The Sandbar...Home of the Indoor Hurricane!

Sandbar Christmas Trees

'Tis the season...to find creative ways to use your Sandbar drink toys!

Every year, we have good intentions of decorating a Christmas tree with Sandbar trinkets and donating it to the Festival of Trees auction that benefits The Shelter. And every year, we forget about it until it's too late to get one done.

But we have lots of customers who are either poor college students or just really, really love our toys- and they decorate their own trees with ducks, beads and other tropical drink paraphernalia, and sometimes they share those pictures with us.

Here's one from Twitter follower @wbloomie:

We particularly love the creativity of this one- not only did she hang toys on the tree, but she actually used the toys to strategically create a face.

And here's another one, also from a Twitter follower, @hilaryferguson:

Do you decorate a tree with Sandbar drink toys? We'd love to see it! You can tweet it to @thesandbar, post it on our Facebook page, or email it to us at [email protected]. Happy holidays!

Fun with the Sandbar Shark Cutout

Our new shark photo opportunity has been a big hit! We've received several pictures of customers posing in the cutout. Here's a few for your viewing pleasure:

So much fun! Don't forget, we're having a contest with these pictures: submit a picture with the shark cutout to us, and you could win a Sandbar T-shirt! You can email them ([email protected]) or tweet them to us (@thesandbar). We also love to see them on our Facebook page, but because of Facebook's contest rules, you'll also need to submit it by email or tweet in order to enter. 

On Sunday, we'll pick a random winner.

Shark Week Photo Contest

We love sharks, so naturally Shark Week is a lot of fun for us. Although, as others have said, "every week is Shark Week if you do it right," and we think we're doing it right.

We recently unveiled a brand-new photo cutout with a shark on it, so we thought we'd have a little contest.

Here's the deal:

• Take your picture with our shark cutout
• Tweet it to us (@thesandbar) or email it to us ([email protected])
• Next Sunday, we'll pick a random winner to get a Sandbar T-shirt

You can upload your picture to our Facebook page if you want- and we'd love for you to!- but entries that are only uploaded to Facebook won't count in the contest. Facebook has funky rules about contests and instead of trying to figure out their (very complex) rules, we're using methods that are easier for us. So, if you put it on our Facebook page, make sure you also email it to us.

So, tweet or email us a picture of your pretty face in our shark cutout, and you could win a T-shirt! In fact, we've already got one entry, and she didn't even know we were having a contest when she posted her picture. Thanks Barbara, and good luck!

*By submitting your picture to us, you give us permission to post it on our website, blog or other social media sites. If you don't want your picture on the internet, don't send it to us.

Sandbar Tee Spotted at the Royal Gorge Bridge

Sandbar friend Erin posted this on Twitter this past weekend:

I spy an @thesandbar shirt at the Royal Gorge Bridge!

Of course we responded to ask if she took a picture. We assumed that someone she was with was wearing one of our shirts. But, no:

I was too afraid to ask [for a picture] but he did give me an out of breath #rockchalk!

We love this story! What a surprise that one of our customers ran into someone else wearing a Sandbar shirt outside of Kansas.

Downtown Shot Put was Awesome!

Moving the Kansas Relays elite shot put event downtown, and more specifically, in front of our building, was pretty much the greatest idea ever.

The weather was great (if just a little bit chilly) and the crowd was estimated at 2,500 people. We were thrilled to be able to watch the shot put area construction right outside our window:

I even taught Dave how to post pictures on Twitter so he could keep Sandbar fans updated with the progress all afternoon. He did a great job!

We set up a trailer and portable bar behind the shot put area. Sandwiches from Sandbar Subs were available, and beer was allowed in the street. Our patio was full all night. The shot put event only lasted about an hour, which is shorter than we expected, but it brought out a great crowd for an event that most people have probably never seen before.

The shot putters were great, too. They stuck around all evening, signing autographs and taking pictures and maybe even putting a few shots somewhere else.

Here's a few pictures from our friends Wendy and Phil:

The night was a huge success!

Here are a couple other cool things to check out:

Nick Krug from the Lawrence Journal-World made an amazing time-lapse video of the entire event, including construction. His camera was on our roof.

Our Twitter buddies at Larryville Life wrote a recap of their shot put experience.

Dave was interviewed by the Kansas City Star on the roof of the bar. And by interviewed, we mean asked one question.

We wish we could keep the sand triangle. Who needs a street? As our Twitter friend @fxdgear said "Not me! Just a swimsuit, flippy-floppies and a drink with an umbrella!" We couldn't agree more.

Elite Shot Put Event Downtown on Wednesday!

We're really looking forward to the Kansas Relays and the elite shot put event that takes place downtown tomorrow. The lines have been drawn on the street, and tomorrow morning they'll start setting everything up.

Here's a little bit about what will happen:

• The competition begins at 6 p.m. There's a field of eight throwers, who are all ranked in the top 25 in the world. The fact that these guys are elite professionals makes us feel a little better about the safety of our patrons. And our windows.

• The shot put weighs 16 pounds. Some of you could probably barely lift that, let alone throw it 70 feet.

• The event requires 18 dump-truck loads of crushed limestone so that the shot put doesn't break the street. We're kind of intrigued to see how long it takes to haul all of that away.

• There will be beer in the street. We'll be selling canned beer for $3 and Shark Attacks for $4. You still have to be 21 to drink and be prepared to show two forms of ID.

• Our friends from Richards Music next door have a band, and they'll be playing some music outside after the shot put event.

• We're also hosting a monthly Lawrence Tweetup tomorrow night, so there will be lots of folks on their smartphones, tweeting and Facebooking. 

We're excited to see how this event goes! What a great event for downtown Lawrence. Apparently, this is the first time a shot put competition has been held on city streets in the United States. We're hoping for a great turnout so that Kansas Relays will continue bringing events downtown.

*Some of the details in this post were provided by this article on KUSports.com.

Team Cocktail

Editor's note: I discovered Team Cocktail on Twitter one day, and after perusing their website decided that they seemed like people who would hang out at the Sandbar. I asked them to write some guest blogs to introduce our friends to their lifestyle. No, I didn't get a free t-shirt in exchange for letting them talk about their products, just wanted to share their story.

We were very excited to be asked to join The Sandbar party by writing a few guest blogs. So here we are, ready to party! As you can tell by our name, Team Cocktail, we love cocktails...especially tropical beverages like the Hurricane. Since our company and designs are inspired by beaches and cocktails, and we're based out of Olathe, KS, it seems that The Sandbar and Team Cocktail have a lot in common! So, to start I'm going to give you a brief background on how Team Cocktail got started and answer a few questions. Now go pour a cocktail and let's have some fun Team Cocktail style!

Team Cocktail - The Story (2006)
Every great story begins in the Caribbean, right? To set the scene: think 28 friends on a cruise ship, 8 days, 7 islands and a boat load of liquid inspiration. We had a group, we needed a name and the obvious name was born: Team Cocktail. 

The Brand (A few years later)
Sailing away from Barbados, a few martinis in, the Team Cocktail founders had an epiphany. Life is best enjoyed in a t-shirt, shorts and flip flops...and with a drink in hand. We always loved buying destination t-shirts from all of the local businesses but hated the way they felt and washed up when we would get them home. They were typically cheap, scratchy and would shrink to an unwearable size. So we decided to create our own beach & cocktail inspired t-shirts, hats, koozies and other accessories with an emphasis on quality. All of our shirts are a cotton/poly blend, so they are ultra soft to the touch and will not shrink. Thus you can wear them time and time again.

And so here we are a year later, and a few more martinis in, lawyers have been called, trademarks are registered and t-shirt designs are hot off the press.

Now on to the fun stuff!

How do you decide on new shirt designs?  I was going to say something proper like "our shirt designs are inspired by a deep creative process where we look back on our favorite travel memories & cocktails."  But let's be honest. Most of the time they are developed after we have had several drinks and then inspiration hits, or the buzz hits, and then we think every idea is fabulous. So the next day we look back through our notes and see which ones truly are funny, fun and representative of the Team Cocktail brand.  We also work with the Kansas City creative agency Johnny Lightning Strikes Again who has great ideas and is able to bring our ideas to life!

How long have you been in business? We have been working on building the brand (i.e. developing designs, getting trademarks, etc.) for over a year.  But went live with our website and first designs in December 2010.

What inspired the idea to actually create products & a business? Our mission is to create products that make people have fun, relax, and enjoy life as we do...one cocktail at a time. We really want to create quality products that people can enjoy while traveling or just spending time with friends. Team Cocktail is about having fun and enjoying what you do. We enjoy traveling and cocktails, so we made it our business.  People always tell you to love what you do, well that couldn't be more true for us.  We LOVE what we do, and we hope you do too!

If you made it to the end of this blog I'm sure your glass is empty so you better go get another.  We hate for ice cubes to be lonely. Please check out our website www.teamcocktail.com where you will find our t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, flip flops, bottle openers, slap koozies and much more. We are adding new products weekly and will soon be launching a men's board shorts line.

You can also find our blog there, where you can read about our travel experiences (focused on favorite beaches, beach bars, & bartenders), party times (pictures of our fans partying in TC style) and drinks (drink recipes we love, & love to make).  We would love to hear from you so feel free to contact us on Facebook, Twitter, or through the website.  You can also sign up for our newsletter to receive special discounts, new arrival announcements, and just fun stuff! 

As you are traveling remember to TRAVEL GLOBAL, DRINK LOCAL!! 

Cheers!
Team Cocktail

@thesandbar

Here's something unique you probably never knew you needed: a custom car emblem with your Twitter handle on it.  

Local business skooladesign creates these fun emblems, but you don't have to have a Twitter account to have one. You could probably order any word or symbol you wanted. And you don't have to put it on your car- we aren't sure where we're putting ours yet. Maybe somewhere in the bar. Maybe on Andrew's car.

On a side note, it's an interesting story as to how we got this emblem.

Bill, the designer behind skooladesign, recently traveled to the Super Bowl with his father, who won the tickets in a contest. However, the prize didn't include airfare or a hotel. Bill's wife, Sarah, jokingly tweeted one day that if all of her Facebook friends and Twitter followers pledged a buck, she could send the boys on their dream trip.

Funny thing- people responded with offers of a dollar or five or ten, and before long Bill and his dad were on their way. You can read the entire story here and here.

Everyone who donated at least ten bucks was given a custom car emblem as a thank-you gift. So not only did we get to contribute to the experience of a lifetime, we also got a cool, unique gift in return.

National Rubber Duck Day

Apparently there's a holiday for everything.

I discovered today through the magic of Twitter that today is National Rubber Duck Day. You know what  this means- you all need to come to the Sandbar tonight for Tropical Drink Night and enjoy some rubber ducks with your drinks. I'm pretty sure we still have rubber duck keychains available.

Bring your favorite rubber duck toys from the past and show them off! Leave a comment and let us know what your favorite rubber duck toy is- we've offered all kinds, from cowboy ducks to cheerleader ducks to nurse ducks.

This Wikipedia entry about rubber ducks contains everything you ever wanted to know about the little yellow toys. The Guinness World Record for largest rubber duck collection stood at 2,583 rubber ducks in 2007. We're not going to try to beat that one.

I couldn't find any information quickly about how or why National Rubber Duck Day began, but here's another fun little tidbit about rubber ducks making their way around the ocean.

Sandbar Art at the Lawrence Arts Center

Twitter is not only a goldmine of information for us, it's also a great way for our friends and customers to quickly send us questions, comments and pictures.

We got this picture over the weekend:

This photo is on display at the Lawrence Arts Center. We haven't been to see it in person yet, so we don't know who the artist is, or if it's for sale or not, but we love it!

Thanks to @daviddjohnston for the tweet and picture.