Le bonhomme du neige – the good man of snow – is the french expression for snowman. And who does not like snowmen? Shoveling snow might not be our favorite pastime, but making snowmen is fun, creative and brings us outside. After the snowman has been adorned with a broom, stick arms, a carrot nose, a scarf and a hat, we dry our mittens and enjoy some hot cocoa or cider while we let our rosy cheeks fade away.
The Good Man of Snow Read More »
Only one week to Halloween (where did October go?) and new Halloween decorations are popping up every day in the neighborhood. Are you planning for a safe Halloween? All over the country, funflector safety reflectors are popping up in people’s mail boxes. If you want some in your’s before Halloween, please order today, tomorrow or Wednesday before noon (central time)!
To make it easier and quicker to order our most popular Halloween safety reflectors, we’ve bundled the Jack O’Lantern, the white ghost and the orange cat and give you $4 off compared to buying them separately! The glimling webshop has all the details.
By the way, did you know that the funflector reflectors are official Must-Haves at Modern Mom? And, we totally agree with Lauren at parenting.com about reflective tape!
Recently, we wrote about how to attach Halloween reflectors to costumes. If you don’t want to tape the reflectors to swords and light sabers, wands or broom sticks, you can put a (strong) rubber band around and then slip the chain through.
From our friend and funflector fan Beth, we got a cute duck tape candy corn candy bag. Instead of putting reflective tape on the handle, she made a loop for her funflector and taped the loop to the outside of the bag! While in craft mode, you might want to check out this milk jug skeleton by the Party Animal. We are up to five jugs, so soon, we’ll get started on ours! How is yours coming along?
Have fun and safe Halloween! – the funflector team
Have a Fun and Safe Halloween! Read More »
“Funflector® tags are so much more fun than reflective tape, but how do I attach them to Halloween costumes?“ is a question we often get this time of year. Four times as many kids get killed in traffic on Halloween than on any other night of the year! That’s why Good Morning America urged everyone to put reflectors on Halloween Costumes. The funflector® tags will do the trick! They are high quality pedestrian reflectors, fulfilling the European standard E13356, which means they can be visible to drivers from about 400 ft.
Here is a recap of what we wrote last year about attaching reflectors to Halloween costumes:
The ball chains that come with funflector® tags are meant to be attached to zipper pulls and loops. So what do you do when the robe of your grim reaper has none of that?
Funflector® Safety Reflectors on Halloween CostumesRead More »
Funflector® Safety Reflectors on Halloween Costumes Read More »
Love is red, sometimes pink, but what color is peace?
We all know that a peace dove is white. Some say that peace is yellow. The forth advent candle, representing peace, is often purple. Love and peace go together, so if love is red or pink, so must peace. A healthy nature and Mother Earth is related to peace, so for some, peace is green. Others say that peace is as infinite as the sky and the ocean, so it must be blue. How about turquoise?
☮️ What Color is Peace? Read More »
We love to hang funflector® safety reflectors on our bikes! We have shamrock reflectors to show off our Irish heritage (or just to ask for that extra luck that’s needed when drivers are busy texting), heart reflectors to show the world that we love our bike rides and baseball reflectors for our Cubs fans (we do have some of those around here). We still need bike lights though!
The funflector safety reflectors are on the bike for fun and under the heading “the more the merrier-” every reflector increases the chances of getting home safely at night. However, bikes are normally moving faster than pedestrians, so bicyclists need stronger reflectors than pedestrians. Also, in many states, you need a red rear reflector and bike LIGHTS to be a law abiding bicyclist.
The other night, I approached an intersection and a bicyclist was crossing. The spinning wheel reflectors were the first thing we saw of him or her. It’s quite spectacular and hard to miss! And boy, did I use that opportunity to give my kids another lesson on reflectors! So many times,
I’ve been surprised while driving by totally dark bicyclists—dark cloths, dark bikes, neither lights nor reflectors. I think I would use lights and reflectors even if they were illegal, just to do everything possible to come home safely.
Anyway, when we talked with George Garner abut bike helmets at George Garner Cyclery last month, we also used the opportunity to check out his bike lights and other night time safety products, so here is “Advice from a pro, Part 2” :
Every bike that leaves the cyclery, has a set of reflectors, which include:
– white front facing reflector
– red rear facing reflector
– wheel reflectors
– pedal reflectors, facing both front and back
These reflectors are usually hard prismatic reflectors that withstand the elements well. If your bike is missing these, they are easy and inexpensive to replace.
In addition to reflectors, you need lights, front and rear, when biking in the dark. Which lights to choose depends on where you go and how fast you ride. Is it enough for drivers to see you or do you need lights to light up your path? Most lights use LED’s as they make the battery last for up to 100 hours of run time. Prices range from $35 to $65 for a set of front and back lights that are sufficient for most bicyclists. For the avid off road biker, powerful lights with rechargeable battery systems are available on special order.
So, now you are all set with a well fitted helmet, reflectors and lights. Go and check your brakes (seriously!) and you are ready to cruise along into the summer nights.
Have a fun and safe ride!
Elisabeth
Favorite Places to Put Fun Safety Reflectors 4 – on My Bike Read More »
Tonight we’ll park ourselves in the TV couch for another thrilling basketball playoff game between the Chicago Bulls and the Atlanta Hawks. It’s a joy to watch Derrick Rose put the ball in the hoop (No wonder, he just got the NBA MVP award as the youngest in the history of the NBA) but most of all we are fascinated with the work within the teams. We hope the Bulls will be on fire tonight—we know they can do better than their last game!
If we had any small bulls fans in our families, they would certainly get this funny onesie from Bad Baby Inc., one of their newest designs.
Whether you cheer for your favorite NBA team or the local high school basketball team, you can show your love for the sport with a basketball safety reflector. Hang the super bright safety reflector on your jacket, bag or backpack and it will also make you more visible in the dark!
Enjoy the rest of the NBA playoff and finals season!
The funflector team
Imagine early morning before sunrise when the darkness of the season feels heavy. All of a sudden, there is a faint singing in the distance and the doorway is lit up by a woman in a long white gown, wearing a wreath with candles on her head. Lucia, her maidens, and the “star boys” follow and bring light, joyful singing, coffee and sweet saffron rolls.
The night of the 13th, the day of Lucia in the saints’ calender, was the longest night in the medieval calender. To the fend off the darkness and the dark forces, one had to eat several meals before dawn. Feasting on food from the Christmas slaughter eventually turned into Lucia who brings light, coffee and saffron rolls before dawn.
This year’s Lucia on Swedish Television has a beautiful mix of traditional Lucia carols and modern songs and is available until January 13. In the Swedish neighborhood Andersonville in Chicago Lucia will be celebrated tonight at 4.45 and at 7. See The Swedish American Museum for more info.
Lucia is no longer the darkest day of the year: we have another week to go before it gets brighter again. Fend off the dark forces and especially pedestrian traffic accidents with some joyful safety reflectors!
If you belong to those who tell us that you are never out in the dark, please think again! This is when the sun sets today in a few cities – and remember that dusk starts earlier!
Anchorage – 3:41 pm
Montreal – 4:11 pm
Boston – 4:12 pm
Vancouver – 4:14 pm
Chicago – 4:20 pm
Toronto – 4:21 pm
New York – 4:29 pm
Minneapolis – 4:32 pm
Denver – 4:36 pm
Washingotn DC – 4:47 pm
San Fransisco – 4:51 pm
Indianapolis – 5:20 pm
Dallas – 5:22 pm
Honolulu – 5:51 pm
Of course, none of these places are as dark as the Nordic countries—Oslo (3:11 pm), Stockholm (2:47 pm), Helsinki(3:12 pm), but if your kids have any after school activities or you work normal office hours, you are bound to be out in the dark in most of these places. Get sunset and sunrise in your own city at timeanddate.com. Once you have your city, click the “Sun & Moon” tab.
Enjoy the darkness and stay safe!
Elisabeth
The number one Halloween hazard by far is kids being hit by cars. That’s what we were told on Good Morning America the other day where they urged everyone to attach safety reflectors on Halloween Costumes. The funflector® safety reflectors will do the trick! They are high quality reflectors, fulfilling the European standard E13356, which means they can be visible to drivers from about 500 ft. Earlier this week, we did a funflector fundraiser at a local preschool. One of the teachers, who had happened to drive by during the photo session along the highway commented: “Wow, were they bright! Now, I really understand how useful the safety reflectors are.”
The ball chains that come with funflector® safety reflectors are meant to be attached to zipper pulls and loops. So what do you do when the robe of your grim reaper has none of that?
Even if we don’t recommend it for everyday use, safety pins allow us to temporarily put the reflectors wherever we’d like them. Put the safety pin through the seam (through as many layers as possible) of the garment to avoid the Halloween costumes tearing and reflectors getting lost. Low down is good—that’s where headlights shine the most. On the witch’s dress, we attached it at the bottom of the side seam to let the funflector® safety reflector dangle below the hemline. With one cat on each side, she should be visible from all directions.
It is easy to stick the chain through the mesh material that some costumes are made with. Put it through several layers or around a seam to avoid ripping. The witch’s hat has a large bow made from mesh material, so we just put it through several layers.
Many costumes have a belt. If the belt is too wide for the ball chain, put a loop made from a piece of string around the belt and slip the ball chain trough the loop. Please DO NOT replace the chain with a string! The chain is designed to break if it gets firmly hooked on something, so that the wearer doesn’t become stuck. A strong string may harm your child.
Our witch’s dress has some eyelets on the front which came in very handy for a few more safety reflectors.
The ball chain can also be taped to handles of light sabers, scythes, brooms, swords or magic wands, alerting drivers when your kids are busy fending off evil spirits on the loose.
Beyond that, use your imagination and common sense to find suitable places to attach reflectors and let us know what original ways you come up with! The glimling team wishes you a fun and safe Halloween. 🙂
Elisabeth
Favorite Places to Put Fun Reflectors 3 – on Halloween Costumes Read More »
Although one of my daughters often has asked “When will I get a dog” (noticed the lack of “if”?), we have no dog in our house. Three kids and a small house is quite a handful as it is. Sorry for the misleading headline… Luckily, Maggie, one of our cool glimling blog dogs, lives just around the corner. Maggie is a lab, a black lab, and a great model for dog safety reflector. With her pitch plack fur, a dog safety reflector looks extra cool on her—and is extra necessary when it gets dark.
When Maggie was a puppy and too little for these reflectors, her owner tied a few of them along the leash instead. One evening a neighbor came home and slowed down to almost no speed while they were walking along the street. The neighbor was very puzzled by the weird dangling lights. She could not figure it out until she had stopped the car, rolled down the window and asked.
Today, Maggie is no longer a small puppy, so she wears the reflectors on her collar. For Halloween, she picked the Jack O’lantern. Maggie was also very excited helping pick out reflectors to hang in the bushes in our yard.
Dino, who is another friendly neighborhood dog, picked his favorite—the paw of course! Dino and his master like to take long walks and it is not always that they manage to come home before the sun starts to set. A dog safety reflector is a must. In about two weeks, daylight saving time ends and they will loose another hour of afternoon walking time in daylight.
There are many places to put reflectors, but on kids, dogs and adults are certainly the most important ones. Halloween is a night when a lot of kids are out in the dark, so make sure drivers can see them. If you need more funflector safety reflectors for Halloween, you still have a few (but not much more) days to order them so we can ship them. If you are not convinced, please read my blog post about traffic accident statistics—pedestrian reflectors really do save lives!!!
Elisabeth
Favorite Places to Put Fun Safety Reflectors 2 – On My Dog Read More »
Tomorrow, October 9th, the amazing Imagine Peace Tower will be beaming again to celebrate John Lennon’s birthday. It’s light beam reaches far up in the sky and is powerful enough to penetrate the lowest clouds. The interaction with the clouds make it an ever changing piece of art and reminder that peace is never static.
The memorial to John Lennon from his widow, Yoko Ono, was inaugurated on this day in 2007. It is built on the tiny island of Viðey just outside Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland. It is said that the location was chosen for it’s beauty and access to clean power, produced with geothermal heat. The 15 powerful searchlights are boosted by prisms that act as mirrors, extending the light beam well beyond 10,000 feet on clear nights.
Few of us will have the opportunity to go there on Saturday, but we can watch it live at 7/8/9 pm in Western Europe and 1/2/3/4 pm in America and make our wish on twitter: @IPTower I wish…
At funflector.com, we also have our own way of saying “I love You, Imagine Peace” and a different way of beaming light – with a funflector® safety reflector of course! We are so excited that our first batch of “Love & Peace” reflectors has arrived. The first order go to an alert California customer, who ordered via our web shop. The second order goes to Whatsit & Dohickey Co. It is a fun toy and game store in Libertyville, IL, full of brain teasers, board games and other neat stuff.
Love & Peace, as Beth would say.
Elisabeth
I Love You, Imagine Peace Read More »
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