Prom: The Night You'll Never Forget And It Didn't Even Break Mom And Dad

by: Rose DesRochers

My daughter's grade 8 grad is coming up in June and I was eagerly thinking of ways to keep the cost down. Even grade 8 grad is a big time in a girls life. This is a night for my daughter to remember but it shouldn't cost me and my husband a fortune.

For many parents prom is an expensive time of year and families are struggling financially to give their son or daughter the perfect night that they will remember a life time. Well there is no reason why you can't give them that night but on a budget you can afford. I have put together ten tips to help you save a few dollars. Attending a prom doesn't have to cost a fortune. Prom night doesn't have to break us. Girls the memories of prom will not be if you spent 20 dollars to get your nails done or arrived in a limo. The memories will be of who you were in school and the special times that you all shared.

1. The Tuxedo: Boys why bother renting that tuxedo when you can purchase a nice suit that you can wear again for under the cost of renting that tuxedo.

2. Hair and makeup: Girls the cost of hair and makeup is expensive. The boys are lucky they don’t have to fork out this one. Hair, Makeup you’re looking at an additional 80 dollars. For makeup call your local department store and see about getting your make up done on Prom day, also call around to your local salons and see if they have a package deal that includes both hair and makeup. You can also save money by having your mother put up your hair. Look at some of the styles for prom online and make a fun night with mom practicing the styles before the prom. You could also get in touch with Mary K and plan a makeup party early in the afternoon on prom day and the Mary K host will do your makeup free.

3. Limos: They are nice but they are so traditional and cost a lot. Why not gather a group of your friends together and do something off the wall. Arrive at your prom on the city bus or contact your school and rent a school bus for the evening and have all your friends pitch in.

4. The dress: Girls purchasing a new dress will cost you 200 dollars and for what something you won’t wear again or will sit in your keep sake box. Why not shop on Ebay or your local used clothing store and get a dress for under the cost and then just pay the additional cost to have it dry cleaned. You may also want to check around with family and see if they have a bridesmaids dress or maybe your cousin still has her prom dress that you can borrow.

5. The flowers: Purchasing flowers from the flower store is going to cost you around 20 dollars. You can go to the craft store purchase the supplies to make your own corsages and boutonni for half the cost. They are so simple and fun to make. Make a fun day of it and invite your g/f over to make them with you.

6. The photos: Why hire a professional photographer when you can have dad take some nice photos with his digital camera and you can delete the ones that you don’t like. Then you can save even more money by emailing them to friends and family.

7. Parties: Save on the big prom party. Gather a bunch of your friends together and have a fun post prom party. Some ideas might be a pool party or a bowling party.

8. The Jewelry: Girls, girls why pay the expensive cost of Jewelry when Mom and Grandma might have their own personal jewelry store right in their bedroom. The sentiments of borrowing something from Grandma will be more special than anything new that you purchase from the store for this special day.

9. The dinner: Save money by having a backyard barbeque or a romantic dinner at home with candles and the works and order take out.

10. Nails and Shoes: If your city has a beauty school, you can make a nail appointment and have a student put nails on you for a discounted price . You can exchange shoes with friends or purchase a nice pear of white pumps that you can wear again and again.

I hope that these ten useful tips will help you save money and still have your unforgettable night.

Tread Lightly! What You Should Know About 4 Wheelers

by: Tavis J. Cooper

My husband and I live in a recreational area in central Minnesota. As with most recreation areas throughout the country this means many frequently use 4 wheelers around us. We have 4 wheelers ourselves that we use to plow snow from our driveway, haul wood from the wood pile to the house and to travel the recreation trails of the area. We also use our 4 wheelers during the deer hunting season to get back to our deer stands and to transport the deer out of the woods. I think they are a useful and fun vehicle; however there are so many people who use their 4 wheelers to destroy the natural beauty of our State unknowingly or purposefully.

It all starts from the fortunate fact that there are several paths in the acreage behind our home for 4 wheelers. We normally use these paths to go from one neighbor’s home to another and to simply walk in the beautiful woods. The wooded area where the paths are located has quite dense vegetation filled with very old beautiful hardwood maples and ash trees. This wooded area is classified under tax forfeited land, so it is collectively owned by the State of Minnesota. There is an agreement among the neighbors that we will all do our best to keep the paths clear of brush and fallen debris. However, there are no rules or guidelines whatsoever about the use of 4 wheelers on the paths. Everyone used common sense and was courteous to each other as well as to Mother Nature.

Everything seemed to be going well, until one particular day. Recently our path system was discovered by a group of 4 wheelers that are now using it as a connection from one racing area to another. The racing causes an excessive amount of noise and some serious damage to the wooded area, which prompted the interference of the department of natural resources which stepped in and banned the use of ATV’s in this wooded area.

This has been a great disappointment to those of us who were using our 4 wheelers responsibly. When I mentioned this to some of my co-workers I was surprised to find out a majority of them thought that all ATV trails should be closed. Many people see these trails as dangerous and harmful to the environment. I was amazed that they saw the 4 wheelers as a bad thing per se. A close look at the situation should reveal that the real culprits are those irresponsible people driving them.

The woods behind our house are much quieter now. People still use the paths for walking and nature-gazing. The thing that still bugs me is that others are getting the message that 4 wheelers are bad for nature, when the true message should be irresponsible people are really what are bad for nature. It is unfair that thoughtless behavior by some people is over – generalized and affects the entire community. I love Nature. I love my 4 wheelers, too. They can co-exist.

How To Take Pictures Of Fireworks

by: Gary Bunn

These days there seems to be a firework display at almost every outdoor event, and there are also plenty of other opportunities which you can use to perfect your Firework technique. The unpredictable nature of the position, color and shape of each firework explosion means that no two shots will ever look the same. But follow our advice and you'll be able to get some stunning fireworks shots.

Capturing the spectacle of a firework display is all about predicting when and where the most dramatic events are going to take place. Try to find out where the main display at your event will be taking place, and where the fireworks will be fired from. To capture the wider view of large public displays it's often best to avoid the most popular spots close to the action. At popular events you'll struggle to find enough room to set up your tripod - a necessity to shoot the display - and you'll also often be too close to the action. It's much better to find a spot that gives you a viewpoint over the whole display, to allow you to capture as many of the individual fireworks as possible. It's worth going back to the busier areas if you want to try some portraits of family and friends around the fire though.

When searching for a place to shoot the display, look out for things to use to enhance your images. Flood-lit buildings are great for giving a sense of place, while water can create amazing reflections to add an extra element to your pictures.

Unless you've been to the same display before, trying to predict where many of the fireworks are going to explode can be tricky. Some rockets can go hundreds of feet in the air before they create their light show. The wide-angle end of a standard zoom will give a broad enough view for most displays, but if you have one it's worth taking a wider lens just in case the rockets go much higher. While the results can be pretty hit or miss, the unpredictability can lead to some great results. Don't expect every shot to be a winner and make sure you shoot plenty!

If there's a fire (or floodlights) near to the fireworks display you can include the light from this to give your shots an extra glow, rather than simply recording the fireworks against a black sky. As the subject is much brighter than the surroundings the exposure times are a little more hit or miss than for just the fireworks themselves, so experiment with shutter speeds and aperture settings.

How to set up your shots

The intermittent and unpredictable nature of fireworks means that the automatic exposure systems will rarely give you good results. Instead you'll need to set the camera to manual exposure mode and set the shutter speed and aperture yourself. As it will be dark then bright as the fireworks explode, it's also very difficult to use the metering to gauge the exposure needed. Although you're working 'in the dark' when it comes to exposure it's not as difficult as it first appears, as there are some handy tricks that will help you to get the results spot-on.

Using a Tripods

You'll need a longer shutter speed to capture several bursts than if there are loads of fireworks going off in quick succession. For most displays a shutter speed of between 8 seconds and 30 seconds will give you plenty of action. Your shutter speeds will run into several seconds, so you'll need to put the camera on a tripod and release the shutter using the self-timer, or ideally a remote release to combat camera shake.

Select manual exposure

The light will vary from almost pitch-black to bright during your exposures, so you need to select the manual exposure option and ignore any reading from the metering. With very little light you'll find that the auto-focus will struggle, so set the camera to manual focus. As you'll be some distance from the subject set the focus on the lens to infinity. The shutter speed is more about the number of bursts that you capture than the exposure of the result. When it comes to ISO, set the camera to the lowest ISO possible lo minimize noise. You can try fast settings such as ISO 800 or 1600 to allow you to shoot portraits using the glow of the bonfire, but expect plenty of noise or grain.

Aperture & shutter speeds

With the camera set to ISO 100 you should try exposures at apertures of f/8 and f/16. As a guide, if you're close to the fireworks use f/16 and if you're shooting from a distance use mainly f/8. If you're using ISO 200 then set f/22 for close subjects and f/16 for distant displays. The shutter speeds are less critical than the aperture for the brightness of your image, but they do affect how many bursts and how much of the display you will record in a single frame.