Once Upon A Time....

Once upon a time, this old housewife had an idea. (what? this is totally how I look most days... wearing an apron, surrounded by baking ingredients, hair and lipstick perfect... yeah, okay, I get your disbelief...)


"I'm going to register with the Cancer Council and host a Girl's Night In fundraiser in my home. I'll invite a few friends around, we'll have a couple of drinks, throw some money in a bucket and have a great night whilst raising money for a good cause."

But this old housewife doesn't often do things by halves. She's a bit of a 'Go big or don't you bother to go at all young lady' type at times. And so she invited more than a few. Lots more. And then an old friend died of cancer and she was spurred on. She told the women she had invited that they could ask a few more. And she hired a karaoke machine. And she started tweeting and emailing people and businesses, both local and online, asking for help. For anything.... goods, vouchers, samples... anything to get bums on seats and cash flowing out of purses.

And they responded. Brilliantly.

First cabs off the rank were the lovely writer-ladies, Lisa Heidke, Kerri Sackville, Fleur McDonald and Kylie Ladd, whose responses when asked if they could donate books were "Yes!", "Yes!", "Yes!" and "Duh." (guess who said Duh... go on...) Love them all for their instant generosity.

Local business jumped in too. To Lou and Karen from Dymocks Adelaide, you are angels in book tshirts. There was no "that's not my job", "you'll have to ask the boss" or "bugger off Cate, haven't you won enough freebies from our Friday Twitter comps?" No, there was just a response of "let me see what I can do..." And do, you did.


And to whoever answered the tweet at Tynte Flowers (THE best floral arrangements in Adelaide, bar none) thank you. Someone will be very happy with your voucher. (And I promise it will go in the raffle, not become a nice display of roses in the family room. Dammit.)

Coopers Brewery and Charlesworth Nuts have also stepped up, with amazing gift baskets (which the Husband is threatening will NOT leave our home, he wants them so badly) and Haigh's Chocolates have handed over a few discount vouchers.

The divine Simone Perele have provided vouchers to every official Girl's Night In hostess (how cool is that) so we will all have very nicely encased boobs to present to our guests, a few of whom will also score vouchers. I also received shampoo and conditioner samples from Kate at Organix, discount vouchers from Jeanette at Cocoon Spa and Wellness and Rosewater Hand Therapy samples from Crabtree & Evelyn.


The AMAZING Juliet from Karmabelles has provided not only a promotional piece of beautiful jewellery for me to wear proudly on the night and show off to all my friends (and which I'll be showing more of on the blog later in a special post), but loads of discount vouchers too. Awesome. (and boy, do I have my eye on some more of their pieces, I am making a Christmas list. Which I will buy myself because I don't trust the Husband - see handbag story further down)


And then up popped the delightful Melissa from Kleenex Mums, (who works in an office which floats on a cloud of soft white toilet tissue and is surrounded by puppies) bearing more gifts than you could poke a runny nose at (not bearing tissues, but flushable wipes, only I didn't want to use the metaphor of what you might poke at a flushable wipe) as well as boxes filled with lovely travel kits.


Uandi Natural also joined the party by sending some small samples to try for myself, as well as some full sized skincare products to include in the raffle. They look, smell and feel wonderful so there'll be a very happy winner. (will also show more of these on the blog later, including a Giveaway, so stay tuned for that)


Mud, Sweets & Tiers... coolest name for a cake shop ever, huh?... is making very special themed cupcakes for us, and Tanya from Wicked Sweets will arrive not just to party with us, but bearing biscuits for all. (no dieting til after the 22nd ladies)










Amy from Partylite has provided scented candles for both prizes and to burn on the night (she must have smelled my dog... or my son's bedroom... or my feet) as well as tealights for the guests to take home.

One lucky guest will take home an aromatherapy massage voucher from Preen Beauty, and another will enjoy a massage from Soul Health & Fitness.

But wait, there's more.


The lovely Nicky from Leoni & Vonk has donated the most gorgeous necklace to be included in our raffle. I'm so thrilled with it, it is very tempting to make it go 'missing' in my own jewellery drawer before the night. Damn my honesty. Sigh. So pretty isn't it?
(you'll also see more Leoni & Vonk jewellery in a later post as my daughter and I will be wearing some on the night, courtesy of my own credit card)

And just when you think "Well, that must be it...", it's not.


My Princess Seraphim, She Of The White Chocolate, the adorable Sarah Pietrzak, hooked me up with the amazing Belle Bijoux and her beautiful handbags. I have coveted one of these handbags for quite some time now, but oh no, the Husband got me the $18 Jimmy Choo knockoff from Hong Kong which already has a busted zip. Groan. Anyway, one of Belle's gorgeous handbags is winging it's way here as we speak (yes, they are so magical, they fly), and will be raffle prize #1. Or, you know... mine. No, I promise, into the raffle she goes. (*adds to Christmas list*)

There may even be more coming... good heavens...

I simply cannot thank all these people enough. I know I've listed a lot here, but I would love you all to take 5 minutes out of your day, click on some links, check out their sites, and follow them on Twitter and Facebook if you can. Maybe even leave them a message, tell them I sent you from my Girl's Night In post, and thank them for their support.

They rock.

Oh, and if anybody has connections with Mother Nature, can you please see if she'll do something about the weather forecast for the 22nd? Cold and wet?... *sobs nervously*




If you wish to sponsor my Girl's Night In by making a donation direct to the Cancer Council, go to my home page on the official website and click on the pink "sponsor me" link.