Cupcake Catch

Write a note on a small piece of paper that says “will you go to prom with me?” and wrap it in aluminum foil. Make a batch of cupcakes and stick the note in one of them before baking. Don’t forget which one has the note in it! Pass the baked cupcakes out in class or to friends, and make sure she gets the one with the note.

Starry Night

Go to any party supply store and pick up a package of glow-in-the-dark stars. Call your date’s parents and ask if you may go to their house and decorate your date’s room. If they say yes, go over to the house when your date isn’t home and put up a bunch of glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling of her room in a pattern that spells out “Prom?” Make sure to leave the lights on when you leave so that the stars aren’t lit up and can’t be seen. When your date goes to turn the lights off that night the stars will light up and she’ll see the message.

Alphabet ABC’s

On the outside of a small brown paper bag, write your date’s name and “prom?” with a sharpie. Gather a few handfuls of letter tiles from the game Scrabble (or anything similar) and put them in a bag. Make sure that you have every letter of the alphabet represented at least once, except for the letters in your name, which should not be in the bag at all. Then, put a note in the bag with the tiles that says: “unscramble the missing letters to find your date!” Leave the bag in her locker or near her car for a special surprise.

Sneaky Scavenger Hunt

This classic never gets old! Make a scavenger hunt for your date to complete around school or in your town. At then end of the hunt, be waiting at a special location with a sign that says “prom?” and flowers or balloons. Make the scavenger hunt personalized by choosing fun and silly locations for the clues where you all have done things together.

T-Shirt Surprise

Get a white t-shirt and using  washable markers, write a bunch of names of classmates that would potentially ask your date to prom. Write your name on the shirt, but in permanent marker. Then, write a note either on the shirt or to go with it that says: “Who will you go to prom with? Wash me to find out!”

We know you’ll have no trouble getting a date with these fun ideas. Be sure to take lots of photos to remember the special night, and then share them with friends in a Smilebox! For a simple and elegant look, we love A Perfect Moment, below. Be sure to check out all of our prom designs!

Score the Setting

Before you hit the field, take a few moments to study your camera and know what you’re working with. Most modern point-and-shoot cameras have action shot settings, which typically have a ‘running man’ symbol on your settings dial or menu.

The action shot setting will ensure that you are shooting with the fastest shutter speed possible for capturing moving objects. If you don’t have this setting on an SLR camera, you can increase the shutter speed manually by adjusting the ISO.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

The key to capturing moving objects is to keep your camera as steady as possible. This is especially important in sports photography so that your subject does not become blurred or grainy.

If you have a tripod, use it. If not, not to worry! You can set your camera on a table or any other flat surface nearby and use the ‘automatic self-timer’ function to ensure that your hand doesn’t shake the camera when taking the photo.

If there is nothing suitable to set your camera on, try resting your camera on your knee and using your elbows to hold it in place, and again, use the ’self-timer’ function.

Learn the Lighting

Lighting in sports arenas is often patchy, with bright illumination in some areas, and dark spots in others.

If neither having the flash on or off is putting your subjects in good light, try turning the flash setting on and diffusing the light by putting a tissue paper over the flash. This will help to even out the patchy lighting and give balanced illumination to your photos.

Once you’ve captured your all-star photos, pull them together in a sporty Smilebox, for a quick and simple way to send them to all of your team’s number one fans! Check out this new
Play Ball Slideshow or browse all
sports for more ideas.

Create your Easter Tale now, or browse our entire colorful collection of Easter slideshows, collages and scrapbooks. Happy hunting!

St. Patrick’s Day Fun Facts

• Irish legends say that each leaf of the four-leaf-clover comes with a different message: the first for hope, the second for faith, the third for love and the fourth for luck!
• In Ireland, people traditionally celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by wearing a small bunch of shamrocks on their clothes or hats.
• There are two U.S. cities called “Shamrock.” Do you know what states they’re in? (Hint: they share a border!)
• According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the highest number of leaves found on any one clover is 14!
• Green is associated with St. Patrick’s Day because it is the color of spring.
• In Chicago, on St. Patrick’s Day, the rivers surrounding the city are dyed green!

Feeling enlightened? Share your knowledge and St. Patty’s Day pride with a Smilebox greeting to friends and family. Check out one of our new favorite designs, Leapin’ Leprechaun below, or browse all of our St. Patricks Day designs! Oh, and don’t forget to wear green this Thursday to avoid getting pinched!

Get started on your own Mardi Gras Slideshow.

Bold in Gold

To set the mood, decorate your home with the Oscar’s signature color: gold, gold and more gold! Set up a small buffet of appetizers and finger foods over a table draped in a red tablecloth. Then use gold plastic plates, trays and utensils to display food, available at most party supply stores.

You may also want to get gold and red balloons to hang outside your house to signify where the party is.

If you have gold candles or candle holders, bring them out for added decoration. Otherwise, you can also buy inexpensive tea lights and spray-paint the silver casing gold. Then place them in clear candle holders to illuminate the color.

Last but certainly not least, make your guests feel extra special when they arrive with your very won red carpet! Purchase about two yards of red felt fabric and cut it in half. Then, attach the two ends of the pieces with fabric glue so that you have one long piece of fabric. Secure your red carpet to the floor using masking tape or another adhesive so that it will not bunch and guests will not trip on it.

Drinks to Die For

Your Oscars party would not be complete without a few swanky cocktails to spice up the night. We love US Magazine’s list of Oscar nominated film inspired drinks. Try a “Black Ice” mused by Natalie Portman’s character in Black Swan or concoct a “Bombay Sapphire Royal Tea” composed of gin, earl grey tea infused syrup and lemon juice, courtesy of the King’s Speech.

Winner Takes All

For some added entertainment, have a friendly competition between guests to see who can accurately predict the most winners. Before the show starts, have all guests write their name on an index card and write their predictions for all of the big categories, including “best picture” and “best lead actor.” For a list of all official awards and nominees, check out http://oscar.go.com/nominations. You may want to make a poster board with all of the nominations displayed for guests.

After the show, tally up all of your guests’ responses. Whoever got the most predictions right wins! Give the winner an Oscar themed prize, like a gift certificate to the cinema.

If dressing up is your style, have a costume contest, encouraging guests to dress as a celebrity. Have guests vote on the best Hollywood impersonation. Whoever gets the most votes win! Present the winner with a fashion forward prize, like a small gift card to a local favorite accessories shop. And of course, don’t forget to take plenty of pictures of all your famous guests arriving on the red carpet!

The Finishing Touches

Put it all together with your invites!

For a quick and easy Academy Awards themed invite, we love Celebrate Good Times. Check it out below!

1. Get in the Game

The Super Bowl is all about winning, but that doesn’t mean all the fun has to be kept for the players on the field! Stock up on some fun prizes like footballs, pennants,  foam fingers, team clothing or drink cups with your team’s insignia and throw a few good-natured contests throughout the game.

Tell your guests ahead of time that there will be prizes for the most enthusiastic fan and/or apparel with the most team spirit, and have guests vote on a winner once everyone has arrived.

You can also organize a few other contests, to be played during commercials and halftime. For all of the diehard fans out there, see whose really got their stats down by playing a few rounds of Super Bowl trivia. During each commercial break, ask one trivia question and the first person to get it right gets a point. At the end of the game, whoever has the most points wins! For question ideas, check out Funtrivia.com’s list of Super Bowl quizzes.

If you have younger kids at your party, you may want to organize a few more active games. Try a football toss contest to see who can throw the furthest. For an indoor version, use a nerf ball and have participants try to toss it in a basket from a certain distance back.

2. Let Your True Colors Show

Decorating for a Super Bowl party is fun and easy! You can stick to a simple theme, like your team’s colors for classy looking decor with some some flare.

Hang up colored lanterns, table clothes, jerseys, foam fingers and pennants reflective of your team’s colors. Serve bottled, colored sports drinks using your team’s colors. Sprinkle colored candy on tables.

For centerpieces, try colored candles for an easy and festive look. If you’re up for something a bit more eccentric, place a clean pair of football cleats on the table and stuff them with green Easter style paper mache, resembling grass. You can also use bright yellow napkins on your food table, resembling penalty flags.

3. Food Prep Pro

Super Bowl parties are all about the food and half time snacks. Finger foods and small bites are always crowd pleasers at football parties, allowing guests to graze at their own pace, but if the game spans over a meal time, you may want to think about serving something heavier like chili or burgers. Whatever you decide, make it memorable with football themed food presentation.

For example, serve guacamole in a rectangular dish and add sour cream “yard lines” on top to create the look of a football field. For dessert, make cupcakes with grass-green colored frosting and a small chocolate candy to represent the football. Whatever you decide to serve, get creative with your presentation!

Feeling inspired? For a last minute Super Bowl party invite we love Game Time!

Valentine’s Day is all about sharing love and happiness, and we want to hear what love means to you! Tell us your story of love in any Valentine’s Day Smilebox for your chance to win a Zoom high-definition camcorder.

Melt our hearts using video, pictures, text, poems or quotes  to help tell your story. For inspiration to get your started, check out 6 different ways to say ‘I love you’ with Smilebox.

To enter, become a fan of Smilebox on Facebook and post your creation to our fan page wall by February 14. To post your creation on our fan page:

1. Once you’ve created your winning Smilebox, click the “Share, print or DVD” tab inside Smilebox and then select the “e-mail” option

2. Send your finished creation to your personal e-mail account

3. View your finished creation from inside your e-mail account

4. Copy-and-paste the Smilebox URL to our fan page wall

5. If you wish to turn the “comments” and “save creation” features OFF on your submitted Smilebox, go to www.smilebox.com and log into your account. Follow the on-screen instructions to edit default settings on your Smilebox.

6. If you are having difficulties with any of the above, please contact blog@smilebox.com.

The Smilebox team will pick our favorites and narrow it down to five finalists based on your creativity and quality of photos and then post the top 5 on our blog and Facebook fan page for you to pick the grand prize winnter.

Helpful hints for winning the Love & Smiles Contest:

• Be sure to add a title to your Smilebox creation
• Use creative and unique photos to help tell your story
• Include a description of your Smilebox and why you think it should win when you post it on our Facebook fan page
• Submissions will be judged based on quality of photos and creativity

Visit the Smilebox Stories of Love rules and regulations page for more information. Don’t forget, the winner will receive a Zoom high-definition camcorder. Get started on your winning love story Smilebox now! Good luck!

Greetings

Keep it short and sweet in a classic or funny greeting. With the ability to add up to 25 photos, a personal video message and animation options, you can be sure to find a design that says, “Happy Valentine’s Day” just the way you want to. We love Candy Stripes, below.

Browse all of our Valentine’s Day greetings.

Slideshows

Slideshows are a great way to show off many photos and videos quickly and easily to remind your sweetie of all of the fabulous times you’ve had together. Able to showcase up to 400 photos and captions, Love Struck, below, is one of our favorites.

Browse all of our Valentine’s Day Slideshows.

Collages

Great for printing and framing, collages are an elegant way to share favorite moments and family memories. With Smilebox, it’s easy to create professionally looking collages that make for a thoughtful, personalized gift this Valentine’s Day. Check out this love themed collage, Crazy for You.

Browse all of our Valentine’s Day collages.

Photo Albums

A photo album is the perfect way to embellish your photos with decor and design, while keeping all of your personalized memories in the spotlight. We like Just the Two of Us below.

Browse all of our Valentine’s Day Photo Albums.

Scrapbooks

With multiple text and photo options, a scrapbook is one of the most customizable ways to share your personal story. Tell your love story through the combination of photos, video and text, like quotes or poems, to help adorn your memories. Check it out in the scrapbook below, A Love Story.

Browse all Valentine’s Day Scrapbooks for more ideas.

Recipes

Does your sweetie have a sweet tooth? Send them a preview of your Valentine’s Day dinner, or charm a baker-extraordinaire friend with a yummy V-day recipe, in this Sweet Eats design.

Get inspiration from our  healthy Valentine’s Day snack ideas to send to friends and family.

Click on the images beside text to preview designs.

January- Ring in 2011 by commemorating last year’s highlights. Share your favorite moments of 2010 with friends and family  in this modern Year in Review slideshow. A great way to keep in touch with far away relatives, they will love to watch how your family has changed and grown up over the year!

February- Celebrate the month of love by telling your sweetheart how much they mean to you. Check out our Valentine’s Day slideshows, like Love Struck, below, for a quick way to share photos, videos and personalized captions. Your creation will surely melt their heart.

March- Expecting a new addition to your family this year? Check out our adorable, personalized baby announcements, like Boy Monogram, below, to help share this important memory with friends and family.

April- Anytime Slides is one of our most versatile designs, complete  with a customizable background. Clean and simple, this slideshow is great for sharing your travel experiences (think Spring Break!), family gatherings or school events. For more ideas, check out 10 different ways to use Anytime Slides.

May- Send a personalized greeting to the grad in your life. No matter what stage in life, from kindergarten to college, we’ve got the card to put a smile on their face. We  love this contemporary design, Modern Graduation.

June- From announcements to invitations and scrapbooks to thanks you’s, we’ve got all of your wedding memories covered! Whether you are guest at a wedding or hosting, we have both classic and modern designs to spark your style. Below, see our Vintage Wedding Thank You, that comes paired with a beautiful matching announcement design!

July- It’s party time! July is the season of BBQs, picnics and family gatherings galore, and we’ve got plenty of invites to help you celebrate. Check out all of our party invitations, like this 4th of July themed Summer on the Coast (great for printing!) design.

August- Smilebox will celebrate its 5th birthday in August 2011! Whenever you celebrate another year older in your family, be sure to preserve birthday memories using one of our adorable . We love Let’s Party!

September- Fall sports are in full swing. Share all the game-day action quickly and easily with other doting parents, teammates and coaches in our sports slideshows (also great for end of the season parties!). From baseball to soccer, we’ve got dozens of different customizable designs. Check out the football themed slideshow below, Victory on the Field.

October- Whether you’re going for “trick” or “treat” this year, we’ve got your Halloween greetings covered. Let loved one’s far away share in on all of the excitement by sending a personalized slideshow or collage of your family dressed up, like the fright inspired design below, Halloween Collage. They’ll love seeing the kids in full character, its sure to be a spooky success!

November- Give thanks this month by appreciating the important people in your life. Share family memories and Thanksgiving festivities in a classic fall photo album, like Autumn Album, below, and remind them all what they mean to you!

December- Share warm seasons greeting with friends and family in one of our many holiday greetings. We love this beautiful and printable design, Joyful!