Deal of the Day : Meeting Mister Ed

On New Year's Eve and thoughts turn to remembering the past year, what appropriate animal is there about memory?

Mister Ed was famous for being a talking horse on tv. This Mister Ed while being less famous is more human and has his own museum. Welcome to the Mister Ed's Elephant Museum. The museum is located in Orrtanna, Pennsylvania right on Route 30, the historic Lincoln Highway.

The museum consists of elephant related items that Mr. Ed has been collecting for years. He got hooked when he was given an elephant curio on his wedding day. Since then he has amassed over 2,000 elephant items from all over the world in his collection.

To visit the museum is free, so why is there a half off voucher? Well, there is more to this than just the museum, there is the gift shop and candy store. The gift shop contains hundreds of elephant gifts for you to add to your collection or you can buy some retro candy like wax bottles and candy necklaces as well as roasted peanuts.

This is classic road side Americana kitsch ... at it's best?

Get to spend $25 for only $12.50 with this certificate from Neofil.

Deal of the Day : Cat Circus

Today's deal of the day comes from Sin City itself, Las Vegas. It has nothing to do with vice or gambling but with running away to the circus. For $20 for an adult or $10 for a child you get a ticket to The World Famous Popovich Comedy Pet Theater, a 55% discount from Groupon.

It's family friendly entertainment consisting of clowns, dogs, and cats. Yes, I did say cats. While there is the old saying about something being as difficult as herding cats, this circus is able make cats turn in fine feline performing feats.

Sorry, if you want to run away with the circus that might not be possible if you are a human. They get most of their animal performers from local animal shelters. It is incredible how they can take the unwanted and make them stars.

On a personal note, a co-worker had highly recommended a cat circus to me a few years ago. She was very enthusiastic about it as she used to see these acts in Russia where she grew up. I had never heard of such a thing. Cats? Her English wasn't the best so I thought she must have meant lions, tigers, and cougars, after all what can you train a cat to do that would be that entertaining? I was intrigued and figured that I would go.

The circus was held to a packed crowd in a synagogue. The audience appeared to be predominately Russian. I didn't hear any roaring of lions or tigers and was beginning to think maybe she did mean cats, like kitty cats.

Sure enough, when the curtains opened out came clowns bouncing around and there were cats running around the stage. I must say that the acrobatic feats of the cats were a bit less than what the dogs did but still quite impressive. They even had a cat or two walk a tightrope. I can't even get a cat to walk up to me while holding a piece of food.

Deal of the Day : Tanks for the memories

What do you get for the man who has everything this holiday season? Why not something that caters to the little boy in him. If you are near Kasota, Minnesota, about 70 southwest of Minneapolis, Groupon is offering a half off voucher at Drive A Tank. For $239 you learn about tanks, get to drive an armored tank through a wooded course and fire World War II vintage machine guns during a 3-4 hour lesson. It is regularly a $400 value.

For an additional fee they even offer you the chance to drive a tank to crush a car. How sweet is that? Of course if your girlfriend wants a feeling of power, this offer is good for her too.

Free Lunch

To those that say that there is no such thing as a free lunch, we say phooey! The 1/2 off site Weforia.com is offering a $5 discount on purchases from its site. Just enter the promo code MERRY5 and they will take $5 off your purchase.

Now $5 off is not free, but they have 3 offers that cost $5 or less. So when you combine the promo code and these offers, you are getting it for free. Granted 3 places is not many but if you are in the general neighborhood you can enjoy a free lunch.

One of the offers is for Napoli Pizzeria & Restaurant in Ashland, Massachusetts. By using the promo code you are getting $10 worth of pizza and Italian fare for nothing.

Another offer is from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. You can get $10 worth of pub fare from hamburgers to pork tenderloin from Otis' Tailgators Sports Bar.

The last offer is from Tasti-D-Lite for $8 worth of soft serve ice cream in Chandler, Arizona. The 1/2 off offer is for $4 but with the $5 off you will get it for free. Not sure if they will pay you for the $1 difference.

The promo code is good until December 31st. The offers are good for 6months from purchase.

Deals of the Day : Pin Crazy

I must confess that I lean towards the unconventional and that even includes my choice of bowling. Growing up in New York the choice of bowling is quite clear maybe due to the lack of choice and that is 10-pin bowling. This is the typical bowling game throughout the country except for maybe New England.

In New England there is another alternative in which thousands of people prefer and that is candlepin bowling. This game is different in that the pins are skinny sticks that look like candles (and thus the name) and the ball is smaller about the size of a softball and under 3 pounds. The rules are similar to 10-pin except you get 3 chances to knock down the pins in a frame and the pins are not cleared after each ball during a frame. It is quite popular in New England that they even had their version of bowling for dollars. The game is not easy as speed definitely plays a big part of the strategy and scores are definitely a lot lower than 10-pin.

For those interested in playing this game and are in Boston, South Boston Candlepin is offering a deal through Groupon for 3 games of bowling for up to 6 people including shoe rental.

As for something more different is duckpin bowling. This game is rarely seen in the United States expect for areas around Rhode Island, Maryland and Oklahoma. This odd version is like the off-spring of 10-pin and candlepin bowling. Like candlepin, you get 3 chances to knock the pins down, the ball is much smaller than 10-pin, about 3 pounds but slightly larger than candlepin, and the pins are not cleared during a frame. The pins are also different from the other 2, they are kind of a squat version of 10-pin, fat in the middle.

I must confess that I prefer duckpin to the other two. The ball is smaller so there is less stress on the arm and the shape of the pins give you more pin action than candlepin. Groupon is also offering a deal for 2 hours of duckpin bowling at Meadowbrook Lanes in Warwick, Rhode Island.

With either deal you should have a good time, at least by making fun of your friends having to wear those ugly rental shoes.

Deal of the Day : Do you want bacon with that?

Bacon makes everything better. At least that is what many articles on food say and the saying is even printed on t-shirts. Oh sure bacon tastes good on hamburgers, wrapped around scallops, and sprinkled on salads, but everything? There are definitely some believers out there as I have heard of chocolate covered bacon, hot dogs wrapped in bacon, and Elvis' famous peanut butter, banana, and bacon sandwich. Well if you are one of those believers, then today's deal of the day is for you and it comes from a business called The Baconery.

The Baconery is offering a $120 holiday mini-gift basket of bacon-infused treats (their words, not mine) for only $60 at CBS Local Deals in New York. Each basket contains 96 pieces of stuff with bacon from bacon brownies to chocolate bacon cookies to chocolate peanut butter bacon cookies. This offer runs through December 22nd. So if you like to combine your bacon fix with a sugar rush, this might be the perfect food for you.

Deal for a Second

2 weeks ago we mentioned an offer where there were around 30,000 vouchers available. This time we have an offer that really doesn't exist. This offer was for a $20 gift certificate to La Pizza House in Des Moines, Iowa for only $10 from LivingSocial. Not a very unusual deal as there are hundreds of pizzerias around the country offering a similar deal. But this one has to be special as they were only selling one voucher. The deal was to go for 2 days but in less then 1 day they met their goal and were sold out at 1 deal. You think that someone running their own business would set loftier goals for themselves.

Deal of the Day: Is that a snake in your pocket or are you wishing me a happy birthday?

After reviewing hundreds of half-off deals for birthday parties there is pretty much nothing new. There are the usual deals on cakes, balloons, pizzas and arcade games, clowns, and even group activities like ceramics. But this one did cause a second look.

A LivingSocial deal from Indianapolis, Indiana allows you to invite Snakehead Ed to your next child's birthday. No, Snakehead Ed's head is not shaped like a snake but he is a retired science teacher who likes to collect snakes. He has taken that hobby into a sideline of showing off his menagerie of reptiles for groups of kids. He will create a 45-minute program about his snakes and bring them to your child's party.

Something different for a party and it sounds educational and fun, unless someone suffers from ophidiophobia (fear of snakes).

Deal of the Day: Sex Sells?

Sex sells, at least with men anyway. But does it work on women too? Today's deal comes from Seattle, Washington from a company that will have their men wash your windows, clean your gutters, or pressure wash your house. The charge through Groupon is only $59, usually an $170 value. Nothing too unusual there, but the company is called Men In Kilts and they do their work while wearing kilts.

We have heard or seen women wearing bikinis to wash cars to drum up business but men wearing skirts? They do claim to be eco-friendly so you can say you are helping the environment while they clean. But isn't that sort of like a guy saying I buy Playboy for the articles? They don't take themselves too seriously as their tag line is: "We Clean. You Enjoy. Just Remember...No Peeking!".

Hmm, maybe it does work, over 500 sold so far.

Living Social Plus

Living Social has launched a new program called Living Social Plus. The program is in beta mode for now and is open to invited members only. The program is a little over a week old. I should be on top of these things but only found out about it when I got an invite from them.

It cost $20 per month to join their new premium membership and with it you get $25 each month in Deal Bucks. 5 of those Deal Bucks has to be spent that month or they expire. The other 20 Deal Bucks can be used anytime during the following months. If you don't spend your 20 Deal Bucks that month you can save them for later. The 20 Deal Bucks you receive each month are good for 5 years unless your state says otherwise.

This new membership seems like a pretty decent deal if you are a regular customer of Living Social as it means your average savings will be closer to 60% off instead of 50%. But they did add one more sweetener to the offer and that is you might be able to purchase a deal after it has been closed. Just contact Living Social within 48 hours of the closed offer and they will try their best to allow you to buy it. They don't offer any guarantees but I suspect that unless an offer has been sold out they will let you purchase an expired offer.

Here is what is on Living Social's website:

What's LivingSocial Plus?

LivingSocial Plus is our new premium membership program and the best way to get the most out of your LivingSocial experience. It's our little way of sharing the love with our most loyal and adventurous LivingSocial members, month after month.

What do I get?

You get 25 Deal Bucks to spend every month—5 for this month, and 20 for anytime you want (within five years, or longer if required by the laws of your state). You can use your Deal Bucks on all sorts of LivingSocial deal purchases.

You’ll also get exclusive access to selected deals after the clock runs out – just contact us within 48 hours and we'll do our very best to get another voucher just for you, subject to availability.

While Supplies Last

It is not too common for an offer to reach 1,000 buyers, let alone 10,000. Not only does a restaurant have to have great reviews but can afford the huge cost of so many offers. So one has to think that this offer is a typo. On DoubleTakeDeals.com, Jerusalem Cafe in Oak Park, Illinois is offering $30 gift certificates for $15. Not a bad deal for Mediterranean fare at a place with pretty good reviews, but the supply is limited - only 30,000 offers!

Now if we assume that the typical restaurant gets 1/2 of what is paid by the consumer, this offer would cost Jerusalem Cafe over $200,000 if they sell out. Let's see how long before this gets corrected.