Tips for Kids Parties

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Children’s parties have come a long way in recent times with more options, more expense and more expectation placed on an annual event that runs approx. two-three hours. Being in the kids party industry for 15 years, I have seen every kind of party from the informal backyard gathering to a virtual carnival with a great variety of entertainment hired.

But don’t be daunted! A kid’s party doesn’t require an event planner or a big budget to be a success. I want to give you some great pointers to get the party started and the kids having a ball.

1. Stick with tradition. Children love it when predictable elements are present, and if they are overlooked, it will not go unnoticed! Must-haves are: Food, birthday cake, and the all important Party Bag! If you have at least these three things, you have a party.

2. What to provide for the kids. There are so many options: Party games; hire an activity or entertainer or have it somewhere that will entertain the kids for you. The Golden Rule is: DON’T OVER-DO IT!

One or two sessions of entertainment are more than enough. Remember, the kids are already being directed to eat now, cut the cake now, watch the gifts being opened now, etc etc.. When you add entertainers, activities and games, children may easily become overwhelmed, plus time whizzes by without the kids having a chance to actually play.

3. Play time: This element should be the number one party essential. Allowing time for children to run around, play, talk and laugh with each other is golden. It suits children of all ages and capabilities, and what’s more , it’s free!

4. Age-appropriate entertainment. This directive may seem like a no-brainer, but I have attended many parties that result in children being bored or bewildered. For example, hiring a magician-clown for two-year olds left most of the children terrified. Another example is a bowling party for four-year olds. The children had no interest in being competitive and after a few bowls, the novelty had absolutely worn off. And even Pass-the-Parcel can cause distress when played with children too young to know they haven’t missed out, they just have to wait their turn. For a party with mixed ages and genders, there is a wide range of entertainment that appeals, such as jumping castles and balloon-twisting.

5. Relax! When planning a party, listen to your child and use your instincts – you know what they’ll enjoy most. On the day have a mini paper list so you don’t forget anything, like when to get the party pies in the oven or to hand out the party bags.

And most importantly, enjoy YOURSELF too…after all -it’s a party!

Best of luck!

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How to stop the flood of election junk mail?

Anywhere on Earth, whether it is a State, Federal, Presidential or Local Council election, your mailbox will groan with the weight of materials aimed at getting your vote. It might be the digital era, but it seems that a pamphlet in your letterbox is still considered the most effective way of getting a message across.

While an informed electorate is essential to the democratic process, there appears to be huge over-sending of junk mail for political purposes – and no clear way on how to stop this. What’s worse, the content of most of the political flyers is simply mudslinging about their opponents with no substance. Is anyone else reminded of children in the playground?

How can you help stop this frivolous waste of resources? Imagine the strain on our environment and the large volume of greenhouse gases generated from all the trees cut down, electricity and transport of the materials. Grab a cup of tea or your water bottle and let’s get down to it.

We know in Australia that material that is deemed to be political, educational, religious and charitable is exempt from “No Junk Mail” signed letterboxes according to standards developed by the Australian Catalogue Association. So there is no way to stop it being deposited in your letterbox along with the other junk mail catalogues enticing you to buy all sorts of stuff you don’t really need. It is likely the same in other countries.

Step 1. Incorrectly addressed political mail
Much of your mail may be addressed to former occupants of the house. You need to “return this to sender” with the note “no longer at this address”.

Step 2. Contact every political party or politician that is mailing you
There is no central database so you will need to call the office of each individual sender and ask to be removed from their mailing list. Remember to be nice! You catch more bees with honey than vinegar.

Step 3. National Standard to stop political junk mail
Write a letter to the Electoral Commission asking them to implement a National Standard to limit the number of pieces each political party is allowed to put in each household’s letterbox.

Step 4. Polling day
Don’t forget to recycle any materials you are given on the day – often the Greens Party has a box at the booths for such materials on polling day!

Written by Tracey Bailey, Director of Biome Eco Stores in Brisbane, specialists in water bottles and eco friendly, reusable choices for your home, body and lifestyle.

Stacked Stone Sydney

If you are looking for a place to get only the highest quality Stacked Stone Sydney has available then look no further than with Craftstoneoz.com.au. Craftstoneoz.com.au is able to deliver the unique beauty that a natural looking stone cladding wall has to offer. A stone feature wall made out of pure natural stone is very rare these days. It may have been commonplace eons ago but in this day and age the supply of very fine and beautifully crafted natural stone has dwindled to the point where it can be extremely expensive. Craftstoneoz.com.au gives the best solution if you truly want to have the best Stacked Stone Sydney can ever have.

The solution is in the material. Instead of scouring the world for very rare and pure natural stone, Craftstoneoz.com.au molds replicas from a mix of cement, pumice and other materials. Even if you were to take a magnifying glass and inspect the stone pieces very closely you will not find any difference between these products and real, natural stones. The color blends all the way through the product so even if you were to break a piece and shatter it on the ground, the color would be the same all throughout the broken shards, making them appear even more authentic.

You do not need to worry about any event of repetition either. When molding, over a few thousand molding models are used that will essentially remove any possibility of repetition. Another thing to note is that all of the stones are colored one by one, therefore there will never be any two stones that are exactly the same. You could inspect every stone installed onto your wall and you will never find any two identical stones.

No matter how you look at the replicas they will look and feel like the real thing. All of the molds are designed to be almost identical to natural stones and the process in making them ensures that each one is applicable to the construct. Craftstoneoz.com.au stone feature structures are best suited for walls. Since they are lightweight and can be cut by construction equipment they are not suited for walkways, fountains or patios and others. They are best when designed for a wall, post, or other side structure that will not be walked upon. They can be placed outside or inside, making them the best pieces for building stone fences around your house, the BBQ area or if you want to create a unique, natural looking façade of your home or establishment.

The best thing is that all of these stones are lightweight and make for a very beautiful Stacked Stone Sydney has ever seen. They are compatible to be installed onto any kind of material, making any kind of wall or post suitable to have stones installed over them. This will give your home or establishment a fresh and yet comforting new look that brings the natural beauty of the world and nature right into your doorstep. Craftstoneoz.com.au offers a total of nineteen different textures and over eighty colors that will guarantee you get the best designed Stacked Stone Sydney has to offer.

Brisbane Home and Land Packages

OJ Pippin Homes builds affordable quality homes throughout Brisbane and South East Queensland. Our company strives to give our clients a stress free building experience, whether it is to live in or to invest.

With over 100 superb design and floor plan options to choose from we can help you find a house to suit a specific block, location or site and most importantly to suit your budget and requirements.

If you also require land, our Sales consultants are ex-land sales and real estate agents so they know the whole building and land acquisitions process back to front, so they can act as a buyer’s agent to help you source land if you don’t have your own.

OJ Pippin Homes have currently sourced great value land for House & Land Packages throughout Brisbane, Gold coast and the Sunshine coast.

All packages are complete ‘FULL TURN KEY’ packages which means we take care of everything for you from full landscaping and paths to window furnishings and floor coverings. Simply move in and enjoy your new home.

Our aim is to have you enjoy success whether it is for investment purposes or your own home at the lowest possible cost while maximising your future financial position. Any investment, whether rental property or owner-occupier, requires careful consideration as it is one of the major decisions an individual will make. OJ Pippin is committed to providing you with your property within 12 weeks of council approval and a continued relationship to ensure that everything remains to your satisfaction.

For investment packages, we have expanded our operations to include our own ‘in-house’ marketing division – not only do we build it, but we can rent it for you and arrange the property management post completion. In addition we can point you in the right direction to maximise your returns such as steering you via a qualified quantity surveyor to provide you with a depreciation schedule to take advantage of the taxation benefits that are available through the ATO.

From our strong customer focus and through direct honest contact OJ Pippin Homes is often involved in a number of repeat projects with our owner-occupiers and investment clients.

If you’re looking for a Brisbane Home Builder, House & Land package or more information on this Brisbane builder call 1800 OJ HOME (1800 654 663) If you’re Building today, Go the OJ Way!

Social Media for Brisbane Businesses Explained

On-line social media has utterly revolutionized not only the way that people interact with each other, but more importantly the way that a customer will fundamentally interact with businesses.

With more than 700 million people using the internet worldwide, Facebook on its own is a huge marketing body, and of course there are many others such as Youtube, Twitter, Linkedin and Google Plus. While there is a lot of media hype and hysteria, social media sites have fundamentally altered the way that all kinds of company with a public presence will operate, and are now as necessary to a business as an email address and a website.

But with all of the obvious differences that social media has brought to marketing, it is necessary to hold a realistic perspective of its capabilities and results.

With any kind of new marketing bandwagon comes a great many dishonest or inexperienced firms and “social media experts” which focus on new businesses by over-hyping the potential and under-delivering.

Millions of dollars and incalculable time is wasted on useless social media ideas every year. But the key to remember is that social media is not magic. Without good marketing and business fundamentals behind it, a social media presence can only fail and simply be a waste of time and money.

Despite hyping the impression of “free” advertising with ‘zero’ start-up and hosting fees, social media needs a constant presence, site maintenance and fresh content for successful results, which demands valuable time spent on it that many businesses can’t spare. That’s why Social Media Brisbane offers to do the work for you, while allowing room for oversight and approval by their clients.

Examples of how people commonly do the wrong thing with social media include:

• Bad Content
Dreary or even stolen articles, outdated advice, and painful attempts to be current are all too common regarding what is published online. People on the internet are savvy, and will sniff out hypocrisy and condescension from miles.

• Impatience
Developing a strong online social network takes time and persistence. A successful network won’t shoot up in a jiffy, it takes time and content to see results. All too often a business will start up a social media profile, watch their results for a month and then quit with anger when they don’t see the results they hoped for.
This also ties into:

• Consistency
Spacing out your content on a regular schedule over multiple platforms is a lot more effective than using up all your content at once or not updating at all. Nobody likes a spammer, but with the overload of information that we encounter on a daily basis, without a regular reminder of your brand’s presence you will quickly be left behind. Just a small weekly update can be beneficial for maintaining and growing relationships with customers.

The team here at Social Media Brisbane understand exactly how social media operates, and deal with it as a part of your marketing strategy rather than the one and only tactic.

Most importantly, we also integrate revolutionary Search Engine Optimisation systems into our work, which is something no other social media group does.

Choosing consultants who value gimmicks over content and who throw around buzzwords like “viral” or “Web 2.0” instead of giving strategy and goals will simply result in it having been an exercise in frustration.

If you are looking for a social media consultancy based in Brisbane, contact the Brisbane SEO Company today on 3166 9622.