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The Oriental Trading Catalog: Spring Is In The Air!

The Oriental Trading Catalog: Spring Is In The Air!

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Ahhhh, spring!  You’re just around the corner.  Warm days, flowers in bloom, chirping birds – I do love the change of seasons.  It’s also time for the annual spring catalog from Oriental Trading Company, who will readily provide all of your Easter trinket and tchotchke needs (they even have a “happiness guarantee”).  If you need to find something weird that crosses the boundaries between commercial celebrations and religion this holiday season, Oriental Trading is for you.  Every year, these folks…

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Fall Food Trends 2020: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Fall Food Trends 2020: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

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Food trends come and go (remember when everyone was excited about fondue?) and 2020 is no exception – even with all of the stress involved with the pandemic.  There have been a lot of new food trends this year, so it’s time to take a look at them (and of course, give my totally biased opinion about each one). Flexitarians You had your meat eaters, you had your omnivores.  There were vegetarians, pescatarians, and vegans.  Now comes the “flexitarian” –…

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The Oriental Trading Spring 2020 Catalog: New Decade – Same Weirdness

The Oriental Trading Spring 2020 Catalog: New Decade – Same Weirdness

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If you’re a loyal reader of my blog, you’ll know I have an almost unhealthy obsession with the Oriental Trading Company catalog (check the archives for past blog posts).  Now, don’t get me wrong, the Oriental Trading Company provides a wonderful array of cheap tchotchkes and doo-dads for any school, church or social organization, but it’s the religious offerings that never fail to fascinate me.  Each year, the creative minds at OTC come up with a new line of weird…

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Halloween Costumes 2018: What’s Going on Here?

Halloween Costumes 2018: What’s Going on Here?

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Halloween is barely a month away.  A night where children get the chance to dress up as their favorite cartoon character or superhero and go door-to-door to experience a full-on sugar rush of candy and fully road test both their manners and their ability to interact with strangers.  Hooray! It also seems like these days, it’s also an excuse for adults to relive their childhood memories and dress up themselves, attending Halloween-themed parties and events all throughout the fall season. …

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The Oriental Trading Company: New Catalog – Same Weirdness

The Oriental Trading Company: New Catalog – Same Weirdness

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The new “Sunday School Edition” of the Oriental Trading Company’s fall catalog just arrived at my doorstep, and boy-oh-boy – it’s a doozy. Now don’t get me wrong.  I completely understand the importance of keeping kids interested and motivated in a faith journey (no matter what faith you may practice), but the weird trinkets and thing-a-ma-bobs that this company puts out as toys and crafts make me scratch my onion with perplexity, confusion, and downright laughter.  While nothing will ever…

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The Marketing of Holidays: Descent into Weirdness

The Marketing of Holidays: Descent into Weirdness

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Well, we barely made it past Valentine’s Day (whose candies and trinkets appeared on shelves around December 26th) and if you’ve been out and about at any store, you’ll know that Easter must be right around the corner (FYI – this year Easter happens to coincide with April Fool’s Day [4/1/18], so don’t mix-and-match your holidays). Shelves at local grocery stores and retail locations are loaded with chocolate bunnies, chicks, colorful eggs, and bags full of various shades of plastic…

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