VenTribe blog

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Santa Is Red Because Of Coca Cola?

Written by Jamie Chennells

Santa Claus is the universally recognised symbol of the festive season. Sporting red fur robes, a well-fed belly, a snow-white beard, and in some cases reindeer, he’s certainly become somewhat standardised. But how did that come to be? You may have heard that his obsession with the colour red is because of the Coca Cola Company. That’s not entirely false.

The origins of today’s Santa Claus can be traced back many routes to Saint Nicholas, and through the years his character has been shaped by many a hand to arrive at the Santa we have today. There is no concrete information that documents what today’s Santa originally looked like. Some say he wore a green suit, some say he wore animal skins, some say he was a tall spindly man, others say a small fat elf. What we do know is that the image adopted by the Western world was firmly put on the festive map by Coca Cola.

Haddon's First Depiction Of Santa Claus

Although there was a familiar character that had been outlined before coke would launch it’s 30-year-long festive campaign, it was Coke’s need to increase it’s sales numbers around Christmas that really cemented it all together. It was 1931, and Coca Cola would begin placing advertisements in popular magazines with a depiction of Santa Claus drinking a coke, illustrated by Michigan-born Haddon Sunblom. For inspiration, Sunblom turned to Moore’s 1822 poem Twas The Night Before Christmas, and from here on, Haddon’s visualisation of Moore’s description would bring about the solidification of a character that would go on to make naughty children think twice for the rest of time.

The Children In Haddon's Illustrations Were Based On His Neighbour's Kids

From 1931 to 1964 Haddon’s character would feature in hundreds of advertisements, depicting Santa Claus delivering toys, drinking coke, and generally just being festive. In an era where the word digital didn’t exist and TV’s were a thing of space travel, Billboards and colour-based print media were the kings of corporate branding. Through their efforts, the Coca Cola Company had successfully grounded a red Santa in the minds of the West for years to come. That Christmas image we so happily cling to today is thanks to the world’s best-selling soft drink!

Sprite Boy In All His Creepy Glory

Interestingly enough, Coke’s vision of Santa took a slight turn along the way; in 1942, Sunblom introduced "Sprite Boy," a character who appeared with Santa Claus in Coca-Cola advertising all the way through until the 1950s. Sprite Boy got his name due to the fact that he was a sprite, or an elf. It wasn’t until the 1960s that Coca-Cola introduced their next popular beverage which would receive the name Sprite.

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Want to do the right thing but not sure what that is? You might want to read this.

Written by Itai Rave

"People see a world out of whack...they want to do the right thing, but they’re not sure what that is. (RED) is about doing what you enjoy and doing good at the same time." - Bono

Helping others & the environment takes countless forms, from giving money to charity to helping a stranger dig his car out of the snow, and springs from countless motivations, from deep-rooted empathy to a more calculated desire for public recognition.

Let’s face it, giving feels good. Helping others leads to higher levels of happiness (my next post will be on the secret to happiness & giving), so why not do what you enjoy (shopping, of course), allow your friends & family to experience that feeling of doing good, and increase contributions to charity at the same time? This is also the perfect last minute Christmas shopping as you will instantly receive a certificate via email you can then print and give your friends & family. 

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has an extraordinary collection of more than 50 Green Gifts, from protecting wolves to saving whales, from planting a rainforest to promoting renewable energy. Here are some ideas (for more gifts like these, visit NRDC's Green Gifts):

TOXIC AVENGER

From toxic mercury in thermometers to dangerous chemicals in baby toys to neurologically-damaging pesticides in garden products, store shelves are loaded with household products that endanger our health. A few giant retailers in the global marketplace hold the key to getting these toxic hazards out of the marketplace. Your gift will help work with retailers and the government to eliminate 10 major families of toxic chemicals from commerce - and guide stores to healthier alternatives.

DEN DEFENDER

Give a great big bear hug to someone special. Your gift will help fight in court to save the polar bear from trophy hunting, Arctic oil development and global warming. It’s the perfect way to honor the loved ones in your den.

LAST OF THEIR KIND

An ideal choice for those who are passionate about protecting endangered wildlife. Your gift will help protect the last 284 white whales of Alaska’s Cook Inlet from pollution, oil exploration and development of the massively destructive Pebble Mine.

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND

Help protect the Empire State—including the legendary Catskills—from dangerous fracking, clean up the Hudson River and fight for cleaner air and more green space in the city that never sleeps. This gift will help keep New York State a beautiful place to work and play.

REVIVE A RAINFOREST

Honor a friend or loved one by planting a tree in their name in a rejuvenated rainforest in Costa Rica. The tree you plant will provide a home for threatened wildlife and capture carbon pollution that causes global warming.

GET TO WORK

This gift idea deserves a promotion! You‘ll be helping push for smart investments in solar, wind and other clean energy sources that will protect the Earth, improve the economy and put more Americans to work.

OTTER KEEPER

Make the seafarer in your life smile. Your gift will help create more underwater parks off the West coast to safeguard vital habitat for sea otters and other ocean wildlife that need our help.

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Help the People You Know with Small Gifts. Written by Reid Hoffman.

This post is a re-blog from Reid Hoffman's Linkedin post. Reid is an American entrepreneur, venture capitalist and author. Reid is best known as the co-founder of LinkedIn.

Relationships are living, breathing things. Feed, nurture, and care about them: they grow. Neglect them: they die. The best way to strengthen a relationship is to jump-start the long-term process of give-and-take. Do something for another person--help. But how?

Here’s a good example. When Jack Dorsey was cofounding Square—the mobile payments company that turns any smartphone into a device that accepts the swipe of a credit card—he had loads of investor interest. For great entrepreneurs with a killer idea, it’s actually the investors who compete for the privilege to invest. Digg and Milk founder Kevin Rose had seen a prototype of the Square device and immediately realized the potential for small businesses. When he asked Jack if there was room for another person to join the initial round of funding, Jack told him it was full—they didn’t need more investors. That was that. But Kevin still wanted to be helpful. He noticed that Square didn’t have a video demo on their website showing how the device worked. So he put together a hi-def video showing off the device and then showed the video to Jack just as an fyi. Impressed, Jack turned around and invited Kevin to invest in the “full” Series A round of financing. Kevin found a way to add value. He didn’t ask for anything in return—he just made the video and showed it to Jack. No strings attached. Not surprisingly, Jack appreciated the effort and returned the favor.

Helping someone out means acknowledging that you are capable of helping. Reject the misconception that if you’re less powerful, less wealthy, or less experienced, you have nothing to offer someone else. Everyone is capable of offering helpful support or constructive feedback. To be sure, you’ll be most helpful if you have the skills and experiences to help your allies. Pleasant friendships are nice, but the best-connected professionals are ones who can really help their allies. This is what makes a professional network and not simply a social one.

Next, figure out what kind of help is helpful. Imagine sitting down to lunch with an acquaintance you just met and opening the conversation by saying, “I’m looking for a job in New York City.” He puts down his fork, wipes the barbecue sauce off his face, looks you square in the eye, and replies, “I know the perfect job for you.” Is that helpful? Hardly. Since he likely has no idea what the perfect job means to you, a better response would have probed: “Tell me more about your skills, interests, and background.” Good intentions are never enough. To give helpful help you need to have a sense of your friend’s values and priorities so that your offer of help can be relevant and specific. What keeps him up at 2 a.m.? What are his talents? His interests? Asking “How can I help you?!” immediately upon meeting someone is overeager. First you must know the person.

Finally, once you understand his needs, challenges, and desires, think about how you can offer him a small gift. We don’t mean an Amazon gift card or a box of cigars. We mean something—even something intangible—that costs you almost nothing yet still is valuable to the other person. Classic small gifts include relevant information and articles, introductions, and advice. A really expensive big gift is actually counterproductive—it can feel like a bribe. Inexpensive yet thoughtful is best.

When deciding what kind of gift to give, think about your unique experiences and skills. What might you have that the other person does not? For example, consider an extreme hypothetical. What kind of gift would be helpful to Bill Gates? Probably not introducing him to somebody—he can meet whomever he wants. Probably not sending an article you read in the media about the Gates Foundation—he was probably interviewed for it. Probably not by investing in one of his projects—he’s doing fine money-wise. Instead, think about little things. For example, if you’re in college, or have a good friend or sibling in college, you could send him information about some of the key cultural and technology-usage trends among the college set. Intel on what college students—the next generation—are thinking or doing is always of interest yet hard to get no matter how much money you have. What specific things do you know or have that the other person does not? The secret behind stellar small gifts is that it’s something you can uniquely provide.

Finally, if the best way to strengthen a relationship is to help the other person, the second best way is to let yourself be helped. As Ben Franklin recommended, “If you want to make a friend, let someone do you a favor.” Don’t view help skeptically (What did I do to deserve this?) or with suspicion (What’s the hidden agenda here?). Well, sometimes second-guessing is warranted, but not usually. People like helping. If someone offers to introduce you to a person you really want to meet or offers to share assorted wisdom on an important topic, accept the help and express due gratitude. Everyone will feel good—and you’ll actually get closer to the person.

Want to do the right thing, but not sure what that is? You might want to read our post "Experience The Feeling of Doing Good This holiday Season".

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African Style Gift Wrapping

Written by Rupert Sully 

I’ve always liked the idea of wrapping with cloth. As well as fulfilling all the requirements of wrapping it means that your lucky friend after opening the present gets a lovely extra gift to keep. After writing an article on Gifting in Thailand I had the idea for a post on using African materials to share the inspirations of a wonderful continent’s bright beautiful colors.

I have used Kenyan Kikoys available on VenTribe. I love these beautiful hand make pieces of cloth that are used through out East Africa for a number of different things (you can use it as a scarf or wrap it like a dress, hang it on your wall or use it as a blanket). They are becoming very fashionable, spreading throughout the world. 

I’m going to use South African beads to bind the kikoy in place. This is the selection I’m working with: grey ‘zulu pearls’ and mixed strings of bright colors. Different colors signify different emotions in Zulu beads. Something I would like to write a blog post on soon (let me know if you are interested).

I’ve got a shoe box to be wrapped. The Kikoy is quite large so I folded it over before completing the wrap. Here are the 6 steps:

  The grey ‘Zulu pearls’ went beautifully with the stripes of purple and maroon on this kikoy and held the gift together well:

  The other side…

I played with other color palettes. This white Kikoy (which is on sale at the moment - 50% off) went well with strings of blue beads: 

For a more masculine feel I tried an orange Kikoy with a different string of beads but the tusks might be a little over the top ;):

Local clasps like this one are useful too for holding the gift together if you don’t want to use beads:

The aesthetics of these materials really add a lot to the gift. The art and culture of African countries is the source of so much inspiration. I really enjoyed experimenting with the Kikoys. Let me know if you have any ideas or tricks with similar materials.

    If you liked the Kikois, we have a variety of them on VenTribe. By purchasing those handmade Kikois you are funding one day of education for one child in Kenya.

See more.

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ALL TIME UGLIEST SWEATERS-PART 2

Written by Itai Rave

We are back with part 2 of the all-time ugliest Christmas sweaters. Here are the crème de la crème, the cherry on top, the Gangnam style of sweaters, so sit back and enjoy.

1. Congratulations! This is officially the ugliest sweater this season.

2. If you liked our previous collection, I am certain you will enjoy this sickening tropical nightmare.

3. Finally, the anti-fruit cake movement has gotten its act together. This will certainly get their message across.

4. Dress to impress like a piece of holiday decor.

  5. Cat got your tongue? 

6. Hmmm...

Missed Part 1 of this sweater marathon? Here it is.

You might also enjoy watching these Christmas morning reactions videos.

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When is the last time you gifted someone a Tangerine tree?

It gets increasingly difficult every year to make an impact when getting a friend a birthday gift. If you want it to be thoughtful, the gift needs to have particular attributes; its has to appeal to the person, be different, not lame, individual but most of all it needs to be something that shows the person how much they are cared for and how much effort people are willing to put in to get them a gift. Melissa, a sophomore at UCLA recently decided to say no to flowers or chocolates as a gift for her dear friend Maya’s birthday. Instead she wanted to organize the perfect gift for her and get a bunch of their mutual friends involved. 

This gift had to reflect Maya’s personality; a nurturer, a lover of all things fruit and food! Maya didn’t care too much for grapes (she loves wine though). Pineapples scare her and a birthday cake would be a little boring, but if there was one thing Melissa knew she would treasure, it was a miniature tangerine tree that she could call her own.  It could replace the dried basil on the windowsill too. It would be a gift that is symbolic of the growing friendships they all had with Maya, as well as something that looks good, smells good, and tastes good!

Melissa used VenTribe to get Maya’s flat mates and closest friends involved in the Group Gift: Bridget, Nate, Brenton, Adeel, Hannah, Genie and Adam all chipped in and shared the cost with Melissa to get her the special gift as a group.  

It was no surprise that Maya loved the tangerine tree, and that she felt pretty great about so many of her close friends being involved. The tree that sits in her student flat will be a constant reminder of the group's growing friendship, and the provider of home grown, freshly squeezed baby tangerine juice till the end of time.  

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Yasuteru Yamada’s Gift To Japan

Written by Jamie Chennells

It was the best of times, and in a matter of minutes, it was the worst of times. Off the pacific coast of Japan’s Tohoku, it would be a day that would forever change the lives of the millions that lived there. Just before 3pm, an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.03 hit 40 miles off the mainland. The result was a 130 foot tsunami that travelled up to 6 miles inland, destroying all in its path. It would come to be the most expensive natural disaster in the history of man. Countless people were injured or lost, over 1 000 000 buildings destroyed or damaged, and a nation was left at its knees. This was only be the beginning of what would take weeks to stabilize, years to mend, lifetimes to forget.

The Tsunami, leaving nothing unturned.

Yasuteru Yamada, a [then] 72 year old retired engineer, would not stand for the younger Japanese generation being exposed to such life-threatening levels of radiation. He believed that he was part of a picture much bigger than himself, and demonstrated absolute selflessness. Through his efforts, he conjured a group of more than 600 senior citizens who would give the greatest gift of them all, knowingly putting their lives at risk for the greater good of those younger than themselves.

Power station workers, factory designers, school teachers, and even a singer and two cooks; a team of everyday citizens, taking that step into the unknown. "I don't think I'm particularly special," Yamada says. " The question is whether you step forward, or you stay behind and watch. To take that step you need a lot of guts, but I hope it will be a great experience. Most Japanese want to help out any way they can. I am as fit as ever, and have had a lifetime of experience to bring to the task.”

Yasuteru Yamada: Just 1 of 600.

There was no reward for Yamada’s efforts. To any individual, this was an illogical decision. Kindness, well Yamada would be kindness in its purest form. He was a man of no fear, of greater understanding, of compassion, of giving, of love; a man giving the gift of life, all in exchange for nothing but his own. But he was only 1 of 600, and those 600 stand well apart from the millions in existence. It is in times like this that we see the light shine through the dark, the good defeat evil, the kind of acts that restore our faith in humanity and remind us of the true meaning of community.

Life is short, and you can do with it with you want. In this age of both wisdom and foolishness. I challenge you to live like Yamada’s 600.

“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”

-Dickens, ‘A Tale of Two Cities.’

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Our 10 most viral Facebook posts this year

Written by Shema GM Kalisa

10. "This gift idea, designed by a student in Edinburgh, mixes the old and the new for a retro style and top of the line technology! Like this post to show appreciation for the past and excitement for the future."

9. "Where would we be without great friends? all wet!"

8. "Good Morning and Happy Sunday Tribe!"

7. "Happy Wednesday Tribe! In the spirit of outdoor adventure check this out; a Mountain Bike that easily folds up into a backpack. Take it anywhere, anytime. No Elevator too small, No bus to inconvenient and No more tracking in dirt to your apartment...A perfect gift for the everyday biker."

6. "Good Morning Tribe! It's Monday, the week begins and for those of you who are feeling extra perky; help a friend get the day started.  After all as we're fond of saying; Life is better shared!"

5. "Taking 'mobile' technology to the next level. . . these have got to be the coolest kicks any of us have ever seen!"

4. "Family come in all shapes & sizes while love stays the same. Live, Love, Share @ www.VenTribe.com"

3. "Come together, share, help, live and love. Together We Are #BetterThanSandy" - Sandy, 2012.

2. "The beautiful Island of Molokini in Hawaii. . . Where would you send a friend for a dream vacation?"

1. "Anyone out there adventurous enough for this? There will be lots of gifts for adrenalin junkies to choose from on our Xperience Days Gift Collection coming soon. Stay Tuned!

For more posts like those visit our Facebook page. Follow us to get the latest posts and information about VenTribe.

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How to gift wrap a cat and other tricks

Written by Rupert Sully

So I decided to go on a hunt across the internet today to find some fun ideas for wrapping presents for Christmas. It is amazing how much amazing stuff there is out there as well as the wild and whacky. I thought this video by Kandee Johnson had some pretty fun ideas, though her sense of humor is a little suspect at times if you ask me. If Santa, Reindeers and Ginger bread houses are your thing, this is for you (or if you know someone who would like it, share this post).  

Then again if you want to try ‘creative wrapping’ in a totally different meaning of the phrase this is for you:

Spread the festive spirit and share this post with a Christmas Junkie.

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Why do belgians consume more carrots during December?

Written by Jamie Chennells

While the Kingdom of Belgium only has a population of 11 million people, they have found reason to have not one, but two Santa Claus Figures. Saint Nicholas is on the scene, but comes up against fierce Christmas competition from Père Noël and his sidekick. That’s all happening TODAY.

Well, it’s not that fierce, and they don’t compete; the two Christmas figures are actually quite diplomatic about their approaches, and there are no territorial showdowns involving sleigh-offs, head-to-head deer drag races, or chimney runs. The current agreement they have in place results in those citizens speaking Walloon getting a visit from Saint Nic, and those speaking straight French receiving a visit from Père Noël.

Saint Nicholas is actually a 4th century saint, and was also the Greek Bishop of Myra. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, and used to put coins in the shoes of those that left them outside. In his most famous exploit, he saved three daughters from becoming prostitutes by anonymously delivering bags of gold to their father’s house in the dead of night.

What Do These Cats Have To Do With This Article?

Père Noël follows a somdonewhat more traditional approach to Christmas as we know it; he dons the red suit, has a sassy team of reindeer, and has a workshop in his name somewhere around the North Pole. He also, however, seems to be attracted to shoes. As the tradition goes, children leave their shoes by the fireplace before bedtime, filled with carrots and treats. Alas, we skew from normality at this stage, as Père Noël has a donkey called Mistletoe. All these treats end up being given to Mistletoe, and if I know anything about kids, this donkey must receive a lot of carrots around December. Papa Noël then replaces these offerings with delightful gifts small enough to fit into their shoes. If the kids have been naughty, their carrots and donkey offerings are replaced with nothing but a pile of sticks. 

Interestingly, both figures are being celebrated today (December 6th), and are done so with church services, quiet family gatherings, and specially baked cakes. December the 25th still sees the celebration of Jesus Christ’s birth, but this is considered a more Western tradition, and has only been embraced by a small portion of the population.

If you have any Belgian friends, make sure you catch them by surprise today and hand them a couple of carrots for their shoes; they may just thank you in the morning

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Christmas morning reactions you haven't seen (video)

Written by Shema GM Kalisa

We put together a collection of our favorite Christmas morning reactions, share it with your friends and better yet, share with us:  let us know what the best gift you’ve ever received was and how you felt. Enjoy!

Jimmy Kimmel & parents pranking their kids with terrible presents. How would you react?  

My personal favorite. Grandma + Puppy = Adorable!

This next one definitely brings a tear to my eye. But where is the puppy and who is the leash for?

Last but not least, where does it always begin? With the gift request! Ideally (for me anyway) that special someone is Mariah Carey requesting this.

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All time ugliest sweaters-Part 1

Written by Itai Rave

In preparation for the 12 days of Christmas, I have put together 12 favorite, atrocious holiday sweaters, from best to worst, or is it the other way around? Here are the first 6 sweaters, share them with friends who will appreciate this frightening collection. The next 6 will arrive at your inbox next week (to join our weekly newsletter, sign up with us here).

1. Noticed the goat?

2. Simply appalling.

3. Ouch..

4. Certainly one of the ugliest sweaters

5. One of the hallmarks of a truly ugly Christmas sweater is three-dimensionality.

6. Reason for the season. Three-dimensional “Baby J” doll. Seriously?

Send us photos of your ugliest sweater and we will include the best one in our post next week. You will win immediate fame and a FREE Kikoi from us. Please send your photos to [email protected].

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Tips for getting into the Group Gifting spirit and getting it right

Written by Itai Rave

Group Gifts must mean a lot of work, organization, and spending, not to mention the headache of chasing friends for money. Or do they?  We asked our most active community members at VenTribe for their tips on doing it right and putting smiles on everyone’s faces, including yours. Here is what they had to say:

START EARLY & GET THE CONVERSATION GOING

Leave enough time to get your friends together before they begin their own gift shopping. We will send you personal reminders in advance of your close friends’ birthdays. To be reminded of specific friends’ birthdays, simply add them to your personal Gift Tribe. 

After having a recipient in mind and prior to launching the Group Gift, you can use our custom sharing tools to get the conversation going and seek your friends’ opinions on the gift you chose via Facebook or Twitter.

“Suggesting the gift and the estimated cost using the sharing tools on VenTribe helped me provide my friends with enough information up-front for them to decide whether they wanted to participate.” 

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON SETTING-UP YOUR GROUP GIFT

After choosing the recipient, occasion and gift, it’s important to provide as much information about the Group Gift as possible, such as the minimum chip in amount for contributors and the date you want everyone to contribute by. VenTribe makes it easy by allowing you to set this information and more, before you launch your Group Gift. By the way, it’s O.K if not everyone can contribute as much, so long as friends chip in above the minimum you have set. The sum contributed by each person is never disclosed so that you make everyone look like a hero! Here are a few tips from our community on how to quickly set-up the Group Gift:

Personal Message: "Let your friends know why you are creating this Group Gift & provide information you want to make sure they are aware of.”

Group Gift Options: “Set your privacy settings to determine whether the gift recipient can access the Group Gift or not and whether the Group Gift is accessible to the public or just to friends of the gift recipient. You decide what is the minimum amount friends can chip in. Friends will be able to chip in more then the required minimum & more than once if they choose to. The amounts contributed are never disclosed. Try to choose a realistic ‘minimum chip in’ – too low and you may not reach the total price, too high and your friends might not be able to afford it.” We assist you in determining the ideal minimum chip in by suggesting a minimum.

Contribution Deadline: “Think about when you want the recipient to get the gift, then remember that you need to set a deadline that gives your friends enough time to chip in & that also allows for delivery time.”

Shipping Address: "Choose to deliver it directly to the gift recipient or to yourself first." We see many people prefer to first deliver the gift to themselves so that can wrap it in fun personal ways, hand it over in person or because they want to keep it to deliver at a later date. Now you are ready to LAUNCH your Group Gift!

INVITING FRIENDS, COLLECTING FUNDS & KEEPING TRACK

After launching the Group Gift make sure you make the first contribution. As a leader, your contribution will encourage your friends to follow along and make it happen! Once you have contributed, invite your friends via Private Facebook messages, and use the customized sharing tools to shout out & spread the word to your network of friends. 

Encourage friends to invite their mutual friends with the gift recipient, everyone can communicate with each other via private Facebook messages and on the Group Gift comments board. Contributors can write on the e-card that will be sent to you, the organizer,  via email once the Group Gift is completed. You can then choose when to forward it to the gift recipient. Our community members said they prefer to print it out and give it in person. 

It’s no fun to chase down your friends for money. That’s why we help you collect the funds online. If someone you invited does fail to contribute, send them a customized reminder and be nice, saying something like “We've got all but two payments to go. It would help me greatly if you could contribute on VenTribe by Friday”. The custom reminders are sent via private Facebook messages and will link them straight back to the Group Gift where they can chip in. No one will be charged unless the Group Gift is fully funded so you don’t have to worry about refunds. We collect the funds on behalf of everyone when the Group Gift is completed, so that there is no cash for you to collect and no friends to chase. We then transmit the cash and your order to our partners who fulfill the order.

  All you have to now do is sit back and relax while you and your friends make a special someone very happy! 

Was this article helpful? Share it with your friends. 

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Do not give a Thai a marigold

Written by Rupert Sully

However it wasn’t all joy. These offers brought with them a volley of problems, enhanced by my rusty Thai. Who had brought me the gift? How was I supposed to reciprocate? Teacher politics is bad enough any where but throw in the ignorance of young farang and you can spark Armageddon. What needs to be reciprocated and how? And if you gift one person will that mean someone else has been left out that should not be?

Looking back I should have taken a more active role to seek out this knowledge rather then stumbling through it like a rhinoceros trying to use chop sticks.                                       

I am always weary of hearing foreigner’s accounts of other’s traditions (sure the locals are often having a laugh or at least think that foreigners over simplify things – which I as a South African can testify to).  But this is what I pieced together while in Thailand from reading and pure trial and error.

It’s a good idea to bring a gift when visiting a Thai house. Flowers, chocolate or fruit are good choices. Good wrapping shows a true gift connoisseur. Go for the bright bold colors. Yellow is always a popular one (like in so many aspects of Thailand being the Kings birth color). However, I did find that you should stick to red for Chinese Thais. Avoid green, blue and black as these are colors associated with mourning (something I found out the hard way when I wrapped some chocolate in a lovely olive green piece of silk). Likewise with flowers do not give carnations or marigolds.

Next thing to note is not to be shy with bows and ribbons they are going to get you serious kudos points. The more the thing looks like an explosion of happiness the better. Don’t be disappointed if they do not open the gift in front of you; this treat is usually kept for a personal moment after you are gone. In the same way it is very rude for you to just rip off the wrapping when presented with something (no matter how delectable you think the content might be).

These were all invaluable things to learn and exciting customs to behold but it still didn’t answer my fears of whether I gave the right gifts to the right fellow teachers! Suppose I’ll just have to go back and find out one day…

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Is Thanksgiving the ultimate campaign day for Turkey as the national bird?

What is the significance of those juicy fowl we stuff our faces with every year? Hidden amongst all the other scrumptious bounty of modern gastronomic revelation is a bird that has stood its ground in American history from the beginning. There is not a feather of a doubt (sorry I couldn’t help myself) that the Turkey has been part of shaping this nation.

In 1784, Benjamin Franklin wrote to his daughter to suggested that the wild turkey would be a more fitting national symbol for the newly independent United States than the bald eagle - the turkey’s Accipitridaen brethren had been chosen by the Continental Congress two years earlier. Franklin contended that the turkey was "a much more respectable Bird," "a true original Native of America," and "though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage."

Do not let looks deceive you, though the domestic turkey may prefer a slow saunter its wild counterpart can reach speeds of up to 20-25 miles per hour on the ground and fly for short distances at speeds approaching 55 miles per hour. They are also known for their great eyesight and hearing.

So remember when you are tucking into your scrumptious meal that the Turkey is a gift to this nation. Share this with friends and family and spread the love about the fantastic bird, which adds to the festivities this time of year. 

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Thanksgiving Poll: The Reason for the Season

Sodahead polled 1,000 people to see what their favorite things about Thanksgiving are. This great infographic shows their findings. 

Happy Thanksgiving from everyone at VenTribe!

  Source: Sodahead.com

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Introducing Group Gifts

Gifting, like laughter, is better when it's shared!

The holiday season is officially upon us, friendsand family are buying, wrapping and gifting in hopes of making this season a special one.

At VenTribe we believe that friends’ gifting skills should go beyond woolen socks and holiday fruitcakes. This is why we decided to connect our friends, families and communities through Group Gifts! On VenTribe.com our members can easily choose a gift, create a Group Gift page and invite friends via private Facebook messages to chip in together for it. With no cash to collect, VenTribe keeps organizing Group Gifts fun, simple, and social!

Get the gifts you actually want.

Gifts to best friends should be so individually tailored that in anyone else’s stocking they would make little sense. Who knows what you really want better than yourself? With VenTribe you can help your friends & family buy you the perfect gift, choose a gift for yourself, create a Group Gift page, send out invitations to the page and make life easier on them. It’s that simple.

Don’t be a December 24th gift wrapper. Visit us on VenTribe today and start a Group Gift.

Happy gifting everyone!

PS: We would love to hear from you with any thoughts or comments, so connect with us on Facebook, we reply instantly to any questions.