Preserve Easter Memories With Smilebox

What’s your Easter tale? From celebratory brunches and family church gatherings to Easter egg hunts and bunnies, tell your family’s Easter story in this timeless Easter slideshow.  A great way to chronicle a specific time or age in your family’s life, preserve your Easter memories for years to come. Use this beautiful slideshow to reflect back on Easters past, or send out to far away relatives who could only be with you in spirit this year.

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

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St. Patrick’s Day Fun!

St. Patrick’s Day is coming up on March 17th! Join in on the fun and celebrate with a few fun facts about the greenest holiday of them all!

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! :)
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Share Mardi Gras Memories with Smilebox!

Break out the green, purple and gold and get ready for Mardi Gras! Whether you go all out in New Orleans or celebrate the beginning of carnival season with a Cajun meal at home, make your Mardi Gras memories come alive in this colorful slideshow. A great way to showcase your photos of quirky costumes and jubilant parades,  this bright slideshow allows you to choose three different songs and offers customizable animation options. Preview this design below!

Get started on your own Mardi Gras Slideshow.

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Celebrate the Oscars in Style with Smilebox!

Pull out the red carpet, your favorite Hollywood attire and a few swanky cocktails and get ready to watch Anne Hathaway and James Franco host the 2011 Oscars in style! This year, invite friends over for an Academy Award viewing bash just as glamorous as the real thing. Check out Smilebox’s tips to hosting an unforgettable Oscars soiree!

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!

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It’s Super Bowl Time!

Down, set, hike… it’s Super Bowl time! Whether you’re a diehard Packers or Steelers fan, or you’re just in it for the halftime show and the year’s best commercials, there’s no better excuse than the Super Bowl to throw a great party. From food prep to decorations to activities, Smilebox brings you three quick inspirational tips to make your Super Bowl party a touchdown success. So grab your friends, your enthusiasm and some half-time snacks and get ready to cheer on your team to victory!

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!

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