The year started off with the announcement on January 10th by Playboy that they have accepted Hugh Hefner’s offer to buy the company and take it private.

The deal is expected to close sometime in the first quarter.  See more information on our GiveAshare blog.  What does this mean to us?  Basically once Playboy goes private the stock certificates are gone.  It’s created a bit of a buzz among collectors, and we are definitely seeing an uptick in Playboy stock sales on our GiveAshare.com website.  But once it’s gone, it’s gone for good.

Last weekend we participated in our first Bridal Show.  What an event!  We had a great time, met lots of brides and grooms, and realized once again how popular and how much fun our caricatures are! 
Everyone who stopped by our booth (and there were a lot), walked away laughing…and I can’t count how many times I heard the comment: “We’ve definitely got to do that for our wedding…” as they walked away.

We’re looking forward to another busy wedding season.  Our newest offering – Save The Dates definitely garnered a lot of attention, as did the Groomsmen caricatures, Bridesmaid caricatures, and the Wedding Couple caricatures with the signable mats.

But first…Valentine’s Day is coming!  We have lots of awesome personalized gift ideas…why don’t you stop by and check them out?  www.LeadingEdgeGifts.com

I got married in August – 25 years ago, and picking a date back then had more to do with our ministers calendar and when our reception venue was available. 

Since January 1, 2001, brides and grooms have had the opportunity to pick dates that either have meaning, or are easily remembered.  Ever wonder how many couples got married on July 7, 2007 – so that they had the lucky number 07/07/07 as their wedding date?    My unofficial research shows that three times the usual number of Saturday July weddings occurred on the lucky date of 7/7/07.    Desperate housewife, Eva Longoria, and basketball star, Tony Parker, are probably the best-known couple to get married on July 7, 2007. 

Many couples have choosen dates like  June 7, 2008 in order to easily remember the date of 06/07/08.   This year the wedding date 10/10/10 is proving very popular, as was 08/09/10. 

Newly engaged couples are already looking forward to a wedding date of 09/10/11.  But this trend won’t last forever – after the year 2014 (12/13/14) the ability to choose a fun, easily remembered, wedding date won’t occur again until …

If you’re getting married this year on October 10th, then you’ll enjoy this fun fact:  In binary, 101010 adds up to 42, the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

And, for all you 10/10/10 couples, there is still plenty of time to order caricatures as gifts for your wedding party from www.giveacaricature.com and those shares of Disney Stock from www.giveashare.com which make a great gift for the ring bearer and flower girl!

Playboy stock certificate

Hef wants Playboy.  On July 12th, Hugh Hefner made an offer to buy the 30% of  Playboy Enterprises shares he doesn’t already own and take the company private.  He offered $5.50 a share and then four days later, the owner of Penthouse joined the fray with a higher offer.

Leslie Roman, founder of  GiveAshare.com says that “in either case, Playboy will no longer be a publicly traded company so people will not be able to buyshares once the transaction occurs” .   GiveAshare.com  offers true ownership of one share of Playboy stock as a unique gift.  “Playboy stock is one of our most popular stocks  for grooms buying gifts for their groomsmen and for wives giving an anniversary gift to their husbands. ”

Playboy stock certificates have always been popular collectibles stemming from the days that a naked Willy Rey, Miss February 1971,  graced the vignette of the stock certificate.   This risque version of the stock certificate was later changed to a version with more clothes but the original collectible is still available at Scripophily.com for $395.    The current version of the Playboy stock certificate still has Hugh Hefner’s printed signature which adds to the value.

We will keep you up to date on any developments but in the meantime, you better buy a share of Playboy stock while you still can.

Save The Date Wedding Caricature

Check them out at:

www.GiveAcaricature.com/SaveTheDateWeddingCaricatures.shtml and stay tuned as we add more settings…

Also, don’t forget, if you’re planning your wedding, we also have great gifts for your Groomsmen, Bridesmaids, and entire wedding party at www.GiveAcaricature.com.

Josh & Fergies Caricature

Looks like a lot of fun – and certainly something we can do (and have done) for anyone who wants to do something similar with their wedding invitations, and/or save the date cards!

We have done caricatures for many wedding couples, as well as for groomsmen gifts, bridesmaids gifts, gifts for the couples parents, and gifts for the ushers, ring bearers and flower girls! 

Another great idea for the wedding caricature – use it as a sign in / guest book at the wedding.  We have signable mats available, and it makes a great keepsake after the wedding.  Something the bride and groom will treasure forever. 

Here are a few examples of some of the wedding related caricatures we have done (and you can see several more examples at http://www.giveacaricature.com/gallery.shtml).

Wedding Caricatures

Don’t forget – we are donating $2.00 for every order received thru Jan 23rd to the relief efforts in Haiti.

Just like in poker, you’ve gotta know when to cash it in. A share of World Poker Tour Enterprises (WPTE) has been a favorite gift for groomsmen and poker fanatics for a couple of years now, but very soon, no one will be able to get a share.

WPTE  shareholders are voting on a proposal to sell just about everything to British on-line gaming group PartyGaming for about $12M. It looks like management and shareholders “held their hand” too long when you consider that poker legend Doyle Brunson offered $700M back in 2005.

The company is then planning to change it’s name to Ante4 so the cool World Poker Tour stock certificates will no longer be issued, increasing the collectible value of those in circulation.

For those wanting to get a share as a collectible before they go away, GiveAshare.com is offering a coupon for $20 OFF one share of World Poker Tour stock exclusive to gift bloggers – use coupon code “wpte20″.