For as far back as I can remember I’ve received emails about Shecky’s Girls Night Out .  I’ve always been tempted to check it out – shopping…open bar…discounts…and a goodie bag!  All for around $30/ticket.  I just never got around to getting a ticket and a friend to go.  Fast forward to some emails talking about another event called Shecky’s Beauty Night Out.  Now this one caught my eye!  I noticed on the email there was a comment about how this would be the “biggest and best” goodie bag ever.  So I figured I’d give it a try.  For $20 (after promo code) I thought it might be worth it.  I met Amanda after work on a Thursday evening and off we went.

My overall impression of the place was just ehh…I was expecting more.  The venue was awkward.  The event was spread across 4 connecting rooms with the room that had the goodie bag pickup at the far end.  Located in that room was also the various alcohol sponsors.  The place was packed to the gills!  The purchase of a goodie bag ticket was optional – but I’d say that 99% of the girls in there purchased those tickets.  I even saw some of the vendors with them – but I’m sure they were given to them for free.

Here’s what some of the booths looked like:

But enough of that…onto what I REALLY went there for!

The goodie bag!

(Please ignore the puppy who is trying to steal the spotlight)

Yes – that is TWO bags full of stuff that they gave us!
Imagine carrying those two bags, a purse, all sorts of other freebies, and a drink while trying to dodge other girls doing the same WHILE browsing/shopping!

After we made one pass of the place we called it a night and headed back to the car to check out our swag!

They claimed that the bag contained $150 worth of stuff.  So when I got home I logged onto drugstore.com to look up the prices on the full sized items they gave.

It came out to be about $135 – for only the full sized items – so I suppose with all of the sample and trial sized things in the bag it could have been worth $150ish.   The best thing out of the bag was probably the Aquafresh White Trays – which has a retail value of about $35.

Overall, thumbs UP for the goodie bag and the organization of the event (check-in was a breeze, staff was friendly and accommodating, bar lines were not that crowded) but thumbs DOWN for the quality of the vendors and the choice of the venue.  Oh and did I mention it felt like it was 90 degrees in there!

Since I felt that the goodie bag was worth my $20 I convinced Elaine to go to the Girls Night Out with me this week!  She has been looking for jewelry lately so hopefully they’ll have something good there! I’ve read that the vendors at the GNO event are much better (and there are many more) than at the BNO one.

Hopefully the goodie bag contents from the GNO event is just as good but a little different than from the BNO one!  Stay tuned to see!

xoxo

I’m going to MAC’s studio talk!

When I’m out of ideas for a party I’m throwing or if I just need some creative inspiration, the first place I turn is to the Hostess with the Mostess.  It’s a great site that offers tips, ideas and themes for any type of party you can imagine.  I also follow the author’s blog so I was thrilled to find out that she had partnered with Chambord and would be hosting a free event at Robert Verdi’s Luxe Lab in ny!  I signed up and told 2 of my friends to save the date!

Two nights before the event I found out that the event was overbooked and that it would be in our best interest to arrive early.  It worked out well since I was getting out of work early that day so the plan was to head out to the city with Pear and Cousin J to do some shopping and then grab dinner.  (Or so I thought…a work event held me up until my normal time to leave so I didn’t make it back home until nearly 7!)  We grabbed a quick bite at mustang harry’s   (nothing spectacular) and headed over to wait in line.

Let me say…the venue was amazing!  The whole night seemed somewhat of a blur to me since I had been drinking since 1:30 (I was at a work function I swear!) The lighting in the place was very intimate but not too dark where its uncomfortable and strains your eyes.  After about 30 minutes of everyone mingling and chatting away, the presentation started.  Jen warmly welcomed everyone and we started the night!  She showed us how she created the various elements on the table and around the room along with some other tips for entertaining.  After Jen was done, we got a presentation by a mixologist on Chambord – a little history and some new ways to serve it up in cocktails.  Overall it was a great way to spend the night!  I’m so glad I got to go!  I think (hope) Cousin J and Pear had a good time too!

Jen will be posting professional pictures and  detailed instructions on how she made the decorations so check out her blog for updates!

For now here are some shots from the night:

Drink Menu – “Little Black Dress”, Chambord & Champagne and French Martini’s were served throughout the night.

Some of the decor set up in the place:

Each of us went home with this at the end of the night.  A mini bottle of Chambord was also included but I gave mine to Cousin J since she likes the stuff better than I do!  Contents included mints, nail polish, cocktail picks, shot glass etched with the Chambord logo and a pamphlet with some drink recipes and tip, basically summing up the night.

The event is coming to other cities as well…so check the link for when it’ll be at a venue near you!

http://www.chambordonline.com/hostess/home.aspx

Dallas – October, 2008
Boston – December, 2008
Los Angeles – February, 2009
Miami – April, 2009

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i seem to have forgotten how to use wordpress!