22 Clever Ideas to Make Life Easier

With the holidays approaching fast, life can get pretty hectic trying to juggle your days with work, shopping, family and friends.  Here are 22 clever ideas to make life easier.  Many of these we use around the Bill Hansen Catering office to help keep us organized.  

Hull strawberries easily using a straw.

Remove Crayon and other gunk from your TV and computer with WD-40

Stop cut apples from browning by securing the pieces with a rubber band

Overhaul your linen cupboard, store bed linen sets inside one of their own pillowcases and there will be no more hunting through piles for a match.

Re-use a wet-wipes container to store plastic bags.

Add this item to your beach bag.  Baby powder gets sand off your skin easily, who knew?!

Attach a Velcro strip to the wall to store soft toys.

Use wire to make a space to store gift wrap rolls against the ceiling, rather than cluttering up the floor.

Find tiny lost items like earrings by putting a stocking over the vacuum hose.

Make an instant cupcake carrier by cutting crosses into a box lid.

For those who can’t stand the scrunching and bunching: how to perfectly fold a fitted sheet.

Forever losing your bathroom essentials?  Use magnetic strips to store bobby pins, tweezers and clippers, behind a vanity door.

Store shoes inside shower caps to stop dirty soles rubbing on your clothes.  And you can find them in just about every hotel.

A muffin pan becomes a craft caddy.  Magnets hold the plastic cups down to make them tip resistant.

Bread tags make the perfect cord labels.

Bake cupcakes directly in ice-cream cones, so much more fun and easier for kids to eat.

Microwave your own popcorn in a plain brown paper bag.  Much healthier and cheaper than the packet stuff.

Install a tension rod to hang your spray bottles.

Turn your muffin pan upside down, bake cookie-dough over the top and voila, you have cookie bowls for fruit or ice-cream.

Freeze Aloe Vera in ice-cube trays for soothing sunburn relief. 

Create a window-box veggie patch using guttering.

Use egg cartons to separate and store your Christmas decorations. 

Be sure to share these with your friends, they'll be glad you did!

Say Cheese!!

A picture is worth a thousand words, but doesn't need to cost thousands of dollars.  Sherry Cowan has been a long time friend to Bill Hansen.  She's been taking photos at Bill's events for nearly 20 years now.  She's been all over Miami - Vizcaya, Villa Woodbine, The Palms, The Spanish Monastery, The Deering Estate, Fairchild Tropical Gardens…. and she's especially well known around the Key Biscayne community.  

Sherry is a "people person", which makes her very easy to work with and always makes her clients comfortable.  She's just FUN!  She loves to take photos, whether its a wedding, a corporate event, maternity, or a family portrait, Sherry delivers.  Best of all, it won't cost you an arm and a leg.  She'll work with what you have to work with.

We use a lot of her photos in around the Bill Hansen Catering office.  It's always a pleasure knowing not a moment will be missed when Sherry's behind the camera.

Check out some of Sherry's work - www.SherryCowan.com  | Sherry Cowan Photography on Facebook

There Is No "I" in "Team"

As Bill Hansen always says, Bill Hansen Catering is a team.  We have a top notch kitchen staff, professional and courteous servers, but not often do we get to mention some of the vendors we work so close and hand-to-hand with.  It's these people that fully help us enhance your party experience.  From our linen suppliers, to our food and beverage suppliers, even the night's entertainment…we all work together to bring you and your guests a first class experience.  In the next week, we'd like to share with you just some of people that really have helped build Bill Hansen Catering into what you see today.

Winston's Holiday Party Ideas

Sir Winston here, I’ve been on a little bit of a hiatus since Thanksgiving...I had to fly out of town, not only to spend some time with my pea-family, but I always get timid around Thanksgiving being fowl and all.  You can’t be too careful around all that turkey eating if you know what I mean.  Being the party peacock that I am, I have a few fun party ideas to entertain your guests. 

This particular one was a stocking stuffer game I saw at one of Bill and Terry’s parties.  It had everyone guessing.  Terry had stuffed a Christmas stocking then closed off the top so you couldn’t see in. We all then had to feel the stocking and guess what the items were inside.  I felt I was at a disadvantage since my talons were less tactile but I gave it my best shot.  You’d never believe what she was hiding inside….

·         An angel ornament

·         Nail clippers

·         Nail brush

·         A rubber bouncy ball

·         Some silly putty

·         A toothbrush

·         A pastry brush

·         A spatula

·         A toy car

·         A candy cane

·         A roll of Mentos

·         A snow globe

·         A pen

·         A golf ball

·         A slinky

·         A dradle

How she was able to fit all that…I have no idea.  Though I came nowhere close to guessing correctly, once again due to my clumsy peacock claws, it fun watching everyone try.  What creative imaginations some people have…it was quite intriguing!!  I didn’t care to stick around to see what the winning prize was…I was too busy over at the Egg Nog bowl chatting it up with the new peahen in town.  We’ll see how that goes….