Stationery Greetings

Here are the ways to create an unforgettable bridal shower invitation.

1. Use pop-ups – Hey, it’s not just for kids and pre-teens. Pop-ups make a nice statement and a pleasant surprise. Use an ordinary paper-folded pop-up or a wire pop-up that springs into position when the envelope or invitation is opened. Pick an element taken from your shower theme such as a pair of hearts, a church, wedding bells, flowers or a pair of doves for the pop-up.

2. Ticket to the shower – Why not make give your bridal shower invitation a different flavor by making it look like a concert or theater ticket? Print the title of your invite on one side and include the details (place, time and dress code) on the other side. When guests come in through the door, assign a ‘ticket taker’ to tear a portion of the invitation and let the guests keep the rest.

3. Use natural materials – Go green with your bridal shower invitation and use recycled paper and bio-degradable materials. Use pressed leaves and dried flowers to decorate the invitation. To make a nice-smelling card, use dried fragrant flowers like roses, gardenias and lavender.

4. A sparkling affair – Why not include rhinestones in your bridal shower invitation? Rhinestones shine and sparkle even when used in small quantities. If your invitation has a drawing of a rose in front, glue a rhinestone in the middle or on one of the petals. Rhinestone can also shine inside an illustration of a martini glass or between two hearts.

5. Go handmade – Handmade bridal invitation cards are a smart and beautiful way to send out invites to a special occasion. Since they are handmade, no two invitations are exactly alike. Plus, you can also customize to include your favorite design elements.

6. The scent of things to come – Want to make your bridal shower invitation memorable? Using your favorite cologne or perfume, lightly spray or dab the invitation before sealing it in an envelope. The scent will stay on for several days and will still smell as good even if your guest opened it a few days later.

Anthony Lee
http://www.articlesbase.com/weddings-articles/bridal-shower-6-ways-to-create-an-unforgettable-invitation-127529.html

Planning for the best bridal shower requires consideration of the details that will make everything perfect. The little things like the invitations and the shower favors will help a lot in impressing to the guests and to the bride how well you prepared.

Thus, you may want to seriously consider the favors that you will give away. You want to be something that your guests can treasure. This will remind them also of the special day that they spent with the bride.

Bridal shower favors must be cute, fun and unique. These will serve as your tokens to the guests for showing up to the bridal shower. The more special favors can be handed out as gifts to those who won the bridal shower games.

If you are still clueless on what to do with the favors, here are some bridal shower favor ideas that you can incorporate in your plans.

1. Relate It to the Theme

There are endless choices when thinking of bridal shower favors. However, to be safe with your pick, you can stick to the ones that will incorporate the theme of the whole bridal shower event. Doing it this way will help you come up with a coherent party event. They can easily associate the favor with the bridal shower.

2. Small Remembrance

It is also nice to give a small remembrance to the guests. Your guests are mostly intimate with the bride. Thus, they will appreciate small memorabilia of the bride. This can include personalized stuff like a shirt or even friendship rings.

3. Sweet Favors

You may also want to be sweet with your gift choices. A special chocolate or candy wrapped in a personalized foil is one good treat that guests will love to bring home with them. Be adventurous in your choices for the candy bar. Choose from the wide range of candy bars like Belgian or dark. You can have almonds or even bubblegum.

Conclusion

Bridal shower favors are stuff that the guests will take home with them. Be sure to come up with bright ideas to make the event special for the bride.

Anthony Lee
http://www.articlesbase.com/weddings-articles/3-bridal-shower-favor-ideas-139862.html

Just write "open house". I have seen plenty of invites that say that.

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Choosing Wedding and Bridal shower invitations can be the first step in getting married because these invitation will be a window into what your wedding day will be like. You want the friends and family who will be attending these events to get a insight into what the theme of your wedding will be. You should make sure that the invitations reflect what type of person you and the groom are. An example of this is if you are an environmentally friendly type of person then you will want the paper you use to be recycled.

Learn How to Get : Perfect Wedding Invitations

When choosing the paper and colors you may want to have them the same as the color theme of the wedding itself. When choosing the invitations it can be a great way for you to show your guest what they can look forward to at the wedding and the reception.

Learn how to get Free : Wedding Advice

You will need to consider your budget when choosing invitations because they can get very pricey. You want to go to the printer or store and sit down with them and look at all the different price options that are available to you. Next you will narrow down your options by what you can afford.

If you are on a tight budget then you may want to try some of the self printing invitations that are available to you. Even if you use them for the bridal shower only you can have a big savings. It is easy to find invitations that look really professional but it is a good idea to try to use a laser printer when printing them so that you can have the best look possible.

Bryan Burbank
http://www.articlesbase.com/weddings-articles/learn-how-to-choose-wedding-invitations-and-bridal-shower-invitations-522681.html

Ok!
「男の子　です。」
"otoko no ko desu!!"

otoko=man
ko= a child

*pronunciation hint: read as they are.

Good Luck!!

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Christmas is special. Christmas is magic. It is a time of warmth and peace. A season when we can revel unashamedly in nostalgia and tradition. The cynics amongst us have described Christmas as a period of preparations, invitations, anticipations, relations, frustrations, prostration and recuperation! But to most of us it is, above all else, a time of celebration. It always has been, and let’s hope it always will be.

In the Christian world Christmas is celebrated in remembrance of the birth of Christ but many of the traditions associated with a modern Christmas stem back many thousands of years.

In 440AD at a meeting held on December 25, the leaders of the Christian Church fixed that day as the date to observe the birth of Christ. It is literally the ‘Mass of Christ’. Yet, strangely, the rituals associated with this religious festival are of pagan origin and were celebrated long before Christ was born.

Since time immemorial it has been in Man’s nature to worship something, and because all life seems so dependent on that burning ball of fire in the sky, so vital to the success of harvests, early man went down on his knees and prayed to the sun. In the winter, the strength of the sun being less, it became necessary to slaughter animals for food, and these became the first religious sacrifices.

In December, the annual rebirth of the sun turned into an important festival, and many traditions and rituals became established.

In Rome on 25 December the Dies Natalis Invicti Solis was celebrated – the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun – sacred to Mithras, the god of light, and to Attis, the Phrygian sun god. The festival was known as the Saturnalia and was a period of celebrations from 17 December right through to the New Year (Kalends) when the Latins rejoiced that the days were getting longer and the power of the sun stronger.

It was a time of real merrymaking, when bonfires were lit, homes were decorated with special greenery, people gave each other presents, and there were lots of fun and games. We’re not talking about blowing up balloons and playing computer games, but an early form of charades in which slaves dressed up as their masters, and lords pretended to be servants, and it is said that people danced through the streets wearing very little except some blackened faces and a smile!

These pre-Christian celebrations didn’t just take place in ancient Rome, for at the same time in Europe the winter solstice, when the sun is farthest from the equator and at the point when it appears to be returning, became known as the Festival of Yule. In Britain, France (Gaul), Germany, Denmark, Sweden and especially Norway, the Yule or ‘Juul’ celebrations became the highlight of the year.

Yule logs and candles were lit to the gods Odin and Thor, houses were decorated with evergreens, Yule food and drink were prepared, and mistletoe was ceremoniously cut. Although over two thousand years old, the Yule traditions are still continued today.

In Britain, the Druids celebrated the Festival of Nolagh and it is thought by some that Stonehenge was built as a temple to the sun, constructed in such a way that it cast shadows wherever the sun happened to be.

In fact, practically every country in the world, from China to India, from South America to the Middle East, held celebrations at this time of year.

In Greece it was the birthday of Hercules, Ceres and Bacchus (an excuse to indulge in the grape) while the Egyptians claimed it as the feast day of Horus. But it was not until the fourth century that Pope Julius I decided that 25 December should be celebrated as the birthday of Jesus Christ, and Christmas as we know it began.

We now celebrate Christmas every year, but with a little bit of pagan tradition: a Norse Yule log; Druid candles; a drop of wine from Saturnalia; and a feast from the winter solstice. The evergreens and mistletoe still decorate our homes, and each year we continue to give presents to those we love. That’s the magic of Christmas.

Sarah Jayne Anderson
http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/a-brief-history-of-christmas-54698.html

Parties for boys or for girls in the grades are not too hard to plan but woe to the mother of boy and girl twins. Her job to plan a birthday party for her Jack and Jill that will please them both takes a bit of doing.

Mrs. Grady faced this problem. She wanted a gay, happy party where the boys wouldn’t spend their time teasing the girls, and the girls wouldn’t tauntingly sing, Jackie got a girl friend, Jackie got a girl friend. Her solution was a clown party. All youngsters love a clown, and the twins were enthusiastic while they cut invitations in the shape of a clown’s hat on which they printed:

A clowning we will go At Jack and Jill Friday after school. When the boys and girls arrived bubbling with joy of anticipation, they were shown a large gay-looking carton which the twins had decorated with clown faces and bright-colored balls. Their curiosity was intense and they were delighted to discover in this box a supply of wide ruffs of gay-colored crepe paper and tall white crepe paper hats with bright tassels one for each guest.

Dressed in this attire each youngster caught the gay spirit of clowndom, and the party was on its way. The young clowns were seated around card tables on which was a supply of paper coffee cups with handles, some cone shaped paper cups, and paper baking cups. Also paste, crayons and scissors. They were also shown a completed puppet clown for a pattern and each one was asked to make one. The pattern had a face drawn on the coffee cup with an extra handle added for the other ear. The cone shaped paper cup decorated with many colored dots made the hat. The pleated paper baking cup made the ruff.

The children were enthusiastic over their creations. They discovered that by sticking a hand in the paper cup the clowns could be made to turn their heads, bow and do other clownish maneuvers. The boy and girl whose clowns were voted the funniest became captains for the next game.

After this bit of quiet activity the youngsters were ready for some exercise. Jack and Jill took their friends outdoors for a hoop-jumping contest. For this contest the twins had prepared beforehand a number of large hoops made of stout wire and covered with red tissue paper.

The captains chose their teams so that even numbers were on each side. There was a hoop for each guest. The captains held the hoop tilted so that a child running from a given goal could easily jump through the hoop bursting the paper covering as he did so. The side going through the line first was declared the winner. This was a very exciting game, not too difficult but loads of fun.

At the end of this game the hoops were used for a hoop rolling contest. The boys competed against the girls. Each member of the winning team was given two bags of popcorn, one of which he gave to a member of the losing team.

Teen-age kids are very much concern about their looks and appearance. They always have a desire to look good at the best they can. This party provides them a chance to change their appearance. That is why a Clown party is always at the top.

Mitch Johnson
http://www.articlesbase.com/art-and-entertainment-articles/jack-and-jill-clown-party-53495.html

I was just invited to a baby shower for someone I don’t know. It’s a relative of an acquaintance of mine. The invitation said I realize you don’t know “Jane” (the lady having the baby) but I hope you can make it to the shower.

I don’t want to go because I don’t know this person and I am not really good friends with the lady that sent me the invitation. How do I turn it down politely?

JUst simply say you have other plans that day. I would not send a gift..it was some what rude to send you a invite.

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Many of you may be aware of a move by organizations to refocus
their efforts into B2B strategies and are pulling back from
their B2C strategies. This is largely because it is perceived to
be safer, is more lucrative in the short-term, and more easily
justified to the bean counters.

I can assure you that true B2C is not dead. It just means that
those who stay will be ahead of the game when the sheep wander
back.

It is important to point out, though, the differences between
B2C and B2B are not that great. It is just the technology and
the environment of those you are targeting that is different…
after all, people in the business sector are still consumers.

Firstly, what is a business to consumer online business? It is
providing an online service to your end-user. Ideally, it
shouldn’t mirror what the offline business is doing but,
importantly, it should leverage and support the business’s
offline activities.

The successful online business does not work in isolation from
the offline business. It reinforces branding, drives sales, but
is not solely revenue driven. A true B2C business will have
online and offline elements.

Firstly, develop a strategy. Within that strategy it is critical
to determine what the organization’s expectations are up front.

Is the online business primarily a…

• Revenue generator • Marketing
tool for an offline business or a… • Brand
builder to use as leverage for offline revenue
generation

Once you are ready to build your online business, there are
basic elements to consider ensuring it stays relevant, current
and working for you.

The successful online business includes…

• Relevant and current information. People will
not keep coming back if there isn’t something new or useful to
them.

• Attractive look and feel. It is no different
to the offline world. People expect to read attractive magazines
and enter well-designed outlets.

• Simple user editing capabilities. Have simple
user editing capabilities. This allows you to make simple
content changes to the site without having to pay a web
developer to do it.

• Low ongoing maintenance costs. Have low
ongoing maintenance costs. Often the cost of developing the
business is eventually exceeded by maintenance costs.

• Adaptability. Allow for further content
development and editing. This is critical to ensure the online
business is always dynamic, allowing for changes in your
business and industry.

• Consideration for your audiences technical
infrastructure. Consider your audience’s technical
infrastructure. There is no point having mind-blowing graphics
and content if it takes your visitors 15 minutes to download.
They will lose interest and go elsewhere. The whole point of
going online is the convenience and speed factor.

• Getting the .com. Think globally and get the
..com if you can. The Internet makes the world very small. It
offers a virtual level playing field, which means anyone can do
business on the web, regardless of size… however, ‘.com’ gives
the impression of ‘beyond Australia’.

You’ve built your online business, and need to generate traffic.
But, you don’t have a huge budget.

What do you do?

Public Relations If done well, Public relations
can assist with the branding process, build credibility and
drive traffic to your site. It is a very cost effective way of
raising the profile and credibility of your online business.

Joint Ventures This is more than just link
swapping with other sites. The objective is to develop an
integrated promotional campaign with a site bigger than you so
that you receive a higher level of traffic. However, it is very
difficult to negotiate with a business that doesn’t need you,
and if you don’t have money to burn.

The alternative is to spot an emerging online business. We have
struck gold on a couple of occasions where the sites we have
negotiated joint ventures with now have traffic two to three
times more than our business.

To spot an emerging business you need to do your research. And
this can be done part of the way by monitoring sites like
Hitwise which rates the performance of sites based on traffic.

Permission Marketing Direct e-mail is more than
just forwarding emails to your customers. The onslaught of SPAM,
which is sending unsolicited emails to people, means that
consumers are very sensitive to what is being forwarded to them.
This has seen the emergence of Permission Marketing. More of
this in the coming weeks.

Search Engines Register with search engines.
The only cost involved here is your time. As outlined in
previous editions of ‘Directions’, if you apply a generic
branding strategy, you will see even greater returns from search
engines.

Permission Marketing 100 years ago, the world
was populated by small businesses. If you owned a cheese shop
and received a new batch, you would notify the customers you
believed would be interested. It was very much a one-on-one
relationship.

Advertising today = Interruption Marketing The
emergence of national and multi-national organizations,
competitive forces and technology in the 50s and 60s saw the
rise of advertising, and the end of the personal touch.
Traditional advertising is often referred to as interruption
marketing.

Permission Marketing = 1 on 1 and 2 way
Permission marketing gives customers something in return for
providing information about themselves. And as we all know,
information is a powerful asset, as we try to re-establish the
closeness we had 100 years ago with our customers.

Information for information The sorts of things
an online business might offer in exchange for information
includes:

• Information on new products and services based on a customer’s
profile • Birthday and Christmas greetings • Newsletters •
invitations to special events • Discounts and special offers

Opt out clause The critical element of
permission marketing is the customer always has the option of
opting out.

What to look out for…?

Plan for success Firstly, plan for success.
This may sound strange but you need to ensure your ISP and IT
infrastructure are equipped to deal with large levels of traffic.

We used to use a small Internet Service Provider, but found that
it was too slow and could not handle the level of traffic that
our online businesses were generating.

It was taking forever for pages to download… which meant
visitors gave up and moved on… which meant fewer pages were
being viewed… which meant that the level of traffic rated lower.

At the end of the day, traffic is an evaluation criteria, and
you don’t want external elements like your ISP affecting this.

We eventually moved our hosting boxes to a better ISP. Far more
people were able to access our businesses, but our own IT
infrastructure was unable to cope. Our servers were falling over
every 8 hours. We are currently in the process of upgrading
these servers.

Justifying the effort After building your
online business and establishing your marketing program, you
will be expected to analyze the performance of the business
before moving onto the next stage. There are many products on
the market that can help you with this.

The best strategy is a combination of analysis tools and online
rating sites. The analysis tools allows you to measure the
health and popularity of your business, which URL or web-address
visitors use to try to get to your business, and which pages are
the most successful. One of the best personal analysis tools is
Web trends.

The online rating sites, like Hitwise, illustrate how you are
performing compared to other online businesses, and alerts you
to any PR activity in the marketplace because of the spike in
traffic. The statistics shown in our weekly newsletter are from
Hitwise and are a great measure for the ‘health’ of our
incubator web sites.

Invest in Security The other thing to look out
for is hackers. We had a mail bomb planted from an external
source that sent out 40 emails per second with one of our online
business’s name attached. This was disastrous because the
content of the email was highly suspect. We were unable to shut
down the bomb for 20 hours even with the assistance of the
Federal Police and Telecommunications Ombudsman. There is a
limit to what you can do, but it is important that every effort
is put into security

Tim Giles
http://www.articlesbase.com/sem-articles/take-back-control-of-your-site-2456.html

The couple lives 8 hours away and will only be in town this one weekend.

Also, a lot of the family did not get to go to the wedding so this will be their chance to meet the bride/mom-to-be for the first time.

I appreciate all your suggestions.

Thank you!

Word the invitation just like you would any other baby shower invitation. If the guest are close enough to the couple to invite, then they already know their circumstances.

Personally, I wouldn't mention a register, but for some folks doing so is the norm. Do whatever the family and friends are accustomed to as far as that is concerned.

You might somehow word the RSVP part of the invite in a way that lets people know it's VERY important that you get a head count before the day of the shower otherwise you won't hear from anyone and won't have any idea what to prepare for as far as refreshments are concerned. Good luck!

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