. Drop off and pick uprepparttar 110819 dry cleaning. Take their pet torepparttar 110820 vet. Deliver cupcakes torepparttar 110821 charity fundraiser. Pick up a handful of gift certificates from national department stores that will later be mailed out. Address and stamp their Christmas cards for them. Do their grocery shopping. Pick up new printer cartridge and some desk calendars for them. It's all of those tiny little errands that make for frazzled schedules and crazy timelines. For a fee, you could do it for them.

13. Decoraterepparttar 110822 inside of people's homes or offices forrepparttar 110823 holidays. You don't have to be a professional interior decorator to be helpful. If you've got a reputation as having a good eye for attractive and festive decorating, you can help others to set up their trees, hang garland, and place some nice poinsettia here and there. You can help make people's homes and their office space a warm inviting environment and also include coming back afterrepparttar 110824 holidays to break it all down into to storage containers as part ofrepparttar 110825 deal. I hate tearing downrepparttar 110826 decorations and would love to pay someone to put it all back away!

14. Cater some dinners forrepparttar 110827 extremely busy shoppers or for Holiday parties. Those who are not awesome cooks need not apply for this one! Let's say that your boss is havingrepparttar 110828 annual company Christmas party at his house and his wife is swamped with running kids back and forth to choir concerts and peewee football camp while shopping and planning for her in-laws who will be flying in to visit only three days after her husband's company party at her house!!! You could offer to cook and caterrepparttar 110829 event for her. You'd once again be making someone else's holiday season so much easier while earning extra money for yourself. Decide in advance on a menu and who's purchasingrepparttar 110830 ingredients needed. Then all you have to come up with is a dollar figure for your time and grandma's secret recipe for those little mini-cakes that everyone loves so much.

15. Chauffer someone's children to and from school and other activities sorepparttar 110831 parents have some free time. This isn't quiterepparttar 110832 same as babysitting. You'd be amazed at how much time a person can spend picking up and driving two or three kids to different events and hauling musical instruments and sporting gear from one event torepparttar 110833 next. You could simply run a taxi service for children and teenagers who need rides from point A to B. You don't have to hang out and watch them once they get there. Just make sure they arrive on time. Even just having an afternoon at home to cook and clean house while someone else gathers up all ofrepparttar 110834 kids and brings them all home could make a world of difference for someone.

As you can see, some of these services could easily be turned into a year-round side job or they could be dropped as soon asrepparttar 110835 holidays are over. Perhaps you'll find that you love catering people's meals, you love refurbishing antiques, or you love running errands and taxiing others around from place to place. You could go into business for yourself and by next year, you could quit your 'real job' and be happily self-employed. Then again, your teenager could discover how much time and work it takes just to raise enough money for some generous Christmas shopping. After learningrepparttar 110836 value of a dollar earned, they might decide that college is a good idea after all!

Copyright 2004, Skye Thomas, Tomorrow's Edge

Skye Thomas is the CEO of Tomorrow's Edge, an Internet leader in inspiring leaps of faith. Her books, articles, and astrological forecasts have inspired people of all ages and faiths to recommit themselves to the pursuit of happiness. To read more of her articles and to sign up to receive her free weekly newsletter, go to www.TomorrowsEdge.net. To download free previews of her books, go to www.SkyeThomas.com.


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