HOW-TO SPECIAL AL
The
Holidays Over are
Let’s Talk
Home Made Beauty Products Get the Recipes Setting the Tone
[of towels and candles]
But Dogs Are Human Too! Spa event ideas for your 1 favorite pooch
TABLE of CONTENTS 3. Let’s Talk
Home Spa Events
5. Home Made Beauty Products
6. Setting the Tone [of towels and candles]
8. But Dogs Are Human Too! Spa event ideas for your favorite pooch and friends
INFORMATION
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HOW-TO SPECIAL
Let’s Talk
Easier to do than one would imagine a home spa event is a GREAT way to celebrate and for a girl who has a birthday in January, this type of event really fits the bill. Teenagers and younger girls alike seem to LOVE this! Get creative with goody bags filled with beauty products (check out your local Dollar Tree, my personal favorite, or 99 cent store for some great, inexpensive fillers—I once managed to find one size fits all spa booties!) Have different stations set up. If you have a jacuzzi bath or a spa tub, utilize it! The spa events I plan have at least five stations. The girls get an empty goody bag when they first arrive. At each station they receive a take home gift for their goody bag. So for the mani and/or pedi station, for example, the gift could be a pumice stone or a big emery board or hand cream, that sort of thing. I normally give them the gift first and then the ‘technician’ can use the gift as they give them the service.
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BUBBLE BATH SPA My client happened to have a jacuzzi tub in her house, so it was great for this. We had all the girls arrive in a bathing suit with a change of clothes (something comfortable and loungy) plus a bathrobe. We handed out spa slippers and the goody bag at the door plus a glass of Martinelli’s ‘champagne’ with a strawberry in it. As girls arrived we sent them upstairs in pairs to get a bubblebath. We had a basket filled with small bottles of bubblebath that they could use, plus plenty left over for them to slip one in their goody bag. The hardest part about this station was getting them out!
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HOW-TO SPECIAL HOME MADE BEAUTY PRODUCTS After the girls were finished with their bubble baths and had changed into their comfortable outfit, they went to station 2 which was set up in the kitchen. Here they could look through a recipe book I created and pick a couple of recipes to follow. We had all the ingredients on hand, plus containers for their final products, which again they could take home. All the recipes were easy to do and the girls had a great time! [SEE page 5 for the recipes] FACIAL STATION We set this up in the living room along with the Mani/Pedi Station. Here the girls steamed their faces over big bowls of perfumed water. Then, a ‘technician’ (press your friends into service) cleansed their faces and applied peel off masque. If the girls made a face cream at the previous station, they used it here. The station gift was a head-band. MANI/PEDI STATION Enlist your friends to help. I bought
oversized plastic bowls (I mean really huge) from the dollar store and soaked the girls feet while we buffed and polished their nails. Borrow all your friends nail polish so you have a big collection of polishes for the girls to choose from. One of my friends brought with her a parafin wax warmer. For those of you, like me, that have no idea what such a thing is used for, apparently one dips ones hand in it completly coating the hand. The parafin is then left to dry and is peeled off resulting in extremely soft skin! Who knew! MASSAGE STATION Lastly we had a massage station. I suppose you could do this yourself but I actually splurged and got a professional who came to the house with her own massage table. She charged by the hour with a two hour minimum. With tip I paid $200. OTHER STATIONS A blend your own juice bar. A hairdressing station, Get creative!
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Home Made Beauty Products
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Get the Recipes
For this station make sure the ingredients redients you buy do double-duty (are used in more than one recipe) that way you don’t end up spending a fortune on ingredients. These recipes are just a couple that the girls can choose from when I design a Spa BabesŽ event, but of course since I do this for a living I have more ingredients!
LAVENDER/ROSEMARY HAIR OIL 1 oz. essential oil of rosemary 1/8 oz. essential oil of lavender Mix the two oils together and store in the dark or in a small amber or light-proof bottle. To Use: Put a few drops of the oil on your palm, brush your palm against your hairbrush and then brush your hair.
let it air dry (about 3 to 4 minutes). Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Makes about 1/2 cup.
LAVENDER HAND AND FOOT WASH 1/2 cup dried Lavender Flowers 1/2 cup finely chopped Fresh Sage 2 cups of water 8 drops of essential oil of lavendar In a saucepan, combine lavender flowers, sage and water. Simmer, covered, on low heat for 20 minutes. Strain mixture through cheesecloth and let cool. Discard the solids, retain the liquid. Add Lavender Oil, shake to emulsify, and then apply to hands and feet
LEMON TONER
1/2 cup lemon juice 1 cup distilled water 2/3 cup witch hazel CUCUMBER- HONEY TONER 1 medium cucumber, peeled and cut up into Combine all ingredients. Pour into a clean bottle Shake well before using. Apply with a pieces clean cotton ball. 2 tsp. Honey Puree cucumber in a blender. Line a sieve with cheesecloth and set the sieve over a ROSE WATER & GLYCERINE ASglass bowl or measuring cup. Pour the TRINGENT cucumber puree through the sieve and let 1/2 pint olive oil it stand for 15 minutes for the juices to drip 1 ounce rose water into the bowl. Pour the clear juice into a a few drops of glycerin clean bottle and add honey. 1 ounce witchhazel To use, shake the bottle and saturate a Combine all ingredients. Pour into a clean cotton pad with the lotion. Sweep over face, bottle Shake well before using. Apply with a neck and chest morning and night, and clean cotton ball.
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HOW-TO SPECIAL
Setting the Tone [of towels and candles]
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As an event designer the saying I live by is “one never gets a second chance at a first impression” Nothing could be more apt than for a at home spa event. In order to put your guests in the mood, the very first impression has to have the WOW factor. Whether it’s a silver tray of champagne glasses containing sparkling apple juice and simply decorated with a strawberry to a massive, full blown chocolate dipped fruit presentation, something has to engage your guests the second they walk through the door. Something has to shout “THIS IS A SPA—I’m going to have FUN”. From your invitation to your party favors and signage. Pick a theme and stick to it. Simple, but very effective and will have your guests talking about your event for a long time to come.
and in-between and you really can’t have too many. Organize your own towels in color groupings. Spend time folding them so they have that professional appearance. THE HOTEL TOWEL FOLD To fold a bath towel like they do in swanky hotels simply take your bath towel and fold it in half lengthways. Then after gauging where the middle is, fold both ends into the middle and fold in half again. A beautiful fold with no ends or tags showing.
CANDLES Nothing shouts SPA like candles. Put them all over the place. In the bathroom next to a beutifully folded stack of towels, decorate the buffet. Put some tall, slim ones next to your tray of welcoming drinks. Invest in some electric, neutral colored candles (Costco has a great set). That you can use not just for TOWELS For a home spa of course you need spa events but also at Christmas, Mother’s Day or Velntine’s. Once tons and tons of towels. Big, small 6 www.royalbash.com • royalbash.blogspot.com • lyne@royalbash.com • 310.210.7366 Like us on Facebook! www.facebook.com/royalbash
again, the rule is buy items that do double ot triple duty. They can be a great investment if you entertain a lot like I do. MAKE A SPLASH Make sure you have a least one big splashy item that draws the
attention as people come through the door. My favorites for a Spa Babes速 Event is our fruit presentation. These are a lot simpler to do than they look. The trick is long wooden skewers that you have prepared beforehand with a splash of melted wax. The blob of wax about one third of the way up the length of the stick serves to stop the fruit from dropping back down the stick. For pineapple flower prepare your sticks with the wax blob about 3/4 inch down the stick. Invest in some flower shaped cookie cutters in varying sizes. You can use a vase with some green oasis in it or a half of watermelon turned over as your base.
If you are going to dip some of the fruit in chocolate, make sure you use the chocolate disks made by Waltons and not real chocolate as it is much easier to work with and withstands remelting. Cut all of your fruit first before assembling. Keep it all in water or spary it with a dilution of water and lemon juice to stop it from turning brown. Keep a spray bottle handy that you can give your arrangement a quick spary before guests arrive to give it that dewy, fresh look. Another show stopper is the nail polish collection. Gather all of yours and all your friends you will be amazed at how many bottles you will end up with. Put them all out arranged by color on trays in some place near the entrance where they will be spotted
immediately a guest arrives. The combination of that and a goody bag and a glass of sparkling apple juice thrust into their hands upon arrival works, I promise you, and sets the tone for a great spa event.
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HOW-TO SPECIAL
But Dogs Are Human Too! Spa event ideas for your favorite pooch and friends Home spa party’s aren’t just for you and your female friends any longer. In recent years I have seen the demand for dog spa parties gradually increasing. If you are interested in doing it yourself here are some pointers.
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The Royal Ro Bash approach to a pet party is simple. It’s the ‘Many spa part Make Light Hands M Ha Work’ approach. Wo a works like this. It w work Invite 3-5 of your dog owner friends for the party. Have them come dressed for the occasion (aprons, rubber boots or swim wear). Have on hand plenty of old towels, painters drop cloths, a bathroom and a hose set up outside. If any of the guests own big dogs they will certainly appreciate this idea as everyone chips in to wash the dog. You will have plenty of people on hand to hold leashes and apply soap. A FUN AND EXCITING TIME Provide other amenities necessary for a fun and exciting time such as, different types of shampoos to choose from, brushes and combs, spritzers and conditioners. Regardless of what expensive dog shampoo manufacturers might tell you, baby
shampoo works just as well and is a third of the price. In addition, it’s tearless. Once again, visit that old stand by The Dollar Tree for your beauty supplies. Put goody bags together containing a selection of bought treats, or better yet, homemade treats, plus dog toys and chews. Finally, have a drying station set up. Get your friends to bring their hair dryers and have a couple of people taking turns manning it. Of course, don’t forget your human guests as far as laying out a buffet and perhaps a cocktail or two. HOMEMADE DOG FOOD When I am asked to put on a dog party, one of our most popular services is our chef. She comes to your home and prepares nutritional, home made dog food while the party is going on. Left overs are taken home by guests in what else? A doggy bag of course.