Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with surprise

The meaning of English words

mizukko — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 04:04:40 -0800

I have three English questions. All are from a movie. 1) About a verb"play". "You could play Holiday Inn." I understand this sentence. But a bit confused about.. "You've played a lot of tough houses.When they didn't listen,did you quit and go home?Or keep playing?" I guess that "houses" means the audience.So what does this "play" mean here? To deal or to handle? 2) "They just sit there staring up at me. There's no there there." What is this " there"?? A noun? And what does it mean actually? 3) "It's Monday.It's turkey spam surprise. You could mortar walls with it. Word of advice. Always bring a bag lunch." My question is, what is this "surprise"? Could you explain it and give me more examples to use this "surprise"?Thank you.

A Dirty Dancing themed karaoke surprise

rachaelfaith — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 08:47:17 -0800

How do I hire someone in New York City that can provide a very unique service for a bachelorette party? This would involve specific timing, possibly a costume, decent voice, decent looks, heaps of charm. I'm sure there is someone in the Manhattan area who can and will do this. I have no idea how to find them.

I would like this person to show up at a karaoke bar (private room) at a scheduled date, burst into the room at a specified time (coordinated via text), sing along convincingly to "The Time of My Life" from Dirty Dancing, while teasing/flirting with/serenading a bachelorette.

Swayze lookalike would be lovely, but I am not expecting it. Floppy Swayze hair would be preferred, though.

Where on earth do I advertise this one-time, very brief gig? I would go to Craigslist, but my many past experiences with Craigslist hires have not been super reliable. Some sort of Broadway-related agency?

Also, what do you think the payment for this should be? I was thinking about $50 would be right, for about 5-10 minutes of actual work.

Help make this weird bachelorette surprise happen!

How to word a party invitation without sounding tacky?

Oriole Adams — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 12:45:58 -0800

My husband mentioned to me some years ago that he'd never had an actual, cake-and-candles, friends from the neighborhood invited, hats and horns birthday party in his entire life. I'd like to give him a small surprise birthday party for his upcoming birthday in late March, but I have questions about how to actually word the invitations. I'm planning only to invite about six people - different friends that he hangs out with and some couples that we both have known for years. (We both work from home and have for the past 10 years, so our social circle is a bit small.) Even with the relatively small number of people, I couldn't figure out a way to invite everyone to our house (Mr. Adams would obviously notice all the cars parked out front, etc) so I'm thinking of hosting it instead at a nearby Chinese restaurant that he and I have frequented for the past decade.

I've attended parties for folks at restaurants over the years and sometimes I had to pay for whatever I ordered and sometimes I didn't. In this case, I plan to pay for the food for the attendees. Is that something I should mention when I invite people? How to phrase it? "You're invited to (details of date and location and occasion) and the food is on me!" Is it crude/tacky to assure the invitees that they won't have to pay for dinner? I know that one of the potential guests has been out of work for a while and lives almost an hour away, so I'm thinking that reassurance that he won't have to pay for dinner on top of his gas might encourage him to attend.

As you can see, I'm rather clueless as to how to proceed. I read Miss Manners regularly, but I don't know that our invitees necessarily do and are clear on what a restaurant party invitation means. Would you be offended if you received an invitation that clearly spelled out that dinner and drinks were covered, and all that was requested was your attendance?

Ideas for time-release secret messages and surprises?

Yoshimi Battles — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 09:03:57 -0800

In a few weeks I'll be traveling for the last time to a remote place that my young kids will continue to visit for the rest of their lives. I'd like to leave some thing(s) behind for them to find over the next few years that will be fun, secret, and remind them of me. Difficulty level: humid/salty conditions, and other visitors who I don't want to find the items. My family has spent a lot of time on a small island in the Caribbean. It's a bit difficult to get to, but my husband grew up there and his family has a house there. It's a place my kids absolutely love and will be a big part of their lives growing up (they are now 4 & 8). Because my husband and I are getting divorced, I will no longer be joining them on these visits, nor are Skype, landlines, or cellphone coverage dependable for one reason or another. So I'd like to leave some things behind on my next (last) visit for them to find over the years that will ease the transition of my absence for them, and just be fun, too. I'm looking for suggestions on both the what and the how.

Constraints: There are other family members who visit and live there, so it's not as if my kids will be the only ones exploring or happening upon something in a closet. In addition, there are renters every couple of years. Lastly, the climate makes it difficult for many paper-based items to survive even from year to year, because they get moist, salty, and disintegrate.

I've considered simply mailing them things for their arrivals, but the mail is notoriously slow (sometimes taking a month for first class letters), gets delivered haphazardly depending on who's at the house, and packages are expensive from the States.

I've also considered crafting a scavenger hunt where they find things to bring home, but that would exclude all flora and fauna, and anything that won't fit in a carry-on bag. Plus there's not a lot else on the island besides groceries.

Help?

How to present surprise gift to grandparents

pear — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 06:01:22 -0800

For Christmas, my family is endowing a college scholarship in my grandparents' name. My grandparents have no idea. How should we present this gift to them? The endowment is a not-insignificant amount of money. My grandparents' children (my dad and aunt) and their grandchildren (my sister, cousins and me) will all contribute to the endowment, along with our spouses.

We're planning to frame and wrap the endowment certificate but beyond that, we'd like this to be a really special moment for them and us. In total, there will be ~20 people there to help give the gift, including both of their children and all their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and spouses.

A little background - My grandparents were both teachers and education has always been incredibly important to them. They met at this college and my dad, my aunt and some of my cousins got degrees there as well. In part because of their encouragement and support (both emotionally and financially), all the cousins are college educated and some of us have graduate degrees. Also, five family members now teach in some capacity.

My grandparents are incredibly warm, kind and generous people. They've always made a point to be there for the big (and not so big) moments in our lives. I could go on and on but, in short - they're amazing and we all love them so much.

They're also getting older (mid- to late-80s) and, although they're in great shape now, we've all started to think about their legacy. Of course they're leaving a huge, huge mark on their family but it'll mean a lot to them that a student will receive scholarship money in their name every year. We expect there may even be tears from my typically-stoic grandfather.

So, any ideas for how to present this to them? We'd like the giving of this gift to be more of an "event" than a "oh hey, here's this gift for you that was under the tree".

What can I mail in a care package to friends that are going to Burning Man?

brinkzilla — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 10:27:16 -0800

I want to send a care package to my friends at Burning Man, what should I include? I found out that you can send mail to a specific camp at Burning Man without much issue. I plan on sending a package out tomorrow via USPS and they should receive it next week.

I would love to get some suggestions. I will include some homemade mead, some canned beets, and pickles. I was thinking a fresh pinapple would last the journey and I think fresh fruit might be nice at that stage in their dusty adventure. They have all the basics, but maybe I'm missing something fun and exciting so I'd love any suggestions!

One more thing, I am trying to avoid things that can't be burned, consumed or kept for future events. They do have a storage locker in Reno, so they can reuse it next year.

These are good friends and I really want to make them smile.

I want to surprise my boyfriend with an international vacation. How do I do this given logistics? Special snowflake details inside.

anotheraccount — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 13:04:25 -0800

I want to surprise my boyfriend with an international vacation. How do I do this given logistics? Special snowflake details inside. My boyfriend's birthday is the week of Thanksgiving and our first anniversary will be the week before Christmas. As a kind of birthday/anniversary/Christmas present, I want to plan a trip to Mexico City, where he has family and has always wanted to visit. Because of our schedules and the ridiculous prices around the holidays, I'm looking to book for mid-November, so we'll be going before any of these big events actually even occur.

I want to surprise him as much as possible, but:
1) He's never been out of the country, so he'll need at least 4-6 weeks to get one.
2) He works for a major luxury hotel and gets dirt cheap rates on them anywhere in the world. They have one in Mexico City, so I would love to stay there. That means he'll have to work that part out through his office.

So. When/how/what do I tell him? Some friends have suggested taking him to a nice Mexican restaurant and telling him there sometime in the next few weeks. I just feel bad because there won't be any real celebrations on his birthday or our anniversary then.

On a not-unrelated note: this will be our first vacation together. Tips/tricks so that we won't murder each other?

Help me deliver a bacon-peanut butter-honey-and-banana birthday donut to someone in Washington, D.C.!

Unicorn on the cob — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 09:43:19 -0800

I would like to surprise a friend in Washington, D.C. for his birthday with a special treat; however, it's a donut made in a mom-and-pop store here in Dallas, and I won't be flying up there anytime soon. Can you help me figure out a hack for this? I figure there are two possible solutions here:

1. Purchase the treats here and ship them via some sort of delivery service, like FedEx. I'm not sure if this is the best idea, since his favorite donut is super-messy. I'm worried it will get crushed and arrive stale unless it's packaged in something like a styrofoam clamshell... has anyone done this? If so, can you recommend any best practices for me? (The local shop doesn't ship items, so I'd be packaging it myself).

2. Find a bakery or donut shop willing to recreate the specific types of donuts he likes best (or already makes a close-enough version) locally in the D.C. area. It would be awesome if they delivered, too, but I have some friends in Baltimore willing to make a pick-up and delivery on my behalf if necessary.

This friend recently quit his full-time job to care for two elderly housebound relatives with rapidly failing health; one of them has dementia and cannot be left alone for very long, so I'd prefer the treats to go directly to him, if that's possible. Thank you!

Slow Jam the Secret Service method for me.

vytae — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:14:45 -0800

Can the president of the U.S. make a truly surprise appearance? Barack Obama's appearance on Jimmy Fallon's show earlier this week got me wondering. Was he advertised as a guest for that episode? And if not, wouldn't there be tons of extra security and screening as audience members arrived that would tip people off?

I can't get google to tell me much about security for the event, given that the topic of "security" came up on the episode when they talked about the Secret Service in Cartagena scandal. Several websites claim that this was a "surprise appearance" on the show. Would the audience members have noticed anything different, or could it really be a complete surprise when the president walks out on stage?

In addition to this specific appearance, I'm interested in the more general question of how or whether the president is able to make a surprise appearance anywhere. Can they do anything to make his entourage and security unobtrusive, or does it usually turn out as "Surprise! The president is going to be here in 2 hours after we finish inspecting the place and patting down every person within 1000 yards!"?

Something special for my sister's first mothers' day

ocherdraco — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 15:25:43 -0800

My sister is expecting her first child. On Mothers' Day (which is after the baby will be born), my sister, brother-in-law, and the new baby will be getting together with both of the baby's grandmothers. I don't live in the state where this will be happening, but I'd like to do something special to surprise all three mothers. What awesome (but inexpensive) thing can I do? It doesn't have to be a surprise for my brother-in-law (in fact, he's really good at keeping secrets like this), so ideas that need a person local to the event are fine by me. This get-together will be in the Boston, MA area.

The reason for needing something inexpensive is that I'm a student and have limited funds for such a thing.

"That's a very pleasurable sensation!"

Anonymous — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:44:28 -0800

Hi all. Definite TMI/physical intimacy question pertaining to matters of the backside and heterosexual male turn-ons. Details after the jump! So, my s.o. and I have been together for almost a year; physical intimacy began 8 months ago. Background: I'm a chick near 30 and he's a dude mid-40s. We have crazy schedules and a partial-distance issue and appreciate time together when we can; don't have the opportunity to be physical as often as we'd like. He's very generous, considerate, and talented. We're relatively well-matched regarding the area of sexual experience and enjoy each other immensely in bed. I walk the fence between being a little kinky and not so much; he's been much more open to experimentation than even he was expecting. We also watch a lot of porn/send dirty texts/share pictures.

So we're rolling around naked the other day having a grand old time, and we're getting some mutual oral action on and he decides to eat out my derriere. Now, I have a strict "no-insertion, but everything else is a-okay near the butt" policy, and he's aware of it. But this was a first for us, and a complete first for me. I paused in surprise; but, it was actually pretty hot. So, my questions are:

What do guys generally think about giving a rimjob? As in, is it pleasurable to be a giver, or is it more about the partner's reaction?
Is this a turn-on for him, or was he thinking it would be a turn-on for me, or both?
Also, is this something I should offer to do for him?
That would also be a first for me, but I really get off on the idea of driving him crazy, and he LOVES touch and kisses of all sorts; he's a very physical person. Thanks in advance!

Great ideas/places/activities for a surprise birthday party (for a 29-year-old guy) in Seattle?

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:06:35 -0800

Great ideas/places/activities for a surprise birthday party (for a 29-year-old guy) in Seattle? Anything goes -- considered renting a ridiculous bouncy castle, but don't have the space. Heard good things about Black Bottle in Belltown for food and drink. There will probably be 15-20 people in attendance. Any and all suggestions are very much appreciated!

Kinder Surprise Collector Callout!

Count — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 08:30:31 -0800

Does anyone have information about collecting Kinder Surprise Toys in Canada or getting German goods into Canada affordably? My wife and I collect kinder surprise toys and are wondering if anyone knows of any resources in Canada for collectors. Like clubs, meets or anything of the like. Most of the material we find is German or French.

Also, a while ago we discovered that the Canadian line is pretty blase compared to the European (especially German) lines. Does anyone know of a Canadian importer of German goods. Or a way to get German goods into Canada cheaper than getting a German friend to ship a box (at $50 for shipping)?

Help us get as many people as possible to our post-elopement surprise reveal party

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:59:24 -0800

My fiancé and I are eloping. Woo! We’re having a big ‘engagement’ party afterwards with our family and friends where we’ll reveal that we are married. But our family and friends live in multiple countries, as well as multiple states of Australia. We are a bit worried that people will be think, ‘I can’t make an engagement party, but I’ll go to the wedding’. Which, um, they won’t get to do. We know we won’t be able to get everyone to come to the party where all is revealed, but how can we maximise the number of people who do come? We’ve given people six months’ notice of the date for the ‘engagement’ party, which I’m hoping will help. I’m also sending out formal invitations with RSVPs, which I’m hoping will get people to see it as a major event. But at the moment the only other strategy I can think of, if people say they’ll come to the wedding but not the ‘engagement’ is to say something along the lines of ‘Who knows when we’ll tie the knot?! If you want to celebrate with us, THIS is the party to come to!’

NB: we’ve booked the celebrant, venue and airline tickets. We’ve also booked the party venue and set a date. The elopement and subsequent party are a done deal. I’m not looking for advice that includes ‘don’t elope’ or ‘this is a bad idea’. Our families and friends won’t mind, trust us. As well, the party plans, after we tell everyone we're married, include some activities to ensure parents and close family/friends are involved in a way similar to if there were a traditional wedding - photos, speeches, thanks to parents, lunch the next day just for family, for example. We also know there will, inevitably, be some people who won’t make it to the party. We’re prepared for that as well. We just want advice on how to maximise our chances of as many people as possible attending the super-awesome party we have planned.

We have a throwaway email address too: brideandgroomrunaway@gmail.com.

What is a fun/cute way to display a large amount of cash as a gift?

heyheylanagirl — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:03:29 -0800

What is a fun/cute way to display a large amount of cash as a gift? I just got married, and we've gone the joint checking account route, while both maintaining personal accounts for the small amount that we each keep weekly for gas, snacks, haircuts, etc. I've saved up $500 out of that, and my husband's birthday is next week. I plan to give it to him for his birthday on Friday, but I don't just want to hand him a wad of mismatched cash in a ratty envelope (as it currently stands). What would a fun way to give him the money?

I'm giving him the money so that he can use it for restoration of his 1989 Corvette- a project that has been on-going, but was shelved this past spring as we got engaged and started saving intensely for a house. It's not very romantic just to give cash (here, I love you $XX amount), but here we are. It's flexible and will allow him to buy the parts/labor that he wants, in the order that he chooses.

I've seen ideas about putting the money in bars of soap, or puzzle boxes, or folding it up into little origami, though those seem more suited to smaller denominations. Maybe a treasure hunt of some sort? He'll be turning 31, and I plan to take him to a restaurant to eat, though I can give the gift beforehand if the presentation so warrants. Thank you in advance if you have any ideas!

How did your parents make Santa real for you?

Jaybo — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 10:24:47 -0800

How did your parents make Santa Claus real for you? As the parent of a four-going-on-five year old, I'd like to do a few extra things to make Santa seem "real" to him beyond having crumbs left on the cookie plate we leave out or the late-night sound of jingle bells ringing through the house. (We've also got "write him a letter" and "track Santa on NORAD" covered.)

One co-worker told me that her husband spray-painted red "landing strips" onto the snow on their front yard and she put sprinkles of "Santa powder" around their chimney for the kids to find on Christmas morning.

Someone else suggested that in addition to cookies, leaving a carrot for the reindeer that ends up with a few bites out of it is a good idea.

Any other tips for other things you do or have heard about to make Santa seem more real on the big day?

How to shake up a party mid-way through?

activitystory — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 07:48:45 -0800

Help me make this party extraordinarily memorable! In a few weeks, Ms. Activitystory and I are throwing a party to celebrate me finally finishing my doctoral work. The crowd will be friends and some family, mostly academic types. It's a group that often attends the same parties, which are always fun, but we want this party to be something special. Apart from a nice spread of food and drinks, we were thinking that having something surprising "happen" at some point during the evening would push it into the "best party ever" realm-- ideally something that pulls the group back together after they have divided themselves up into little conversational groups, which is inevitable.

So, what should happen? I'm thinking something funny or strange, but in good taste (i.e., no stripping cops or firemen) and that won't be traumatic or scary in anyway (no prank-style stuff). I hope it'll be something that everyone can enjoy (the crowd will all be over 25 years old). Maybe food or drink related, but some sort of performance might be cool too. Nothing that forces any unwilling participation from guests, though.

We have some space to work with, as well as fireplace which will have a fire in it. Otherwise, it's a pretty typical house, and most of the party will be in the living room/kitchen/dining room areas. It will be too cold outside for staging anything in the yard.

Create ways to present a gift to my wife?

siclik — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 16:08:07 -0800

How should I surprise my wife, the love of my life, with her new iPad 2? It's not a holiday or any special day, but I just want her to know that I love and respect her for all that she does. She's the mom of the year and I want to recognize all that she does with this iTrophy, if you will.

I'd like to avoid opening it as, sometimes, that's half the fun! (plus, I got her the white one and I may have to return it if she'd rather have black)

Thanks!

Help me surprise my awesome hubby

tessalations999 — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 22:23:56 -0800

Help me surprise my husband for his birthday. My husband always picks out his gifts for his birthday and this year I want to do something special. We live in the Bay Area and are on a low budget. He is a tech geek, but also loves the outdoors and having adventures. Any ideas for romantic gestures/ outings/ gifts that aren't that expensive?

How would Mark Twain have written "WTF!"

Wild_Eep — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:10:17 -0800

Is there a word that would express your combined surprise/confusion/confoundment upon witnessing an event or situation? How would best express, in a single word, your brain's "WTF-moment"? It's that moment when something isn't as it appears.... at. all. And when you think about it further, you can't comprehend how it got this way, or how anyone would have thought this made sense, or even what thought process they would have used to get to this point.

At first, I thought of the word 'ponderous', which is close, but not quite it. Old-timey words are perfectly acceptable.

What say you?

Surprise date night in Bellingham, with love from New England.

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 20:58:14 -0800

Looking to set up a surprise date night for a friend and her husband in the Bellingham, WA area. The problem? I'm not local to the area and don't know what's fun to do/see/eat or how to go about setting something like this up. My longtime buddy and her husband have a newish baby and both have to work long hours at stressful jobs. I'd like to send them on a date night from afar as a little break from life. They have friends who could watch their kiddo so that's not an issue, but I can't set up a specific time or appointment for said date night because of their labile schedules and furthermore, I have no idea what restaurants are good in the area. They love to eat out at pretty much any kind of restaurant, are very easygoing people in general, and I could probably afford something in the realm of $50-100 at this time. I guess my question is twofold: (1) What's good for eats or fun activities in the Bellingham area, and (2) Are there places nice enough that if I called up to pay for a giftcard or tickets or whatever, they'd actually call up my friends to notify them of the gift and/or send the gift by mail to them.

Asking anon because my username is connected to some of my other online personas that she knows of. :)

Help us make her cry (happy tears!)

lbo — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 15:55:22 -0800

How can my coworkers and I surprise our awesome receptionist on her 50th birthday? I would like to do something over-the-top awesome (on a budget) for the receptionist at my company. She is an amazing lady. She's recently overcome a bout with breast cancer, has lost a child and still is the most friendly, cheerful and positive person I've ever met. She treats us all like we're her kids and takes care of everyone she meets like they're family.

When she celebrated the end of treatment for her cancer, we all went in on a gift card for spa treatments for her. I'd like to take it to the next level. She is an incredible party planner and the most thoughtful gift giver I've ever met. How can we "WOW" her?

Some details about her:
She's EXTREMELY outgoing and fun-loving, loves to bake and is kind of a baking snob (but in a charming way), she's on the conservative side politically, vegetarian, extremely patriotic (her birthday is the 4th of July), originally from the South.

Since she's the receptionist at a large corporation, there are some limits on what we can do to decorate her desk. Is there a clever and creative way to spoil her on her big 5-0? She has two teenage daughters who we'd like to incorporate in whatever it is we do, too. Thanks!

Building Up An Immunity to Assholes

Saucy Intruder — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:18:36 -0800

When someone yells at me, or tells me I've screwed something up (oddly, in my profession these two events seem to be somewhat mutually exclusive) I get a physical reaction. My throat constricts to the point that it becomes sore. I get dizzy. My brain turns into jello. What's going on and can I train myself out of this?

Over-thinking a plate of cake.

Nattie — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 00:43:04 -0800

Cake dilemma: I want to surprise my friend with homemade birthday cake, but I don't know what kind of sweets he doesn't like. I have my own tentative solution (two or three small cakes) for which I need guidance and recipes, but I'm also open to other solutions. A very close friend recently moved to the same city as me and my husband. It is wonderful to have him back and we have all been hanging out, but because of the previous geographical distance, we hadn't gotten to talk much at all for the past six or seven years. It feels just like old times and that's great, but unfortunately because of the time that's passed, I can't at all remember what kind of sweet stuff he likes and dislikes. All I have to go on right now is that he liked some strawberry cheesecake we split at a restaurant. I'm pretty sure he liked some Oreo cheesecake I made in college, but his tastes might have changed since then.

His birthday is coming up in a little over a week and I would love to surprise him with a cake, especially because he doesn't know very many people out here, but I have no idea what kind to make! I'm going to steer clear of nuts, citrus, coconut, and carrot cake -- he's not allergic, but those are common dislikes among the public. But past that, I'm not sure what to do. Some people don't like chocolate, for example, or they just don't like too much chocolate. I'm pretty sure he at least likes cake, and isn't terribly picky.

What would you do? I've thought of asking him, but that would ruin the surprise; next year will be easier once I find stuff out this year. I've also thought of letting him pick out a cake somewhere, but I think it's more thoughtful to bake it myself -- and I'm a very good baker -- plus it might make him feel weird to point at something and have someone else buy it.

My tentative solution is to make two or three small layered cakes, those narrow rectangles you see sometimes that feed roughly two people; that way, he'd get more variety, there's bound to be something he likes, and it would make for a nice presentation. It would also not be too much cake overall so he's not stuck with a bunch of stuff he can't or doesn't want to eat too much of.

However, I've never made cakes that small so I need some guidance and recommendations/recipes. I've been cooking and baking since I was a kid and can make just about anything, plus I have a good selection of kitchen equipment, including a good food processor and stand mixer. Difficulty level isn't an issue, nor is time or cost or nutrition. I'd prefer recipes that are just a tad involved/exotic without being too off-putting. I do not want anything involving a box mix because I enjoy baking from scratch (though box mixes are perfectly good otherwise).

Tentatively, I'm thinking the following categories might be reasonably safe:

1) moderately chocolately - white with chocolate icing, or maybe marble cake, or maybe chocolate with cream cheese icing, or maybe Oreo cake; considering loosening the nut restriction to allow for Nutella because I've never met anyone who doesn't like it.

2) white with raspberry filling -- he seems fine with berries; Nutella might be good here as well, but I want to avoid putting chocolate in everything in case he doesn't like chocolate.

3) toss-up: traditional birthday cake (seems a bit boring, but perhaps safe), traditional birthday cake with some added zing, red velvet cake

I'm also thinking I can afford to try at one unexpected, polarizing kind of cake if I make three, but only one. Thinking about presentation, it seems that at least one cake should have dark icing, a ganache, or berry spread on top.

Another thing: if I do this, is there a decent way to transport them? I just need to take them in the car. I expect to leave the sides un-iced because that's how I've always seen them and it shows off the layers. Are there pre-made cardboard separators or papers that someone can buy?

I'm a bit overwhelmed, so any advice, recipes, or things I haven't considered would be a huge help. Thanks!

Need your creative juice for filling a toy vending machine for my girlfriend

Anonymous — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 08:48:21 -0800

What creative, fun and affordable things could I fill 2" capsule vending machine with designed specifically for my girlfriend? I purchased a toy capsule vending machine for my best girl as a fun gift for xmas.... I want to fill the capsules with fun, unique items so that she can have a fun little item each day for many to come. It'll be on free spin (naturally) :) The machine holds 180 capsules at a go.... so I thought I would confer with some of the most creative folks I know, the AskMeFi community on what you think would be fun items to fill it with?

Currently I have: her favorite candies, little notes, fortune cookies, a few little novelty toys, homemade coupons for dinners out and other events she might enjoy, and a couple of small usb flash sticks with music mixes on them.

Any other ideas for fun, unexpected or goofy items to fit in those 2" capsules?

Thanks and happy holidays!

p.s. Posted anonymous as she is a frequent reader of this site. :)