Plan an Explosive Fourth of July Party

"Light Up the Night" Invite

The Fourth of July is a magical day for Americans to celebrate freedom and show pride in the USA alongside friends and family. People all around the country are planning backyard barbecues, trips to the beach, and wild fireworks shows for the neighborhood.

No matter how you plan on celebrating, you need to spread the word. What better way to get a crowd over than using Smilebox invitations made specifically for the 4th! This post features some of our favorite invitation designs. Click here to see all Smilebox Fourth of July designs in action then read on for some quick party-planning tips.

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Enter the Smilebox “My Hero is My Dad” Contest!

Father's Day Contest

UPDATE 6/20: The submission period has ended. Please head to the Smilebox Facebook page to view and vote for the finalists. Voting closes on Wednesday at 5 pm. Thanks to everyone who entered for sharing their stories, there were a ton of heroes and it was hard to only pick three!

This Father’s Day we want you to share why you admire Dad and tell us what makes him a hero in your life. Get inspired and tell us about his heroics using one of the Smilebox Father’s Day designs for the chance to win a $100 Amazon.com gift card!

In your Smilebox, you can use pictures, text, quotes, or even video clips of Dad saving the day. Get creative!

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Planning your Father’s Day Fun!

With Father’s Day right around the corner, everyone is trying to plan the perfect day with Dad. After you spoil him with a tasty breakfast in bed, there are tons of other great ways to spend the day with him and the rest of the family. We’ve put together a list of some of our favorite activities, but at the end of the day it won’t really matter if you decide to have a big family event or just a lazy day at home. As long as you’re together, Dad will love it. Make sure to share the memories with a Father’s Day Smilebox.

golf

Make Dad’s Day a Hole-in-One

Play a family round of golf… or, if there are some young ones in the family, a leisurely round of putt-putt golf would be perfect. Just make sure you let Dad win! For those golf-loving dads that would rather spend their day lounging around, spend some time watching the U.S. Open with him (even if it’s not your TV show of choice).

The History of Dad

If you are having a big gathering for Father’s Day, be it with family or friends, take the opportunity to play some fun Father’s Day games. One of our favorites is to collect a few baby pictures and silly mementos from each Dad’s childhood and let everyone guess what belongs to whom. The kids will love discovering funny facts about Dad’s past hobbies and interests.

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The Best Ways to Ask Someone to Prom

At Smilebox we love to hear all of the fun and creative ways that people get asked to prom! We asked around and did some research, and we’ve compiled this list of some of our personal favorite ways to ask your date to prom. With these winners, now all you’ve got to worry about is finding the right tux!

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!

homecoming

Spring Sports Photography Tips

It’s Spring again, and you know what that means. Time to dig out the cleats, fill up the water bottles, cut up the orange slices and head down to the field. But not without your camera! This season, become your team’s photography MVP with Smilebox’s three quick tips to sports photography.

baseball

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.

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