New Twitter contest announced!

We've got another great opportunity for our Tweeps! We're giving away two tickets to TributeFest (value: $80) to one person who follows us (either @SocialBuy_Jess or @Social_Buy) and RT's this message:

Twitter contest! RT this + follow and you could win 2 tix to TributeFest on May 1! #SocialBuy

This contest will end on Friday at noon. To claim your prize, you have to register for a SocialBuy account and let us know what e-mail address you used. Then we'll deposit the tickets directly into your account.

If you want to buy TributeFest tickets for half off, get them on SocialBuy now!

East Restaurant in Hollywood - Hang with the SocialBuy Crew!

Tomorrow night, Angelenos have a very special opportunity: to meet the team behind SocialBuy at our first-ever SociaLite "Classy Hour" event. We're holding it at East Restaurant and Lounge in Hollywood. It's one of the newer Hollywood hotspots, though owner David Judaken and chef Keven Allen Lee aren't exactly hospitality greenhorns.

Right now on SocialBuy, we're selling $15 drink vouchers to East for $7. If you want to try out East but can't make it tomorrow night, no worries - this deal voucher will be valid for the next year.

It starts at 5 pm and goes until 8, which is the extent of East's regular happy hour. The voucher applies to happy hour drinks - hey, we like to save money too!

Besides promoting East, this is a great opportunity for us to meet our fans and fellow web denizens face-to-face. It'll also be a solid chance to wind down and recover from mid-week slump.

Like I said, this is our first-ever SociaLite event - as in, we plan on having plenty more in the future. We'd love to see you there tomorrow night, but if you can't, no worries. You'll have plenty more chances to hang out with us!

Get your drink voucher here. RSVP to our Facebook event and get more details here.

Eye of the Tiger

Sometimes, you hear about a combination so awesome that you can't believe no one has thought of it before. Bacon and chocolate. Lady Gaga and Beyonce. Blankets and sleeves (though, to be fair, robes have been pretty popular for the last millenia or so).

Today's SocialBuy deal is equally awe-inducing: cardio, self-defense, and kung fu. Yes, KUNG FU. You can get a month of cardio-self-defense-kung-fu lessons from White Tiger Kung Fu for $23 with today's SocialBuy.

Not to be a downer, but in a big city like Los Angeles, self-defense skills are a necessity. If that skill set includes kung fu, so much the better.

True story: my college roommate's dad got mugged walking to his car from work one night. Her dad - who served in some sort of special ops military group that he doesn't talk about - said to him, "You really don't want to do that. I'm giving you one chance to walk away." The mugger didn't move. So her dad broke his nose.

Frankly, I'd feel better just by looking at strangers and thinking, "I know kung fu. Don't try anything fishy. I can chop you and then have the endurance to jog at a steady pace to a safe location."

What's the saying - you can't put a price on peace of mind? Find your inner zen (and inner martial artist) by getting in on today's SocialBuy and taking a month of classes at White Tiger Kung Fu for just $23.

Bountiful Baskets bakes it to the limit

Sometimes, sales reps bring back food for me. A lot of the time, the places we review want the person who writes about it to try some of their food.

A couple of days ago, a rep came back with a Cookie Pop from Bountiful Baskets. I didn't have particularly high expectations - cookies-on-a-stick are usually thin and dried out. But after wrestling the wrapper open, I bit into one of the softest, freshest, tastiest sugar cookies I've ever had.

Bountiful Baskets has lots of cool stuff other than (delicious, delicious) baked goodies. They do a spa package that has lotions and soaps in it, and a wine-and-cheese basket with... well, you can guess.

I think today's SocialBuy deal is a really good one. $25 gets you a $50 voucher to Bountiful Baskets. They're pushing their pre-made V-Day baskets right now, but you can save it until the next time you need to buy someone a gift (or just make their day).

Sprinkles Cupcakes is live!

We have had such an exciting first week! Within one day, the Sprinkles Cupcakes deal went live. That means that if you opt in on that deal right now, you can buy it, print it out, and have a Sprinkles cupcake in your possession by this afternoon.

The rest of the deals are coming close to activating. ZAZA Nail spa just needs eight more people before it goes live.

Now that our site has launched, our office is super-busy. Since we have a website to show off, our sales guys (and gals) have been working round-the-clock to close new deals. Good things are coming!