Last night we posted your Crystal Ball to What’s Hot in Spring 2012, a glamorous, cultured look at what to look forward to in the season ahead. Today we wanted to share with you Lifehacker’s awesomely helpful guide to getting the best bang for your buck on absolutely anything (well, almost anything – ahem), all year long. From patio furniture to Broadway tickets to digital cameras, this guide tells you exactly when your big purchases of the year are at their cheapest.

But they neglected to mention one thing – SPA TREATMENTS! That’s where we come in. Mark it down: The BEST TIME to go to the spa in 2012 is when treatments are just $50 A PIECE during National Spa Week®:

SPRING SPA WEEK: April 16-22 | FALL SPA WEEK: October 15-21

Make sure you’re signed up to get the best deals on spa in 2012 – full service treatments that normally cost between $75 and $500, for only $50. Since 2004 Spa Week’s mission has been for everyone to be able to experience the wellness lifestyle. This may not be your year for a new pool, gas grill or motorcycle, but this is your year for spa!

And here’s the link to Lifehacker’s guide to everything else.

Happy, healthy New Year to you! Let’s take a look back: In 2010, over 150 million Americans visited the spa (according to ISPA). We are still waiting on the exact numbers for 2011, but with the growth of the industry reported in ISPA’s 2011 report, we’re pretty sure a lot more of you experienced the wonderful healing powers of the spa this past year. How many times did you visit the spa in 2011? An even better question: how often do you plan to take some time out for yourself and visit the spa in 2012? We’re hoping you resolve to make regular spa trips a integral part of your health and wellness regime in 2012! Or, at least twice a year…

In support of your 2012 wellness goals, Spa Week is here (and has been since 2004) to help you keep your healthy spa-going resolution with our bi-annual national events, when thousands of spas across North America offer their most coveted health and wellness treatments for just $50 each. And – for the first time ever – Spa Week’s directory of participating spas and their $50 treatment offerings will launch not 4, but 5 weeks in advance of the week-long event so EVERYONE will have enough time to choose and book the treatment(s) of their choice, and ample time to get ready and excited.

Mark your calendars! The 2012 event dates are as follows:

SPRING 2012 SPA WEEK®: April 16 – 22

The directory of participating spas and treatments will launch on March 12, 2012 at spaweek.com, when you can start to book your appointments directly with the spa.

FALL 2012 SPA WEEK®: October 15 – 21

The directory of participating spas and treatments will launch on October 10, 2012.

Make sure you’re subscribed to the Spa Week newsletter and stay tuned to Spa Week Daily too for all your Spa Week® news and updates. See you at the spa!

For what’s always one of the most memorable nights of the year, last night the Spa Week team had our annual company holiday dinner party! Our CEO Cheryl Reid always picks a famously delicious restaurant in the touristy midtown area so that we can marvel at the exalted Rockefeller Christmas Tree or some other must-see NYC holiday destination. This year we headed up to The Sea Grill inside Rockefeller Center, with a view right onto that most famous ice skating rink.

We enjoyed an evening filled with crab cakes (the kind with 95% crab!), steaks, decadent desserts and many refills on our bubbly, wine and key lime martinis. It was also an evening filled with girl talk, as we somehow got onto the topic of how the married folks among us got proposed to.

Without naming names, I will tell you what we learned about three our fellow ring-wearing Spa Week colleagues:

PROPOSAL #1: One of us got proposed to on a romantic horse-drawn carriage in New York’s Central Park. But the only problem – this girl happens to be a crime show junkie and kept pointing out the parts of the park where people got raped and murdered. As the ride was coming to an end, her now-hubby finally interjected: Can you PLEASE stop talking about death, I’m trying to propose to you!

PROPOSAL #2: One of us was watching an awards show, gushing over the gorgeous dresses. While sitting on the couch, she saw her boyfriend trying to get her attention out of the corner of her eye. She ignored him (why is he being so weird?) and continued to comment about how stunning one particular celebrity on the red carpet was. Turns out, he was trying to show her that he was holding an engagement ring.

PROPOSAL #3: One of us had been dating her boyfriend for a while, and they suddenly felt it was time they finally make things official. With no formal proposal, the two secretly escaped to Canada… and eloped! And lived happily ever after.

And in the middle of this juicy conversation, we turned to the ice rink and saw PROPOSAL #4… everyone crowded around the middle of the rink – someone was getting proposed to right then and there! And it happened again for ANOTHER couple (PROPOSAL #5?) during dessert too. Now that’s what I call getting ICE!

Even with a dinner table of mostly single women who just work together, it was the most romantic evening we could have hoped for in a holiday party. Check out some pictures from our love-struck evening.

And those 95%-crab crab cakes... YUM.

Please give a warm Spa Week welcome to the newest member of our team: Heather Abbott! Heather will serve as our Vice President Gift Card Marketing. So what does the VP of Gift Card Marketing do? She oversees all the sales channels of Spa Week’s National Gift Card Program as well as our Affiliate program for bloggers. (Join us if you haven’t yet, bloggererati!)

Let’s get to know Heather, shall we? She brings almost six years of gift card industry experience both on the retail side and through various consulting projects. Heather just completed a 2-year term as a Board Member of the Incentive Gift Card Council (IGCC) and is currently serving on the 2012 Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) Summit planning committee.

Prior to entering the gift card industry, she spent five years in marketing and sales for Coca-Cola and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. She received both her BS and MBA from Cornell University where she currently serves as a regional District Director for the CALS Alumni Association. (Let’s Go Red!)

Cheryl Reid, Spa Week’s CEO and Founder says: “We are proud and excited to have Heather join the Spa Week family. She is highly respected throughout the industry and brings with her an extensive portfolio of relationships. Heather’s background as a Marketer and Business Developer makes her a natural fit to take the Spa Week gift card program to the next level. Her passion is evident to all who meet her and we look forward to working with her as we lead the spa industry down new and exciting paths.”

The Spa & Wellness Gift Card by Spa Week is valid year-round at over 4,500 spas across North America and is available online in either plastic or digital form. Gift cards are also on sale through the end of the year in case you haven’t heard: $89.99 for a $100 card + FREE gift box, or 10% off any other denomination.

In addition, the Spa & Wellness Gift Card is now available at over 17,000 retail locations across the United States and may also be purchased in bulk at a discount as part of Spa Week’s Corporate Gift Card Sales program. Also run by, you guessed it, Heather Abbott.

Spa Week is over, but the memories and benefits are everlasting! One of the greatest rewards for us is hearing about how Spa Week has touched your lives. We asked for your Spa Week stories, and this is the week you get to read the 5 winners, who will all receive $50 Spa Week Gift Cards to use for their next spa treatment.

After a long night out, this spa-goer had Clarins work their magic!

I booked my facial at the Clarins Skin Spa the day Spa Week bookings opened. I was so excited that the Clarins Spa on Madison Avenue was included in the curated list of spas! My facial landed on Columbus Day which I luckily had off from work – it was too perfect. With a day off from work of course has to come with a late night out the night before, right? Of course!

I went to my facial a tad… would you say… under the weather? My facialist examined my skin and made the conclusion that my skin was dehydrated.  Yeah… you could say that again. My facialist performed the Clarins tri-active facial treatment on my post party skin. After about 20 minutes I felt rejuvenated and after 40 minutes I felt as if she had unmasked a new layer of skin! And after 60 minutes, I felt like a new person!  This gem of treatment not only rejuvenated my skin but also my day off! Highly recommended.

Submitted by Caroline Hornbeck

Clarins Madison Avenue Skin Spa
1061 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10026
212.734.6100