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Eventa good party? Eventa the Christmas party experts launch Summer events arm

Eventa, the Brighton-based corporate Christmas party agency, has announced details of an exciting new business arm that will focus on summer events.

The new section of the website is due to be made live in early March and will be promoting a series of themed summer balls, soirées and team building days in and around fourteen cities across the whole of the UK, including London. Amongst the themes available will be the classic masquerade ball, British-oriented garden party and school sports day events! All packages include a barbecue or buffet meal, as required by the clients.

The organisation will be creating a whole section dedicated to Olympics-themed summer parties and team building activities to tie in with the London games and Managing Director Rob Hill, recently featured in the Sunday Times' 'How I Made It Column', sees the new venture as an obvious one.

"It was the next logical step really. We were receiving enquiries for summer parties without even mentioning them on the site, so decided to channel all of our festive events experience down the summer avenue," he states.

Eventa ended up organising several summer parties for large corporate clients in London last year in light of the enquiries so decided to begin advertising them officially as of this year. Research has shown that large companies based in the capital city in particular are now investing in summer parties as their budgets begin to allow for ancillary spending once more.

Hill has moved to reassure customers that by focusing efforts on their summer offering Eventa will not be moving away from devoting as much effort into Christmas parties for 2012.

"Absolutely not. We will be continuing on with our recruitment drive to offer new and existing customers an even bigger platform upon which to build their perfect corporate event."

www.eventa.co.uk

Make Mother's Day A Special Day At The Country Living Magazine Spring Fair

There is something very special about spending time with your mother, so why not make it a lovely day together at the Country Living Magazine Spring fair. A VIP ticket package to the Country Living Magazine Spring fair makes an unusual and thoughtful gift for Mother's Day.

There are two delightful VIP packages available:-

For just £49.50 VIP guests receive a delightful Cath Kidston Book Bag, including a copy of 'The Unseen' by Katherine Webb as well as luxury chocolates from Rococo and goodies from selected exhibitors and sponsors including Rituals and Ecover.

There's the Country Living VIP Lounge as a haven to relax in with refreshing tea and coffee available all day - the ideal way to take stock of all the beautiful items and ideas at the Fair - and at the end of the day there's a glass of chilled cava to enjoy before heading home with lots of unique and original purchases from the 400 specialist artisans and exhibitors.

Throughout the day there are demonstrations and hands-on workshops offering expert advice on how to make and create personalised gifts for Easter and craft inspirations for every occasion. In the Food Hall, some of the finest regional food producers have tempting offers with tastes to savour and take home. And there's a VIP fast track entrance to beat the crowds.

For the deluxe experience, give Mother the VIP Dining Ticket that has all the benefits of the VIP ticket with the addition of an exclusive dining experience at Fredericks, with a two course meal and a glass of champagne to put the final touches to a wonderful day.

Standard VIP ticket £49.50

VIP Dining Ticket £70

The Country Living Magazine Spring Fair promises a day to remember - and a day that every mother will cherish.

Book online at www.countrylivingfair.com

21-25 March 2012 at the Business Design Centre,

Islington, London N1.

COUNTRY LIVING SPRING FAIR (21 to 25 March 2012)

Address Business Design Centre, Islington, London N1 0QH

Nearest tube: Angel - Northern Line (Bank branch)

Opening Hours: Wednesday 21 March to Friday 23 March - 10.00am to 6.00pm

Wednesday Gala Evening - 6.30pm to 9.00pm

Saturday 24th March - 9.30am to 6.00pm

Sunday 25th March - 10.00am to 3.00pm

Standard Ticket prices: Adult advance £12.50 / On the door £16.00

OAP advance n/a / On the door £12.50

Child (5-16) advance £7.00 / On the door £8.50

Under 5s free

Tickets: 0844 848 0160

IWOOT customer spreads joy and cheer... and it’s not even Christmas!

Over 3,000 customers invested in the utterly fantastic Christmas pudding bin bags from gift and gadget site www.Iwantoneofthose.com last Christmas.

IWOOT, which is owned by The Hut Group, the UK’s leading, multi-website online retailer received over 25,000 inbound emails, more than 16,000 telephone calls, 1,500 live chats and 2,500 social media queries over Christmas.

After such a demanding time of year, IWOOT’s customer service department were delighted to receive a poem from a happy customer who was clearly delighted by the product and service he received from Iwantoneofthose.com

Dear I Want One Of Those dot com
I am writing to you – London I’m from –
To thank you for bin bags so festively bright;
They were such a Christmassy delight!

The bin bags are strong and of excellent size
And to top it all, came with hard wearing ties
So rubbish stayed in, and made us feel good;
Who can help but smile at a huge Christmas pud!

There was a tense moment pre-bin bag appearance
As it dawned that amongst festive postal interference
The bin bags went missing, aghast I did feel
Black bin bags don’t cut it, pud shaped ones are unreal!

Mr Berry, Customer Service Headquarters chap
Hastily sent out replacements, apologised for the mishap
Festive bright pudding bags arrived well in time
For Christmas day, hence my most grateful rhyme.

So, in short, I give these bags maximum stars
And too for the IWOOT superstars;
Our Christmas season was entirely enhanced
I looked upon the bags and sang, laughed and danced
Once you’ve purchased these wonders you’ll never go back
To unfestive bin bags of boring-est black.

www.iwantoneofthose.com was launched in 2000 as an online retailer offering a selection of quirky, ‘off the wall’ gifts including gadgets, gizmos, toys, photo gifts, experience days and home and office accessories. IWOOT is an ideal gift shopping solution for those who have everything, a great place to buy things you don’t really need but really, really want! All orders come with free UK delivery.


(EDITOR: This is actually a fine example of good customer service. Some other firms would have shrugged their shoulders and said: "It's nothing to do with us! It's the delivery firm!"

But IWOOT did not do that. Although it was not their problem, they took responsibility for the problem and solved it to the satisfaction and delight of the customer. Well done, IWOOT! That's Christmas salutes you! May your order book be even fuller next Christmas!)

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Love Surprises? You'll Love myByBox

Lovestruck romeos who want to surprise their partners on Valentine’s Day with a present bought online can now ensure their secret gifts are kept safe thanks to www.myByBox.com and its network of electronic locker banks.

Whether they hate waiting at home for deliveries, or simply want to keep their purchases a secret until the big man's day, an increasing number of online shoppers are opting to pick up their purchases from one of the thousands of ByBox locker banks located around the country in convenient locations.

And those who have left it to the last minute can rest easy as www.figleaves.com is able to take orders up to 3pm on Monday February 13 for its range of lingerie for delivery into your choice of locker box on the morning of the 14th. Happy days!

“With ByBox lockers you can either keep a surprise as a surprise or make sure cupid's arrow doesn't misfire if St Valentine has fallen off your radar until the 11th hour," said Stuart Miller, Chief Executive and co-founder of ByBox.

“People want the flexibility of being able to pick up a parcel to suit them rather than spend hours looking out for the postman or waiting for a parcel carrier to arrive – myByBox makes the whole process simple.

“And on Valentine’s Day there’s no need to rush to answer the door before your partner – using myByBox.com we will keep your gifts discreetly tucked away until you decide to collect them or get you out of a hole if you've forgotten!

There are over 300 ByBox locker bank locations in the UK and ByBox delivers parcels to them in the middle of the night, 365 days a year, including Bank Holidays, with an enviable success rate of 99.77%.

The model is proving so popular that ByBox plans to invest £2 million installing extra banks of secure lockers at handy spots within the M25 London area such as railway stations and shopping centres.

So this Valentine’s Day, why not surprise them the digital way. Sign up to myByBox and send them a parcel. Flowers? Chocolates? A ring? Surprise us!

Delivered next-day to your nearest locker with a text and email sent to your phone.

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British Airways launch auction to win a Valentine’s dinner on Concorde

British Airways have announced a charity auction that will allow a pair of high-flying romantics to enjoy the ultimate Valentines dinner date.

The airline is inviting couples to bid in the auction for the chance to be wined and dined on board the world’s most iconic aircraft – without even leaving the ground. The highest bidder will win a romantic dinner for two on board the British Airways flagship Concorde G-BOAC at Manchester Airport’s Runway Visitor Park on February 14.

The lucky couple will receive red carpet treatment from the steps of Concorde to their exclusive table for two in the main cabin, where they will be served a three-course dinner, created by a top chef, with a bottle of champagne to celebrate Valentine's Day.

All proceeds from the auction will go to Flying Start, British Airways’ global charity partnership with Comic Relief whose aim is to raise money to help children living incredibly tough lives in the UK and around the world.

The auction was launched this week by famed Cheshire toastmaster Ian Parrott, who actually flew to New York on Concorde twice during a previous career.

He said: "Concorde has always offered the ultimate in romance, you don’t have to fly anywhere to appreciate the very intimate and luxurious surroundings of this beautiful aircraft. To have it all to yourself for one evening is possibly the most romantic gesture you can make."

Anyone is welcome to bid for the ultimate Valentine dinner on Concorde in the company's e-mail auction, all they have to do is send an e-mail to valentines.concorde@ba.com stating how much they would be prepared to pay for the prize and give their name and contact details. The prize will be awarded to the highest bidder and there is a reserve price of £500. The auction closes on Sunday, February 12 at midnight and the winner will be notified on Monday, February 13.

FACTFILE:
British Airways plc offers a wide range of worldwide destinations - including holidays in New York, flights to Dubai and a whole host of other all inclusive holidays as well as plenty of valentines breaks 2012.

Customers can save time and money with www.ba.com when booking ATOL protected holiday packages, ATOL number is 5985. Passengers are offered added peace of mind to their holiday plans and the security of travelling with British Airways. British Airways plc constantly seeks to exceed customers' expectations, both in terms of the value for money and quality of the service provided.

Colombian flowers make love go round the world 8 times!

 

If love makes the world go round then Colombian flowers are on track to make it spin this Valentine’s Day!

More than 500,000,000 Colombian flowers are being shipped to countries around the world to meet the February 14th deadline including over 5 million roses into the UK. That’s enough flowers to go round the world at least 8 times.

And not only will Colombian flowers be saying ‘I love you’ in a truly international language but helping provide safe and financially rewarding work for over 200,000 workers in Colombia who work directly or indirectly for the country’s second biggest export business.

Speaking today in Bogotá, capital of Colombia, Augusto Solano, President of Asocolflores, the Association of Colombian Flower Exporters, said: “We are on the threshold of the most important season for our industry. Colombian growers are renowned for their quality roses which are sold in high end stores like Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and quality independent florists. 

"With larger heads and strong stems they have become the rose of choice for customers wanting something extra special to express their love and friendship.”

Due to the near perfect growing conditions in the Sabana de Bogotá, just outside the capital city, Colombia produces amazing flowers with larger heads, stronger stems and more vibrant colours.

More importantly the country is acknowledged as one of the leaders in terms of social and environmental achievements with an independently audited certification programme, Florverde, which has Global Gap approval and is respected by some of the most demanding flower buyers in the UK.

Solano continued: “In 2011 over USD 5 million was spent by the Colombian flower industry on local social programmes that directly benefitted more than 90,000 workers and their families. Be it low-cost housing, schools, university programmes or medical services, the money spent on flowers throughout the world is directly fed back to the people who grow and look after them.”

For more information visit www.colombianflowers.co.uk

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How well do you know your Mum? Find out this Mothering Sunday

Mums know best. Or so the saying goes. But how well do children really know their Mum? Or how well do Mums know their children?

Fink Conversation Cards is launching its Mums edition in time for Mothering Sunday (aka Mother's Day) to help bring people closer to their Mum as well as providing an unusual solution to the annual gift decision.

The Mums edition is a small pack of cards containing questions that will get Mums and their children really talking to create memories that will last a lifetime.

The pack includes questions to ask Mum and questions that Mums can ask their child to promote two-way stimulating conversation.

‘What are your hopes and dreams for me?’, ‘What events have shaped your life?’ and ‘What sort of mother did you think you would be?’ are just some of the questions for Mums and have been carefully constructed with input from family expert Sarah Newton.

Sarah is a renowned author and presenter of several TV documentaries exploring relationships between parent and child, she said: “Research has shown talking to Mum is a good as a hug and that it’s one of the best ways of relieving stress.

“In-depth, effective conversations help strengthen relationships and develop bonds and the Mums edition from Fink has been designed to encourage helpful and meaningful conversation.

“And the cards are great even if Mums already have a good relationship with their children as it gives each of them a chance to ask some unusual questions that might tell them something they never knew about one another."

The business brain behind Fink is Lisa Warner, winner of the Female Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the O2 X Awards and more recently winner of the Village Capital 2011 scheme which saw Lisa win an investment of £50,000.

Lisa said: “The driving force behind Fink is and always has been to enable better conversations across generations.

“Our Family and Teen editions have been really successful and l wanted to launch an edition specifically for Mums and their children.

“The relationship between a Mum and her child is unique but some are better than others.

“My hope for the Mums edition is that it helps strengthen relationships between Mums and their children and uncovers something they never knew which may change the way they perceive each other.”

The Mums edition from Fink is available nationwide via Amazon, www.finkcards.com or by calling 0845 051 4665.

The Mums edition is priced at an affordable £5.99 making it an ideal gift for Mothering Sunday and one that will last longer than the usual flowers or chocolates.

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Flowers still top Valentine lists

The latest user survey conducted by dedicated money-saving website DiscountVouchers.co.uk has this week revealed that the majority of Britons still rate the top Valentine’s Day gift to be flowers.

DiscountVouchers.co.uk regularly surveys its site users and this week reveals that the leading Valentine's Day gift is flowers, with 40% of respondents picking this. Next in the poll results was jewellery with 34% while the poll also showed that 9% of people prefer not to give any gift at all Valentine's Day.

The top ten Valentine’s Day presents uncovered by the voucher codes website poll were: 1. Flowers. 2. Jewellery. 3. Nothing. 4. Chocolates. 5. Champagne. 6. Lingerie. 7. Teddy bear. 8. Simple card. 9. Perfume. 10. CD.

For more information visit www.discountvouchers.co.uk

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