Ready to Par-Tay! Win some FREE Ice Cream!

WINNERS ANNOUNCED!
Okay, so for those who didn’t read this post yet, this will make no sense, but I used Random.org to generate 10 random winners of the FREE ice cream. Well, it’s kinda like free ice cream. I mean, I’m sending you each a crisp $5 bill with the intent of purchasing ice cream but I suppose I can’t stop you from grabbing a nickle bag of something if you’re so inclined.

But, the winners selected were: 27, 25, 42, 6, 14, 40, 2, 9, 36, 30

Actually, winner #2 didn’t specify an ice cream flavor so I technically can’t award it, even though I will anyhow. But, to be fair, I’m choosing an 11th winner. Using Random.org, the winner of the backup prize is #7.

And, winner #30 was my sister and I can’t let her win anything or she’ll never shut up about it. Plus, I don’t want the controversy of nepotism. I’ll see her in July and I’ll just give her a few bites of mine. So, I used Random.org again and the winner was #6. But, you can’t win twice, so I drew again. And this time, the winner is #17.

What I did is just go down the line aligning these with the comments. If you see “WINNER!” under your comment, then, well, you’re a winner and I’ll be in touch tomorrow!

Thank you to everyone who played along. Tomorrow, we’ll get our first look at submitted “Take Me With You” photos!

For those clueless about what all this ice cream talk is all about, I’ll leave the original post up below. Congrats to the winners and happy eating!

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For those of you who have no plans Thursday night, I’d love to have you join the #iHeartDad Twitter party I’m crashing around 9pm EST.

When I was first approached about being a panelist I shied away because I’m just not a promo guy. I didn’t want to sit there on Twitter blasting my stream with prefabricated tweets. But after I read more about the program and after I was assured that I could just be myself and interact with people naturally, I was down for sharing all this Dadness.

The point of the party is to chat about making memories with dad. Whether sharing memories from our own childhood or sharing ways to build memories with our children, it should prove to be an entertaining hour.

Understand that this isn’t a therapy session. I charge big bucks for those. So if your intent is to share memories you’re trying desperately to block, you’ll need to wait for the #iHateDad Twitter party. Date and time yet to be determined.

I will admit that I’m REALLY bad at these Twitter Party dealios. Not because I don’t tweet, it’s actually the contrary, but rather because I just don’t know how to tell you what to do. I’m not even all that sure myself. Until tonight, I hadn’t a clue how all this was even going to go down, so rather than try to regurgitate details I don’t fully understand, I’m just going to throw you some links and let you fend for yourselves.

For those who possess at least the brain capacity of a tomato, you should have no problem comprehending all this and then explaining it to me like I’m a 3-year old.

#iHeartDad Twitter Party Details
(There’s a link to an RSVP form that you can complete to win a bunch of prizes. I believe they’re giving away a Blu-Ray player, vouchers, an HD FLIP Cam, and a dinner out with me as your date.*)

*Winner is responsible for airfare, lodging, dinner, tips, and valet (I assume we’d go somewhere nice, right? I mean, I hope some cheapskate doesn’t win this).

What’s a Twitter Party and Why Should I Care?
(This isn’t the real title of the article but it’s what I was thinking when I clicked on the link. While I have yet to read it in full, it seems to include all the information we’re going to need to be both involved and visible.)

RSVP Form for Prize Eligibility
(When I first loaded this page I sat there waiting for something to happen. Only after I read the instructions did I realize I needed to click “Like”. Try it, it reveals the magic behind the curtain.)

Enter Your Own Photo
(I’ll be adding my own photo as well but you needn’t bother to vote. Votes don’t matter and their selection is totally random. Ugly people rejoice!)

So many details, right? Remember the good old days when you would just receive an invitation in the mail and it would tell you where to go and when to show up? Then once you got there you were loaded up with cake, ice cream, a goody bag, and a wide range of neuroses following such party game staples as “Musical Chairs & Bruises” and “Pin the Tail on the Slow Kid?”

Now, with the advent of social media, it’s more like work. You need to register, tweet out hashtags, use tweeter grids, fill out forms, and do all this without the reward of ice cream. All this work, all this effort, and there’s not even a shot at some deliciously frozen goodness.

Well, I’m going to change all that.

Since I’m being paid a few bucks to be on the panel, and because I plan on taking full advantage of the request to litter Twitter with all my nonsense, I want to give back to my readers. That’s why I’m going to give away a crisp $5 bill to TEN lucky winners so they can run out and enjoy some ice cream on my dime. Or rather on 50 of my dimes.

All you have to do to win is share your favorite flavor of ice cream with the world by commenting below. What’s great about this contest is that there’s no wrong answer. Even those who actually admit to liking Butter Pecan or Rum Raisin can still win. Regardless of my belief that these flavors should be segregated from the rest of the ice cream eating population, I promise to remain flavor neutral when choosing random winners.

I’m not going to make party attendance mandatory because quite frankly I don’t have the energy to make sure you’re all not just a bunch of ice cream addicted liars. Even without the attendance requirement, I do hope to see you there because I’d love to have my devoted peeps represented.

One of the things I find odd about this party is that they use the #iHeartDad hashtag to promote it but then ask that people use the #YesMemory hashtag throughout the party. So, just remember the latter one and forget all about hearting dad. Dad can’t hook you up with prizes, YesVideo can.

What’s YesVideo?
These are the folks who, incredulously enough, invited me to be a panelist during the Twitter Party. When I was first approached, I did my due diligence to make sure they weren’t an organization that supported the killing of whales or advocated the clubbing of baby seals for sport. I also made sure that they and their subsidiaries had nothing to do with baby formula, high fructose corn syrup, or McFrankenfood. I have long refused to ever be pulled into that kind of drama ever again.

What I discovered through my investigation is that YesVideo deals purely in the preservation and showcasing of memories. You can get the full rundown of how it all works here, but basically, you can send them videos and photos in a wide variety of archaic formats and they’ll convert everything to DVD for you. You can even get them to create some feature-rich fancy productions from your clips if you want to be the family hero.

Like many of you, I have a bazillion fond and funny memories with my father, and I plan on sharing a bunch throughout the party. As for my own kids, I hope I’m providing them with a lifetime of memories. I know I try, and I think my being entrenched in their lives every single day will be a big contributor.

This isn’t to say that the memories we’ll build will always be rooted in responsible behavior. While I have yet to get my drink on with any of them, I have done a few things to prove my wife’s theory that most men lack common sense when it comes to entertaining children.

Like the time I orchestrated a family Iditarod by tying our Golden Lab and Rottweiler to a wagon housing Andrew, who was four at the time. Had the dogs stayed side by side as intended, it would have come off splendidly.

Instead, they each sprinted in opposite directions causing the rickety wagon to violently lurch forward. This either spooked or inspired the dogs because the two of them took off in a full sprint. Like two dueling drivers in a car chase, they continued to bang into each other in an attempt to break free. The result? An out of-control wagon and a whiplash-inducing ride that lasted all of six feet before Andrew spilled onto the pavement.

The wagon disappeared into the horizon, and only by following a trail of splintered wagon shards were we able to spot two tethered canines and one overturned wagon wrapped around a tree in our neighbor’s back yard. Needless to say, this was my first and last family Iditarod.

Then there’s this little gem which my wife caught on camera. Probably more for evidence than memories, but the kids you see featured in this video STILL talk about Rake ‘n Whirl. The concept is simple: Rely on a combination of centrifugal force and weightless children to generate extreme levels of euphoria.

If you’re among those who think the days of being entertained by a rake are over, I believe this will serve as proof that we’re just getting started.

While you may never see this game in the pages of Parenting magazine or recommended by the sensible fragments of our population, you can’t deny the lasting impression that silly stuff like this creates. The memories built will last far longer than any scuff, scrape, or grass-stained knee.

These are the kinds of things I want to hear about. I don’t really want to get too heavy into the smarmy wonderful DADeriffic anecdotes. I want to keep the vibe fun. I want to laugh and I want to interact. I want the funny stuff…the kind of memories that are only memories because they were so stupid or asinine. To me, a memory worth having is one worth sharing, and I just hope I’m not the only one.

Remember! Even if you don’t attend the party, share your favorite ice cream flavor below. I’ll pick 10 random winners when the party ends at 10pm EST.

If you do attend, give me a shout out with the #YesMemory hashtag and join in the fun. In fact, let’s be the loud table…the table where everyone else wishes they were seated.

See you there!

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