|
Time for the Prom Dress Exchange!
More than 3,000 gorgeous, gently used and freshly cleaned prom dresses will be available between 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., Saturday, March 20, and Sunday, March 21, at Copper Fields Events Chateau, 4901 Marshall St., Wheat Ridge, 720-898-8388. No one will insist, but a $10 donation to defray the cost of cleaning would be appreciated.
Going to miss it? No worries...
All prom dresses are either $10 or $20 at the prom dress sale being run by students at Aurora’s Smoky Hill High School with the help of radio station HOT 107.1 and under the leadership of senior Kaylee Inhulsen. The sale is 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 27, at the Piney Creek Clubhouse, 5800 S. Joplin Way, Centennial. For more information, go to www.hot1071denver.com.
Outdoor dining beckons
A sure harbinger of spring is the sale of Barlow Tyrie leisure and garden furniture at Birdsall & Co., 1540 S. Broadway, 303-722-2535, www.birdsallgarden.com. During the 19th annual sale, Saturday, March 20 through Sunday, March 28, Colorado's only authorized Barlow Tyrie dealer is offering the pieces at the same prices that interior designers and landscapers pay, 30 percent less than Birdsall's regular price. The sale also includes 20 percent discounts on stone fountains, lanterns, basins and other garden items from Stone Forest and discounts of up to 50 percent on other items throughout the store.
Clutter-holics find help at Leta's Loot
Spring cleaning? Declutter by consigning those extra chairs, lamps, vases, knick-knacks and other regiftable items at Leta’s Loot, a consignment store for furniture and home accessories at 15256 E. Hampden Ave., ( at Chambers), Aurora, 303-617-5668. And if you’re upsizing rather than downsizing, check out Leta’s art sale. More than 100 framed paintings and prints are marked down by 25 percent through Friday, March 19.
Satisfy that yen for a farmers' market
Most farmers' markets are still on hiatus, but the indoor Denver Urban Homesteading Market, www.Denverurbanhomesteading.com, continues year-round from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays at 200 Santa Fe Drive. New vendors include wine from Jack Rabbit Hill Biodynamic (that means super-extra-organic), from a 70-acre farm just outside Hotchkiss on the Western Slope; Native Greens, grown in a hydroponic greenhouse in Kittredge, Sage Thymes organic heirloom seeds and organic greens, and cheeses, organic eggs and grass-fed, organic beef from Windsor Dairy, the largest raw-milk dairy in Colorado. Raw milk will be available to Windsor Dairy shareholders.
Still miss the Olympics?
Jackets, vests, T-shirts, hooded sweatshirts, ball caps and many other items of apparel imprinted or embroidered with logos of various summer and winter Olympic games are available for pennies on the dollar during the warehouse sale 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Friday, March 19, and Saturday, March 20, at XP Apparel, 400 Quivas St., 303-285-1236, just a few blocks from Denver Urban Homesteading Market. From the market, go a block north on Santa Fe to West Third Avenue, turn left (west), take Third to where it ends at Quivas Street and take a sharp right. XP Apparel is halfway up the block on the right.
Toy trucks, marble runs,
puzzles, Playmobil on sale at Kazoo
All puzzles and Playmobil toys are 20 percent off, Siku toy trucks and cars are buy two, get one free, and wooden Quadrilla marble runs are 30 percent off through March 31 at Kazoo & Co. Toys, 2930 E. Second Ave., 303-322-0973. Use the old Tattered Cover garage or the garage behind Mici’s Restaurant and get your ticket validated at Kazoo for free parking. (And remember, all parking in Cherry Creek North is free on Sundays.)
Name your price for designer clothes
Friday, March 19, marks the end of Dollar Days at Junior League's Second Time Shop, 5042 E. Hampden Ave., 303-789-4055, www.jld.org. Until then, all fall merchandise is at least half-price, select designer pieces are reduced by 75 percent, and many items are just a buck. Although a huge selection of spring shoes, purses and jewelry (gently used by members of the Junior League) is already on the store’s shelves, the big switchover comes Saturday, March 20, with the Backroom Bonanza -- an annual shopping adventure when store manager Ann Schnell lets shoppers set their own prices. And remember, all proceeds help the Junior League of Denver do its work on behalf of children and others in need.
Shop around for produce, not gasoline
Do you drive out of your way seeking a station where gasoline is 10 cents a gallon cheaper than it is at the nearest pump? If you save 10 cents a gallon on a 10-gallon fill up, you’ve saved $1, or 10 percent – and that doesn’t take your time and effort into account. On the other hand, on a recent grocery trip, comparison shopping on produce saved more than 50 percent. We shopped for salad ingredients at three stores – King Soopers, 825 S. Colorado Blvd., 303-722-5779; Whole Foods, 870 S. Colorado Blvd., 303-691-0101, and Pete’s Fruits and Vegetables, an independent family owned shop at 5606 E. Cedar Ave., 303-393-6247. Differences in product made exact comparisons impossible, but we did our best. Conventionally grown red peppers and mushrooms were available at all three stores, but Whole Foods stocks only organic iceberg, so we had to compare that to a head of conventional iceberg lettuce at King Soopers and Pete’s. Totals, in descending order, are for one pound of red bell peppers, one pound of white mushrooms and a head of iceberg lettuce.
King Soopers: $11.45
Red bell peppers were $1.99 apiece. We weighed the peppers at all three stores and found that three peppers consistently weighed in at almost exactly one pound, so a pound of red bell peppers came to $5.97. Mushrooms were $3.99 a pound. A head of lettuce was $1.49.
Whole Foods: $9.97
Three red bell peppers were packaged together for $3.99, making them $3.99 a pound. Mushrooms were $3.99 for a shrink-wrapped one-pound container, and a head of organic lettuce was $1.99.
Pete’s Fruits and Vegetables: $5.47
Red bell peppers were 99 cents a pound, mushrooms were $2.99 a pound, and a head of lettuce was $1.49.
It seems amazing that the same three items would cost more than twice as much at King’s than at Pete’s, and it’s also surprising that Whole Foods came in lower than the supermarket. The big difference was in the price of red bell peppers, an item shoppers generally don’t about think much. Granted, it’s not a big sample, and prices are going to fluctuate. But the lesson seems clear: Pay attention to the cost of produce.
Got kids?
•Amy Michelle, www.amymichelle.com, a Denver-based diaper-bag maker is offering regular customers and locals a limited number of Pink Tulip messenger bags, usually $135, for just $40, which includes free shipping anywhere in the continental United States. These roomy bags are versatile enough to serve as computer cases and/or airline carryons. This deal is good only for purchases made through the Web site. Although all sales are final, there’s a one-year warranty against manufacturers’ defects.
•Southwest MOPS Children's Clothing and Equipment Sale, www.mops.org, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, March 19 (no strollers before noon); 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, March 20 (half-price sale), gym at Bear Valley Church, 10001 W. Jewell Ave., Lakewood.
•Double Delights of Denver Children's Clothing and Equipment Sale, www.doubledelights.org, 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, March 20, Grace United Methodist Church, 4905 E. Yale Ave., admission $1.
|
Best Colorado Deals