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MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
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Las Vegas Event Usually, what happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas. Well - NOT THIS TIME! We're happy to "break the rule" and fill you in on all the happenings on November 12th and 13th. Note: there were LOTS of photos taken. Click here to see them all! Our host hotel, the Westin Causurina, was a very nice hotel - famous for its ‘heavenly beds’ and they were!! The Mad Hatter’s Ball took place Saturday evening in a double ballroom on the second floor of the hotel.
As we lined up to enter the room, a table was set up in the hallway with our nametags (see picture) on it. We were greeted at the door and given our goodie bags (see picture) which contained the You’re a Real Show Stopper figurine, the 3 collector cards of Let’s Bingo, Friendship is a Great Deal and You’re Worth the Gamble, a bag of gold coin wrapped chocolates; a silver Anchor’s Away pin; the small pins of Anchor’s Away and Fiesta Till Ya' Siesta and a patch; then Dean presented everyone with a No Foolin’ small pin; a rolled up scroll of the silent auction figurines. Club members could see Wanda for a Mackenzie pin with the top hat.
Each end of the ticket to the ball was torn off and put in separate bags – one for everyone to enter and one just for club members.
Everyone looked so different in their finery! It’s not our usual dress for an event and lots of pictures were taken.
Tables of 8 were set with coin bank versions of the Charming Tails piece "Jackpot", poker chips, playing cards, dice and balloons. It was explained that there were only 30 of the Jackpot banks made. The dice were rolled and the persons with the highest and lowest roll each won a bank. (I think this might have been the favorite giveaway of the evening.) For the playing cards we were each to pick one up face down and the person with the highest card won the You’re Worth the Gamble club figurine and pin and the lowest won Friendship is a Great Deal club figurine and pin. Other giveaways were the mini Maxine Making Snow Angels to those with a red glass ladybug in their bags.
Food – an assortment of salads; chicken cordon bleu; fish; vegetables; rolls; and oh such wonderful desserts – talk about chocolaty chocolate cake! cheese cakes, carrot cake – yummy! A cash bar, and coffee and tea.
Entertainment – that should read ENTERTAINMENT!!!!! There was a disc jockey and music played all evening but the SPECIAL guests were an Elvis impersonator and a showgirl. They really worked the room – yours truly had a wonderful encounter will ‘Elvis’ sitting on my lap!!! (Ok, not quite as yummy as the chocolate cake but right up there!) They worked the room and there were lots of photo opportunities. The best being the Elvis’ performance with WANDA!! It was one for the record books! Just check out the photos attached!!!!!
There were 12 winners in the hat contest – it was tough, there were so many entries that when they were all asked to go to the dance floor more were standing than left at the tables. What a creative group of people. Door prizes consisted of different pieces from a Fitz and Floyd collection called Game Night designed by Yvette. There were cookie jars; nut dishes; trays, and salt and pepper shakers and more!
The winners of the diamond pendant, Golden Egg figurine and curio cabinet were announced. None of the winners were present at the event.
SILENT AUCTIONS AND RAFFLES:
Blue Show Stopper – one of a kind color version My Little Prince – one of a kind prototype The Fortune Teller – one of a kind prototype Hat’s Off to Love (Version 1) one of a kind color combination Hat’s Off to Love (Version 2) one of a kind color combination Fruit Hat – one of a kind prototype never given an official name Happy New Year – one of a kind prototype Oh Mackenzie Tree Treasure Box – one of a kind prototype – metal box coated with enamel Mom, You’re Beautiful (Large Version) – one of a kind prototype May Today be Your Crowning Glory – first sample received
The silent auction items brought in over $4,000!!! A percentage of which will go to charity.
The DOLLAR raffle – all you had to do was write your name on the bill and the winner took all. Winner was Debby Niehaus.
The HAT raffle – a wonderful sparkly red hat with plumes was raffled off for $5 per ticket. It was won by Inez Dishmon – see photo. At first we thought the hat was another of the creations from Karl, but we learned that this one was created by Dean!
I think it’s fair to say that once again Fitz and Floyd outdid themselves for their collectors and Wanda, Yvette and Laura obviously worked hard and long on the preparations. Of course, what would the event be without DEAN!! the most charming of hosts. Just a tip for future attendees – don’t get into a twist contest with him – you will NOT win…..
SIGNING EVENT:
On Sunday morning the 2-hour signing event took place in a large hallway. Everyone who had bought a ticket got a raffle ticket for a drawing for a prototype of the signing piece. The difference being the record was not all black as in the final design. Mackenzie in a jewel-studded jumpsuit is called “Let’s Rock and Roll” and is limited to 288 pieces.
Since it was not a large signing and there were two hours available the line never got long and people had an opportunity to mingle and chat. Some looked quite worn out after the late night before!!!!
THE SQUASHVILLE SOCIAL CLUB RAFFLE:
A special thanks to all who bought tickets for our fundraiser either through the Bulletin Board or at the event. The raffle was for a signed print of “NO FOOLIN” donated to the club by the New Orleans Christmas Dove store the evening prior to the cruise. Congrats to Frances, who won the very limited print. |
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Pigeon Forge - Lots of fun, too! What a great store!! Its always nice to get signing tickets and not having to wait in line. The only drawback is all of our collectors are wandering and there's not so much time for chatting. Dean and Wanda were, of couse, their wonderful selves - always gracious and taking time for each person. The store had a drawing for the prototype of Jack O'Lantern Jalopy - it was won by Linda S. from Indiana. The silent auction piece was the prototype for The Christmas Place's sail boat, won by Debby N. of Ohio.
Click here
to see pictures from the Pigeon Forge Event. |
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Charity Donation Vote!! Once again, it is time to vote on this year's Charity Donation. We have received the following nominations: The American Red Cross, a humanitarian organization led by volunteers, guided by its Congressional Charter and the Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross Movement, will provide relief to victims of disasters and help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies.
Humane Society of United States' Disaster
Relief Fund
AKC CAR Canine Support and Relief Fund
Please send your votes to
feerlessfreddie@AOL.com by
December 15th and
include "SSC Charity Vote" in the subject line. This
will enable us to make a good donation to the winning charity by the end
of the year.
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Last chance to order your Club Pin (and more)!!
Our 2005 Squashville Social Club Button design - created just for us by Sharon Gleason! The 2005 buttons are still available! Send a check or money order, payable to "Squashville Social Club," to Joan Woodruff at 420 S. Dara James Road, Des Plaines, IL 60016. Buttons are $6.00 for the first one ordered, $3.50 for each additional button in the same order.
We are also offering the "I'm Nuts About Dean Griff" buttons (left), too! If you order them at the same time, they are just $3.00 each. Otherwise, $4.00 for the first, $3.00 for each additional button. AND - we have offered the keychain (right) at various Charming Tails events. There are only a few left. They are $9.00 for the first, $8.00 for each additional keychain or $8.00 each if ordering other SSC buttons. These keychains will be sold on a first come, first served basis. We have very few left. |
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Contest It is time for Christmas. And in that spirit - please name for us the Charming Tails character for each day of the 12 Days of Christmas ornaments. The prize is the "Sailing By to Say Hello" piece from The Christmas Place, signed by Dean Griff! Email the answers to Tiffany Everett (rooroo2@hotmail.com) by Midnight, December 31, 2005. Congratulations to Krista Kegerreis who identified the numbers and names of the pieces from the Sports figurine series. The answers are: Follow the Bouncing Ball (#78) - the
year Dean graduated Krista has won the mini
figurine - A Love Like No Other!! |
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Get Your Cameras Ready!! A new type of contest! We all have some kind of holiday Charming Tails display - it can range from one figure to ... well, hundreds! Send us a picture of your favorite winter holiday display - it can be Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas or New Year's ... we will then let the membership vote on their favorite! There will be two prizes awarded for this contest - each are figurines signed by Dean!
The holidays are upon us so get those
cameras flashing! We'll include instructions on submitting them in the
next newsletter! |
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If you submit an idea and it’s published, you will also win a prize. It doesn’t have to be a hard puzzle or game. Trust me, after thinking the Mystery Cruise game was a great idea, I quickly learned by the nearly non-existent response – that it was just too hard. Hopefully, we will not let that happen again. Since we had such great prizes for that contest (thanks to the Christmas Dove and Fitz & Floyd) you will want to either submit your ideas or be sure and enter all contests in the future.
We are hoping to add plenty of new sponsors to keep those
prizes
coming. If you know of a store that would like to be a sponsor and have
their website linked to our newsletter please e-mail
Tiffany
with their phone number and a contact person’s name. |
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Most of you will remember what a
wonderful time we had at Rosemont with our Pizza Party. (Not to
mention the great charity contribution we were able to give that
year.) Since that convention is a thing of the past, we
have not had a regular forum to gather a great number of our members in one
place…so, we’d like some help with ideas to bring us together.
Suggestions have been made to maybe hold a little something in Las Vegas
and, in response, we did have the limited print raffle. What do you, our members, want? You have a
team of officers ready to run with your ideas. |
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Don't
forget ... if you're ever looking for a past issue of "News in a Nutshell" -
just click on the "ribbon" graphic that's towards the bottom of the CT
Resource Page, right next to "Fun Stuff". This is a
permanent link and takes you to the Squashville Social Club Newsletter
Archive! All the past issues are there - for you to enjoy! |
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Without the support of our sponsors, we would not be able
to bring you the monthly contests. Please show our sponsors how much
we appreciate them by making your Charming Tails purchases from them.
And - to make it easy, we're adding a permanent list of all the wonderful
stores that sponsor the Squashville Social Club. This list will be
here all the time - so anytime you're in the mood to do some "Tail
shopping", just pick a sponsor and pick out the pieces you've "got to
have"!! |
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Precious Plates & Things |
Charming Shoppe |
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But HEY!! Have YOU got a CT
scoop? Do YOU want to share a story? Or maybe your favorite CT Photo? Do
you know of a good CT link that others should check out? Or just
let us know your comments about the Newsletter! Email
Tiffany
rooroo2@hotmail.com
your thoughts or to get
your info in the next SSC Newsletter! |
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Check the "News in a Nutshell" archive
for past issues!