Some may say it not so much the type of wedding favors you give, but the way in which you present them, which makes them so very special. The tradition of giving wedding favors goes back to the 13th century and has become as deep rooted in wedding custom as the exchanging of wedding rings. So do not consider your favors as merely little tokens of thanks, but instead take some time over your choice of favors and the way in which you present them to your guests. Here are five ideas for presenting your favors in a way which they will always remember!

The most traditional and common way of presenting wedding favors is to place each one on a guest’s place setting at the reception tables. This has the handy advantage of allowing you to use them as name cards by adding a name tag to the packaging. Alternatively you could give small miniature photograph frames as wedding favors and place your guest’s names on cards inside.
Why not use your wedding favors as centerpieces on your reception tables? You will save money on flowers and custom made decorations and not be left with the dilemma of what to do with them all after the wedding is over. Choose decorative plates, stands or bowls and pile your favors up inside. You could add some extra elements such as flowers or decorative elements if you wanted to.
Ask your flower girl and page boy to hand your wedding favors after the wedding breakfast and whilst the cake is being served. Give them a large basket each and send them around each guest handing out favors to each guest. Your guests will love the cute gesture and the little ones will be kept occupied!
If you have been to several weddings before then you may have noticed that a number of favors are forgotten about or left behind at the end of the day. Fact is not everyone will want their favor although they will appreciate the thought behind it. If your budget is tight then this wastage is probably something you will want to avoid – better to give to those who want them rather than those who don’t. A crafty trick to ensure only those who want favors take them is to place your favors on a table near the entrance/exit of your reception venue and invite your guests to help themselves. Whilst it can be difficult to judge exactly how many of your guests will take one, work on around a third not wanting one.
If you really want to give your wedding day the personal touch then why not hand out the wedding favors yourselves. This will ensure you meet and greet every one of your guests and thank them in person. Be careful about how this could take though, particularly if you are having a big wedding with an extensive guest list. This perhaps one best left to the small and intimate gathering where it will not take several days to get around everyone!

As time goes by, people have a tendency of getting smarter, and with the many burglars-both veteran and novice-out there throughout the land there is no exception to this rule. The methods with which such criminals end up breaking into homes, stealing possessions and then making their getaway have become ever more sophisticated and efficient, leaving home owners with the difficult task of rising up to meet and defeat this challenge. Thankfully, home security technology and services have also advanced a great deal over recent years, and today home owners have more options at hand than ever before to beat back crime.

Security threats in the present-day in residential areas are very real and present, and they need to be taken seriously. In lockstep with the rising general crime rates throughout the United States, home burglaries and invasions are also on the rise-and they need to be taken as a probability, not a remote possibility. Overcoming present-day home security threats therefore means, before anything else, changing one’s mentality and treating criminal behavior as something that needs to be crusaded against, not ignored as if it were not a real and present danger. With this sort of new mindset fully installed and in place, a home owner will have that edge necessary to rise above and defeat current threats to their home, family, and property.

An important tool in defeating our modern-day burglars and related riff-raff would undoubtedly have to be the wireless home alarm. Why wireless? Well, quite simply because hard-wired alarms are just the kind that burglars are hoping you’ll have, as in many cases experienced burglars will know how to bypass a hard-wired alarm with few tools and little time. Wireless alarms are more reliable than hard-wired alarms (assuming you keep the transmitters operating on fully-charged batteries, that is) because they do not give would-be invaders an opening, a weak spot to be exploited in the first line of home security.

An assortment of other technological means need to be piled on top of such a wireless alarm (which can be considered the nucleus of the broader security plan for the house), and as long as the home owner knows how to operate them all, the more the better. In addition to the magnetic sensors comprising the wireless alarm, more sensors can be added in the form of glass-break sensors (an excellent tool to help against the most common form of forced entry, the smashed window pane). Ample security lighting along all exterior portions of the home, set to activate during dark hours through motion detection, will further bolster the security plan and make burglars uncomfortable before they even have a chance to begin plying their trade. Failsafe measures within the home’s security system are also an excellent idea, such as having an emergency backup communications line with the security monitoring center and speakers/microphones discreetly placed throughout the home to enable communication with emergency dispatchers, should the need arise.

Father’s Day is just around the corner: and I know he wants a Mexican Hammock as a present

Do you have a present ready for your Dad in this coming Father’s Day? If not, at Hammock Heaven we have lots of ideas that will help you decide:

1. The best present for any Dad is a Mexican Hammock: as your Dad have been working so much all year round to provide your family with so much care, he deserves a good rest and the best way to relax is to enjoy good quality time in his own hammock, if you choose to give him a Jumbo hammock: we might even invite the whole family to relax!

2. A Mexican Poncho is a great way to celebrate any special occasion, Ponchos are good fun and blokes love them!

3. If your dad just wants to enjoy time with a book, why don’t you give him a hammock chair? Hammock chairs are so easy to install as they only need one hanging point, so all you have to look for is a veranda or any exposed beam to hang it for your dad, so when Father’s Day come he walks out into his balcony directly to his relaxing hammock chair.

4. If you really want to give him a hammock, however you don’t really have anywhere to hang your hammock from, have a look to the great deals that we are having when you buy a hammock and a stand together!

5. You can also give your Dad a Mexican Blanket to decorate his Hot Rod! We all know that Dads love their cars: and it is so on fashion at the moment to cover the seats of the cars with Mexican Blankets: he will love it! Groovy Dad!!!

6. If you just can not decide: let your dad decide and give him a Hammock Heaven gift voucher!

These are some small suggestions, there is still lots of time for you to decide what is the best present for this coming Father’s Day! Come and visit us on 2/410 Pittwater Rd, North Manly where we are sure you will find the best gift idea for your Dad on Father’s Day.

At Hammock Heaven we sell a wide range of hand woven hammocks from Mexico and Ecuador along with hammock stands and accessories. Our range also includes a selection of beautiful blankets, ponchos, floor rugs, bags, Guatemalan worry dolls and much more.

If you are in Sydney, please come and visit our showroom located in 2/410 Pittwater Rd, North Manly. Here you will be able to try 20 different styles and sizes in our purpose built hammock showroom: Come in and try before you buy.

Our range of colourful products from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean is constantly evolving, come back and visit us often.

Believe it or not, people who have stuttered/stammered can become better than average speakers. You ask, “How is this possible?”

People with this type of speech impediment who are highly motivated to stop stuttering are prime candidates for becoming excellent speakers. There are a few key reasons I believe and have proven that this is true. First, here is a small list of contemporary famous people who either stutter or stuttered:

1. Samuel L. Jackson – Actor

2. Bruce Willis – Actor

3. James Earl Jones – Actor

4. Bill Withers – Songwriter and Singer

5. Bo Jackson – Football star

6. Senator, Now Vice President (U.S.A.) Joe Biden

7. Rowan Atkinson- British actor who plays Mr. Bean

Obviously, those people, despite their stutter have gone on to do incredible work, which has required them to master the art of speaking.

Second, people who stutter/stammer have a heightened awareness of speech and themselves. They are quick thinkers and capable of manipulating words to their benefit because they’ve had to, when they needed to communicate. A sharp mind is required to quickly pick and choose words and phrases, and anticipate situations when they were about to stutter. The beauty of this is, this same ability and skill can be transformed from avoiding stuttering to outstanding speech.

Finally, a person who stutters has the capability to learn how to control his or her breathing, rhythm, and tone, voice quality to a high degree because they tend to be very conscious of these factors as a stutterer.

They are also capable of creating and delivering great presentations without notes because they often do not like to read in public. Reading requires one to say certain words, in a certain order. If any of those words present a problem, the reader either has to struggle with the word or phrase, skip it or make up another word that works.

Friends, I personally used the above concept to teach myself how to create long and short, broad and very detailed presentations completely in my head. I could then deliver these presentations as if I had a detailed set of notes in front of me. Sometimes I would have only a few brief notes in outline format to refresh my memory, but I usually did not need them.

If you stutter or stammer you are sitting on a goldmine. You have the potential to become an excellent speaker, even a great speaker. You can be one of the best conversationalists around. Why? It’s simple; you have developed certain coping characteristics, abilities and skills that give you an extraordinary edge and speaking ability.