The Dinner Party: HIMYM v.2

Another blogger tries their hand at a HIMYM get-together feast for themselves and four other bros. No, your writer didn’t find the article scrolling through Cool TV Prop’s Pinterest or anything.
Next to my decoration-centric assessment, the author included a thorough menu for the night’s affairs. Ingredients include,
“Four of your closest friends, an eight-track of Robin Sparkles' hit, "Let's Go to the Mall," and an outrageously large Champagne bottle that's been saved for such an occasion.”

Doesn’t that just sound like anyone else’s Friday night?

Let’s analyze the TV dinner, brought to you by epicurious.com.

For prep, Joanna suggests transforming your dining area into the gang’s trademark MacLaren’s booth, before urging your guests to arrive suited up for the evening. Not bad, but I already know we can do one better: suits on suits on suits. Wear the three-piece to dine, and have some extra BroBibs on reserve to keep your guest’s ties neat and stain-free. We don’t need another red-tie ketchup fiasco while we eat those Ultimate Burgers.

Speaking of, the menu looks something like this: scotch, cigars, buffalo wings and Nuked Nachos, Marshall’s Ultimate Burger (good luck replicating one of those—if you can, just pass it along over this way), and jello-salad. Stick on servings of bar-scene sides. For dessert, the author invented Bleeding Heart cupcakes, garnished with problematic pineapple, to salute the show’s hero (or crisis, depending on how you look at it).

I’ll add to the party tips with a few other favors. For the photo shoot, why not replicate the show’s opening sequence for your scrapbook (or Facebook photo album)?  Filtering is a must. Midway through the dinner, pick a friend (or five) to stage an Intervention for, banner included. And Blue French Horn keychains make the best thanks when your guests see themselves out—blue instruments snagged from the best dinner they’ve attended all year.

Awesome Protection

It’s true; How I Met Your Mother has been my most recent preoccupation, with the final episodes drawing closer and closer. But with all the wedding hype, I nearly forgot the most important plot twist of the season!
Well, arguably the most important. Certainly the most important for any other aspiring bro readers out there, and a topic I’ve covered a few times with only the most hopeful avail.

The Cool TV Props store knows what a fan wants when they see it, and so they bring you—after a much-anticipated wait—the BroBib! Frustrated in the least that the original website didn’t have actual bibs for sale? I was, I wanted to drool in style like Barney Stinson. But Cool TV Props delivered, and they have this to say:

“Brobibs. Bibs, for bros. This isn’t your average dude apron—Brobibs are the convenient catcher any self-respecting gentleman uses dressing up for the day. The Classic design, obviously in three-piece suit attire, helps you “suit up!” while you sit down for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Take one to the dining room and one to the conference room; then bring one along for your co-worker, too.”

The only thing they may not be good for is being the Center of Attention. If you’re not wearing the bib, that is. Robin Scherbatsky found this out the hard way, trying to make Barney jealous surrounded by un-bro-ed peers. Little did she know Barney toted the greatest idea in a century in his briefcase! Now every bro can grab a suit they can drool over, or spill their beer on, or smother in wing sauce.
The point? It’s in style.

The Cool TV Props BroBib comes in the Classic style…of Barney Stinson, that is. Tie look familiar? That’s because it’s among Barney’s most notably worn. You could say its even legen…
No, no, I won’t make that joke yet again.

…dary.

BroBibs: Back for More

You thought I was done talking about Brobibs, huh?
Ahaha…you thought wrong.
How was I supposed to keep How I Met Your Mother out of my mind after the finale? I guess rather than reaching for the suit, I bibbed-up in my anguish and post-holiday lull.

Therefore, we interrupt your fast track to New Year’s with these developments.

An author, “T-Text” from fictionurl.com, revealed in their blog entry exactly when the domains for Brobibs and their still-mysterious counter-domain, Dude Aprons, were reserved by CBS: about three months prior to show time. Besides the obvious appreciation for the endeavor, T-Text noted the apparent withdrawal of Dude Aprons from the Brobibs company. In fact, the website explicitly states:

“We are in NO WAY AFFILIATED with Brobibs, Brobibs.com or their parent company, Brobibs: A Parent Company.”

The other subsidiaries of “FashionCo,” of which they are apart, include Fung Shu Steel, De-lish! and the Not a Dress, LLC.

I’ve discussed the contempt Dude Aprons seems to save for the Brobibs company and its own extensions, but now I have more questions. Namely, when—if ever—are we going to see real “Dude Aprons?” T-Text wrote off the domain as an added extra, an Easter Egg for the episode. Likely or plausible? Absolutely!

Catering to my needs? Not really.

And is this the first anyone’s heard of “BitchBibs?” Or perhaps I wasn’t being astute that evening (oh, who are we kidding? HIMYM was on…of course I was!).
Evidently, Lily pressed onto Robin the need for a sister-company—literally—of bibs for women. Character-unrelated, a private user scooped up the URL before CBS had the chance to create it’s site…though I’m sure, if they so chose, they could find an additional way to present BitchBibs to their fans.

We’ll see what “Babe Aprons” has to say about that, when the time comes. Here’s hoping!
…Dudette Aprons?

“If a dude’s gotta wear an apron, why not make it a Dude Apron?”

How enlightening.

Just one of many finds while perusing the internet’s response to How I Met Your Mother’s Brobibs. Brobibs! The bibs hit the net shortly after Monday’s episode air time, leaving aspiring bros like me to puzzle over which to purchase this holiday season: these elegant food-guards, or Barney Stinson’s other notable suitjamas?

When it comes down to the decision—although The 80’s Rapper and Sasquatch are equally tempting, let me tell you—I’m a bit of an originals-follower and would stick to The Classic. “An awesome suit deserves awesome protection. So ‘bib up’ with The Classic—the bib that started it all.”

Yet, even with the gleam of business-casual in my eyes, I had to beg to differ: the lobster bib started it all.

While with an interesting selection, the “preppy” look seemed to be missing from their repertoire. Looking around, I spied something else equally interesting, and much more mysterious: dude aprons.

Dude aprons? There’s a heavily undermined connection here to the original Brobibs website, no matter how much the “company” begs to differ. In fact, they seem to spend a good deal of time talking about Brobibs in the very effort to disparage Barney’s endeavor, in the form of fact-based advertising:

            “Fact: Dude Aprons is a versatile spill facilitation device.
            Fact: Brobibs is nothing more than composite “junk” fabric recovered from a            Shanghai landfill.”

Ow? Harsh words from the hitherto unknown Dude Apron, Not A Dress LLC. I suspect we’ll be hearing more from the franchise directly. No company can burn this many bibs under Barney Stinson’s nose and get away with it. Or is this another one of the ultimate bro’s genius covers?

No pun intended.

I’ll wait patiently like the rest of you, puzzling over all these options and wondering where else I can craft a bib of my own.

Crawl, you son of a me!

It’s the holiday season…and that means more clothing from Barney’s entrepreneurial line, of course. From the man you get your suitjamas and duck ties, Barney Stinson brings you…brobibs. For your business-casual, preppy, and “brobin Williams” looks!
And then there was the thing about Ted missing a project in life, Robin not getting what she wanted, and Barney and Patrice, but. Those come second to the brobibs.

Yet, even brobibs don’t quite top the very end of the episode, where we have another “a few years later” sneak peek. More on that in a minute.

After lamenting many an episode ago Ted didn’t have any “firsts” to his name—besides convincing Marshall to date Lily, a pretty important first—Ted redeems himself by witnessing many of baby Marvin’s own “firsts.” Unfortunately, these were sans Lily and Marshall…repeatedly. Such instances included a camera mishap and Santa misfortune.

Meanwhile, Robin finds herself in the trap of wanting what she can’t have, because Barney had the “last word” at the close of their relationship.
Uh, “relationship.”
After plowing through several plans (in delightful script font, I might add) to get her Barney-fix just one more time, she discovers he truly seems to have moved on…right over to Patrice. Finally. Someone asks Patrice!

Which leaves us with the episode’s closer. Ted makes sure there aren’t any grudges for taking Marvin’s first “meet with Santa,” and Lily and Marshall promise. Until, that is, we flash-forward and see Ted leaving his own daughter in the care of Aunt Lily and Uncle Marshall…to which his first is re-stolen in kind. Quaint, but that doesn’t answer the burning question: who is the mother? When will we meet her?

Ehem. I might take an HIMYM break for tomorrow’s program schedule…or re-watch the entire season one more time. Either way, I certainly can’t take my mind off the program. Until next Monday!