That's Entertainment

I digress from the theme of Estate and Garage sales for this post because my priority today is to book my kids birthday party.

As a work-at-home mom, I enjoy a little extra time while I am not commuting to a place of employment to do extra things. One of the things I do with my extra time (around 5 a.m. usually) these days is research entertainment for events that I am planning to have in the future.

In the past I have done my kids' parties at my local community center and the Little Gym (which I highly recommend as well). This year, however, I am doing a joint birthday party for my son and daughter because: A) their birthdays are only nine days apart; b) they are getting older; C) I can’t handle planning two birthday parties, especially around holiday time.

This year, their party will be held at DoodleBugz, a gift store and children's party center in Madison, NJ. The store and its attached party studio are located at 55 Main St. DoodleBugz offers several party themes to choose from and this year we are going with superheroes. DoodleBugz recommends bagels served when the party begins in the morning (I booked 10:30 am) or pizza served at the end. You provide any food, drink and paper goods. During the party, parents can take comfort in a parent lounge located at the front of the store featuring a flat screen TV and couches and chairs.

According to the party center, the Super Super Hero Convention theme which I chose has the kids decorate their own original power cape and super hero eye mask. They are given super hero (or villain!) names upon arrival and they will watch a mini laser light show with superhero music. The capes are decorated by the kids with felt stickers of different shapes, letters and numbers. The kids also get their face painted by the resident artist and play a kryptonite game with glowsticks directed by DoddlBugz professional party staff.

They get to take home their personalized (with initials) decorated cape, eye mask, and glow stick and the 90 minutes ends with a super hero parade. Now that’s what I call a party!

Another great sale and a fantastic view!

This morning I was on my way to a garage sale in Stirling, NJ when I happened upon and Estate Sale sign. I didn't know about this one, so I was curious and I followed the crowd.

Well, what I found was one interesting sale that I am actually going back to again tomorrow and bringing my husband. Check out the ad here. They were selling many different items from antiques and furniture to handmade quilts and records.

The location of the estate sale was beautiful as well. It was on a horse farm near a tranquil lake. Can't get better than that!

A garage sale you can learn from!

I had the pleasure of stopping by at a garage sale in Maplewood, NJ today that was a great example of what people should do when having a garage sale.
This particular sale was listed in my e-mail blast which I send out on Thursday evenings. The sale is located at 3 Oakland Terrace and will be tomorrow and Sunday starting at 9 am. For those of you who are around in the area this weekend, be sure to stop by! There is definitely something for everyone.

The reason I thought it was a great garage sale was because it was well organized and the prices were fair. The items being sold were either in their original boxes or in ziploc bags. There were toys and halloween costumes in one area, tools in another and housewares in another. Furniture was displayed in all areas and that made shopping more interesting. The items actually being sold in the garage was nicley set up as well.

I picked up a great wood and fabric folding chair while I was looking for toys, which they had an abundance of!

When you go out exploring and shopping garage sales, always try to notice the way people set things up and the prices they charge for items. Try to notice what their customers are buying too-these tips can help you with your own sale one day!

My opinion only

I went to a few estate and garage sales this past weekend, but one that really stood out pretty much shocked me for what they were selling. Now, I have seen many companies sell the entire contents of a house, right down to the window treatments.

This particular sale featured "famous maker bags and boxes. Tiffany, Gucci, Hermes, L.V.", the ad said. I assumes that I was going to see many beautiful handbags from these luxury designers. What I saw was the PAPER shopping bags being sold. Truthfully, this particular estate company did show the famous-maker shopping bags in the photos advertising the sale, I just thought there were prodcuts in those bags. Silly me.

I just couldn't believe that this estate company actually advised the client to sell the shopping bags. In fact, I asked the estate sale person in charge about selling the bags and she said people buy them if they actally have one of the real bags or even for window dressing for stores. She said the bags go for a lot more on the Internet and if you go into a store, "they sure don't give them away".

I know it's the estate company's responsibility to make the client as much money as possible, but selling paper shopping bags just didn't sit well with me.

Neither did it go over well with the store managers of these companies which I interviewed. I spoke to representatives from Louis Vuitton and Tiffany and they were very disturbed that profit may have been made on items that really should not be sold. Clients are given those shopping bags when they purchase a store item. It's that simple. Estate companies should not be selling Louis Vuitton paper shopping bags for $12.00.

Just so I didn't think I was overreacting, I asked another estate sales company owner her opinion. I actually had to explain myself a few times because she couldn't fathom selling the paper shopping bags. She said all paper shopping bags, regardless of who they are made by, are given to shoppers when they make a purchase at the sale. She added that if there are luxury brand shopping bags, these are the ones people choose first. However, they are given them to take their purchase home in.

That is how it should be.