Mardi Gras Season - Parties and More Parties until Feb 9 - Fat Tuesday

Be creative, have a good time creating your own Mardi Gras theme event, or attend someone else's, but when do you turn down invites?  Do you have some personal standards when it comes to what you will and won't do when it comes to holiday celebrations?

One of the issues that many young people face at many events is not knowing how to respond to the alcoholics who are pushy when it comes to drinking to get drunk like them.  Others have difficulty saying, "No" to drugs despite all the school campaigns that speak against the use of them.  Instead, some will give into temptation and forever change their minds, bodies and relationships they have with others negatively.

I think of the generations of those who came before me who just couldn't sit out a few parties that they knew full well who was going to be there and what they represented despite being mere children when they first got started partying or supposedly mature adults looking to sow their oats.  I also ponder on the young females I had to speak to and one friend I had to save from getting raped after seeing her stumbling home from a party.

Value yourself, your life, and think of those who care about your safety and if you are old enough to drink, do so responsibly.  There are some police officers that would love to increase their bonus checks on one's arrest.

For those who are in doubt about attending future family related events like: weddings, bar mitzvahs, birthdays, graduations, club rituals, etc., check out my book Should I Go to the Party?   This helpful, thought-provoking guide is written for the young as well as the mature reader.  Thanks in advance for your support!

Having a Karaoke Party at Your Place

The food is all ready to be set on the dining table. The invitations have been set out. For some reason, there still seems to be something missing in your celebrations. The party still seems to be incomplete and lacking the X-factor to set them apart from all the other parties out there. No party would be a success if that distinguishing factor was not there.

We suggest setting up a party that everyone would never forget. Forget the boring parties that you used to have and introduce your friends to a whole level of partying that they have never experienced before. Have your friends experience the true joy of a Karaoke Party.

To set your self up for a successful Karaoke party it all starts with setting the tone. By setting the atmosphere, you put your guests in a state of mind that works to get them excited. It is not enough to just put in Karaoke equipment and hire a Karaoke DJ and hope for the best.

Start by choosing the music for the part. DJ Hire firms believe that limiting the selection to a manageable lit would help your guests to get into celebration more. Choose a popular theme that everyone can get into. Decades are always a popular choice for party themes and they are easy to facilitate. For example, you can get a DJ Hire company to play music from Madonna and WAM for an 80's decade party. The same goes for 90's Karaoke parties and 70's parties.

Another way you can set up a theme for your Karaoke party is by decorating the place appropriately. Normally people do not want to sing but f they are in the mood to sing, it is hard to stop them from doing so. Get your guests in the mood to sing by setting up a stage that would be inviting for would be singers. You do not have to go all out. Just add a stool near the home entertainment system and a mic stand and you should be all set.

Another aspect of a Karaoke party that people seem to forget is the audience. Often times they prepare stuff for the people who would be singing but a party needs people to listen to the singers as well. This is an important aspect that a party planner needs to consider and that is why a few pails of confetti or and some party favors would be helpful to make the night enjoyable to the listeners as well.

Preparing the neighbors is an important aspect of the party because you have to coexist with the people around you. Karaoke parties are very noisy and it could be bothersome for neighbors, so invite them to get into the good side of them. Aside from that, get the necessary permits if you live in a strict community.

Perhaps the best thing you can do to make the party enjoyable is by having fun yourself. In the heat of things, we often forget to stop and enjoy our time with friends and family. It is not often when people can set up a party and we often forget to see what is important when we drown ourselves in the work.


by Johnathon F. Black

For the best Melbourne Karaoke service, check out BPM entertainment. Also providing great Melbourne Wedding DJ services available.

Break the Ice at Those Boring Xmas Parties

With Christmas just looming around the corner and all those boring office parties and family get-togethers that you are going to have to attend, why not take some action to make them a little bit more exciting and break the ice and lighten up the atmosphere. It takes very little knowledge and only a small amount of practice to perform some very basic tricks and with two or three of these in your arsenal you will be able to keep people entertained and puzzled for a long time. Not only that but the ladies love the air of mystery and theatricals surrounding a magician.

You'll probably be thinking right now "how would I go about doing that?"

Well, one of the easiest and simplest ways is to learn a few simple card tricks and you will find people will soon be flocking around you to see you work your magic.

You may be surprised to find that there is a card trick that you can learn in about five seconds which will amaze and stun people. You don't have to be a David Blaine to be able to perform some amazing card tricks with only a little bit of practice and you will find yourself to be the centre of attraction very quickly with people clamouring to find out how you do your tricks. But, of course, you're a professional and you will never reveal them.

In a minute I'll show you a card trick that you can do immediately, which takes no practice and although so very simple will leave people baffled as to how you performed the trick.

There are also a number of very basic techniques which are very simple to learn and which, with a little bit of practice, will enable you to apply those techniques to a number of tricks resulting in different outcomes.

As promised, here's a little teaser of what you can do, and it is only one of hundreds of different tricks that you can learn in just a few minutes to stun and amaze your family and friends.

This one I call the "Worlds Easiest Card Trick"...

I will warn you now, by the time you have read to the end of this trick you will not believe that it is actually possible to do but let me assure you that it does work. Don't believe me? Read through to the end, grab yourself a pack of cards and try it - you'll be amazed.

Effect;

Start off with a deck of cards and ask the person to thoroughly shuffle the deck. Then you ask him to name any two cards, just with a face value of the cards without any suit, i.e., Jack and nine.

Place the deck of cards onto the table and pretend to concentrate whilst having your hand or fingers touching the top of the deck. Then ask your spectator to turn over the cards himself and to shuffle through them until he comes to the two cards that he named which, to his surprise he will find in the pack together.

That's it - the trick is complete.

So now you're thinking to yourself how does that work, I haven't actually had to do anything. The trick works by probability alone, the only thing you have to do is to add some theatricals by pretending to concentrate hard.

When the Spectator in your audience names the cards although he is only picking two he is, in fact, naming eight cards that exist in the pack as he is not required to pick any suit.

The theory is that out of those eight cards, jack of spades, jack of hearts, jack of clubs and the jack of diamonds together with the nine of hearts, nine of clubs, nine of diamonds and nine of hearts, that at least one of the Jack's will be next to one of the nines.

Would I lie to you? grab a pack of cards and give it a go, you don't even need an audience to test this one.

On average, about one in 10 times that you try the trick there will be a card between the two cards that the Spectator picked. If that occurs just redo the trick after telling the Spectator that you weren't concentrating hard enough and you will find that it will work.

That's how simple card tricks can be. Go out now and amaze your family!!


by Stuart Gilbert

You should be itching now to find out how to do more tricks - you'll find plenty of them here http://www.cardtricksrevealed.net and even, as a beginner I can show you how to pass a card through a window - you won´t believe your eyes!! - it's magic!!!