Category: Holiday Cards and Tidbits

My Holiday Greeting Cards Dilemma – Imprint or Hand Sign?

Some things were just simpler when I was single – I knew everyone I was sending holiday greeting cards to and could just take care of writing and addressing them when it suited me. I have traditionally hand signed my annual cards and very often – depending on the recipient – added a personal note. I didn’t have to consult anyone when picking out a design or deciding on the greeting for the inside. Some years I wanted a winter scene or snowflakes while other years I’d gravitate towards one with a beautiful ornament – a personal favorite of mine. With so many gorgeous cards to pick from, it’s always a challenge to choose just the right one.

You’ll notice the overabundance of “I” so far?   Well up until last year, I only had to consider “I”.  Now that I’ve been fortunate enough to find the most perfect-absolutely-fabulous man in the world and was smart enough to marry him, many, many things have changed.  While some adjustments are obvious, some are less so.  All of a sudden my (now our) mailing list just about doubled in size.  The chosen design has to represent both of us – no longer just me.  We also have to agree on the greeting and of course, how do we deal with who signs which cards?

Luckily, friends of ours (also recently married) made a great suggestion which eliminated this problem. Over a leisurely lunch, laptops at the ready, we were able to agree on our first design together along with which greeting we wanted to send to our friends and families.  Now for “who’s going to sign them?”  Imprinted holiday cards solved this for us.  We had both of our names and a short message printed at the bottom of the cards and there was still plenty of room if either of us wanted to handwrite something.  They looked great and our problem was solved.  We also decided to include our new address on the flap of the envelope so everyone would have it.   As a couple, we were really happy with the cards we sent out and intend to do it again this year.

Making The Most Out Of Personalized Christmas Cards

Each year, when I sit down with my Christmas list, which is inevitably long, my husband asks the same question. “Are you really going to wrap all those?” You see, the gifts don’t bother him, but wrapping, to him, is a waste of time and a waste of paper. He does not understand why I would go through so much trouble to give my friends, family members, and co-workers small gifts that are wrapped perfectly. I explain, every year, that it’s my way of showing that I care. Last year, things were a bit different. I just didn’t have the time! I looked at my Christmas lists, one for gifts and one for cards, and I had a light bulb moment. I realized I could wrap the small gifts in our personalized Christmas cards! My husband was obviously ecstatic about this plan, and he even “wrapped” his gifts for others all by himself.

We themed the “small” gifts around this idea and we ended up having so much fun picking out gifts in every price range. In the end, it turned out we had bought all our gifts to fit in cards. My co-workers received glass pendants, his co-workers received ornaments, and many on our list received gift cards. Since we always buy personalized holiday cards, with our names and a message printed inside, we used those beautiful cards to wrap everything. We sent our daughter a pair of handcrafted earrings and a gift card, and our son-in-law received tickets to a game. The most exciting part of our “small” gift adventure was the challenge. It was like a game, trying to find gifts in every price range that we could fit inside our Christmas cards. My husband had such a good time; he’s continuing the tradition this year!

How Unique Are Your Holiday Greeting Cards?

Every year, starting around Thanksgiving, our mailbox starts filling up with lots and lots of holiday greeting cards. Several of our friends also send ecards but somehow it’s just not the same as getting one in person. It’s always fun to open them and see what delightful design our friends and family have picked out this year. I like to guess who sent it by looking at the card itself, so I try to not look at the return address. Sometimes it’s easy to tell who sent it – a festive Christmas tree is the customary choice of one of our favorite neighbors. My husband’s business partner often sends a very distinctive winter scene while his secretary almost always chooses a beautiful ornament. I’m constantly amazed at the variety we receive. There are casual, light-hearted, fun cards as well as beautiful, time-honored traditional designs. Of course, there are always surprises when someone picks out something totally out of the ordinary.

My sister’s card is usually the most colorful and glitzy of all and she has her six kids’ names, along with their ages, printed inside. Over the past few years, we’ve received more and more imprinted holiday cards and we’ve decided we’re going to be smart this year and have ours imprinted too. Now, if I could just decide on which design! We actually have it narrowed down to five or six – we’re getting there!

Are You Obnoxious at Work and Don’t Even Know it? Take the Quiz and Find Out!

There are certain behaviors at the office (and in life) that are best to avoid and can actually hurt your chances of being voted “Coolest Co-Worker”. Are you going through life blissfully unaware of how you are perceived by others? Take our quiz and find out.

Give yourself one point for every Q you said yes to below:

1. You firmly believe that the thermostat at the office should intuitively adjust to your body temperature alone.  The rest of them can put on a sweater or buy a fan.
2. You keep a smug little smirk on your face at all times like you know all of the office gossip, most of which you started, so you should.
3. You plague your office co-workers with Facebook Friend Requests and get all bent out of shape when they are ignored.
4. You bring a cell phone into the rest room and proceed to carry on your conversation for the whole duration of your visit. After all, you’ve got some really important stuff to say.
5. You gave one of your co-workers a ManGroomer, a handy tool that conveniently removes all that unwanted back hair, or some other equally embarrassing gift at the last holiday office grab bag.
6. You talk really loudly on your cell phone going up the office elevator, in fact, you talk loudly every where you go. Everyone wants to hear your plans to attend the next Star Trek convention don’t they?
7. You show up for every meeting late, unprepared and looking put out that no one thought to remind you that the meeting started 20 minutes ago.
8. You never bring anything to the office party or buy the cheapest thing you can find yet you are first in line for the food…going back for seconds and even thirds.
9. You take off your shoes, exposing your bare, un-manicured “hobbit like” feet at the work. After all, how are you expected to get anything done if you are not comfortable?
10. You think that everyone in the office over the age of 30 is old and gleefully take every opportunity to remind them that you are “much too young to remember” whatever unbelievably boring thing they just mentioned or sprinkle conversations with endearing comments like “Wow! I didn’t even think that was invented when you were my age!”
11. You enjoy going for jogs in the hot sun at lunch time and then join your co-workers around the meeting table in the afternoon. Of course, you are considerate and put on lots of your favorite perfume or cologne so as not to offend anyone.
12. You are absolutely convinced you are always the smartest person in a room. You are sure to let everyone know it too through a series of yawns, patronizing remarks, snorting when others speak, or rolling your eyes in disgust at their sheer ignorance of your own brilliance.
13. You delight in the mistakes of others and think it is both cute and funny to discuss them loudly while the boss passes by. Really, though you are only trying to help.
14. You think “business casual” means wearing pajama pants to the office or a stained t-shirt that your Mother forgot to wash…again.
15. Complaining is the job you do best. When you make a mistake it is always your co-workers, customer or management’s fault. No doubt, the government also had a hand in it.

Obnoxious Office Worker Quiz

 

The Results Are In!

 

 

13-15 Points – Congratulations on your Winning Behavior at Work! You just won yourself a Charlie Sheen “Winning” T-Shirt! Be sure to post your quiz results on all of your favorite social media channels!
8-10 Points – You appear to suffer from Borderline Office Obnoxious Disorder and should seek guidance from your HR Department. Ummm…hopefully, you don’t work in the HR Department.
7-5 Points – You can be quite annoying at times but are not full fledged obnoxious. As long as there is at least one person more obnoxious than you at work, your less desirable behavior will go, for the most part, undetected or at least ignored.
5-3 Points – You in the vast majority of people who have infrequent bouts of obnoxious
that can be brushed off by attributing it to a) that recent case of swine flu b) erratic hormone levels c) global warming d) all of the above.
2-0 Points – You are either a considerate co-worker or your complete lack self awareness made you fail to score yourself accurately on this quiz. 🙂

What are other annoying habits of co-workers left off this list? Be sure to leave a comment and let us know!

Don’t Lose Your Holiday Greeting Cards

It was a beautiful Christmas Eve day with just a hint of snow falling, enough to enjoy the spirit of the holidays but, thankfully, not enough to cause a traffic calamity. As we were getting ready to leave for our annual Christmas party I was sure I had planned everything that was necessary to make this day complete. As I was going over my checklist, the first item to cross off was gifts. They were all festively wrapped, something in which I take great pride; making sure the lid of the box and the box itself are wrapped separately so that only the lid needs to be removed to reveal the surprise inside. Although this takes “talent” and time (chuckle) it saves a lot of wrapping paper and the boxes can be reused with the same wrapping paper. After checking each name, one by one, and placing the appropriate tags on the presents, it was time to carry them to the car, and, luckily, the snow at that time had stopped completely. The next items to be crossed off on my list were the hors d’oeuvres I had prepared for the party along with my famous, absolutely delicious, baked lasagna. This, too, takes “talent” and a lot of time to make. (Chuckle again). After carefully covering the lasagna with heavy duty aluminum foil, and arranging an array of appetizers on trays, these goodies were also carried to the car. I was almost finished, so back to my checklist. There was one item left to check off. Holiday greeting cards. Where were they? After checking my desk drawers, night tables, credenza and every other place that I thought I may have put them, to no avail, I could not find them. I was grateful that there was still time to go to the store and purchase holiday cards. Fortunately the stores were still open and I was able to select individual cards for everyone on my list.

Is there a lesson to be learned? Yes, indeed. I now have a supply of holiday cards on hand at all times. There is an assortment box of holiday cards that I keep in my desk, ready for me to sign and send. What a pleasure to know that it will no longer be necessary to have to rush to the store at the last minute to purchase cards. These include not only Christmas cards, but an assortment of holiday cards. I now have on hand cards for thanksgiving, birthdays, sympathy, thinking of you, thank you notes, congratulations and more. Merry Christmas to me; this was a gift I gave to myself.

Holiday Greeting Cards Can Keep The Boss Happy

The holiday season is meant to be peaceful and joyful; travel to any mall, however, and I can assure you that “peace” and “joy” are not the adjectives you would use to describe the chaotic scene. While Christmas is for enjoying time with family and friends, there seems to be a certain level of stress that goes along with it. I felt this stress firsthand at my new job, and all over something as simple as holiday greeting cards!

I was hired in October, mostly as an assistant to the general manager. About two weeks into the job, my boss says, “I’m thinking of sending out Christmas cards this year. Get on that.” That was it. No directions. No follow-up. His directions were simply, “get on that”. Being new to the job, I didn’t want to let him down. But I had no idea where to begin! I thought I’d just head to one of those mall stores and buy cards, but my company was comprised of at least 300 clients. There was no way I could buy all those cards, and then write a personal message in each one! (I knew that was the direction this project would take; I was sure “get on that” meant my boss would in no way actually be touching or addressing his cards). So, left with no other recourse, I turned to the one place that had never failed me: the Internet. And there, I found the answer: imprinted holiday cards!

Imprinted holiday cards saved my job! I may be exaggerating, of course, but I was so eager to please my boss in those first early weeks that I really saw these cards as a miracle. I was able to choose a design and personalize a message inside; this saved me loads of time having to write something in each card. I imprinted the company name, as well as my boss’s name underneath. The cards were beautiful, and the imprint really shimmered and stood out in the gold foil I had chosen. Fortunately, my boss approved of the cards with his characteristic nod of the head. He’s not one for words. But the cards were a hit in the office; everyone loved them, and they kept commenting on how happy they were that they didn’t have to sign 300 cards! I loved how elegant and professional these cards looked, that I even decided to order some holiday cards for myself! I’ll be sure to “get on that” by ordering these cards again next year.

Holiday Ornament Cards are a Beautiful Way to Spread the Christmas Cheer

My favorite part of the holiday season is getting together with my family and decorating the tree. I have always put much time and effort into the placement of the ornaments so that the tree would look perfect. I also like to buy one or two new ornaments every year and have a big unveiling of the new additions. Since this tradition is so important to me, I thought it would be fun this year to send holiday ornament cards to all of my friends and family.

Everyone who knows me understands my deep love for ornaments. I’m always on the lookout for my next great piece. Whenever I am in a store, or on a trip, or when I receive a catalog, I can spend hours browsing for just the right thing. So this year I spent hours browsing for just the right personalized holiday cards. I wanted something stunning, with a beautiful ornament to represent my love for the holiday season and the traditions that I hold so dear.

I went to The Gallery Collection’s website and I browsed all of the ornament cards. I was shocked at all of the choices I had. There were ornaments in gold, silver, and all sorts of different colors. There were cards printed on green stock and cards printed on blue stock. I could have spent all day on the website trying to decide which ornament would be perfect for my personalized holiday cards. I was like a kid in a candy shop! I could barely narrow my choices down. I knew my decision to send out holiday ornament cards this year was a good one. Everyone would think of me the moment they opened the envelope.

I finally made my choice among the vast amount of cards that I loved, although I have to say, it was tough! There were so many different designs that I wanted; I know I’ll be ordering my personalized holiday cards from The Gallery Collection again next year. I just wish that I could be with everyone when they open the cards I’m sending. A bright, sparkling ornament is the best way I know how to spread the holiday cheer!

The Thoughtfulness of Sending Custom Holiday Cards

When greeting card companies advertise that they carry personalized holiday cards, it usually means that the buyer can pick out the verse he likes from the free ones offered, have a one or two-line imprint included in the signature area at the bottom of each card, and also to have an imprint on the envelopes. This type of holiday card is pretty standard in the industry.

What can separate the usual from the unique is when cards become customized holiday cards. Rather than use standard or “stock” wording for the inside writing, cards can become custom holiday cards when a message pertaining specifically to the sender and/or the recipient is used. For instance, let’s say a professional football team decides to send out holiday cards to its new season ticketholders. By incorporating the name of the team along with some kind of good wishes for the upcoming holiday season, the team has customized their thoughts in a way that combines the spirit of the season with the sport of football. Any similar idea would work as well.

The main idea is that rather then a recipient receiving the usual typical, traditional message, you would think there would be a sense of excitement when a customized holiday card that is tailored specifically toward that relationship is received. And the recipients receiving these customized cards will certainly appreciate the thoughtfulness.

Keeping the Peace with Winter Scenes Holiday Cards

With the United States becoming a melting pot we realize that not everyone celebrates Christmas. The days of wishing someone a “Merry Christmas” are all but gone. Now we say “Happy Holidays” and refer to the Christmas tree as the Holiday tree. In New York City the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center is now “The Tree” – no Holiday or Christmas. We are seeing an influx of winter scenes holiday cards also; a winter scene makes no statement of religious affiliation. Winter scenes are a safe bet for businesses to send to their clients – there’s no chance of offending anyone! With that being said there are some very beautiful winter scenes on the cover of holiday cards. Babbling brooks and deer in the snow make a serene picture that is so nice to see and one can dream of being there to witness Mother Nature at her best. Skating in Central Park is also a delight to see. Winter scenes bring back fond memories of youth when snow meant no school instead of shoveling out our cars to get to work.

When I order my holiday cards, I like to order personalized holiday cards to make sending cards easier, not to say that it is a chore but I always seem to wait until the last minute to send my cards. Each year I promise myself to start earlier but I never do. So again personalized holiday cards are the way to go. I like to sign my cards also and try to dash off a quick note but if I don’t have too much time I don’t have to because I ordered personalized holiday cards! I get the envelopes personalized too…what a time saver! I read that about 20 billion holiday cards, letters, and packages are post marked in the U.S. between Thanksgiving and Christmas so I can’t be alone by ordering personalized holiday cards to save time!

21 Card Salute

Here are some holiday cards personalized by young students in New York for Operation Gratitude’s “Letters to Heroes” program. These cards will be stuffed in care packages and shipped to deployed service members stationed overseas. There are 21 personalized messages in total, and we strung them together for our rendition of a “21 Card Salute.”

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