Flock the Yard!

Pink Flamingos in a movie!!!

2011-02-04T10:18:00.000-06:00

FITCHBURG, MASS. (Feb. 3, 1:15 p.m. ET) -- Garden ornament aficionados may soon be flocking to movie theaters to see a three-dimensional animated movie starring garden gnomes -- but also including the iconic plastic pink flamingo.

The flamingo designed by Don Featherstone is a member of the cast of the film Gnomeo and Juliet, which is due to hit theaters Feb. 11. The flick is a take-off on the classic Romeo and Juliet romance and pits rival garden-gnome families as the key characters.

Don Featherstone, who designed the flamingo for Union Products Inc. in 1957, attended with his wife Nancy, the film’s world premiere in Hollywood last week and was thrilled by what he saw.

“I’m very happy, they did a nice job,” said Featherstone, who did not want to reveal too much about the plot.

However, it just happens to have a pink flamingo named Featherstone as one its characters. And if you watch the Touchstone Pictures trailer about the movie, you’ll see the flamingo in some of the clips.

Gnomeo and Juliet was directed by Kelly Asbury, who also directed Shrek 2. The voice of the flamingo is Jim Cummings. Elton John’s music is a big part of the show.

“It’s got great music -- the old classics like Crocodile Rock. His music really blends in,” noted Featherstone.

Featherstone said that he got a call abut two years back from the production team, asking to use his name and the feathered bird in the film. They also obtained permission from the company that owns its licensing right, which is currently Cado Products Inc. of Fitchburg, Mass.

The animated flamingo impressed Featherstone, who recently turned 75.

“They did a great job. The flamingo is mine down to the last feather. The only thing they did was with the eyes. They wanted bigger eyes that could turn so that they got better expressions,” he said.

Featherstone said that he sculptured about 750 different products during his days at Union Products. He said that his goose and his swan both outsold the pink flamingo, but the flamingo continues to garner the most publicity.

When his signature started appearing on the pink flamingoes in 1987, he had no idea that it would lead to a film character called “Featherstone.”

“We’re really excited about it,” said Cado President Bruce Zarozny.

He said that Disney Enterprises Inc. gained permission from HMC International LLC originally and that the agreement was carried over when Cado acquired the rights in 2009 and formed its own Union Products division. He said that Union Products, a division of Cado, will be listed in the film’s credits.

The injection and blow molding company is proud that the original Donald Featherstone pink flamingo will be in the movie and has updated its packaging for the release. They’re prepared in case interest rises in the manufactured product.

“It’s just one of things that is neat for the community. As a company, we’re hoping more retail companies jump on board. It is a great item,” Zarozny said.

Article can be found here :Plastic News

Super Bowl XLV Special

2011-01-25T22:49:00.000-06:00

We are running a Super Bowl XLV Special! For every order placed between 1/24 - 2/6. Your name will be entered in a drawing for a gift certificate for a FREE future display. Orders can be for anytime. They do not have to be delivered during the promotion dates.

Helping the Milwaukee Ronald McDonald House.

2011-01-10T16:06:00.001-06:00

From the Milwaukee Ronald McDonald House website.

In the early 1980s, a small group of dedicated volunteers set out to build the first Ronald McDonald House in Wisconsin. The need back then was heart-wrenching. Families literally had no place to stay while their seriously ill child was being treated at Children’s Hospital or another Milwaukee hospital. The outpouring of support was remarkable. So much so that when we opened in Wauwatosa in 1984, we called it “the House that love built.” Today we serve families in ways we could have never imagined 25 years ago.

During our early years, it was typical for guest families to spend a few nights, perhaps a week with us. Our 25 bedrooms proved sufficient for awhile. Then, over time, medical advances, the kind that save the lives of children who would not have been saved two decades ago, began requiring extended treatments. Yet doctors and nurses told us their young patients showed the best signs of healing when they could spend time away from hospital rooms in a more homelike setting surrounded by family. To accommodate these families, we expanded the House, adding an extended stay wing with 13 two-room units. We also renovated the existing House so that every family staying with us could have a private bathroom, a small amenity it may seem, but one that means a great deal to our guest families. These renovations have continued to make our House the best “home-away-from-home” it can be.

Since the House opened in 1984, over 31,000 families from 568 Wisconsin communities, 48 states and 26 foreign countries have stayed at our Ronald McDonald House. These families are facing the worst crisis of their lives. Their child is seriously ill, and their lives are turned upside down. We may just be the only bright spot in their entire day and we take that responsibility to heart. We are a home-away-from-home, a place where kids can just be kids, and parents can lean on each other.

In October 2010 we had the honor of working with them. We were contacted by a representative about doing a display for a 6 year old boy that was staying at the Ronald McDonald House. Of course we said we would be glad to. After some phone calls back and forth we were set to do it, until we heard the weather forecast for the week.

The meteorologists were saying we could expect wind gusts up to 70mph. The stands we use for our displays can't handle wind that strong so we decided that we couldn't set the display up outdoors. We asked if it would be possible to put the display up somewhere indoors. After some consultations with other people at the House the rep let us know that they were having some sort of get together and didn't think that an indoor display would work for them. So it looked like we weren't going to be able to do the display.

A couple of days later we heard from the rep again, she wanted to know if we could do the display on a certain day (the little boy had gone out of town and was coming back that day and the Mom really wanted the sign for the little guy). Fortunately we were picking up the display they wanted on that day. So we could put it up right after we picked it up from the customer that had it. The little boy absolutely loved the sign! His Mom was thrilled we were able to do it for them too.

Helping the Milwaukee Ronald McDonald House was a really great experience. It is definitely something that we will do again if they want!!!

This is a test

2011-01-04T22:24:00.001-06:00

I read a blog today where the author mentioned that he could post a blog and it would automatically be posted to Facebook and Twitter. Since we (ok really it is just me) have been wanting to find an easy way to update our blog, Facebook fan page and Twitter more often. I thought I would try it for our blog. This blog post is a test to see what happens. If you would be kind enough, I would really appreciate it very much if you would leave a comment so I know that it worked the way it was supposed to. Please leave the comment wherever you first saw this. Thank you all very much. I hope this works.

Local News!!

2010-05-13T17:03:00.002-05:00

We made the TMJ4 TV news at 4:40pm yesterday!!! We did a set up at the station for their Sales Manager's birthday and they talked about the display and wished him a happy birthday. Very cool. We are working on getting a copy to put on the site and the blog. In the mean time here is a picture of the display.

Website Stuff

2010-02-07T12:49:00.003-06:00

Yesterday and today, we made some improvements to our website. The biggest change has been that we now have a customer testimonial page. These are unsolicited comments from some past customers. Check it out here www.special-delivery4u.com/testimonials/

The other two additions to our site are on the navigation bar on the left side. We added links to our Twitter feed & Facebook fan page. Check them out www.special-delivery4u.com

2010

2010-01-17T18:49:00.002-06:00

We are off to a good start in 2010. So far we have had 14 displays this month. Including one stork for a newborn. We love helping to celebrate the birth of a new baby! Looking forward to doing more of those throughout the year.

We redid the website this weekend. We are hoping that it makes it easier for our site visitors to view. If you have any comments on the website please send us an e-mail to service "@" Special-Delivery4U.com Don't forget to remove the quotes and spaces.

We are going to be purchasing all of the inventory from a company in Ohio in February. When we go to pick up the inventory we plan on getting together with some other owners out there for lunch. It should be a fun time!!

Two new signs.

2009-11-16T18:35:00.003-06:00

When we first purchased the business we had an old man sign and an old woman sign that were made out of wood. They were super heavy so we decided to discontinue them. Recently we were able to design our own old man sign and old woman sign with the help of Evan at Flamingo Factory. These are much nicer than the old heavy wooden ones.

The really great thing about these signs is they can be used for some many different occasions. They are not limited to birthdays. Want to tell your Dad "Happy Retirement"? The old man sign can do it!

Flamingo socks

2009-11-03T08:44:00.000-06:00

We found some really cool Flamingo socks thanks to SockGrams on Twitter. Thought you would all like to see them. http://sockgrams.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_13&products_id=18

Madison Wisconsin's Official Bird

2009-10-24T14:07:00.004-05:00

On September 1st, 2009 the Madison, Wisconsin City Council voted 15-4 to recognize the plastic pink flamingo as the official city bird. I too wondered why and went on a fact finding mission of sorts. Here is what I learned.

In the late 70's at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, Jim Mallon and Stu D. Baker became the founding members of the Pail and Shovel Party. In 1978, they ran for student council. One of their campaign promises was to convert the school's budget into pennies which would be spread on Library Mall for students to collect with pails and shovels. They were elected. The pair were responsible for many pranks at the school at the expense of the student government's budget. One of these pranks involved planting 1008 pink flamingos on Bascom Hill in the fall of 1979.

In April of this year, the Wisconsin Historical Museum's Odd Wisconsin exhibit was commemorating the 30th anniversary of the prank with pink flamingo sunglasses for visitors. Doug Moe, a writer for the Wisconsin State Journal, wrote a piece on the museum's exhibit and thought is was a good time to propose making the pink flamingo Madison's official bird. In fact Moe had proposed the same thing in 2006 when the company that created the pink flamingo announced it was closing. Apparently this time Ald. Marsha Rummel thought the idea was worthwhile. She was the sponsor of the resolution. After 5 minutes of debate a vote was held and the pink flamingo won!

UW-Madison student Joan O’Donnell snacks on Bascom Hill surrounded by 1,008 plastic flamingos Sept. 5, 1979.

Lawn Greetings going strong in tough economic times.

2009-07-21T11:10:00.000-05:00

We have all heard on the news how bad the economy is and maybe even some of you have been affected by it but there are some industries that are still enjoying growth. One of those is the Lawn Greeting industry. The Lawn Greetings industry is defined as small businesses which help their customers celebrate various occasions and events by renting displays that are set up in a recipient’s yard. The displays vary greatly from giant wooden character signs and small "critter" signs, as they are referred to in the industry, to a wide array of elements for decorating a front yard such as 3D plastic or 2D wood and coroplast characters/shapes that include from the most popular, plastic pink flamingos, to the more obscure, plastic cows or over the hill themes, to the more traditional, stork signs for announcing births.

A recent discussion on the Lawn Greeting Association forums shows that the industry is still growing despite the economic downturn. Seven of the eight companies that commented on the discussion said that they were pleased with the number of deliveries they were doing. Tom of Special-Delivery 4 U in Muskego, Wisconsin mentioned seeing a 25% growth in sales for May compared to May 2008 with an additional 20% in June 2009. Janice of Front Yard Friends in Chesapeake, Virgina said "We had 30 yards in one night plus all of the pick ups from the night before ( 22). I honestly don't remember doing that many before but maybe we did." Cindi from Coastal Yard Cards in Sussex County, Delaware reports a 50% increase in sales for the month of June 2009 compared to last year at the same time. She thinks a new improved website helped with sales traffic. "A good web presence and search engine results are a key factor to getting your business out to the public". Cindi also says that while it is difficult in her area to spread the word about Lawn Greetings due to being the only business of it's kind in more than half of the state, she thinks once people actually see what Coastal Yard Cards offers, they absolutely love it and want to order a rental for their next occasion !

Not only is the industry seeing record sales, there are new companies starting up. Cheryl of Monkey In My Pocket Designs Yard Celebrations in Dutchess County, New York said "I have only been open for about a month so I don't have any of last year's figures to compare but I rented out 26 displays for May and I already have 32 orders for the month of June."

Even companies that specialize in birth announcements are doing well according to Amy of Special Deliveries in Pleasanton, California. She says "I am busier than I have ever been before. I don't have numbers, but for the last couple of months I have been doing 2-3 rentals a week (all mine are 1 week rentals)."

There are a little more than 840,000 people celebrating a birthday everyday of the year in the United States. In addition to that there are anniversaries, engagements, weddings, births & graduations throughout the year. Each one of those special occasions is a chance for a Lawn Greeting company to rent a display. It's really no wonder why the Lawn Greeting industry is still going strong and even growing in these tough economic times.

Flamingonapping Foiled!

2009-07-07T14:50:00.003-05:00

On Friday July 3rd, our flamingo flock flew out to Pretty Lake in Dousman, Wisconsin to surprise a birthday girl. Since fifty of them went they created quite a scene and had many people stopping by to take pictures and to just adore them in general. According to the customer the lake was packed with visitors and party-goers since it was the Fourth of July. Here is what happened in his words.

"My son and daughter (both college students) had friends over and they camped out in the yard in tents.

On Saturday night, the kids discovered 4 flamingos behind the neighbor's garage -- kidnapped by some of the teenage party-goers next door. They were immediately rescued and returned to the flock. Thinking that all was well, my daughter was keeping a keen eye out not too far from the flock. At about 12:30AM, two middle aged women drove by on a four wheeler and stopped in front of our lot. They sat there for a while in the dark while my daughter crouched behind a car parked near our cottage. One of the women began slowing crawling (army style) from the edge of our our property towards the flock. My daughter popped up and yelled "you better not be thinking about stealing a flamingo!" The two women were startled, laughed a bit and sped off on the four wheeler."

Now that is keeping an eye on the flock. Fortunately there were no more attempts of flaminonapping and the flock returned home safely!

May set a record

2009-06-29T00:08:00.004-05:00

Special-Delivery 4 U LLC sets a new company record for set ups. The previous record was set in May 2008 with 27. May 2009 saw a 25% increase in set ups to 36. June has already blown past May but the final numbers will not be in until later this week. Watch here for the news.

Our first baby & toddler expo

2009-03-22T17:28:00.003-05:00

Today we attended our first baby & toddler expo. It was held at the Jewish Community Center in Whitefish Bay. It was also their first baby & toddler expo so we were in good company. LOL. Everything went well. We had an awesome location for our booth and were really happy with it. Since it was our first one we learned a few things. One of which is get a bigger booth next time. We had enough room for what we brought but were a bit cramped. Here is a picture of our booth.

As you can see in the picture the chairs were in front of the signs....not a very good idea if we want people to see the signs. Fortunately we had a computer monitor running a slide show of some of our displays on the table so people could still see the displays. Another thing we learned is that big men scare little toddlers. LOL. I tried to hand out smiley face stickers and not to many kids would take them from me. However they were more than happy to take one from Sheri. Go figure. Hahaha.

We will be doing another baby & toddler expo in September at a different location. We are looking forward to that one.

Lawn Greetings are everywhere!!

2009-02-10T17:06:00.004-06:00

As a member of the Lawn Greeting Association, I know there are lawn greetings being put up everywhere. We have members from all over the United States and at least 4 other countries. However, I have never seen a lawn greeting in a cartoon. Yes in a cartoon. This weekend's episode of "King Of The Hill" changed that. The episode, "Lucky See, Monkey Do", featured a stork sign in the front yard.

Here is a picture of it.

Storks can be used for more than a baby shower though. Actually most storks are rented to announce a new baby. There is a variety of storks designs available from different companies through out the world. Some (like the one pictured) feature a delivery hat and a bundle while others are more formal and wear a tuxedo. Some wear bowler hats and even princess crowns. No matter the design they are a great way to let the world know about your bundle of joy!!

My video of some of our displays.

2009-02-03T22:01:00.002-06:00

We were invited to be vendors at a toddler/baby expo in March so I thought I would do something creative to show off our displays. This is the first video I have tried to make and I will be improving it with better pictures before the expo but I thought I would share it with my readers (thanks Mom!).

Brrrr

2009-01-15T23:04:00.003-06:00

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" is a quote that is generally applied to postal workers in the United States. Tonight it applied to Special-Delivery4U!!! We had a set up in Germantown tonight. Sheri and Ashley went to do it in -24 degree windchill. Yes that is 24 degrees below ZERO. That is really really cold. Hopefully the dinos will not freeze. LOL.

Some small things.

2009-01-06T22:26:00.004-06:00

Wow, I hope I never ever get another computer virus again!!!!!! We got one that was so bad it was locking the computer up before it could even start. This computer had a ton of information on if for our business so it was really a major concern for us. Fortunately we have some friends are "Computer Guru's" and were able to help us get up and running on the kids computer. That lasted until Christmas time when we found a new computer system under the Christmas tree. But we still had the problem of stuff on the "bad" computer. Turns out that something we did with the hard-drive while it was installed in the temporary computer seemed to clean it up. So I was able to get some of the important stuff off of it. I will be working on cleaning it out completely in the next couple of weeks. Lesson learned? Have a back up. Another thing we found under the Christmas tree was a 320GB external hard-drive (Thanks Russ!!!). So now everything gets backed up routinely.

We have had a great year so far!!! I know that we are only 6 days into 2009 but we have already done 2 yard card displays and have 3 more scheduled for this weekend. This is a huge increase over last year! We have had to make a change this winter season though. We are not able to include the light and extension cord because of the ground being frozen.

Don't forget to check out the count down clock for lawn greeting month on our site. www.Special-Delivery4U.com

Flamingo Rods

2009-01-03T14:51:00.007-06:00

I should have blogged about these before and I am sorry that I didn't. Better late than never as they say. So what exactly is a flamingo rod? To truly understand them you need to know that most 3D plastic flamingos come with two legs and they are a pain for a flocker to have to hold them and put the legs into the ground so that flamingo will stand tall for the world to see. Here is a picture of what a normal flamingo looks like.

As you can see there are two legs going in different directions. Add to that the fact that the legs are not attached to the flamingo very well and you have a problem. I can't tell you how many times we were in the process of setting up a display and one of the legs would fall out of the flamingo. Or worse bend as we were trying to push it into the ground. It would often take us 15 or 20 minutes to put up a display with flamingos.

(Picture from FlamingoRod.com)

Now that all of our flamingos have the flamingo rod installed it is much easier to do a set up. No legs falling out or getting bent. It is as simple as pushing down on the flamingo or the rod. One really cool feature of the flamingo rod is the flamingo will spin on there. Giving it a life like quality. We also like the fact that there is a bend at the top of the rod which makes pick up easy too. Simply pull up at the bend and it comes out of the ground.

If you own flamingos but they don't have flamingo rods you need to get them. They will save you time. We all know that time is money so you are saving money as well. Go and get them right away.

Not just for beginners.

2009-01-01T14:50:00.003-06:00

As a member of the Lawn Greeting Association we were given access to a new e-book that has been developed for the lawn greeting industry by Jane from Phoenix Storks. First let me say that I wish this e-book had been available 2.5 years ago when Sheri and I started looking into the industry. It would have made our research so much easier. We researched for over a year before we finally made the decision to start our business. As it turned out we were able to purchase an existing business instead of starting from scratch.

With the e-book we would have been able to go into business much sooner than we actually did. There are a ton of resources in the book that any one interested in starting a lawn greeting business should have at their finger tips. In the year of research that we did we still missed some of things that Jane shares in the e-book. It is a fabulous e-book at a reasonable price.

It covers everything from the money making potential to how to market your new business. Jane talks about how to deal with competition (the lawn greeting industry has an interesting perspective on competition) and some tools and hardware you should have on hand during a set-up. She breaks down industry terms into easy to understand words. There are over 50 links to industry resources in the link section alone. That is not counting the links that are throughout the rest of the e-book. After reading this e-book if you don't have the knowledge and tools to start a lawn greeting business then you were sleeping through it!!

We have owned our business for almost two years now and I still learned from Jane's e-book. There are some marketing strategies that she shares we will be implementing in 2009. Which is why I titled this post "Not just for beginners." Even if you have been in business for years you can still learn something from this e-book and you will have bunch of resources all in one place already organized for you.

The results are in.

2008-11-01T17:53:00.004-05:00

At the beginning of October we thought it would be cool to do something to support breast cancer research. We decided to donate $2.50 for every single display that we rented, with an additional $2.50 for every pink flamingo display rented. We also decided that we would donate a minimum of $100.

October was definitely busier for us compared to previous years but we did not reach our goal of $100. We rented 21 displays which comes to $52.50, of those displays, eight were pink flamingos so that is an additional $20.00 for a grand total of $72.50 raised. As I mentioned we decided that the minimum we would donate would be $100.00 so that is what we are going to do.

We decided to do this in the morning and had it rolling by early evening. There wasn't a lot of planning put into this at all. As a matter of fact, we were surprised by the results. We had a few customers tell us they really liked that we were doing it. So we will definitely plan better for it next year.

Donation Update

2008-10-10T22:24:00.003-05:00

Today is the 10th of October so we are one third of the way through Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I thought is would be a good idea to give everyone a little update on our fundraiser. So far we have rented a total of 8 displays. Which has raised $20.00. Two of those displays were Flamingos so that adds another $5.00 for a total of $25.00.

Hopefully we will rent some more displays and raise some more money for the Susan G Komen for the Cure Foundation.

Flamingos donating to Susan G Komen for the Cure

2008-10-03T15:47:00.000-05:00

Special-Delivery 4 U LLC in Muskego, today announced it will be making a donation for every display rented this month to the Susan G Komen for the Cure Foundation. Sheri Haupenthal, President of Special-Delivery 4 U LLC says supporting breast cancer research and awareness is very important. “I have had family members and friends affected by breast cancer. So this is very personal for me.” Haupenthal stated.

Special-Delivery 4 U will donate $2.50 for every display rented during October. In addition for every display with pink flamingos $2.50 more will be donated. A minimum of $100.00 will be donated at the end of the month. “Of course our goal is much more than that.” Haupenthal said.

Special-Delivery 4 U offers storks for baby showers/birth announcements and a wide variety of 2D characters or “critters” as they are also known as in the industry. These include buzzards, penguins, snowmen, cows, smiley faces, graduation caps, stars, balloons, traffic signs, crowns and 3D collection of bears, hearts, flamingos and dinosaurs.

“We help customers celebrate all of life’s milestones. Now we can help fight breast cancer too. When October is over everyone should remember that breast cancer, any cancer really, is a serious issue. Studies have shown that smiling and laughing help to ease the pain of cancer and a great way to make someone smile is to send them a yard card!” Haupenthal says

Special-Delivery 4 U delivers in the metro Milwaukee area. Delivery is free within 20 miles of the Special-Delivery 4 U warehouse. Anything past 20 miles is charged a delivery fee based on mileage. “We have delivered as far north as Port Washington, south to Kenosha and east to Oconomowoc.” Haupenthal stated.

Prices start at $55.00 for a Yard Card, Critter Display or Lawn Letter Saying and $65.00 for a Birth Announcement display. A Yard Card display comes with a 5 foot yard card and up to 10 critters. A Critter Display comes with a standard message board and up to 15 critters. A Lawn Letter Saying comes with your choice of saying and up to 10 critters. The birth announcement display comes with a keepsake star that includes the baby's name, birthdate, length and weight.

For more information on Special-Delivery 4 U LLC, visit their website at
www.Special-Delivery4U.com or call them at 414-651-0366.

It is time for Halloween!!

2008-09-21T12:51:00.004-05:00

Ok I know it isn't quite October yet but it never hurts to start planning a little early. I was checking out On Milwaukee - Online Magazine when I noticed an ad for Halloween Express, a local costume store that pops up around this time of year then disappears after October. I thought I would take a look at the costumes just to see what was new for this year. As I was doing that I ran across their blog so I started reading it and found the cutest costume. A toddler's Flamingo costume! Here is a picture of it.

Welome home Olympians!!

2008-08-25T22:12:00.006-05:00

We would like to welcome home all of the U.S. Olympians! Here is a picture of a display that we did for Kate Markgraf. She is a three time Olympian on the U.S. Women's Soccer team. In 2000 the women's team won the silver medal, in 2004 they won gold and this year they again brought home the gold.

Congratulations to all of our Olympians!!!

Dressing your mingo?!

2008-07-27T18:09:00.003-05:00

I found a site that is selling a flamingo and 8 different outfits for $24.00 and had to mention it here. I'm sorry folks we will not be offering these as rentals. I would be to afraid of someone stealing them!!! Check out the the site here. Here is a picture of it too.

A recent press release

2008-07-26T10:13:00.000-05:00

Waukesha County "Lawn Greeting" Company First in Area to Offer Buzzards & 3D Bears

Special-Delivery 4 U LLC in Muskego, today announced it's two newest displays. The buzzard as well as 3D bears. The buzzard is a vinyl print attached to coroplast. The bears were manufactured, and distributed by Union Products, Inc. of Leominster, MA, which closed its doors in November 2006.

Sheri Haupenthal, President of Special-Delivery 4 U LLC says that both displays are a great addition to the companies' rental inventory. "We have had the buzzards on our website for about a month or so and they have already been rented a few times." Haupenthal stated.

Special-Delivery 4 U LLC offers storks for baby showers/birth announcements and a wide variety of 2D characters or "critters" as they are also known as in the industry. These include buzzards, penguins, snowmen, cows, smiley faces, graduation caps, stars, balloons, traffic signs, crowns and 3D collection of bears, hearts, flamingos and dinosaurs.

Haupenthal is planning to add more children's themed characters as well as an old man and old woman yard cards in the near future.

"We help customers celebrate all of life's milestones. Be it a birth, birthday, graduation, welcoming home a soldier, an anniversary or a marriage proposal we have something for everyone." Haupenthal says.

Special-Delivery 4 U delivers in the metro Milwaukee area. Delivery is free within 20 miles of the Special-Delivery 4 U warehouse. Anything past 20 miles is charged a delivery fee based on milage. "We have delivered as far north as Port Washington, south to Kenosha and east to Oconomowoc." Haupenthal stated.

Another new addition

2008-07-06T11:28:00.003-05:00

A company on the east coast was selling these cute bears and we had to add them to our displays.

New Addition

2008-06-22T20:12:00.003-05:00

We recently had a request for something "less frilly" for a 40th birthday. Because of that, we started looking for some new critters to add to the ones we already have. Fortunately we were able to buy some already made from another company. Here is our latest addition. Buzzards!!!

Freeze!! Police!!

2008-04-11T19:28:00.005-05:00

Sheri had some problems finding the house that she was scheduled to set up a few nights ago. This house is on a court in a quiet little neighborhood. First she circled the court a few times trying to determine which house it was. Then she called me to see if I could help her out using Google Maps street view. That didn't work out to well so she decided to call the customer to get some more information.....like any vehicles in the driveway or distinguishing things about the yard or house.

The customer was able to give her some help. To make sure she had the correct house she went right up to the front of the house to double check the address (that was not lit up). Since it was the right place she started setting everything up. When she had just a few more critters to put in the ground a police officer shows up.

The police officer lit her up with the spot light and had the red and blue lights going. Fortunately Sheri did not park right in front of the home she was setting up. Sheri gave the officer a business card, showed her the order for the display and asked the officer if they could go around the corner to do this so that the recipient doesn't see what is going on (and ruin the surprise).

After taking her license the officer agreed to go around the corner with Sheri. Once they were there, Sheri explained what had happened and told the officer that she was almost done. The police officer checked her license and let her get on with the display. During the time that Sheri was on the side of the road 2 more police cars drove by. It must have been a quiet night in town. LOL

Flamingos migrate to Iraq

2008-04-08T17:53:00.002-05:00

On February 24, Chris from Chris in Iraq posted about Kix & Dunn as well as a lawn update. At the end of his lawn update he mentioned that he was looking for a pink flamingo lawn ornament. Michelle Reed, President of the Lawn Greeting Association read this post and e-mailed Chris. After talking with Chris via e-mail and over the phone she mentioned it on the Lawn Greetings Business Owners Forum. Michelle asked the members of the forum to donate a Flamingo to send to Chris for the lawn.

Eleven different lawn greetings companies responded to Michelle's plea and sent her at least one flamingo lawn ornament. The Leominster Flamingo Company (the makers of the pink flamingos) donated 2 flamingos signed by creator Don Featherstone. The Lawn Greetings Association also donated some items as well. Here is a picture of the items before they started their migration to Iraq.

Firefighting Flamingo

2008-04-07T08:11:00.002-05:00

Actually the flamingo is the mascot for Engine 10 in Manchester, New Hampshire. The firefighters still do the firefighting. This is a picture of the decal that used to be on their equipment. I found this interesting article about it. Apparently they used to have a bunch of pink flamingos on the front yard of the station as well but a Captain (the person in charge of a single firehouse) decided he did not want them displayed anymore.

According to the article the station recently got a new Captain and he is considering letting the flamingos return. I have been around firefighting and fire trucks for almost 30 years and this is the first time I ever seen a flamingo as a station mascot.

I would love to see a picture of the flamingos in front of this station too. If anyone out there has a picture of it please email it to me and I will post it for all to see.

World's Largest Flamingo

2008-04-03T21:18:00.004-05:00

As you travel on Highway 12 through the city of Wisconsin Dells you will see the world's largest flamingo. This thing is 26 feet tall. Of course it is not a living flamingo but a statue outside the Flamingo Hotel. This is a picture that I took of it on Sunday March 30, 2008.

The flamingo was made right here in Sparta, Wisconsin. At the workshops of Fiberglass Animals, Shapes & Trademarks Corp., or just FAST. They make a lot of different things. All of them are very interesting.

I found another picture of it with some people in it to give you another view. Apparently the frog in this picture was also made by FAST.

I wish we had something that eye catching for our displays. Although I am not exactly sure how we would transport it or set it up without the recipient hearing us. ;)

April Fool's kicks off Lawn Greetings Month

2008-03-31T17:50:00.000-05:00

Fremont, OH, April 1, 2008- President/Executor Michelle Reed of the Lawn Greetings Association, Inc. (LGA) announced today a declaration that April be considered as "Lawn Greetings Month". The purpose of Lawn Greetings Month is not only to promote awareness of the industry to the general public, but to help bring smiles to those who are celebrating a special occasion or event.

The lawn greetings industry can be defined as small local businesses which help their customers celebrate various special occasions and events by renting displays that are set up in a recipient's yard. The displays vary greatly from giant wooden character signs and small "critter" signs, as they are referred to in the industry, to a wide array of elements for decorating a front yard such as 3 dimensional plastic or 2 dimensional characters and shapes.

Every business is independently owned and operated, unless a company is part of a franchise or dealership. Therefore, terms, prices and inventory vary greatly. However, they all have one common goal in their businesses, to create pleasant surprises by decorating lawns with out-of-the-ordinary items for everyone to enjoy. These items could include anything from a yard full of plastic pink flamingos, smiley faces, cows, ducks, to buzzards, or even hearts, stars or other funny characters.

Reed states that she and members of the industry are very excited to declare their first holiday. "This is a stepping stone in gaining national exposure and awareness of the industry. We all love to help people celebrate the special moments in their life, and a lawn greetings display is a unique and fun way to do it." As a part of this celebration, lawn greetings companies across the nation will be putting out displays in honor of this milestone event, most are guaranteed to make you smile.

Association members are also planning on celebrating another important event based on the creator of the original Plastic Pink Flamingo, Mr. Don Featherstone. In the birthplace and hometown of Featherstone, (Leominster, MA) Mayor Dean Mazzarella declared June 23 as Pink Flamingo Day. On this day, lawn greetings company owners across the country plan on setting out pink flamingo displays in honor of the pink lawn ornament.

"I just love the idea that all across the states, people will randomly see yards full of pink flamingos, all in tribute to Don Featherstone. It will be a hoot!" Reed states.

The LGA is the leading authority and only non-profit trade association of the lawn greetings industry which consists of members from across the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, England, and New Zealand. For more information, visit the Lawn Greetings Association, Inc. on the web at http://www.Lawn-Greetings.org or to find your local Lawn Greetings Company visit The Flamingoed Lawn Greetings Directory at http://www.flamingoed.com/

Time for that other story I mentioned before

2008-03-26T18:38:00.002-05:00

In this post I mentioned someone being embarrassed by a yard sign in their yard. I thought I would share a few of those stories with you.

The first one was in a really nice neighborhood. We had done the set up early in the morning on a Saturday. We were home all day and decided to go out to dinner with some friends that evening. Unfortunately we left our business cell phone at home. While we were at dinner our daughter called to let us know someone called on the business phone. We told her we would get the voice mail when we got home that night. Well dinner turned into playing cards and hanging out with our friends until about 11:30pm. When we got home Sheri checked the voice mail. The caller was the recipient of the yard card we had set up in the morning. She was really mad. She wanted the sign out of her yard by morning or she was going to throw it away. Of course we got over there early in the morning and took it down.

Our second time was a set up on a Sunday morning. This display was ordered by the ladies parents. It was raining cats and dogs when I set up the message board and critters. I wasn't home for more than 10 minutes when the recipient called and demanded that we remove the sign immediately and refund her parents the money they spent on it. Back out in the rain storm to get the sign. Which I found on the side of the house. She was so upset she had her husband take it down. Sheri called the lady that ordered the sign and explained what happened and reminded her of our policy regarding early pick ups (no refunds). She was just fine with it and really didn't understand why her daughter was so very upset. She called back later to let Sheri know that she found out why. Her daughter didn't want anyone knowing that she was turning 40. Apparently this lady lies to everyone about her age. LOL.

Fortunately we don't get many of these types of calls. But they have happened a few times obviously. If someone doesn't appreciate the gift that we have set up for them then we will remove it as soon as we can. I'm sure glad most people appreciate them though.

A new way to raise funds.

2008-03-14T16:31:00.002-05:00

The Lawn Greeting Association is using a new way of raising funds. I think this is a really cool way to do this. I hope this idea catches on with schools and other non profits out there.

Busted!!!!!

2008-02-25T17:19:00.005-06:00

We try to do set ups without the recipient seeing us because that is part of the surprise. To come out of the house and see your yard full of critters and a yard card is an awesome way to start your day. Unless of course you are embarrassed by it (another story another time).

Today I got to the house I was flocking and start setting up. I noticed that the curtains on the picture window were closed. This was not an easy set up due to all the snow and ice that we have had lately. I had to make about 5 trips to and from the car to get all the dinosaurs & the yard card set up. On my last trip I grabbed 3 dinos and the bag that we leave behind with a card for the recipient. As I was walking up the driveway I dropped on the dinos.......of course these were the 3D ones so it was loud. I grab the dino and put the last three in the yard. Then it is time to make my way to the front door to leave the bag on the handle. The front door has a huge window in it and as I walk up to the door I notice someone sitting on a couch looking at me. I quickly put the bag on the door handle and hightail it for the car (on an icy driveway). I made it back to the car without falling on my tush. I looked back at the door to see if the person was coming out to investigate and I saw that the curtain on the picture window was wide open. Uh oh busted!

I don't know for sure that I was caught but if not then I got real lucky.

Calendar? Who needs a calendar?

2008-02-18T20:42:00.002-06:00

Sheri went to go do a set up tonight at a business in the next town over. While she was on her way there she looked at the paperwork for the set up and noticed that it said "Tuesday Feb 20". She had written down what she heard the customer say. But today is Monday February 18th so she either had the day or the date wrong. Time to call the customer to verify which it was. It turns it they were both right. The customer wanted it for Wednesday the 20th but had told her it would be Ok to do the set up on Tuesday night. LOL.

To top it off, she was pulled over by a policeman. No she didn't get a ticket. The police in that town will pull you over for anything just to check you out. I used to work in that town and my employer had to file a complaint with the police department for harassment of the employees. Someone from my office was being pulled over every single week but no tickets were ever issued. Really strange. Anyway back to Sheri and her run in with the law. The officer wrote her a warning because the front license plate was missing.....it fell off when I tried to fit into a parking space that had a ton of snow where my bumper needed to be. The plate is in the trunk.......guess I need to reattach that now. ;)

Wisconsintites are so helpful.

2008-02-09T12:19:00.000-06:00

First a little bit of background. For those that don't live in our area we got hit with 12-18 inches of snow on Wednesday. Schools, businesses, churches and even government offices were closed. There were people getting stuck in ditches and on the side of the road all over the area.

Now fast forward to Thursday evening. We had a set up to do. Sheri went on this one in our car. She made sure to take a shovel in case she needed to dig out an area for the message board. She gets to the house and parks as close to the side of the road as possible. To get the sign out of the car she needed to remove the shovel so she props it up against the car.

As she was setting everything up, a few cars drove past really slowly. Then as she was getting some more critters out of the trunk a car pulls up and the driver rolls his window down. He then asks her if she needs any help. Obviously he thought she was stuck and not out there putting up a birthday display.

Press Release

2008-02-04T18:51:00.000-06:00

Local Lawn Greeting Company joins International Non-Profit Trade Association

Muskego, WI – February 4, 2008 – Sheri Haupenthal, owner of Special-Delivery 4 U LLC in Muskego, WI is proud to announce its membership in the newly formed International Lawn Greetings Association, Inc - the only trade association for the Lawn Greetings Industry.

Special-Delivery 4 U LLC has been in business since January 2005. Haupenthal and her husband Tom purchased the business from the original owners on May 1st 2007. Since that time they have revamped the website, introduced new signs, expanded the delivery area and have become the only lawn greeting company in the Milwaukee area to offer Lawn Letters.

Beginning as an online forum group, founded by Scottie Claiborne (owner of Flamingoed.com, a lawn greeting directory), several industry business owners congregated to "talk shop" about their experiences with owning such a business. They often discussed topics such as general small / home business concepts, where to purchase materials, how to construct their inventory, customer relations, marketing for the industry, and personal chit-chat.

“This formation illustrates that the Lawn Greetings Industry has turned more from being a hobby to that of a recognizable and profitable industry and needs to standardize.” Mike Smeck comments, who co-owns Yard Card Surprise based out of Lorain County, Ohio, and who is the Vice President of the ILGA.

The mission of the association is to support the development of the commercial lawn greetings industry through a variety of means, including market development, voluntary adherence to a Code of Ethics, research, and to promote awareness of and build community with the lawn greetings industry worldwide through a network of reputable lawn greetings companies.

“We are proud to have Special-Delivery 4 U join our membership. We look forward to helping them grow their business by making many resources available to them,” ILGA President Michelle Reed states, adding “in turn, helping them provide better service to their customers.”

Currently, the ILGA has reached its goal by being the leading resource of the lawn greetings industry and consists of over 1000 subscribed members from across the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK, Australia, England, and New Zealand. Many “newbies” state that the business owner’s forum is a wonderful resource and that the individual posts have helped them start their own lawn greetings business. Members of the business owner’s forum have been known to start many industry trends, and the talent among the group is often shared with one another in many forms.

For more information on Special-Delivery 4 U LLC, visit their website at
www.Special-Delivery4U.com or call them at 414-651-0366. To learn more about the
International Lawn Greetings Association, Inc., visit their website at www.Lawn-Greetings.org.

Glossary of terms we use.

2008-02-03T12:00:00.000-06:00

I thought it would be helpful to include a picture glossary of the terms that we use. You know just in case someone actually reads this sometime. ;)

Yard Card: A large sign with a message.

Message Board: A sign that can have a customized saying put on it.

Critter: The smaller items that accompany a Yard Card or Message Board. These are available in 2D (top picture) & 3D(bottom picture). Note: these are not always animals. Can include balloons, balls, stars and various other items.

Stork: An announcement for a birth or a baby shower.

Keepsake Star: A custom hand made star on the Stork with the vital statistics of the baby (pictured above).

Sibling Star: A custom hand made star for big brother or sister.

Lawn Letters: Individual letters that spell out a saying.

Found a way!!!

2008-01-24T17:06:00.000-06:00

Well we have finally figured out a way to get signs in frozen ground! Hot water & a rubber mallet. We had a set up today (temps have been below zero for a few days) and Sheri decided to try pouring water in the spot the pegs go on our sign bases. She then had to use the mallet to get them all the way in. We will find out in a few days how easy this will be to remove. LOL.

Cold!!!

2008-01-19T10:05:00.000-06:00

We haven't had any displays this week but that is ok. The temperature right now is zero. Add (or subtract in this case) the wind chill and it feels like -17 degrees. Way to cold to be out in. According to the news you can freeze exposed skin within minutes at this temperature.

Interesting weather

2008-01-12T09:54:00.000-06:00

The weather in southeastern Wisconsin has been really strange this last week. Last weekend it was so foggy that you couldn't see across the street in some places. Monday it was in the sixties. We hit a new high for January of sixty three degrees. Then to end the day on Monday, there were tornadoes in Kenosha county. Fortunately no one was seriously injured. Thursday it snowed again. All different types of weather.

The good news for us though is the warmer weather makes it alot easier to put up a display. Just last week I had a very hard time doing a display as the ground was solid ice. This week the display I did went in like a hot knife through butter. I love those types of displays. This one was an unusual request. The flocker wanted just a sign with a specific saying on it with no critters. Once I got to the flockee's house I understood why. The yard had to be the smallest front yard I have ever done a set up in. The critters would not have looked good at all because they would have been bunched together to much.

Welcome

2007-12-31T13:07:00.000-06:00

Welcome to our new blog. We are Tom and Sheri Haupenthal and we own Special-Delivery 4 U LLC. a lawn greeting business in Muskego Wisconsin.

What is a lawn greeting business you ask. Here is a picture to show you. Basically we sneak into peoples yards and put up a yard card (pictured) or a message board and some critters along with a spot light and extension cord. We help celebrate births, birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, proposals, military homecomings or any other special occasion that you can think of. We've even done a message board for a girl that was a prom princess. The possibilities are endless.

So how did we get into this business? In April of 2006, I was looking for a business idea that we could do from our home and came across this idea. I did some research but gave up on the idea as we didn't think we had the money to get started. Fast forward to March of 2007, my best friend and his wife have a baby. This is their first boy so my buddy is thrilled and wants the world to know about it. He asks me about getting a sign like the ones we had talked about buying. I tell him that we (Sheri and I) will take care of it. When we got home I went online and found a company in Milwaukee. I placed my order on their site and we waited for the phone call. The phone call never came but they did e-mail us and tell us that they do not service Waukesha. So back to finding a company. We did finally find one and got the sign set up for them. But that showed us that there was a need in our area so I started researching again. As we were doing the research we learned that the owners of Special-Delivery 4 U LLC were interested in selling their whole business. We met with Harry and Sue Patterson and checked out the inventory that they had. We were able to work out a deal that was beneficial to both of us and we took over ownership on May 1st, 2007.

It has been interesting so far and we hope to share some of our experiences with you. If you have a question or a comment then feel free to post something. I will try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Happy New Year!!
Tom