0

Top 6 Stag Night Activities Not to Miss

If you’re looking for creative ways in which to spend your last free single days, there are plenty of ideas about what you can enjoy with your mates. Here are six top stag night activities that are sure to fill your evening with fun and laughter and you’ll remember it for many months after!

Bust the Bucket List

You’ve all dreamed of doing things since high school or university. Now’s the perfect time to tick some of these off, and the best part is you can do this together. Why not make a whole weekend of it, and see how much your budget & time allows to make some life-changing memories together?

Plan a Scavenger Hunt

Maybe you’re after adventure and hidden treasure. If that’s the case, plan a detailed scavenger hunt for your stag night. Incorporate some dress up and travel from one location to the next. Let someone facilitate it so you can solve riddles to get more clues along the way until you all reach the final prize and destination.

Take this up a level and plan your own Amazing Race Stag edition where you pair up. Teams can battle out a series of tasks and activities & race against each other to the finish line.

Visit an Online Casino

Want to make a little extra cash? Gambling just got a whole lot more fun. Whether you’re looking for some virtual entertainment in Canada or in Canberra, visit some of the best online casinos Canada has to offer for some inspiration.

The bucks you pocket can go towards your next round of drinks, or maybe you feel like spoiling the groomsmen with generous thank-you gifts.

Go to a Comedy Club

For a little comic relief, go to a comedy club. Be sure to get front row seats. For a really good laugh, see how you can surprise your groomsmen by volunteering them as audience members in the comedian’s skits.

Try Indoor Skydiving

For a thrilling experience, take your group of friends to new heights and try indoor skydiving. Places such as iFly will get your adrenalin pumping. In under two hours you can literally learn how to fly!

If this doesn’t float your boat, maybe indoor bungee jumping, go karting, paintball or rock climbing will.

Enjoy a Museum Hack Tour

To get back down to earth, enjoy a night at the museum. A museum hack tour has been designed specifically to give you an exclusive backstage pass to experience a museum like others normally wouldn’t.

The bonus is you’ll be exposed to a lot more than if you were just visiting the museum by yourself or even with a tour group. This is anything but boring. With a group of your best mates, you’ll have a new appreciation of natural history or science like you’ve never seen it before.

Now that you’re inspired, you’re set up to having the best stag night party ever with your friends by your side. One day you’ll all be telling your kids about the hilarious moments and incredible memories this night held.

0

How to Care for Your Summer Home When You’re Not There

Having a vacation home can be a rewarding investment that gives you a place to visit and get away from the stresses of life. However, before buying your summer home, it’s important to consider how you will care for the property when you aren’t on vacation. Fortunately, there are several ways to provide the maintenance your vacation home needs without needing to visit the property yourself.

1. Install a wire-free security camera system

Security is one of the biggest concerns with a property, especially if it’s being left vacant for extended periods of time. Burglars and vandals notice when no one enters or leaves your property for several weeks in a row, so you’ll need another deterrent to keep them at bay. Install a wire-free security camera system that can be your eyes and ears on your vacation home. Many wire-free security systems can capture high-definition video and audio that can be useful to police in the event of any kind of incident on your property.

Not only does a security system keep you up to date on everything that happens around your property, you can also use it to check in for a mini virtual vacation. Through the system’s app, you can instantly access the camera and microphone to be taken away from the stresses of everyday life and into the peaceful atmosphere that surrounds your vacation home.

2. Hire a property manager

Sometimes things happen to a home that must be dealt with immediately. If a water pipe starts leaking, for example, you don’t want to find that out several weeks later when your house has already sustained considerable water damage. But you may not be in a position to drop by your home every day (or even every week) just to check for the “what ifs”. Hiring a property manager can help eliminate some of your stress by stopping by regularly to check on your property. During a routine visit, your property manager can also do some routine maintenance to keep your property in top shape, such as cutting the grass or changing the furnace filters.

3. Use smart home devices

Smart home devices are tools that allow you to better manage your property remotely. They can take care of simple tasks, such as turning on or off lights, or more complex ones, such as vacuuming your floors. By using several of these devices in tandem, you can save money on utility bills while still keeping the property up without physically being on site.

Some of the best smart devices for remote property management include:

• A smart thermostat: This device will allow you to change your thermostat up or down right from the device’s app, even when you are hundreds of miles away. With the app, you can even set up temperature schedules to adjust the thermostat automatically, keeping the temperature warmer at different parts of the day or different times of the year.
• A smart vacuum: These gadgets take the heavy lifting out of your household cleaning — literally. A smart vacuum eliminates the need to push around a heavy vacuum (or pay your property manager to do it for you). Just push a button from the app or set a regular cleaning schedule and your robot vac will take care of the rest.
• A smart door lock: Smart door locks can be a life saver for accessing your home away from home. If your property manager isn’t available and you can’t get to your vacation home, you can grant access to an individual of your choosing by giving them a special single-use passcode. You can also see who is entering and leaving your property through the automated entry log; and changing the access code is simple, meaning you won’t have to change all the door locks if your security is ever compromised.

Use technology to care for your vacation home remotely

By using technology to take care of routine home maintenance, you can enjoy your vacation home without adding a lot of stress to your plate. For everything that technology can’t accomplish remotely, utilize an on-site property manager to keep your home well-protected and in good condition while you’re away.

0

How to Prepare for Your Future

Preparing your future can seem like an overwhelming task, especially if you are young or are just starting to think about the rest of your life. However, rather than worrying about what the future will bring, there are a few tips that you can follow to ensure that your future is bright.

Note the Requirements That You Need

The best step that you can take towards a successful future is to consider what you are going to need to get the career of your choice. Even if you are not decided on the career that you want, you should consider your options, such as going to college to get an educational grounding that will open several opportunities for you. To do this, you should look at the requirements and the rate of acceptance for the different colleges in your area, which may include factors such as Denison University average GPA, which will help you to ascertain your suitability for various colleges on your list. You can visit CampusReel to do so.

Speak to an Advisor

If you are feeling lost both in terms of your future career and your life, you should consider seeking an advisor who can help to direct you as to the next steps that you need to take. Life coaches can be an excellent option for people that want to excel in the future and make general improvements to the way that they live. In contrast, more specific advisors, such as career coaches, can be excellent resources for those that are struggling to decide on where they want to be in several years.

Create a Plan

Planning is one of the only fool-proof ways that you can plot the life of your dreams, and this will help you to consider all of the steps that you need to take to reach your goals. Rather than remaining passive, creating a plan will ensure that you are proactive about your future and that you have outlined manageable actions that you can take on your way to achieve this. Whether you are preparing your career or your financial situation, a plan can help you to avoid many of the common drawbacks that are often made when you are starting out in life.

Develop Your Soft Skills

Whether you are aiming for specific career points or simply to achieve other extra-curricular life goals, the best thing that you can do to prepare for your future is to develop your soft skills. Some of the most essential skills, such as communication and interpersonal skills, will help to boost every area of your life, including your career and working relationships to your personal relationships.

Build Your Connections

It is challenging to achieve your life goals alone, and the best way to boost their achievability is to build your connections with other people. Building your connections will allow you to open yourself up to new opportunities in the future, and can help you to get a mentor who can help to guide you in terms of factors such as your career with their own experience.

 

0

Biggest Mistakes One Must Avoid For Student Accommodations

When a child steps outside their house to pursue their higher education, they are no longer a child. They would not be required to behave like an adult, looking after their own selves. While help may still be just a call away, and their landlord or their parents could try to ease it out for them, for the major parts, the student is on their own.

This all begins with a house hunt. The minute you get an admission into a college, and you start looking for a PG or a hostel, that’s where you are first transitioning into becoming a full-fledged grown adult. However, because this is your first encounter with decision-making, you would need to know what are the biggest mistakes you could make during this whole process:

• Rushing into it: The most common mistake of them all which almost every fresher makes! Everybody wants to secure a spot in the on-campus dormitories, however, those get filled up too quickly. So, what can we do? When the semester has already begun, you probably don’t want to spend too much time doing house hunts. So, in that case, a student would naturally take the first thing they spot, which is exactly what you shouldn’t do.

You should be patient and investigate every little detail from your end. Does the property come with the basic facilities? Are they covered in the rent? Is the rent inclusive of everything, or do you need to beware of some terms and conditions? These are a few questions that need to poop in your head before you say “Done”.

• Delaying it: While it is good to exercise caution, you do not want to prolong the searching task. It is good to weigh in all your options but if you keep up with the house hunt for too long, you may have to miss on the education, which is the primary reason you are there.

 

• Speaking to brokers: Gone are the times when you would have to rely on real estate brokers to get yourself a nice place, you can now easily do that with a quick online search. Portals such as Iglu Student Accommodation would help you find the right place for you in some of Australia’s biggest college hubs like Melbourne and Canberra. Just click!
• Not speaking with the landlord first: Although in some properties, it isn’t the landlord who runs the functions, it is important you speak to them to understand their mindset and involvement. After all, in most cases, your landlord will almost be your legal guardian in a foreign land, where you know no one else. It is also important that you run a background check on them and their place to understand the history of the place.
• Not asking for trial periods: Most homeowners would like to sign you up for the long haul, after all, they are running a business. However, they are also looking for customers, and the customer will always be the king. Use your power to convince them into a smaller tenure. You do not want to be stuck at an uncomfortable accommodation just because you have signed a contract or worse paid the full sum. To avoid that, ask for a one month trial.

That time should be useful to check the basics of the place and the lifestyle of your co-tenants. If you don’t like what you get, you can always move away in two weeks, that way, you only lose half the rent. If you have to change places in a long and tight agreement, you may end up losing a huge sum.

Above all, the biggest mistake would be to not care about your gut feeling. If you do not feel good about a place or a person, it is best to stay away. The new life you have patiently studied for isn’t worth taking a risk, enjoy it with the people you are sure about!

 

0

The Pleasure and Benefits of Playing the Banjo

Music is the universal language. Whether you are a musician yourself, or you love humming tunes or listening to your favourite music station, something about melodies will always tug at your heart. Playing a musical instrument and bringing out all of those vibrant notes can be so much fun and fulfilling too.

One of the musical instruments you may want to learn to play is the banjo. It has been used consistently in country music and has even been utilized for the more popular tunes of today. Apart from being a source of enjoyment, there are other benefits that you can get from learning how to play this instrument.

It isn’t complicated

Unlike the guitar, a banjo has only five strings. This makes it much easier to handle. Tuning the banjo is not a difficult task either. If you should strum on the banjo’s open strings, you will already have come up with the G chord, which makes picking up the other chords much simpler.

It keeps your brain busy

Playing a musical instrument requires you to think and memorize. It certainly looks much better to either sing or play an instrument without having to look at lyrics or focus on the notes and chords in front of you. So you study tirelessly and start absorbing what it is you have learned. Before long, you are performing with confidence, maintaining eye contact with your audience, and expressing your feelings through your music. Your brain is worked up, and you are focused on what you are doing.

It teaches you how to persevere

When it comes to learning how to play any musical instrument, patience is a requirement. You cannot expect to learn everything in one seating. To be able to play, you need to keep on doggedly, no matter how difficult it may seem. The rewards are worth it. And while you are practising the art of patience with your instrument, you are also teaching yourself to be more determined and persevering with your other goals.

It connects you to people

Music is truly a great way to communicate with other people. People will always turn to music, whether they are in good spirits or not. They look to musicians for entertainment. They want to hear their favourite tunes when they are with company, or when they are lonely. Musicians are a great bunch of people to hang out with. Knowing how to play an instrument is the best way to associate with them and widen your knowledge about music. You learn much more about your craft, and that adds to the thrill of using the knowledge you acquire to play even better. You can also get more help with your banjo lessons through best beginner banjo to get you started.

You will find that playing the banjo can do a lot more for you. It is a beautiful instrument that has a distinct sound, one that gives you a feeling of joyfulness. You can associate it with dancing and happy times. It lifts your spirit along with all of those who are listening to you play.

 

0

How to Put Together the Perfect Wedding Registry

If your wedding date is quickly sneaking up on you, you most likely have a long list of things that still need to be accomplished. It can be tough to prioritize the things that won’t have much impact on the actual ceremony or event. Such tasks like registering for gifts can seem low on the totem pole. If you haven’t yet registered, though, you should shift gears and make an appointment to do so even if it seems inconvenient.

Ultimately, it is important for you and your spouse-to-be to do something together that is fun and enjoyable in these hectic months leading up to your big day. Take the time to connect and envision what your future life will look like by selecting the things you will own together.

Here are a few tips on how to put together the perfect wedding registry.

Prepare to Register

Before you ever set foot in a store to start your registry, it is important for you and your partner to take a good look at what you both already own. If you live together, this might be easy enough. Simply take inventory of what you have and see if there’s anything that needs replacing or updating. This will also make it easier to see exactly what you are missing instead of trying to remember things off the top of your head.

If you and your partner don’t yet live together, this is even more important to do. You might not know every kitchen appliance or piece of cutlery that the other has already, and you don’t want to risk adding something to your registry that you already own. Take some time to take stock so you can build the most effective registry list.

Choose Your Retailor Wisely

When you are looking for the perfect store to set up your wedding registry with, there are a few factors that you should consider. Firstly, keep in mind that you don’t have to only register with one store. Most people will register with at least two so as to give your guests more options for things like price points and variety.

Next you should consider how customer friendly a store is. Mix-ups with deliveries can happen, so you want to be sure that whoever you register with is accommodating enough to help sort things out if necessary. You certainly don’t need to take on more stress once your wedding is over and you are officially starting the next chapter of your life.

Look for Deals

While this shouldn’t be your top priority, when you are making your registry there is nothing wrong with trying to find good deals on the items you want. Saving your guests a bit of money when they purchase your gifts is a considerate thing to do. Something like a Bed Bath and Beyond Coupon could go a long way toward helping your guests get you and your spouse something lovely from your wedding registry.

 

0

The Best Sports to Play to Qualify for a Sports Scholarship

If you’re a passionate athlete and want to play professionally, then getting a sports scholarship is the perfect first step. It can help take your athletics to the next level while giving you access to post-secondary education, which can help you in your other career goals as well. You eliminate the pressures of student debts as the scholarship will cover some or even all of your tuition. Plus, you will have the chance to play your sport competitively on a grander scale.

How easy will it be to get a scholarship?

If you’re serious about getting a sports scholarship, it’s important to note that it takes a lot of hard work. There are tons of competition for these scholarships, and only about 2% will qualify. Don’t let that deter you, however, because that’s still a substantial number of success stories. It’s good to know which sports scholarships are easiest to get to maximize your chance of success.

This information is heavily based on how many students are competing for scholarships in these particular sports. The lower the number of students, the higher your chances are. Both women’s and men’s sports have different statistics, so below, this is broken down for you.

The women’s sports that are easiest to get scholarships for

1. Ice Hockey

Many college hockey teams recruit players internationally. It’s likely if you make the cut, you’ll have others playing with you from abroad. That said, an ice hockey scholarship is the easiest one to get for women. Around 18% of high school hockey players will qualify for college teams, which is almost 1/5th. That is because not all high schools have ice hockey teams; therefore, you’ll have less competition. These are pretty high odds compared to most others. So, strap on those skates!

2. Lacrosse

Since lacrosse isn’t the most popular of sports, especially not in international countries. You likely won’t be competing with many overseas players when trying to get noticed by a college team. College lacrosse teams tend to look for recruits on the east coast, but don’t worry if you don’t live there. You’ll still have an almost 13% chance of making a lacrosse roster.

3. Soccer

Soccer is the most popular of the three sports, but there are many more college soccer programs located across the country. While you’ll have more competition, you’ll also have more options. For that reason, around 9% of high school players will make it onto college teams.

If you are interested in achieving a scholarship in soccer, then you should enlist the expertise of ASM Scholarships, to boost your odds of qualifying.

The men’s sports that are easiest to get scholarships for

1. Lacrosse

Similar to the women’s teams, the pool of lacrosse players is relatively small in comparison to the number of varsity teams. As lacrosse is only really popular in North America, you won’t need to worry about international competition hurting your odds of getting recruited. Around 13% of male high school lacrosse players will be selected for college teams.

2. Baseball

With the most varsity programs of potentially any others in the US, one popular option is baseball. There are almost 1700 opportunities throughout various divisions for high-school baseball players to play at the college level. While the pool of players is pretty substantial, the odds are still pretty good at around 11.5%.

3. Ice Hockey

Again, ice hockey makes the list, this time coming in third for men. You will face international competition for a college ice hockey team, but the pool is still considerably low, especially considering the number of ice hockey programs through the states. It’s also good to note that recruiters tend to focus around the New England, Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin area. High school players have around a 10% chance of making it onto a college team.

It’s important to note that all scholarships have requirements. Though the scholarships have an athletic focus, you will still need to keep up academically to keep it.

0

Tips to Calm You Down Before Going to Work

You dread waking up each day because you know you’re going to face several challenges at work. However, since you need to make a living, you have no choice but to go to work. If you panic or feel terrible once you leave home to go to the office, these are some tips to help calm you down.

Take a hot shower

People who have steam shower cabins at home can take a steam shower anytime they want. The good thing about having a hot shower before leaving home is that you feel relaxed. You also have time to think about the challenges that you will face at work, and you will know how to deal with them. The rest of the day might be stressful for you, so it’s good to have something that relaxes you at the beginning of each day.

List what you need to do

Once you arrive at the office, and you have no idea what to do, you’ll feel overwhelmed. You think that you have a lot on your plate, and you won’t have enough time to do all of it. Therefore, it helps if you list everything that you need to do so that once you get to work, you’ll feel more confident. Create a reasonable schedule that you can follow and stay focused throughout the day.

Do some mindfulness activities

There are different ways for you to exercise mindfulness activities. The good thing about doing them is that you calm your mind, and you also feel positive about your environment. You can try simple activities first and try something else later. You can do them before taking a bath in the morning, or you can even do them while riding public transportation on your way to work.

Talk to a loved one

For the rest of the day, you will face people you don’t necessarily like. You don’t have a choice because you work with them, and you want to get things done. Therefore, it helps that you give enough time to talk to your loved one before you leave home. You need to remind yourself of the reason why you’re working hard. If you have problems, you can share them with your loved one so that you will receive support and advice to get you through the day.

It’s understandable for you to feel that way because you know what’s waiting for you once you arrive at the office. However, you shouldn’t feel bad about your work forever. At some point, you need to deal with it so that you won’t have any problems in the future. You may not learn to love your work, but you can at least find a way to avoid panicking while at work.

It also helps you to talk to the people who cause you stress. Whether it’s your boss or your colleagues, you need to face them and let them know how you feel.

0

5 Important Things To Consider Before Choosing an Event Venue

Events bring us together, whether they’re for work, school, or family. The experiences gathered at events are supposed to be mostly positive, building good memories of times with the people you care about. Maybe that’s why we put so much effort into making our events great. But even after all the work is done, the success of any event still hinges on the venue chosen.

 

Nobody wants to deal with inadequate facilities or seating, or poor light and sound, or tedious driving to locate the venue you have chosen. It’s unnecessary to put your guests through that stress, so you have to know the unique attributes that make a venue perfect. Which is comfortable for you as well as your guests. Whether it’s for a wedding or a corporate retreat, these 5 things are important to consider while choosing a venue for an event :

Location

Different events have different optimal locations. For example, a wedding venue is not going to need the same considerations as one for a corporate meeting. You have to make sure that your location does your event justice because a wrong location can put a pall on the whole event. Venuefinder offers different venues for different occasions to start you off on the right foot.

 

Accessibility

Nobody wants to travel to the other end of a rainbow via tram because of your event, so making sure that it is reachable by multiple sources of transportation is the key. For example, party venues in Birmingham are very popular on Venuefinder because you can reach them by air, the Metro, train and road. Also, make sure to include a map and adequate directions for your guests.

 

The Invitees/Guests

It might sound unnecessary to have your actual guests on this list, but they should be chief on your mind when you choose a venue. This is very important, especially in professional settings. You want to choose a venue that matches the calibre of people invited, and one that wouldn’t put them out of their comfort zone and won’t lack the amenities they’ll need. You can’t invite the company CEO to a retreat without first asking their unique quirks o make sure that they are met in your choice of venue.

 

Comfort

People often look to acoustics, light and capacity when choosing venues, forgetting that comfort is key. People will remember your event by how comfortable they were or how they weren’t. Make sure that the seats are good, the restrooms are clean and inviting, and the wait staff is helpful and friendly.

 

Guest Lodging

For an event that will last more than a few hours, guests might choose to find lodgings so that they won’t have to leave at night. This is especially true of weddings. In this case, you have to make sure that the venue of your event is attached to comfortable lodging for your guests, or make other arrangements elsewhere for them. Don’t be the host that leaves guests stranded.

 

Finding a venue and location that matches all these considerations is time-consuming and stressful. Cut out the burden of doing the footwork with Venuefinder – you’ll get more than the perfect location; you’ll get a whole experience for you and your guests.

 

 

0

Four Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas For Your Partner

With Christmas well and truly behind us and a new year well underway, it’s time to start planning for the next big date on the calendar – February’s Valentine’s Day. For anyone in a loving relationship, this day is all about showing how much you care for your significant other with a well-thought-out gift. However, if you’re still stuck for ideas on what to get for your partner this Valentine’s Day, this article will provide you with four excellent choices to help you with your plans.

A Spa Break

There’s nothing quite like holing up in a tranquil spa for the weekend, with all the facilities under the sun at your disposal. If you’re the kind of couple that like to kick back and relax – especially if you’re normally working hard over the course of the weeks and months before Valentine’s Day – then this can be a real winner. Simply book in for some treatments and massages, pack your bags for a weekend of pure bliss, and look forward to bonding in the peaceful surroundings of one of the country’s finest spa facilities.

Entertainment

Most couples consume a good deal of television and film (especially if they have a Netflix account). Maybe you have little energy to do anything else on a weeknight after you’ve both been working hard in your jobs. But, for a Valentine’s Day treat, why not consider something unique in the entertainment space, like going to watch a musical or a play, or finding a local venue showing the kind of music you both enjoy. Instead of staying on the sofa watching a romcom, push the boat out this Valentine’s Day with something entertaining and memorable.

Jewelry

If you’re more of a physical gift kind of couple, then you cannot go wrong with some small sign of your affection, especially if it is in the form of jewelry. Here, you’ll be able to experiment with all kinds of styles and pieces, including watches and rings for gentlemen. But there is extra emphasis on women’s presents on Valentine’s Day. Here, you may wish to look at Orocal’s gold quartz jewelry in order to find the best pieces to treat your partner with on this special and loving day – ones that’ll last a lifetime.

Homemade Gifts

Finally, while spending cash is certainly one way of showing your love, there’s also an equally important way that you can prove your affection and commitment on Valentine’s Day: through a gift that you make yourself. Whether you’re an artist, a handicraft whizz or a wordsmith, you’ll be able to find some way to curate a small gift for your partner that they’ll be able to cherish, not for its material value, but for the fact that it really shows just how much you care.

In this article, you’ll have discovered four key gift ideas for February’s Valentine’s Day. Pick your pieces or events wisely in order to create a memorable day for yourself and your partner, showing off your love and affection.