Tips and tricks

The 4 types of Valentine’s Day gifts (hint: one is passive-aggressive)

Who are you impressing next week? kgbdeals are great for helping you to make the right move – check out our special Valentine’s channel.

There's plenty of love to go all the way around. photo by happyhipposnacks via Flickr

Here are some top picks to inspire (mostly) New York Valentines. (But hurry, ’cause many are expiring very soon! And trust us, your date will appreciate just a little advance planning.)

We think that male chivalry is NOT dead, but we also believe in gender-neutral gestures of romanticism for all types of relationships. kgbdeals hope that both women and men of all preferences are looking to make their lovers/crushes/long-term partners swoon Feb 14, 2012.

Now for the deals. There are basically four categories for Valentine’s gifts and gestures: Safe/Romantic; “The Test”; Vaguely Passive-Aggressive; and Practical. As follows:


Safe/Romantic: good for new relationships or when you know your S.O. likes a classic surprise.

-Eyelash extensions. Okay, first one’s for you — you can only really love someone else if you love yourself first. Make sure he or she feels the breeze when you bat your eyeball fringe. Also turns butterfly kisses to the neck into unbearable tickle attacks!

-Queen sized Egyptian sheet set for 75% off. Really, a gift for both of you.

-There’s bouquet of romantic getaways available on the Destinations Channel in or around New York State! Half off or more on two nights each at an upstate New York bed & breakfast; in the Catskillsat Niagara Falls Ontario.

-$15 for two pillow animals. Obviously an ideal Valentine’s gifts for your little ones. They also make a great third and fourth party most grownup couples won’t mind having join the snugglefest.

-$15 for $30 worth of flowers and $25 toward dining. Don’t quite know your date inside and out yet? Lots of ladies are happy to receive blooms and a romantic meal.

-70% off massage, facials, and more at Lia Schorr. Exquisite pamperage for ladies AND men.

-Tapas and paella in Chelsea for $25. The Spanish do romantic meals like it’s their job.

“The Test”: find out how your date reacts to silly, adrenaline pumping, or unusual stuff.

-$28 admission to Perfect Crime. Test your date’s intelligence and sense of humor with this classic, whodunit dinner theater event – the longest-running play in New York.

-72% off a 60-minute rifle experience in Queens. Recommended for really solid, trusting relationships.

-$30 custom bobblehead. Determine how well he or she takes a joke by having a moving caricature custom-made of him or her and yourself. (Bonus: makes a satisfying wall throwing item following particularly messy breakups.)

-An $89 flying lesson. Test your sweetie’s ambition to reach the skies.

-$19 for jewelry scarves. How well does your date pull off avant-garde fashion? (Meanwhile, you prove you know what’s up.)

Passive-Aggressive: you’ve been together for a while. Sometimes your gifts to each other serve as little nudges in one direction or another.

-Half off an e-cigarette starter kit (Expires early on Feb. 8, so hurry for this one!) Imply that your main squeeze’s smoking habit is becoming a deal-breaker, but disguise it as “I care about your health and want to make sure you’re around for a long time.”

-63% off three hours of home cleaning The perfect hint about your partner’s cleanliness level and a way to nag-proof your relationship.

Practical: you know who you are.

Half off Lasik surgery for both eyes. If you’re absolutely positive your near-sighted lover knows what you really look like – and won’t run in the other direction upon opening his or her newly vision-corrected peepers. Bonus points: taking care of a loved one post-op cements your reputation as a sweetheart.

We’d ask what you’re doing for your honey next Tuesday, but we certainly don’t want to kill anyone’s surprise!


How to rock Thanksgiving weekend in deals

So, savvy deal-finders, will you be camped out in a parking lot this weekend, ready to scour retailers for Black Friday bargains? Many of the weekend’s deals don’t require you to leave your couch, and some you can take advantage of even if you laze around until Saturday. Here’s a roundup of some of the more interesting sales and trends we have our eye on this Thanksgiving weekend:

-Some mobile shopping apps (think Gilt) are targeting prime line-standing times to release some great deals, banking on bored consumers who are standing around just waiting to shop. (But you don’t have to be in line anywhere to take advantage.)

-Speaking of targeting, check out our awesome Target + restaurants.com deal running now. Spend $25, get $25 toward Target (on or offline) plus $50 toward any restaurants.com resto.

-Here are the top destinations for Black Friday shoppers who will be participating from home.

-Do you know about Small Business Saturday? If you have an American Express card, you can register it for a $25 bonus when you spend $25 at a small local business. It’s like getting a free gift while you support the funky independent shop on your block.

-There’s some substance behind the mania: LCD TVs really are falling to their lowest price points on Black Friday. If you’re in the market, you might want to brave the crowds.

-Prices in Apple’s iStore will fluctuate this weekend, so if you’re buying iOS apps, do it at the right time.

Happy Thanksgiving, kgbdealists, and here’s to a wonderful start to the holiday season for you!

Looks about right for my Thanksgiving. Photo by barbourians via Flickr.


Energize your space with decor

There are basically two types of people in this world. Those who move into a new space, home or office, and leave the walls blankly white for months or years. Then there are those who throw art and color up on the walls as soon as they walk in the door.

Designing your space to be functional, aesthetically pleasing, soothing or energizing can change your life! Not only is the process of decorating and designing therapeutic, the result is positively gratifying.

Here are some thoughts on decorating and some tips for making your home homier than ever (or your office a really pleasing place to walk into).

Photo by urbaneapts via Flickr.

-Consider some of your favorite places and think about what colors are there. These may be great colors to consider in decorating. Also, don’t use multiple patterns of the same size that will compete with each other. [More tips here.]

-Your home is a metaphor for the self. Look at redecorating as a therapeutic process that lets you clean up and improve areas of both your home and your life.

-For most people, erring on the side of minimalism as opposed to clutter works better.

-A therapeutic office can get the productive and creative juices flowing. Utilize water elements, whimsical toys, and scents for a great workspace.

-Apply basic fen shui to your bedroom for a soothing space to rest. Pay attention to the images in your bedroom, and make sure your bed isn’t directly in line with the door.

What’s decorating your home?

If you’re looking for a place to start decorating or redecorating, I recommend a gallery wrap canvas print of an image that really speaks to you. A picture you took traveling, a favorite view, the best snapshot of you and your friends, or a soothing scene of nature in this beautiful format can inspire your decor or really bring a room together. Currently, get 61% off a high quality, custom 20 by 24 inch gallery wrap print with free shipping. (Multiple other sizes and options available.)


Pre-holiday diet stoke-up

There’s plenty of time to mentally arm yourself against holiday weight gain! The holidays count for 51% of weight gained throughout the year. Will you fall victim to the pudgy side effects of day after day of excuses?

Eating is a social thing, so naturally your dietary habits have a lot to do with the people in your life. This week the website Cracked rounds up the eight members of your posse who are pushing the pounds on you and how they do it. So while it’s unlikely you’re going to shove these eight people out of your life for the sake your waistline, the article’s worth a read to know these traps to avoid falling in them this holiday season.

A couple of these eight diet busters, for example:

-The person who oversentimentalizes the meaning of food. Just because it’s three days until Hanukah doesn’t mean the holiday won’t mean a thing if you skip your not even Jewish best friend’s yearly traditional three-days-before-Hanukah feast. Likewise, a birthday doesn’t have to equal cake, especially at work. As Cracked puts it: “The problem is that the 40 people in your department at work might have birthdays up to 40 times a year.”

-The overly spontaneous. Yeah, probably your most fun friend — the one who instantly wrecks your well-laid plans to attend to dance class followed by a light dinner of brown rice and vegetables, with an amazing last minute offer to attend an exclusive dinner party for free.

Who are the diet killers in your life?

Friends make friends eat more. Photo by Victoria Made via Flickr.

Looking for a few tools to keep your intentions of not gaining a pound this season intact? Here are some helpful deals:

-52% off slimming shapewear shorts (Lipo in a Box)

-50% off VitaMuffins and VitaTops, splendid treats that don’t pack the calories

-72% off a slimming body wrap and massage in New York City

-75% off a month of unlimited boot camp in San Francisco80% in Chicago89% off unlimited fitness in Boston


The inside-and-out kgbdeals noggin massage

A while back, we learned that kgbdeals customers are potentially a bit stressed out and very much desire deals that give them discounts on massage. (Indeed, massage deals are right now going like hotcakes in San Diego, DC, Philly, L.A., Chicago, San Francisco, NYC… you get the idea.) We prescribed mindfulness, laughter, and downloading meditation apps on your smartphone to soothe your frazzled nerves, and we promised to keep your sometimes-stressy emotional state in mind for future relaxing deals.

This week, two wonderful ways to bring tranquility to your pretty little head, inside and out:

-Tame a turbulent intellect with self-hypnosis, the best massage technique for thoughts. Own the soothing, lulling voice of award-winning clinical therapeutic hypnotist Rick Collingwood in one of several three-title MP3 packages designed to improve your life. Learn how to manage stress and banish anxiety; drop a bad habit; train your mind to make better dietary choices; or leave grief and depression behind. 64% off at Mind Motivations.

-Once you’ve got that part under control, shower your scalp in quivering, irresistible tinglies unlike any other sensation you’ve felt before with a Headgasm. It is pretty much impossible to keep your eyes open and your mood sour while under the assuaging tentacles of this delectable-feeling head massage. 50% off 2 premium scalp massagers.

Feel better already?

Photo by Ipoh 子 via Flickr


Are kgbdealists wound tight?

Playing around on the company’s Facebook page — don’t you love that social media passes as work these days? — kgbdeals agents recently asked what would be your idea of a “best deal.”

The responses rolled in fast and strong: a cruise! travel! free or near-free electronics! And then a pattern emerged: kgbdealists want massages.

we hear you.

(And kgbdealmakers are listening: massage deals are currently running in Chicago, Phoenix, L.A., two in Philly, two in Atlanta, San Franciso, Minneapolis, Denver, and NYC.)

Why are you all so stressed out, clamoring after deep tissue kneading? Relax! We’ve curated a few of the best relaxation tips just for you:

  1. Rather than trying to relax by doing nothing, do something — systematically. Choose one item on your to do list and do it singlemindedly. No multitasking!
  2. Picture yourself relaxed. Yup, sometimes 30 seconds of this is all it takes to lower your heart rate. Close yours eyes and picture your happy, smiling, floating-through-life self.
  3. Practice mindfulness. Study the details of something physically around you, giving your environment your full attention and presence.
  4. De-rut yourself for the day. After work, do something by yourself that you wouldn’t normally do. Take a book to a coffeeshop or go on a leisurely walk.
  5. Download a meditation app on your smartphone.
  6. Laugh. Watch an episode of your favorite comedy online or read a funny blog.

Bottom line: breathe, kgbdealists.


10 Things Worth Leaving the Hammock for in Costa Rica

Here’s the skinny straight from kgbdeals’ editorial team! Jana Hoffman, kgbdeals Content Editor, knows how to squeeze every last bit of juicy fun out of our current, all-inclusive Costa Rica getaway deal:

As you rush to squeeze the last bits of summer before fall color palettes set in, boots come out and school buses block traffic, think twice before shoving that cute retro swimsuit to the back of your drawer. Lush rainforests, hot (wet, tan; OK, you get the picture) surfer dudes and sandy beaches await — you’re going to Costa Rica, and I found 10 awesome things to do during your visit.

Um. Yes, please. photo by Wha'ppen via Flickr.

Because you’re a savvy traveler, you saved 69% by purchasing our 4-night all-inclusive retreat. All-inclusive vacations are smart. What can I say? I love me a good drink (or three) and dining out sans budget. After the dining, drinking and basking in sunshine — it doesn’t have to be in that order —  use your extra cash for two, three or more adventures. The trouble will be deciding which one to try first.

National Parks

Costa Rica boasts more than 25 national parks throughout its vast country. In fact, progressive environmental protection and sustainable ecotourism have become models for other countries. Just over an hour away find Guanacaste National Park with 140 species of mammals, more than 300 birds, 100 amphibians and reptiles and 10,000 insect species. Or opt for Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica’s most famous national park. The list also includes Juan Castro Blanco National Park, La Amistad International Park, Santa Rosa National Park, and more.

Oi! Welcome to Costa Rica. Photo by EverJean via Flickr.

Hot Springs

Here you’ll find hot springs in every shape, size and temperature imaginable. Rates vary, but you can check out luxe hot springs while sipping a martini or fun hot springs featuring slides and deep pools for plunging. Baldi Hot Springs offers 25 pools with increasing temperatures as you rise in elevation (that’s so cool…err…hot!). Choose a combo tour and gain access to hiking, hot springs, massages, and more — all in one day.

Sailboat Tours

View some of the world’s most beautiful shorelines and landscapes from the Gulf of Papagayo aboard the Jessica Anne, Villas Sol’s 44-inch fully equipped sailboat. Tours are available Tuesday-Sunday, and you can make reservations at the hotel.

Arenal Volcano

Spend a day in the Northern Lowlands, a hot tourist destination, and check out one of the 10 most active volcanoes in the world. Hear the rumbling and see the steam as it spews molten rocks and ash from its summit daily.

Horseback Tours

Explore Costa Rica’s verdant land and let friendly horses do the walking. Guided horseback tours will take you on an unforgettable adventure of surrounding areas.

Hiking and Trekking Trails

Mother Nature’s picturesque beauty is best experienced while hiking. Abundant waterfalls, rivers, plants and wildlife will make snapping pics a must-do during your excursion. I’d be remiss not to include the beautiful birds, fluttering butterflies, and silly monkeys that you’ll likely see during your stay.

Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge

Animal lovers, this one’s for you. Many consider Caño Negro, near the Nicaraguan border, the third most important wetland in the world. (Ladies, it’s super humid here.)  Sneak a peek at rare plant, animal and bird species like the Nicaraguan Grackle, Emerald Basilisk, iguanas, jaguars and many more.

WEEE. photo by FirstBaptistNashville via Flickr

Canopy Tours

Seeking an adrenaline rush? Canopy tours take you 50 feet up in a tree. Securely fastened to a zip line, you’ll fly (zip) from platform to platform as you view your surroundings in a totally new way.

Frog Watching

There are hundreds of amphibious species residing in Costa Rica. It’s not uncommon to happen upon many colorful, some poisonous, frogs. Several of the country’s national parks and wildlife reserves offer frog tours. You may even want to choose a night tour because these creatures are cool in the dark.

Watersports

What’s a Costa Rica trip without partaking in some sort of water adventure? Offerings abound from river rafting, white-water rafting, kayaking, surfing, windsurfing, snorkeling and more.

My Longchamp is already packed. Is yours? Don’t forget to grab the camera. Oh, and download Instagram or ShakeItPhoto for your smart phone. These are memories you’ll want to document — and share.



Whine

Summer birthdays! I am strangely enamored of people with sun signs Cancer and Leo, as evidenced by my constant sending of gifts and organizing of birthday dinners this time of year.

Did you see this week’s deal for 65% off five bottles of wine and free delivery?

I sure did.

I can’t imagine a better gift for just about, oh, every single one of my friends.

But for the really, truly picky lady friend in your life, try this one: half off absolutely exquisite world treasures from the store in association National Geographic, the obvious overlord of all visual things naturally stunning and beautiful.

Just sayin’!

Gifts fit for the Leos in your life. Photo via TimothyJ on Flickr.


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