Don't Eat the Eagle is an evolving business owned by Kim Badenhop. It began with fabric, custom sewing and a collection of outdoor fabric accessories. The outdoor accessories were sold wholesale under the brand name Gilded Nest. While looking at venues to sell Gilded Nest products, Kim discovered a line of collegiate products she thought would help raise scholarship funds for an alumni club. The result is Spirited Whimsy. Spirited Whimsy sells custom, licensed, collegiate ornaments to raise scholarship funds. More recently, Kim started consulting, using the skills she learned while working for eight years in the U.S. Senate and at the White House prior to starting Don't Eat The Eagle.

Why You Shouldn't Eat the Eagle

During a White House holiday reception, Kim surprisingly witnessed someone repeatedly plucking the feathers of a not-to-be-eaten, hand-carved chocolate eagle. Stunned that someone would consume an obvious decorative item, Kim wanted to say: "Don’t eat the eagle." Shortly after the reception she realized that people often lose their heads when they enter a place like the White House, behaving in ways they wouldn’t otherwise. Given the symbolism of the eagle in history, representing everything from the birth of a nation to spiritual renewal in the Bible, the phrase soon became Kim's metaphor for not getting so caught up with where you are that you lose sight of what’s really important in life.