
Since 2007, The Washington Post has been hosting a little event called the Peeps Show — get your head out of the gutter, peep-le! We’re talking candy here. The rules are simple: Be creative and make a diorama using Peeps. With everything from pop culture references to historical depictions, these dioramas are truly works of sugary (and sometimes comical) art. The winner of this year’s competition was announced today. Check out these incredible ‘mallow-filled entries from the past eight years along with our favorite finalist from this year. Hint: It’s at the bottom and worth scrolling for.
1. Eep: Our favorite Pixar flick takes this diorama contest up and away.
2. Crystal Blue Peepsuasion: Walter White, infamous confectionary drug lord, is slinging the strongest crystal blue candy around town. With the RV, crystal blue candy and tighty whiteys, this Peeps portrayal of Breaking Bad is spot on.
3. Peepnado Hits DC: Don’t worry, you won’t have to sit through an entire movie with Tara Reid and Ian Ziering (bonus points if you can spot ’em here). Instead, catch a glimpse of ferociously cute Peeps storming through our nation’s capitol.
4. Peepdom to Marry: Show your celebration of marriage equality with one of your first candy loves.
5. Peeps on the Run: Oh, Thelma and Louise, we envy your bold, brave spirits and senses of adventure. Long live these fab fugitive Peeps!
6. The Peep #Selfie: Here you have it, the evolution of the selfie through a colorful and historically accurate retrospective.
7. Clue: It was Mr. Peepcock, in the Observatory, with the revolver.
8. The Peepstones: These prehistoric Peeps make us wanna yell “Yabba dabba do!”
9. MuPeeps: The gang’s all here in this sugary, sweet version of our childhood favorite.
10. A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Peep: Bet you never thought you’d see Pointillist Peeps. It’s just another Sunday Funday in Peepland.
11. Angry Peeps: While this probably took hours to assemble, we would love to see this real-life version of our favorite game in action.
12. Creating a Masterpeeps: Peeps painting Peeps.
13. Just Peep’d: If you’re like us, the royal wedding never gets old. Witness the wedding of the century in classy confectionary form.
14. Alfred Hitchcock Presents The Peeps: It started out like any other day until… the Peeps swarmed the town.
15. P.E.E.P.: P.E.E.P. phone home.
16. Genius Bar: Maybe they are already in line waiting for the Peeple watch?
17. Georgia O’Peep: Inspired by the landscape and flora of New Mexico, Georgia O’Peep is one of our favorite ‘mallow-filled artists.
18. Goodnight Peep: Goodnight stars, goodnight air, goodnight Peeps everywhere.
19. Here’s Looking at You, Peep: Dioramas inside dioramas? Yes! Epic Hollywood romance dioramas in Peep form? Mind. blown.
20. Miley Peep-rus: This peep-ified version of the infamous VMA performance is perfect down to the “hair” nubbins, foam finger, red lips and tongue sticking out.
21. Chilean Mine Rescue: Portraying the 2010 Copiapó Mine rescue, this epic diorama is a heartwarming depiction of Peep-les working together.
22. Minions in Congress: This might be the best Congress yet.
23. Mount Peepmore: The founding peepfathers carved in stone? Now that’s a sweet monument we would love to see.
24. Peep Wee Herman’s Playhouse: Now this takes us back, way back. Mr. Window, Clockey and Chairy all in the playhouse having fun.
25. Peep Art: So. cool. We are especially loving this marshmallow rendition of Andy Warhol.
26. Peeped: These ‘mallow chefs are here to wow you with their mad cooking and chopping skills.
27. SpongeBob Peep Pants: Everything is better down where it’s wetter — just take it from Spongebob Peep Pants and his whole ‘mallow-filled, sugar-crusted crew.
28. RelativiPeep: In this portrayal of the famous M.C. Escher painting, Peeps gravity defies all laws. We are lovin’ the black + white with pops of fluff-filled color.
29. Snow White and the Seven Peeps: Mirror, mirror, on the wall, whose Peeps fairytale diorama is the fairest of them all?
30. Spinal Peep: Coming soon to theaters near you: This Is Spinal Peep.
31. Super Peepio Brothers: Don’t worry peep princess, Mario and Luigi are here to rescue you one airy, fluffy jump at a time.
32. Synchronized Peeping Practice: Who knew Peeps could be so graceful in water?
33. TSA Agents Get a Peep Show: Even sweet and innocent Peeps have to wait in those long airport lines.
34. Peep Tiki: All hail the mighty Peep-iki.
35. SimPeeps: We wouldn’t mind seeing the entire cast of The Simpsons peep-ified. Moe’s Tavern, Kwik-E-Mart, Montgomery Burn’s mansion, the list goes on.
36. Peep’s Arc: The fate of the entire animal peepdom lays in the hands of one sugary marshmallow.
37. Peepius Maximus: While this lil guy ain’t no Russell Crowe, he is definitely just as brave and soft on the inside.
38. iPeep Nano: We wouldn’t mind having a little bunny-shaped handheld electronic device, especially if they came is such fun, bright colors like these ones.
39. The Most Repeeped Peep Ever: These A-list Peeps are setting Peeper records with their #selfie.
40. Call of Booty: And our favorite finalist from this year’s competition? The award goes to “Peeper Magazine’s ‘Break into Spring’ edition.” That’s it. Peep Kardashian just broke the Internet. Shutting down….
Have you built anything with Peeps? Are you looking to enter the Peeps Show next year? Let’s talk Peeps in the comments below!
(Images via The Washington Post)
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures