Death isn’t cool. It can happen anytime, anywhere to anyone. And it doesn’t wait around for you to cross those last few items off your bucket list before dragging you unceremoniously to that great, big junkyard in the sky.

But what if death wasn’t the end? What if there was a way to use your lifeless remains to orbit the Earth. Or become, say, a fireworks display. Or a paperweight.

Here are some of the craziest ways you can use death as an opportunity to become something awesome.

SEE ALSO: 7 unusual and fascinating funeral traditions around the world

DON'T MISS: This biodegradable urn turns you into a tree after you die

Death is no fun. But shooting stuff can be. If you sacrifice just one pound of your ashes, Holy Smoke will fill 250 bullets for your loved ones to do gosh knows what with. If the recipient is a sharp-enough shooter, maybe you’ll have a few furry friends to join you in the afterlife.

The only thing better than jamming out to that perfect tune is jamming out to that perfect tune on a record pressed with the ashes of a loved one. Vinyly will press your ashes into your favorite record so you can live forever in the song of your choosing. You can even record your own audio if you want. Or, if you’re feeling a little creepy, you can leave the record blank, so when the needle drops, nothing but pops and crackles of your cremated remains will fill the room.

Death (and $12,500) might just buy you a ticket into space. A program called Celestis will hitch your ashes to a space shuttle and launch them into the great beyond. If you want, you can take a short trip into space before returning back to Earth. Or, you can book a one-way ticket and spend the rest of your (infinite) days floating in deep space, orbiting the Earth, or even hanging out on the surface of the moon.

Starting with the iPhone 6, you are now able to charge it from 0 to 100% almost twice as fast. Here's how you can do it.

PLEASE NOTE: Your results will vary depending upon how old your phone battery is, how well you've maintained your battery, and whether you charge your battery properly.

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If you're at all attuned to America's real estate market, you've heard about San Francisco's ongoing housing crisis.

Residents have been doing crazy things to survive the sky-high cost of living, from camping out in Google's parking lot to taking up residence on a sailboat. 

But according to a recent report by online real-estate broker Trulia, the story is slightly different for San Francisco's longtime homeowners, who are enjoying incredibly high rates-of-return on their homes.

In 1986, America's most expensive housing market was San Francisco, where the median value of a home was $160,955. Today, it remains the country's most expensive housing market, with a median home value of $1,058,474. That's a 557% rise over 30 years, more than any other US metro area.

To get an idea of how remarkable San Francisco's housing market is, check out the graphic below comparing San Francisco's 30-year increase in home value to the 10 major US cities with the smallest increase in home value over the same period.

SEE ALSO: The 10 US cities where homes have gained the most value over time

DON'T MISS: Here's the salary you have to earn to buy a home in 19 major US cities

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NOW WATCH: REAL ESTATE WARS: Inside the class and culture fight that's tearing San Francisco apart

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Let's face it: There never seems to be a right time to go to the gym.

If I go in the morning, I sacrifice an hour of sleep, but when I try to go at night, I can never muster up the energy after a long day at work.

So when I heard that the uber-productive Twitter, Blogger, and Medium cofounder Evan Williams takes a break in the middle of his day to go to the gym, I felt compelled to try it for myself.

According to Coach.me, Williams says he's most productive in the morning, so he chooses to get to work immediately before his energy dips. Midday, he heads to the gym and comes back feeling energized for the other half of the workday.

"It feels weird (at first) to leave the office in the middle of the day, but total time spent is nearly the same with higher energy and focus across the board," Williams told the site.

I felt like this was the best solution for me in so many ways: I would get to the office earlier, I'd immediately use my energy on work, my workout would also count as a break, and I'd be reenergized for the rest of my day and not have to take frequent coffee breaks.

So I decided to try it for an entire work week to see if it increased my productivity and energy levels.

SEE ALSO: 8 ways I trick myself into waking up early to go to the gym

The experiment

I usually go to the gym in the morning.

I have both a gym membership and a ClassPass membership. I usually wake up at 5 a.m. about three or four days a week to go for a run and do some light strength training at the gym. The rest of the days, I'll take a class immediately after work.

I get to work around 9 a.m. and work until noon, which is when I usually take a lunch break. If I bring food, I typically sit at my desk and continue to work. If not, I'll run out and grab something but head straight back to work.

Then I work until about 5:30 p.m., but I take a few coffee breaks between lunch and the end of the day to get out of what I call my "post-lunch slump."

For this experiment, I'd only go midday.

I planned to take a class or go to the gym every day around noon. I didn't sign up for classes that were more than 45 minutes, and I made sure the classes were all within a block or two from my office.

Leaving work for 45 minutes didn't seem like a big deal, but knowing that there was a possibility I would be drenched in sweat, I took the extra time I need to shower into account. I figured my breaks would be an hour and a half, so I planned to arrive at work an hour earlier and leave a half hour later to make up the time.

I made sure all the studios I signed up for had showers. I also decided to bring lunch from home for the entire week to maximize time.

Though I expected to feel good physically by following this new routine, I also anticipated that I would feel anxious about being away from the office for too long. Though I got the OK from my editor to follow this experiment, I couldn't help but wonder if my coworkers would think I was slacking by being gone for almost two hours or if some random work emergency would come up and I wouldn't be able to fix it in time.

Monday: Off to a strong start

I woke up an hour later than usual (6 a.m.). I don't know if I jumped out of bed because I was excited to do this experiment or I actually had more energy from the extra hour of sleep.

I packed my gym bag to prepare myself for what I might need for the middle of the day. Then I showered, got dressed, ate breakfast, and was out the door in a half hour.

I was also really conscious of what I was going to wear this week. I made sure to wear outfits that were easy to put on, seeing as I would be changing in locker rooms. On Monday, I decided to wear a simple dress and sandals.

I arrived at work at 8 a.m., and because not many people were in the office yet I was able to focus and immediately started working away. By 10 a.m., I noticed I was starting to yawn, but my energy wasn't completely low.

I was also surprised by the amount of work I was able to get done. By getting so much work done in two hours, I felt as if my day had flown by, but it was still just starting.

The workout: cycling

By 11 a.m., I was getting excited to head out the door. I didn't feel too sluggish, which was good because I still had some energy left over for my workout.

At 12:30 p.m., I arrived to my first class at cycling studio Swerve. It was high-energy, and the interval training made me sweat a ton. I decided to duck out mid-stretch so I could be the first to grab a shower.

I showered quickly. As I got out of the shower, I noticed a lot of women coming in and getting ready to head back to work as well. I realized that maybe the lunchtime workout wasn't as taboo as I thought.

It was a little tough navigating around the small locker room, but I still managed to shower, get dressed, blow-dry my hair, and make it back to work by 1:45.

Back at my desk, I felt like I was bursting with energy. My face was still flushed, and my heart rate was up, but I immediately got back to work.

Since I ate right after my workout, I didn't take my typical snack break, but I did go for a coffee around 3:30 p.m. — which I fully admit was only for the craving, not the energy.

I finished all my work before 5 p.m., but since I had intended to stay an extra half hour, I felt focused and energized to go back and check everything over.

Tuesday: Still going strong

When I used to wake up at 5 a.m., I would constantly wake up and fall back asleep because I was anticipating my alarm clock to go off. On Monday, I slept through the night and woke up at 6:15 a.m. with no problem.

Since I washed my hair at the gym the day before, I took a quick body shower and threw on another dress.

The one thing that bugged me was my gym bag being a lot heavier than usual because I packed a towel and extra toiletries like shampoo and conditioner. It made my commute a little difficult because I kept hitting people with my big, bulky gym bag.

I arrived at work at 8 a.m. and noticed my energy wasn't as high as it was the day before. I'm surprised how much my energy dipped even though I was getting extra sleep.

I wasn't as productive as yesterday, but luckily by 10:30 a.m. my energy improved. I was also getting anxious for my workout because I knew it would perk me up.

The workout: boxing

I arrived at my next workout at 12:30 p.m. I decided to try a class at Shadowbox, around the corner from my office. It was another high-energy workout and super intense.

By the time the class started stretching, I was soaked with sweat and ran to the locker room yet again to beat the lines.

By the time I got out of the shower, the locker room was so packed, I didn't have time to dry my hair. I slicked it back in a high bun so I wouldn't go back to work looking like I had a wet mop on top of my head.

I got back to the office at 1:45 p.m. and felt really good and sore. I immediately had to go to a training, so I didn't get to have my lunch right after my workout, and my energy felt a little low during the meeting.

After I had my lunch, at 3 p.m., my energy spiked, and I worked until 5:30 p.m. without stopping. Even though I was a little more tired than yesterday, I felt I was still more productive than this time last week.

Bad breath is sometimes very disconcerting, not to mention that it can be gross. Dr. Ada Cooper explains everything you need to know about alleviating bad breath.

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There are certainly a number of beautiful hotels around the world to stay at if you're looking to bathe yourself in luxury. But if you want a truly unique experience, look no further than the Null Stern Hotel. Located in the Swiss Alps area of Switzerland, this hotel has only one room and no walls.

For $210 a night, you get a queen size mattress, night stands, two lights, and breathtaking views. If you want to stay there, you'll need to book way ahead. The hotel has generated so much interest that the room is already booked for all of 2017.

Photos and Video Courtesy: Null Stern Hotel

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Everyone loves a library.

They're one of the last remaining places where you can just sit and explore for hours on end. When done right, they're also beautiful spaces that fill visitors with awe.

Business Insider has ranked the most beautiful libraries in the 25 largest US cities, using census data to determine the cities included and awards from the American Institute of Architects and the American Library Association to select the buildings. For cities whose libraries have yet to win any awards, we selected locations that employed the most innovative designs.

Make sure to give these a look on your next road trip.

SEE ALSO: The most beautiful library in each US state

26. The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. is the oldest federal cultural institution in the US and contains 130 million collection items across 2.1 million square feet of space.

25. Seattle's Central Library, the main branch of the public library, won a 2005 national AIA Honor Award for Architecture for its silvery, asymmetrical design that lets in heaps of light.

24. Founded in the mid-19th century, the Boston Public Library boasts an impressively spacious reading room and a courtyard encircled by archways.

When US Census is collected, the data paints a certain picture of the country — we learn about age ranges, population sizes and common professions.

But R. Luke Dubois, an artist, composer and professor of digital media, wanted to track Americans in a different way. Dubois, who creates interpretive representations of data, decided in 2010 to map the United States based on the words used in online dating profiles.

So he signed up for 21 different online dating services — from Match.com to eHarmony — and programmed an automated system to create profiles in every zip code of the country. Then he used a spider — a specialized program that crawls the entirety of a site and downloads all the information within it — to download all the profiles of potential matches. In total, he wound up with 19 million dating profiles.

The effort took 10 computers three months, and once he had the data, he used it to create an alternate census. He took a map of the United States and created an algorithm that replaced every city’s official name with the word that was used more often in profiles there than it was anywhere else. 

Take a look at what the dating profiles in Dubois' project, called "A More Perfect Union," show about US cities.

SEE ALSO: http://www.businessinsider.com/poop-emoji-san-francisco-2016-8

Los Angeles, California

Dubois says he chose to highlight the word used more in a certain area than anywhere else because otherwise the map would look too homogeneous. “If you just did the most common words, everything would be ‘love,’ and in Los Angeles it would be ‘sex,’” he tells Business Insider.

LA’s words include 'lingerie,' 'booty,' 'spanking,' and, of course, ‘screenwriter.’

Washington, DC

“I don’t know how anyone gets a date in Washington, DC because they’re the most boring words in the world,” Dubois jokes.

Around Dupont Circle and Logan Circle, the city’s map features lots of international words — 'Paraguay,' 'Estonia,' 'Kashmiri' — as well as others one might expect to find in the nation’s capital, such as ‘political,' 'socially,' and 'journalist.'

Boston, Massachusetts

The area around Boston uses the word ‘people’ in dating profiles more than any other city, though close behind are ‘drinks,’ ‘laugh,’ and unsurprisingly, ‘Sox.’

Dubois says his motivation in creating the project was to create a map of how people around the country think and talk about their own identities. “I was looking for a body of data that could get at ordinary Americans describing themselves,” he says.

This year's Burning Man— the wild festival held in Nevada's Black Rock Desert — culminated on the night of September 4.

The festival was founded with the principle of "leave no trace," meaning everything that's brought to the festival must be taken home or destroyed when it ends.

Burning Man has a traditional grand finale: the ritual burning of a tall statue of a man (which gives the fest its name). But after that's over, other structures are also given over to fire, including a massive wooden temple structure, different iterations of which have been assembled during the festival most years.

Burning Man's official livestream captured the moments when the giant building went up in flames. Starting around the 12-minute mark, volunteers ignite the temple's center, and the fire eventually swells into a massive bonfire.

Hand-built by sculptor David Best and his crew, this year's 2,500-square-foot, wooden temple was 100 feet tall. Best is well known for the Burning Man temples he creates — he has made eight of them since 2000.

This year's extravagant temple featured a large altar, plenty of sitting room, and a huge chandelier that hung from its ceiling. Around a courtyard were eight altars for people to "express their emotions, reflect on the losses of friends and family members, and celebrate the lives of people around them," the temple crew wrote.

After the temple burned to the ground, the festival's some 70,000 participants packed up and left the desert — a departure surge known as "the exodus."

SEE ALSO: 8 aerial photos that show the madness of Burning Man from above

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NOW WATCH: A YouTuber shot a flamethrower 50 feet in the air and captured it in super slow motion

In late June, 1986, Larry Harvey and Jerry James joined a handful of friends on San Francisco's Baker Beach in search of radical self-expression. They didn't come empty-handed.

Earlier that day, Harvey and James had collected scrap wood and built an eight-foot statue of a man. Later that night, the two hoisted it up and set it on fire. A crowd of 20 formed to watch it burn. Little did they know that a 30-year tradition had just been born.

Today, Burning Man draws more than 60,000 people to Nevada's Black Rock Desert. Over the course of a dusty, freewheeling week in late August, the festival celebrates notions of self-expression, civic responsibility, and art.

This year's Burning Man was held from August 28 to September 5. Here's a look back at how one of the world's most surreal, iconic festivals came to be.

SEE ALSO: 20 insane structures built at Burning Man

For the first three years of Burning Man, the festival was held on San Francisco's Baker Beach. By 1989, however, Golden Gate Park Police had learned of the event and prohibited any actual burning. The event was a fire hazard, they said.

In 1990, Harvey and James decided to relocate to the second-largest and flattest piece of land in the US: Nevada's Black Rock Desert. At first, people didn't really know what to do once they got there. Some found hot springs. Others played music. But by the end, the 40-foot statue still burned.

By 1997, the secret of Burning Man was out. Wired called it the "New American Holiday" and CNN dubbed it "the world's most dangerous art festival."

Good parents want their kids to stay out of trouble, do well in school, and go on to do awesome things as adults.

And while there isn't a set recipe for raising successful children, psychology research has pointed to a handful of factors that predict success.

Unsurprisingly, much of it comes down to the parents.

Here's what parents of successful kids have in common:

SEE ALSO: 21 books successful people read to their kids

SEE ALSO: 19 things teachers say parents should do at home to help their kids succeed

They make their kids do chores

"If kids aren't doing the dishes, it means someone else is doing that for them," Julie Lythcott-Haims, former dean of freshmen at Stanford University and author of "How to Raise an Adult" said during aTED Talks Live event. 

"And so they're absolved of not only the work, but of learning that work has to be done and that each one of us must contribute for the betterment of the whole," she said. 

Lythcott-Haims believes kids raised on chores go on to become employees who collaborate well with their coworkers, are more empathetic because they know firsthand what struggling looks like, and are able to take on tasks independently.  

She bases this on the Harvard Grant Study, the longest longitudinal study ever conducted.

"By making them do chores — taking out the garbage, doing their own laundry — they realize I have to do the work of life in order to be part of life," she tells Tech Insider.

They teach their kids social skills

Researchers from Pennsylvania State University and Duke University tracked more than 700 children from across the US between kindergarten and age 25 and found a significant correlation between their social skills as kindergartners and their success as adults two decades later.

The 20-year study showed that socially competent children who could cooperate with their peers without prompting, be helpful to others, understand their feelings, and resolve problems on their own, were far more likely to earn a college degree and have a full-time job by age 25 than those with limited social skills.

Those with limited social skills also had a higher chance of getting arrested, binge drinking, and applying for public housing.

"This study shows that helping children develop social and emotional skills is one of the most important things we can do to prepare them for a healthy future," said Kristin Schubert, program director at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which funded the research, in a release.

"From an early age, these skills can determine whether a child goes to college or prison, and whether they end up employed or addicted."

They have high expectations

Using data from a national survey of 6,600 children born in 2001, University of California at Los Angeles professor Neal Halfon and his colleagues discovered that the expectations parents hold for their kids have a huge effect on attainment. 

"Parents who saw college in their child's future seemed to manage their child toward that goal irrespective of their income and other assets," he said in a statement.

The finding came out in standardized tests: 57% of the kids who did the worst were expected to attend college by their parents, while 96% of the kids who did the best were expected to go to college.

That parents should keep their expectations high falls in line with another psych finding — the Pygmalion effect, which states "that what one person expects of another can come to serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy" — as well as what some teachers told Business Insider was most important for a child's success.

It was the early 1900s, and New York City was in transition. Automobiles were taking over the streets, but horse-drawn carriages were still everywhere. Private mansions lined the heart of Fifth Avenue, an area once called Millionaire's Row that extended from the 30s to the 60s. Even though the skyline was not yet dominated by the iconic Chrysler and Empire State buildings, the city was experiencing explosive and revolutionary growth.

Entering this tumultuous world was Pierre Cartier, the charismatic 31-year-old grandson of the founder of the premier jeweler Cartier.

Pierre Cartier, disrupter

In 1909, Cartier established its first New York City location and was becoming widely known for fine, innovative designs for men and women.

By 1912, Pierre Cartier had become famous in his own right. He had already sold a tiara set with sapphires and diamonds to a Russian grand duchess and was the driving force behind Cartier's acquisition and sale of the best-known gem in the world — the 45.52-carat Hope Diamond. His name also regularly appeared in the newspapers alongside Elma, his American-born wife, an heiress and cousin of J.P. Morgan. By today's standards, he would be considered a disrupter.

But Pierre wasn't satisfied. Sure, he'd made his New York salon the go-to spot for the best in jewelry and timepieces, but he wanted more. He knew Cartier deserved a grand building worthy of New York City. The building had to be as exciting as the city itself and on par with the Rue de la Paix flagship in Paris and the first London boutique on New Bond Street. The building had to be welcoming, as if customers had been invited into his home.

That was when Maisie Plant, the new, young wife of Morton Plant, the railroad magnate, fell in love with a pearl necklace in Pierre's New York City salon.

The trade of the century

Described by The New York Times as "one of the finest" residences in the area, the Plants' New York City residence was on the corner of 52nd Street and Fifth Avenue. It was built in an Italian Renaissance style of limestone with marble accents.

When Maisie Plant fell in love with the natural, oriental pearl necklace, Pierre Cartier sensed an opportunity. Pierre, the savvy businessman, proposed the deal of a lifetime: He offered to trade the double-strand necklace of the rare pearls — and $100 — for the Plants' New York City home. The necklace was valued at $1 million, while the building was valued at $925,000, according to The New York Times.

The pearls were worth more than the Mansion at the time. Why were the pearls so costly? Cultured pearls had not fully entered the marketplace yet, which meant that each natural pearl had to be found by divers. It had therefore taken Cartier years to assemble the 128 graduated, perfectly matched pearls of Plant's necklace. Additionally, diamonds were becoming less valuable because of recent discoveries in Africa. Because of their rarity, natural pearls had become the symbol of the well-to-do socialite.

A new, sophisticated home for Cartier

As the years went by, movie stars, royalty, and New Yorkers of every stripe gravitated toward the Mansion. It became New York City's showplace.

Now, 99 years after its opening, the Cartier Fifth Avenue Mansion has been restored.

Set to reopen in mid-September, it remains true to Pierre Cartier's vision: Its public spaces are regal but welcoming, as if entering a home. The salons still feature one-of-a-kind jewels, spectacular objects, and innovative timepieces. To this day, it remains a showplace.

Restoration was a multiyear process from the ground up. Since the Mansion is an official New York landmark, plans for the exterior had to be approved by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Much of the original oak paneling was refurbished and reinstalled with additional sections built to fit the new rooms. The available space is more than five times as large as the previous space, expanding from 8,600 square feet on two floors to 44,100 square feet on four floors.

More than 100 window treatments and 43 fabrics and leathers were custom-made for the walls, furniture, and draperies. Lead architect Thierry Despont created 35 unique furniture styles for the renovated Mansion.

The innovative spirit of Pierre Cartier remains a part of the newly restored Mansion. Every inch bristles with technology designed to offer a superior yet unobtrusive customer experience. It's a classic building in every way, but it's also up-to-the-minute.

The Mansion, bought for a double strand of pearls, became the city's jewel. Now, it's ready for the new century.

Visit the newly renovated Cartier Fifth Avenue Mansion upon its return in mid-September.

653 Fifth Avenue, New York City.

This post is sponsored by Cartier.

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All over the world, people fill their mornings with similar activities: hitting snooze, cooking breakfast, getting ready to face the day ahead. But these morning routines differ drastically from city to city, according to data from IKEA's 2015 "Life at Home" report.

The study surveyed more than 8,000 people, ages 16 to 60, in eight major cities worldwide about their morning habits, and found several interesting differences between residents of Berlin, Moscow, London, New York, Mumbai, Paris, Stockholm, and Shanghai. 

In Mumbai, more than 70% of people eat breakfast alone. Over in Shanghai, only 28% do. While 61% of Stockholm residents rise before 7 a.m., just 36% do in Moscow.

Here's how these eight cities stack up on six aspects of their morning routines:

SEE ALSO: 7 morning rituals that are hard to adopt but will pay off forever

DON'T MISS: I followed Jack Dorsey's morning routine for a week and was surprised by the difference it made in my day

Stockholm is full of early risers.

People in Mumbai hit snooze more often than any other city in the study.

More than 70% of residents in Mumbai and Shanghai eat breakfast with company, while a mere 28% in Stockholm do.

Last year, Vice Media CEO Shane Smith shelled out $23 million for a massive property in Santa Monica, California — without ever setting foot in it, he told The Wall Street Journal.

His wife had scoped out what she called their perfect house.

Built in 1932, the 3.3-acre estate has a total of 12 bedrooms and 14,000 square feet of space. It also has a 72-foot-long pool.

The home, known as the Villa Ruchello, had belonged to noted director Henry Jaglom. It has appeared in "Beverly Hills Cop" and "Entourage."

But when Smith bought it, it needed a bit of work.

"No one had really been taking care of the house for 15 years or so," Smith's wife, Tamyka, told The Journal. "The owners had gotten a divorce and were renting it out. We had to replace all the plumbing, all the electrical, the roof and do the whole thing."

Tamyka was in charge of restoration work that The Journal says featured "handblown glass chandeliers from Venice, a geometric orb bar custom made by MJ Atelier, antique Persian rugs and various vintage French and Italian furnishings."

The house is worth only a small fraction of Smith's fortune, which The Journal says could be around $1 billion. Smith also owns a $3.8 million home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Here's a look at how the Villa Ruchello was when Smith bought it:

SEE ALSO: Take a look inside the multimillion-dollar home built by the guy who started Chipotle

The Villa Ruchello sits behind a set of wrought-iron gates.

The lot totals 3.3 acres of land covered in lush gardens.

The house was built in a Mediterranean style in the 1930s. Several ponds are on the property, and there's even a wishing well on the way up to the house.

North Korea is one of the most secretive and isolated countries in the world. And yet, tourism is booming, all things considered. The government has said it plans to welcome two million tourists annually by 2020.

Foreigners visit through state-sanctioned travel agencies and are supervised from the moment they set foot in the Land of the Morning Calm, which is filled with breathtaking cityscapes and oddly shaped buildings.

There are reminders of North Korea's repressive and totalitarian regime everywhere. Portraits and statues depicting the Kim dynasty are on every corner and demand respect, while tour guides rarely stray from the scripts they are given.

In 2016, photographer Raphael Olivier booked an architecture tour of Pyongyang and captured these remarkable images.

SEE ALSO: Surreal photos of China's failed 'city of the future'

"The first word that comes to mind would be eerie," Olivier says of the general atmosphere in Pyongyang, North Korea.

There are some three million people living in the nation's capital, and yet, most of Olivier's photos show vacant streets.

He says people work, study, and keep busy out-of-sight in the daytime. Oddly, dramatic music blares throughout the downtown area.

Stocking your kitchen with the basics — knives, pots, plates — is a rite of passage for any adult. But not everything you keep in your cupboards needs to be boring. 

There are loads of cool products that can spice up any stove, pantry or dining room, from new cooking gadgets to innovative utensil redesigns.

Here are a few affordable must-have tools.

SEE ALSO: These 5 popular grocery items are getting cheaper

A shaker that holds both salt and pepper.

The Bodum grinder lets you switch between salt and pepper, rather than buying two separate shakers.

Buy it:$20

A pot that doubles as a strainer.

This Bialetti pot has a strainer built into the lid. Just lock the top onto the pot, and you can easily dump the water straight into the sink.

Buy it:$29.88

A wine glass that won't spill.

SuperDuperStudio

This novel wine glass designed by Super Duper Studio has a rounded bottom, so it won't ever tip over.

Pre-order it on Kickstarter:$32

Bronson van Wyck is the master of helping people have a good time. 

Since 1999, he and his mother, Mary Lynn, and sister, Mimi, have been putting their hosting skills to good use, planning events for the most high-end of clients — think superstars like Beyonce, Madonna, and Presidents Obama, Bush, and Clinton — through their event production firm, Van Wyck & Van Wyck. 

Earlier this year, the Van Wyck team launched a new company out of their production firm. Called Workshop, the new company focuses on producing similarly high-octane events for brands like Coach, Mercedes-Benz, Hermes, and Range Rover.

But when it comes to the secret ingredient that makes a party fun, van Wyck points to one thing: good, old-fashioned southern hospitality that makes people feel at home.

"I have a sincere appreciation for how generosity and graciousness can make people feel warm," he said. "We wanted to take the essence of southern culture and make the most fun events for the absolute best clients in the world."

Van Wyck grew up on a farm in a remote part of northeastern Arkansas, where he learned how to entertain mostly out of necessity. Since then, he's grown an understanding that engaging, interactive aesthetics can be the key to connecting to people's positive emotions. People have more fun if they're given the chance to participate in activities and share experiences together. 

That could mean offering custom flower crowns for every guest, or erecting multiple photo booths where attendees can ham it up with their friends, like at a recent van Wyck-produced event Business Insider attended. 

This insight into the connection between aesthetics and positive emotion applies to both the weddings and celebrations he puts on for private clients and the branded events he helps companies throw. 

"If we can make someone love something, they will not only buy it, they will also go and tell everyone they know," van Wyck said. "We're reaching the next level of emotional engagement, and you get there by having moments where people have fun." 

SEE ALSO: The rules of partying like a celebrity, from one of the best planners in the business

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Produced by Graham Flanagan

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