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March, 2009:

Karaoke Party Ideas

Mar 24th, 2009
by jamie.
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Karaoke party ideas from Evite.com!

Lights, camera, karaoke! Why go to a crowded, smoky karaoke bar when you can put on the hits at home with your own karaoke singing party? Here are fancy tips for karaoke party planners:

Decoration
The most important karaoke party-planning ideas are all about the decorations. Karaoke party rental stores can provide you with the essential karaoke party supplies like a karaoke machine, a microphone and lots of karaoke CDs with your favorite songs (We will not be needing these of course! With MAGIC SING KARAOKE MICROPHONE, they’re all in one! No need for bulky machines and mics with wires you might slip over, nor karaoke cds, thanks to Magic Sing’s compact versatile design and built-in songs plus song chip slots!) but you’ll also want to create a stage and great lighting.

If you’re crafty, build a sturdy stage out of wood and paint it silver. If that’s too much effort or expense, use a silver throw rug to section off a part of your living room as the stage area. Position the stage in front of a door to a bedroom or a large closet, and let that serve as the dressing room. Hanging up a silver shower curtain in front of the door makes a sparkly curtain and lets your singers take the stage with style. (I looove this idea!)

Hang party lights around the stage for extra razzle-dazzle, and use a bright lamp as the singer’s spotlight. You can create a nightclub atmosphere in the room by hanging a disco ball from the ceiling and positioning card tables and folding chairs around the stage so your guests can sit and enjoy the show.

Etiquette
As the host, it’s your job to bring out your guests’ inner divas while respecting their wishes if they’d rather just watch. You’ll calm nerves by asking shy folks to sing back-up, so they can get used to being onstage.

If you’re faced with a lot of tentative performers, turn them all into karaoke kings and queens by starting things off as a group sing-along party, where you play classics like “YMCA” and “Greased Lightning” and get everybody singing, dancing and playing tambourine together. Boas, hats, funky glasses and wigs help your guests get into character, and they’ll appreciate a list of easy-to-sing hits (think Madonna, not Mariah).

Finally, during guitar solos and flubbed lyrics, every singer can use a hand, so give them one by clapping and cheering to fill that awkward space.

Activities
Take a tip from karaoke bars by creating songbooks featuring all the available songs that guests can look through to find what they’d like to sing (MAGIC SING has this too as an accessory! Weeeee!).

Put out notecards where guests can write down their names and their song choice, and play the selections in the order you receive them so no one has to wait too long to sing. If some guests start to hog the machine, switch to going around in a circle and letting every person have a turn.

Give out prizes for best song, best impersonation, biggest crowd pleaser, wackiest song choice and most enthusiastic (I love I love!).

Food
Since karaoke is the main attraction, you can keep your food simple. Room-temperature buffet foods like hummus and pita, chips and dip, cheese and crackers, and crudités let your guests graze between numbers and keeps the focus on the performers.

Put out bowls of salted nuts, olives and fresh berries on each table for guests to enjoy while watching the show. Finish with bite-size desserts like brownies and assorted cookies.

Drinks
 Same Old Song (serves 4)
• 4 oz. sweet vermouth
• 2 oz. dry vermouth
• 4 oz. gin
• 4 oz. orange juice
• 4 teaspoons lemon juice
• 4 dashes orange bitters
• 4 orange wedges

Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice cubes, and pour in vermouth, gin, juices and orange bitters. Shake well and strain into 4 cocktail glasses. Garnish each with an orange wedge.

Non-Alcoholic – Make your own soda station with assorted flavored syrups, club soda and fruit garnishes.

Are you stuffed now with ideas for your karaoke party that you get so excited you want to begin planning the nearest time possible for your very own karaoke night with family and friends? If you are, then we’re in the same league! Reading the ideas from Evite made me so excited! C’mon let’s karaoke party! :)

Get Invited

Mar 24th, 2009
by jamie.
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Looking for karaoke party ideas on the net, I came across this funky website called Evite.com, a top online destination for invitations with party-planning tools and content. The site works like a personal party planner by guiding party hosts through every step of the event planning process – from deciding on the party specifica and inviting guests to preparing the party to finalizing the menu and sending eCard thank-you notes after the event. It offers everything a host needs to throw a great event, from free online invitations to planning checklists to a budget estimator and drink calculator. The website makes planning easy, saving hosts time and money.

Their karaoke party event planning is uber cool. They have free invitations, you can choose from eleven pre-designed invitations available (and they’re real cute). Here’s a sample invitation:

They likewise offer decoration tips, reminders on etiquette, ideas for activities, and what to serve as food and drinks! (Will post the ideas shared on this site on the next entry.)

Now all you have to do is do some note-taking and put them into action for your very own karaoke party at home. Your Magic Sing Microphone is the most essential tool for your party’s success! Have fun planning!

St. Patrick’s Day Hangover

Mar 21st, 2009
by jamie.
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I’m having a St. Patrick’s Day hangover, because for one, I can’t get John Mayer’s song St. Patrick’s Day off my head. It has been playing there since a few days ago. Another, this week is green week. I’m just inclined to wear green these past days (no one can pinch me!) since green too is my favorite color of all. A verdant lover I am. And because of this hangover, Magic Sing’s karaoke mic is so sooo much always there to make me happy. Singing John Mayer using Magic Sing is my thing for now.
Lemme share to you the lyrics of the song…

St. Patrick’s Day
John Mayer

Here comes the cold
Break out the winter clothes
And find a love to call your own
You – enter you
Your cheeks a shade of pink
And the rest of you in powder blue

Who knows what will be
But I’ll make you this guarantee

No way November will see our goodbye
When it comes to December it’s obvious why
No one wants to be alone at Christmas time

In the dark, on the phone
You tell me the names of your brothers
And your favorite colors
I’m learning you
And when it snows again
We’ll take a walk outside
And search the sky
Like children do

No way November will see our goodbye
When it comes to December it’s obvious why
No one wants to be alone at Christmas time
And come January we’re frozen inside
Making new resolutions a hundred times
February, won’t you be my valentine?

And we’ll both be safe ’til St. Patrrick’s Day

We should take a ride tonight around the town
and look around at all the beautiful houses
something in the way that blue lights on a black night
can make you feel more
everybody, it seems to me, just wants to be
just like you and me

No one wants to be alone at Christmas time
Come January we’re frozen inside
Making new resolutions a hundred times
February, won’t you be my valentine?

And if our always is all that we gave
And we someday take that away
I’ll be alright if it was just ’til St. Patrick’s Day. :)

Karaoke: Fun + Functional

Mar 7th, 2009
by jamie.
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We all know that the karaoke microphone is one of the most ingenious inventions in the area of entertainment. Why? For one, singing is just everybody’s favorite hobby, and what entertainment gadget to use during a singing itch? A karaoke mic of course! That’s why our very own Magic Sing microphones are always selling hot at Webbyshop! We all love singing sprees, going to karaoke joints, enjoying our own chance at the limelight, especially during parties since a karaoke microphone is the source of the life of a party. A party just wouldn’t be complete without it. All that being said, karaoke microphone simply means FUN.

But a karaoke mic is not just used for fun, it can be a very functional tool for singers—amateur, professionals and even those striving to be one. It is a good investment to those who want a career in singing, because karaoke singing can be an excellent kind of vocal training. It can help you to keep your voice in top form. How? Let’s share some:
1.    Karaoke singing can teach you how to pay attention to cues, timing and pitch.
2.    With karaoke microphones, you can choose whatever song you want and arrange it piece by piece—the beginning notes, the middle phrases, and the end notes. You can train yourself to perform the right pitches at the beginning until the end.
3.    If you practice by karaoke singing, you can spot which errors you make personally and as a result, learn to correct them quicker. You will be able to learn to avoid making mistakes in the pitches, cueing and timing.
4.    In karaoke microphones, you can record your performance. Through this, you are able to hear yourself and know the parts you can still enhance. Through time, you will know how much you have improved through recording and re-recording your performance.
Thus, karaoke singing is not just fun, it’s very functional to singers as well. You’ll not just be able to impress your friends when you have karaoke parties, you can even wow audiences when you sing live as a singer. That’s what karaoke microphones are all about. :)