Entertain Yourself (and your guests)

It can be a long, drawn out process selecting a performer for your next event.   You just can't really pick live entertainers DJ, a magician, or musician based on a business card.  You may find a good rate, but who is really the best fit?  Listening to a cd can give you a clue on if a band is going to be the perfect fit for the Art Deco ball, but will they be able to support the atmosphere by their dress and way of handling themselves?  Will a magician be able to slip in to your "vintage Coney Island" theme or will he or she be uncompromisingly high tech?

www.Talentainer.com has an extension video collection from live performers and masters of ceremonies of all sorts. Instead of spending a year crashing weddings and stumbling to local night spots to check out their acts, you can crawl the site.

You can even find your very own Elvis there too!

donnierob

DVD Texas Elvis

I have crawled YouTube, but its very hard weeding through the videos of bored people fooling around and people recorded without their permission.   In contrast,  www.Talentainer.com only permits real performers looking for work to display their information on their site.

Maybe this is more research than you want to do, but after the last awkward and inapropriate DJ joke that silenced a wedding reception, I wouldn't risk it!

Look Sharp at Your Next Fair

Exhibiting at vintage clothing fairs, as well as more general antique fairs can be an exciting idea when you start out in the business of selling vintage clothing. However, it is also a lot of hard work to set up trade show booths. Why do I say "trade show booth" versus "antique stall?" The more polished you look, the less people who are unfamiliar with vintage clothing will look down their nose at the "old clothes," and the more they will feel invited and warmly welcomed to browse in your booth. Tailored table skirts also look much better than metal table lets.

Pipe and Drape set ups can serve two purposes. Surely, some venues provide them but many do not, especially if they are in a non traditional locale. It creates a barrier between your potential customers from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the show, and if rigged in a certain way, you can also create a small "changing room" area with pipes and drapes. Occasionally, you will have an instance of someone forcing a jacket on that they are only thinking wishfully that it will fit. Overall, however, it increases sales.

Also, another nice touch are banner stands. I see so many exhibitors who spend half the day messing with signage. They fall down from being fastened just be a few clips. Banner stands will take care of the problem.

Have fun at your next show, but with a little preparation, you can make it profitable and fun.

Antiques and Ruins

Very few places make one feel like Indiana Jones like Play de Carmen does. Once you leave the main drag and head out to Tulum, or any of the other ruins, it brings out the inner adventurous archaeologist. Of course, you cannot stay right there, but there are many Playa de Carmen villas that you can procure.

Most people know about the beautiful sandy beaches, and the ancient tourist attractions and sites come to mind, too. What most people don't know about Playa de Carmen, is that there are many shops that are of a much higher caliber than typical cruise fare. There are shops featuring local artists, selling their finest goods. Also, there are some shops that carry some antique items as well as some that exclusively deal in them. The area has a rich history, and people from all over have come to take extended trips or to live there for a stretch of time, making the selection diverse.

A little known fact is that you don't have to go to the usual tourist motels. Nowadays, a Playa de Carmen vacation rental can be a little bit more diverse. Playa de Carmen condo rentals offer a very private alternative. You can save money by dividing up the cost between a few friends or couples, or you can just take a longer trip and enjoy more of the amenities that you are accustomed to at home, such as the ability to try your hand at making local dishes in the condo's kitchen and save the money you were going to use for restaurants on a few extra souvenirs.

Mixing it Up

Some of my readers keep a vintage household in some way. Some of you collect furniture or decor of a certain era, so that your home appears to have been frozen in time. Some of you like to mix it up, and feature show stopping pieces from the 40s and 50s, with a fair dose of contemporary elements mixed in.

I have found that Modern Furniture really lends itself to a look if you are going for a midcentury modern flavor. Some of it really looks like a throw back to the bauhaus era or the Modern Furniture movement.

The Victoria and Albert chair, at left, evokes the sense of inventiveness that came out of the mod era. It would be right at home surrounded by pop art. In a different hue, I can also see it fitting in with a home that adored the deco era, and was just looking for something that had clean lines but at the same time wanted to throw a curve ball into their space.

Before you decide to settle for that overstuffed sofa from the big box furniture giant, feeling that its a necessary trade off to wanting a piece that you can live in and not damage an artifact, give ERoomservice a try. Modern Furniture might be for you. Even if you don't "buy out the store," so to speak, there is a lot of great eye candy there.