It’s a Zappos Family tradition that from the outside may look a bit, well, weird. Every year, just when the Las Vegas weather starts to ramp up for summer, we here at the Zappos HQ celebrate our fun (and yes, sometimes weird) company culture with Bald and Blue.

A Zappos tradition that started in our first Las Vegas office back in the summer of 2005, Bald and Blue has grown into a great charity event where guys and gals can get their heads shaved, and Zappos in turn donates money to a charity—this year being PROJECT WE. We upped the ante this time around by adding leg shaving and chest/back waxing for the guys, and even eyebrow shaving for some really brave souls!

For Zapponians who are really attached to their hair (including yours truly), we still got participate in the fun and team spirit with blue hair spray and temporary Zappos tattoos.

To make this awesome event even more memorable, we had some very special guest stop by—The Blue Man Group! They’re bald and very blue, so they definitely fit right in. These guys are a little on the weird side, so they didn’t think anything at all of people shaving their heads and painting themselves blue at the office.

photo credit: Jia Tse

In total, 22 guys shaved their heads for Bald & Blue, which totaled $2,200 donated to PROJECT WE. 12 brave ladies got their heads shaved for a total of $3,000 donated. The total amount donated from the event was a little under $10,000!

All in all, it was another fun and successful Zappos Bald & Blue event, and a few good Zapponians can start the summer off with a light, breezy hairdo for a great cause!

Just when we thought last year’s entries for the annual Zappos Peeps Contest couldn’t get any better, this year’s 30 “peeptacular” entries proved us wrong!

In the spirit of Easter bunnies, chicks, marshmallows and all things sugar coated, Zapponians flexed their creative muscles to create some impressive Peeps™ dioramas depicting all kinds of pop culture themes—from Justin Timberlake’s hot new “Suit & Tie” video, to the ubiquitous “Harlem Shake” phenomenon and everything in between!

The grand prize winner went to team S.S. with their ode to the classic Converse Chuck Taylor® All Star® sneakers.

Great job everyone! Can’t wait to see what next spring’s Peeps Contest has in store!

A couple of weeks ago, our friends from Chinese Laundry threw us one of the most memorable Happy Hours to date. As the official sponsor of the Miss Universe Competition® 2012, they brought all of this year’s contestants to tour our headquarters and cut loose with the Zappos Family.

There was karaoke, drinks, spin-the-wheel for prizes, and a photo booth to show off all of our goofy sides! And of course, it wouldn't be a Zappos party without some impromptu dancing! Everyone had a blast, including the lovely contestants!

Be sure to watch the Miss Universe Competition® LIVE from Las Vegas tonight on NBC, 8/7 Central.

*Photo credits: Chinese Laundry via Shutteryou.com, Matt Brown & Jia Tse

One of the great advantages to working with Naot Footwear and their United States distributor, Yaleet Inc., is getting involved with their charitable donations. Every year they partner with their dealers like Zappos.com to give away free shoes. Yes, FREE shoes! Thousands and thousands of free shoes and sandals every year are given to those in need. 

Many of these donations take place at homeless shelters across the country. This year (Zappos' 3rd consecutive year), we chose to partner with Shade Tree of Las Vegas, a shelter dedicated to helping women that in some cases are escaping domestic abuse or just need help getting a fresh start.  Oftentimes, these women are leaving their living situation with just the clothes are on their back and the shoes on their feet.  This simple gesture is kind of like giving a hug through a new pair of shoes. 

Zappos.com and the folks at Yaleet Inc. see these donation events as some of the most important and meaningful things that a business can do because of the joy that it brings to those in need.

Check out one of our footwear buyers, Cameron, and Mark, a sales rep for Naot footwear as they load up the Zappos shuttle with this year's batch of donations to Shade Tree:

A few weeks ago, LEAF had the opportunity to recycle something a little less conventional than plastic or paper; we recycled soap! Sounds strange, yes, but once you learn where the finished product goes to, you might think a little differently. 

Clean the World is a non-profit organization that collects discarded soap, shampoo, and conditioner from hotels and resorts around the country. Clean the World sanitizes the soap at their facilities and then repurposes it by giving it to communities in need. By partnering with hotels and resorts from all 50 states, and even some Canadian provinces, Clean the World has eliminated 2.2 million pounds of hotel waste. Wow! 

But, why recycle soap? Soap is powerful enough that it can reduce the effects of two very common and fatal diseases: acute respiratory infection and diarrheal disease, which are responsible for taking hundreds of thousands of lives annually.

Once the discarded soap has been cleaned, sanitized and rid of all pathogens, the product is then donated to countries all around the world in efforts to help save lives. So far, more than 11 million bars of soap have been donated to more than 55 countries! Through the use of the soap donated by Clean the World, these at-risk communities are able to continue living their lives with a little less worry and a lot more smiles!

To help this amazing cause, LEAF visited the Clean the World facility in Las Vegas to volunteer our time and hands. Our task for the afternoon was to separate the little amenity bottles that were collected at resorts such as Caesars Palace, Venetian, Wynn and Planet Hollywood. And as you can tell by the pictures, there were thousands of bottles at the warehouse!

The LEAF team had a great time sorting the bottles while music was jamming in the background. We've decided to add this outing to our Zappos monthly volunteer events calendar (called “Karma Adventures”), so that many more Zapponians can contribute to this awesome cause!

The neighborhoods of downtown Las Vegas got tidied up last weekend as the Moonridge Group and the El Cortez organized its fall Downtown Cares cleanup event. On a bright, crisp Saturday morning, members of the Zappos L.E.A.F. team joined local businesses, organizations and neighbors to pick up trash over several square miles surrounding the Las Vegas Arts District.

All the volunteers had a great time getting to know each other during the cleanup and were super appreciative that Zappos picked up the lunch tab. We can’t wait to get back out there and clean some more!!

For more information about Downtown Cares, check out this awesome write-up by Kim Schafer of the Downtown Project.

Last week, the L.E.A.F. and Bistro teams joined forces to promote the message of "reuse" and delivered FREE MUGS and FREE HUGS to the employees at the Carson office; free COFFEE mugs, that is! Washable, reusable ceramic coffee mugs were given to employees to take the place of the numerous paper coffee cups used each day.

To add a little bit of flare to these coffee mugs, we provided plenty of paint and glitter pens to make each mug “z”unique. Every day, Zappos employees work hard to use less paper products and reduce waste through initiatives like this one. We encourage employees to take green actions seriously, but above all want to make sure they have FUN with it!

Check out some of their beautiful mug masterpieces below: