Just Plane Fun: DIY Airplane Birthday Party in Ten Easy Steps

Airplane Piñata
Airplane Piñata

 

With the Disney movie Planes showing in cinemas, it’s a great time to think about having an airplane-themed birthday party for your little frequent flyer.

I have a guest post on the Mommy Points blog about airports and airport museums that host children’s birthday parties.  Check it out!

If you prefer to have your child’s party at home, you can have a lot of fun with this great airplane theme!

When our daughter was younger, we had a successful formula for hosting theme birthday parties.  Oriental Trading Company and Dover Publications were our go to resources for inexpensive party favors and decorations.  No matter what the theme, the parties all followed the same basic plan.

Airplane Explorers
Airplane Explorers

Here is an easy ten-step guide to planning an over-the-top airplane birthday party.

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I Slept Last Night in the Latchis Hotel

Latchis Hotel in Brattleboro, Vermont
Latchis Hotel in Brattleboro, Vermont
Photo by Joel Shprentz

Brattleboro is a funky little community in southern Vermont that has made a name for itself as an arts magnet.

The Latchis Hotel and Theatre, an art deco gem built in 1938, is at the hub of a cultural renaissance overtaking Brattleboro.  The Latchis is located at the center of downtown Brattleboro, just across the bridge from the famous Brattleboro Food Coop.  There are boutiques, coffee shops, restaurants, bookstores, art galleries and a biweekly farmer’s market right there.

We got to spend a night at the Latchis, and see a movie in one of the four theatres in the building.  How cool is that?

In addition to the theatres, the complex at the corner of Flat and Main includes a pub, micro-brewery, restaurant space, and retail storefronts.

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Maximize Your Rewards with Pick2Pay

Pick2Pay Wallet

If you have a gaggle of credit cards in your wallet and can’t remember which to use when buying gas or groceries, welcome to the club!

I like a new tool by Pick2Pay — it’s a free award wallet that suggests which card would be best to use for various categories of purchases such as drugstores or eating out.  There are both web and mobile versions of the Pick2Pay application.

Pick2Pay remembers the cards in your wallet, but does not require you to enter personal information such as credit card numbers.

Pick2Pay is also great for online shopping because it can show you the best option for leveraging credit card and airline shopping portals.

Furthermore, Pick2Pay identifies discounted e-gift cards that allow you to stack rewards on top of credit card bonus points.

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Penn & Teller 2-For-1 Ticket Deal

Everything in Vegas has a promo code or can be comped so I was surprised how hard it was to find discount tickets for the  Penn & Teller show when we were in Las Vegas last summer.   Eventually, I tracked down a discount code on Travelzoo, but it was not as good the 2-for-1 deal as that Southwest Airlines is offering its passengers.Screen Shot 2013-08-30 at 6.38.32 PMPenn & Teller are illusionists extraordinaire — and their show combines humor, magic, and libertarian political philosophy.  Their shtick is to demonstrate how magic tricks are done.  Penn does all the talking and Teller is mostly mute.  

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How I Won a Travel Sweepstakes

Screen Shot 2013-08-25 at 3.07.26 PM

I enter various travel sweepstakes all the time, but I never actually win anything.  So when I received this email ten days ago, I presumed it was spam:

Thank you for participating in the Top Attraction Contest for the RADISSON ROYAL HOTEL by voting for your favourite attraction. I am happy to let you know that you have voted for the winning attraction – At The Top Burj Khalifa Experience – and are the winner of a 150 EUR Rezidor Gift Card. The Rezidor Gift Card can be used in over 250 hotels in 34 countries to pay towards accommodation, dining, spa treatments and much more, at Radisson Blu, Park Inn by Radisson or Missoni hotels. The Rezidor Gift Card is valid for 2 years and has no cash equivalent.

The email was not spam!  This was a legitimate contest that I had entered and promptly forgotten about.  Each month, Radisson features about  ten of its top properties and contest entrants must select their favorite nearby attraction.  So if you have accumulated a boatload of Club Carlson points, it’s a great way to familiarize yourself with some of the redemption options.

There are several factors that contributed to my success, and which may work for you, too:

  1. Choose an obscure contest
  2. Enter early and often
  3. Avoid social media

The Radisson Top Attraction Contest certainly fits the bill.  It isn’t the most lucrative contest, but 150 Euros toward a hotel stay isn’t bad, if you have a trip coming up.  

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Molvania — Massive Markdown on the Essential Travel Guide

Map of Molvania
Map of Molvania
by Jetlag Travel

If you are a fan of Borat, and favor Lonely Planet travel guides, you might get a kick out of the parody travel guide:  Molvania.

This small Eastern European country even has its own website and public relations bureau.

We got this book for my father-in-law to read on the plane when he travelled to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Molvania is available in used condition from Amazon.com for the truly incredible price of just one cent, plus $3.99 for shipping.

The book is by Rob Sitch, Tom Gleisner and is published by Jetlag Travel Guides.

In format and page layout, this inspired send-up of a travel guide looks exactly like the real thing, and it displays an acute feel for all the clichés of the genre. —New Yorker on Molvania

Subsequent Jetlag Travel guides spoof Phaic Tăn, a nation in Southeast Asia, and San Sombrèro in Latin America (A Land of Carnivals, Cocktails and Coups).Molvania

On a less frivolous note, adventurous travelers may want to check out New Girl in the Air’s trip report on the beautiful countries of Slovenia and Croatia.

Part 1: Travel Savings Bonanza for Visa Small Business Card Users

I just stumbled upon the motherlode of travel savings opportunities which I will address in a three-part series of articles.

Part 1: Visa SavingsEdge

Part 2:  Mastercard Easy Savings

Part 3:  Check Inn – CLC Lodging

These three programs for small businesses are the best kept secret in the travel blogosphere. The programs have all been around for years and they are a cinch to use.

The first program, Visa SavingsEdge, discussed in today’s post, is good;  the second program, Mastercard Easy Savings, is even better;  and the third program is great.  Please signup for email notifications of these future articles.  

Visa SavingsEdge

If you are a small business owner and have a Visa business credit card, you may be interested in the Visa SavingsEdge program.

Visa EasySavings Travel Discounts
Visa EasySavings Travel Discounts

With a single registration, you can receive automatic discounts from dozens of vendors.  The savings show up as credits on your monthly statement.  No fuss, no muss.  This is the lazy person’s savings program.

The program is for holders of Visa small business credit cards.  All you have to do is register your card once and the discounts are automatic.

You can check whether your card is eligible on the Visa website.  My Chase United Mileage Plus business card and my Chase Southwest business card are both eligible, and I have heard that the Club Carson Business Card is also eligible.

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Free on iTunes: Away in My Airplane — Classic Children’s Book by Margaret Wise Brown

Away in My Airplane IBook

Are you looking for away to entertain your preschooler in flight?

There is a limited time offer for a free ebook (well, iBook) from the Apple iTunes store that should do the trick.

If you are a fan of Goodnight Moon and  The Runaway Bunny, you will love Away in my Airplane, a 2013 publication from the archives of classic children’s author Margaret Wise Brown.

Away in my Airplane is a charming story that will appeal to 2-5 year olds.  Artist Henry Fisher brings the book to life with a whimsical illustrations reminiscent of the Tiny Wings game.

There is a synced audio track so kids can read along to the rhyming picture book.

The electronic, read along version of the 32-page book usually sells for $3.99.

It is available as a free download from the Apple iBooks store, now through August 28, 2013.

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Where to Find First Class Lounge Passes at Bargain Basement Prices

Delta-Skyclub PassIf you are trawling for passes to gain access  to those “swank” airport lounges reserved for the airlines’ best customers, you are in luck!

The big three U.S. airlines sell one-day lounge passes for $50 — a steep price to pay for relaxing in a “club” before your flight.

There are a lot of passes in circulation because several airline credit cards throw in lounge passes as incentives for applications.

Passes for the United Club, the Delta Sky Club, and the American Airlines Admiral Club are readily available on the Ebay auction site.

I checked the prices of “completed listings” on Ebay and found a big price variation depending on the airline club.

Can you guess which club passes command the highest prices on Ebay?

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How I Saved $1200 on a Roundtrip Ticket

Last week, I needed to book a roundtrip flight from Salt Lake City (SLC) to Washington, DC (IAD) in a big hurry and airfares were through the roof:  $1297 on United Airlines to be precise.

No way, Jose!  Instead, I purchased the “economy” class ticket for 37,500 United Mileage Plus miles, a $7.50 fee, and a $75 close-in booking charge.

I “earned” the miles by opening a United Mileage Plus credit card with Chase Bank, by   accumulating some frequent flyer miles from a few long-distance flights.

Dulles International Airport Image by Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority
Dulles International Airport
Image by Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority

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