Category: Home & Crafts
Tough sell. That's what you are, a tough sell.
Two days ago I asked how spontaneous you are. I asked, hoping I could convince a handful of you to host a gathering in celebration of National Talk Like a Pirate Day (Sunday, September 19).
Selfishly I was hoping you might consider hosting a few rounds of Pirate Bingo and donating any booty earned to the House of Shine's Yellow Envelope Project. Every $20.00 we raise allows us to tell one more person he shines. Mostly, though, I was just hoping you would see this holiday as a chance to gather in community and to spread shine.
We've got some booty of our own. Five loyal readers have donated tool belts, chock full of tools you will need to Shine at everything from baking to writing to making paper crafts and more. All you need to do in order to win a belt is be the among the five groups donating the most to our Yellow Envelope Project. Here's another view of the tool belt titled, Paint the Town Red.
The silver lining to our readership's, seemingly, limited interest in hosting an event is that winning a tool belt will be easy. Gather your family around the dining room table and let the kids donate a couple bucks allowance, so they might purchase a Bingo card. Create a sense of occasion by sending your kids invitations in their lunch boxes.
Yesterday we covered an invitation idea that could be made in 15 minutes or less. I did it in eleven (counting time to take photos).
Today we cover food. Simple food. Food a working mother who wants-to-shine-but-who-comes-home from-work-exhausted could do. Unlike the pirate cupcakes that I made a few years ago (when I wasn't working), the cupcakes pictured below were easy peasy. Bake for 18 minutes and decorate in five. I know that totals 23 minutes, but the baking time is time you could spend doing something else.
Chocolate cupcakes, vanilla frosting, graham crackers crunched up to look like sand, and gold coins as treasure. Family Circle won't be featuring my cupcake idea, but I'm pretty sure the kids attending our Pirate Bingo party will be plenty pleased.
Add to the cupcakes something savory like Pirate's Booty Aged White Cheddar Corn Puffs, coupled with bottles of root beer, and we're on our way to simple, but fun-filled event.
I know we've got some cooks out there. Feel free to join us in the Community Forum labeled, Today's Post and chime in on other grub a hostess might serve.
Shining off until tomorrow...
The difference between doing something and thinking about doing something is, all too often, our desire to shine – to do something near perfectly.
Celebrating NationalTalk Like a Pirate Day is a good example. We told readers of the holiday yesterday and encouraged you to host a Pirate Bingo party this weekend. Those of you with a penchant for perfection will want to write me off, insisting "Maybe next year."
Aware many of you would dismiss me due to busy work and home lives, I promised four days, featuring four imperfect-but-perfectly-acceptable things that you could do leading up to your event.
Today's is invitations.
I started at 8:28 p.m. Supplies are simple. Brown paper bag, white and red paper, markers, glue, and a scissor.
Cut a panel of brown paper from bag and tear around edges.
Crumple paper into a ball, making the map look distressed.
Print details of invitation on white paper, with torn edges. Include a red “X” marks the spot.
Finished at 8:39, after only eleven minutes. I rolled the invitations into scrolls and tied ribbons around them with my extra four minutes.
Sure. The invitations could have been better. The maps could have been more detailed. They could have been stained with hot tea and burned around the edges. I could have written in calligraphy and incorporated chocolate coins into my packaging. Yes, yes, yes, they could have been better.
But, no. The point is not to make invitations that shine. The point is to shine by making community when others simply won’t bother.
It isn’t too late. Click here to see details from yesterday’s post. Host Pirate Bingo for your family; friends or neighbors; a group of colleagues; or if a Res-Lifer, a group of residents.
Help get the party started by visiting the Community Forum labeled, Today’s Post. Share other, even simpler, ideas for inviting friends to a Pirate Bingo party.
Shining off until tomorrow…
How spontaneous are you?
Are you spontaneous enough to learn that, National Talk Like a Pirate Day is this Sunday (September 19) and to whip up some fun by week's end?
I hope so. Shine Principle #10 is Spread Shine. It states, "Shining is an attitude, highly contagious and most easily transmitted through the celebration of people and events." It means, in part, that people who shine look for reasons to celebrate and most often involve others in their celebrations. These special people understand that bringing people together creates shine because it connects people in a world where, increasingly, people feel isolated.
I've decided to host Pirate Bingo at my house on Saturday afternoon and I hope you will join me.
I don't mean join me at my house. That would be a stretch for the majority of you who are scattered around the country.
I mean, join me in hosting an event - however big or small - to celebrate National Talk Like a Pirate Day.
And, if you are searching for an idea, Pirate Bingo is fun. Gather friends and a Bingo game. Play rounds of Bingo, awarding a small prize at the end of each round. The "pirate" portion of the game begins when the winner of Round #2 can steal the prize from the winner of Round #1, who in turn can steal a prize from someone else. On and on the game goes until someone is thrown overboard (or you feel like calling it quits).
I love a good theme, so I might dress the event up by inviting kids to wear pirate attire, serving fish and chips, and creating a pirate centerpiece. But that's me. That is no requisite for shining. Click here to revisit some ideas our Pirate Party a few years ago.
One more question.
How philanthropic are you?
If the answer is, "a little," "somewhat," "yes," "definitely," or any variation thereof, then consider one more thing.
Consider helping the House of Shine tell one more person they Shine. Suggest your guests make a small donation of either a nickel, quarter, dollar, or two dollars per Bingo board. At the end of the evening, tally up your money and send it to House of Shine, 4012 Harvestwood Court, Grapevine, TX 76051. Every $20.00 we earn allows us to flood one more person's mailbox with anonymous letters of gratitude, a Shine t-shirt, and a Shine Manifesto. Want to know more about our project? Click here on the Yellow Envelope Project.
We've even collected some pirate booty for five spontaneous and philanthropic people who manage to raise the most loot. Five Lowe's Tool Belts, chock full of "tools" for all sorts of fun things. Below is a belt containing all the tools you need to...
"Paint the Town Red."
Spontaneous and philanthropic, but not sure you can squeeze another thing into your week? Say, "yes" and then join us each day for the rest of this week, while we swap quick and simple ideas for pulling off your pirate party. Quick and simple. I work full time and, like you, have a full, full life. I'm talking three or four things you can do in twenty minutes or less. A quick visit to our Community Forum labeled, "Today's Post" is all you need to do to get started. Tell us who, if you were to host something, you would invite?
Shining off until tomorrow...