Holiday entertaining solutions with Smilebox

November 17, 2009 – 3:36 pm

Some holiday traditions are sacred: the family recipe for pumpkin pie, the holiday portrait, a weekend skiing in the mountains… These are all yearly rituals that you just don’t mess with.

But what if you want to spice things up a bit?

The good news is, there are some easy – and non-sacrilegious ways – of adding a fun twist to your holiday traditions. If you’re looking for strategies to break out of the hum-drum routine of past years, we’ve got a few new ideas to help you rejuvenate your holidays.

So you want to…

… Organize guests for your holiday event

RSVP in comments imageIf you haven’t tried using the Smilebox holiday invites yet, now’s the perfect time. Send an invite with all your event details, then ask your guests to RSVP right in the comments.

Or, use the comments to have your guests organize carpools, or figure out which dish to bring to the potluck, or whatever – just get creative with it!

Hint: Make sure your comments are enabled on your account information screen.

… Send a “thank you” note with a little flair

Sending “thank you” notes can be a chore. Your hand cramps up, you get papercuts, and all that envelope-licking… Ugh. Of course, there’s always the easy, FUN, and environmentally-friendly thank you cards you can send with Smilebox. Add a short video of yourself to personalize each one and show your friends that you care.

Hint: If you’re not quite ready to go digital, you can still create your thank you cards on Smilebox and print them at home or through retail at Sam’s Club or Wal-Mart.

… Capture your Thanksgiving memories

Obviously, you’re going to have to create a Thanksgiving scrapbook to capture all your memories this year, but Smilebox offers other creative ways to remember your holiday moments. Try creating a cook book with Smilebox’s recipe cards with your favorite seasonal goodies to share with family and friends.

Hint: Smilebox has generic and seasonal recipe cards to help personalize your recipes year round.

Proud of your Smilebox creation? Want to share it with the world? Email it to community@smilebox.com for the chance to be featured in our newsletter as the Smilebox of the Week!

By Alicia | Posted in Holidays, Inspiration | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Resources for planning your Thanksgiving

November 13, 2009 – 4:37 pm

perkyturkeypngPlanning Thanksgiving can be a very stressful undertaking. All the elements of your typical Thanksgiving – dealing with family, planning a menu, and of course, actually cooking the food – are enough to make your head spin. Fortunately, you’ve got Smilebox at your disposal to make this your best Thanksgiving yet!

By Alicia | Posted in Holidays, Inspiration | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Reflections on the Creating Keepsakes Convention

November 12, 2009 – 4:15 pm

ckc vendors

Last weekend, the Creating Keepsakes Convention was held in Bellevue, WA, and a few Smilebox employees were lucky enough to attend.

If you’ve never been before or you didn’t get to go this year, check out the CKC commentary by our very own Kinsey!

What did you like most about the convention?

Kinsey: The variety. There were so many booths set up. Each one with a unique style of offerings, from rubber stamps and ribbons to entire scrapbooking kits.

ckc

What was the coolest thing you saw at the convention?

Kinsey: The skinny cow table with free skinny cow ice cream! But, seriously… There was one booth that focused on greeting cards and rubber stamps. The cards were very intricate. I was impressed.

What would you have liked to see at the convention that they did not have?

Kinsey: More innovation. With our economy these days, and technology always improving, there is so much potential to expand with new ideas. I was hoping to see more digital options.

What tips would you recommend to first-time attendees?

Kinsey: Go green and bring your own reusable shopping bag. Bring comfy shoes, you might have to park offsite and walk in, and there will be a lot of walking around all of the booths.

By Alicia | Posted in Smilebox News | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Scrapbooking for Halloween: How to make the most of your pictures

November 3, 2009 – 5:03 pm

Halloween is over and you’ve got dozens – maybe hundreds! – of pictures. You want to share them with friends and family, but you know they aren’t going to want to look through all those pictures. How do you choose which ones to share? Read on for some tips for making your Halloween scrapbook or slideshow the best it can be.

As a general rule of thumb, remember that diversity is key. This goes without saying for any scrapbooking projecte, but in particular for Halloween; we know you had great Halloween costumes this year, but do you also have great pictures of the family putting up decorations? Maybe you took a family trip to the pumpkin patch or visited a corn maze. These are the kinds of pictures that can help make a good Halloween scrapbook a GREAT one.

parenttalktodayFor a good example of diversity in a Halloween scrapbooking project, check out the Smilebox on Parent Talk Today

Another great hook that gets people every time is pictures of cute kids… It never hurts to milk the cuteness factor. If it comes down to another picture of your Halloween decor OR a picture of a child with pumpkin pie all over his or her face, well, you know what to do.

mamacheapsTo see what I mean when I say that everyone loves a cute kid, check out the Smilebox on Mama Cheaps

Last but not least, don’t forget to show the process. If you’re proud of your finished product, show off your hard work by showcasing all the behind-the-scenes stuff – the sewing, the carving, the baking, or whatever you did to make your Halloween special.

rootietootieIf you want to see great Smilebox featuring a Halloween-in-the-making, check out Rootie Tootie Thankful Hootie

Do have a great Smilebox that
you’d like to share with the world?
Send it in to community@smilebox.com,
or post to our Facebook fan page.

By Alicia | Posted in Holidays, Inspiration | Comments (1)

What to do with your pumpkin after Halloween

October 29, 2009 – 11:37 am

Carving pumpkins is a fun, hands-on Halloween tradition that anyone can enjoy. Whether you make the trek to a pumpkin patch or simply pick up one from your local grocery store, nothing quite beats cutting open a pumpkin, scooping out its gooey innards, and creating a squash masterpiece that’s all your own.

But what do you do after Halloween, once the fake cobwebs have been cleared away and your children have started to come out of their candy-induced diabetic comas? Here are some ideas of what to do with your old pumpkin after the Halloween honeymoon…..

Compost your old pumpkin

Not only is it environmentally friendly, but who doesn’t enjoy smashing a pumpkin to bits? If you aren’t sure where to start, there are plenty of resources online to help you do the green thing and compost your pumpkin.

Feed your old pumpkin to your pet

When cooked and mashed, pumpkin can be a fantastic natural digestive remedy for dogs and cats alike. A little mashed pumpkin can go a long way to treat diarrhea, weight gain, or infections in your pet, and they’ll probably appreciate the taste as well.

Bury your old pumpkin

Burying your pumpkin in the backyard will allow it to decompose underground and feed your soil lots of nummy nutrients. Although it does mean you’ll have to break out the shovel, just think of it as composting – but without the smell!

Cook your old pumpkin

If your pumpkin has been carved relatively recently and hasn’t started to mold or rot, consider making a delicious treat out of your pumpkin. Whether it’s pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, or pumpkin soup, your culinary masterpiece will taste that much better because you made it from scratch.

By Alicia | Posted in Holidays | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)