Spring is in the air…and if you have children, that means that Spring Break is approaching…which translates to lots of free time for them, no homework, and maybe a day off or two for you to release, unwind and enjoy a little time with family and friends. A spring break barbecue is the perfect thing.

Easy to Plan

It doesn’t take a lot of planning: the guest list can be simple. Invite that new family down the street you’ve been wanting to meet, the friends who pitched in with the carpool, dinner duties or playdates the last couple of months, or the family who had you over last November with whom you’ve been wanting to reciprocate.

In terms of the menu, the barbecue can be as easy as you want it to be. You provide the main course — whether that’s simple hot dogs, veggie burgers, catfish or something more elaborate, like grilled chicken or ribs. Invite your guests to bring their favorite side dish and beverage. Then fire up the grill in your yard or balcony, or try a nearby community green space, like a park.

Simple Barbecue-Themed Accessories

You won’t need a lot of special decor. Your friendship and hospitality goes the distance here. But if you do want to mark the occasion, consider these personalized options:

Independence Foil-Pressed Guest Towels. Personalize these party papers with up to three lines of text printed in your choice of font, foil ink color and paper color. Motifs include grill, flag and striped star.

Oceanic Napkin — Embossed. More environmentally friendly because it has no ink, and so it’s compostable, this napkin puts the wind in your sails. Personalize with up to three lines in the lettering style of your choice. Motifs include: crab, sand dollar, shell, sea star, palm trees, captain’s wheel, anchor and beach chair. Choice of paper color. Embossed.

Comida Cutting Board. Pork, beef, fish or chicken…what’s your fancy? Our Comida Cutting Board features a whimsical parade of farm animals along with your oversized initial. Choose horizontal or vertical orientation. Made from eco-friendly bamboo. Hand washing recommended.

Altamira Monogram Mason Jars. Splurge on a set of these super cute personalized mason jars. They hit just the right note for a casual gathering like a spring break barbecue.  Customize the 16 ounce mason jar with one of 10 exclusive monograms, including Anthony and Circle. Clear glass. Dishwasher safe.

Coming together over food is the oldest, time-tested way of connecting with others. Nothing fancy is required. Just kindness and a simple meal.

Thank you notes have long been part of standard etiquette, yet they are going out of style in our modern world. Make no mistake: it’s as important as ever to acknowledge someone’s kindness with a thank you note. Handwritten notes are still best, especially since they stand out in a time of digital communication.

The Importance of Handwritten Notes

A handwritten thank you note lets the recipient know that you took the time to focus on him or her. You went to the effort of finding stationery, sitting down and writing a note by hand, and then placing the note in the envelope and writing the address. It takes a lot more time and effort to do this by hand than to quickly send a text, voicemail or email. You also personalize the note by having it in your handwriting rather than sending impersonal typed fonts.

When to Send a Thank You Note

Certain occasions call for thank you notes. Handwritten thank you notes provide an ideal way to thank someone after he or she gives you a gift — whether it’s for your birthday, a holiday, a baby shower or any occasion. You can also send one after you attend an event, as a way to thank someone for contributing to your charitable cause or to acknowledge a professional for giving you a job interview. These are only examples, as you can give a thank you note as a response to any act of kindness or as a courtesy.

How to Write an Effective Thank You Note

Use these tips to create your personalized card:

• Start with the correct greeting. Make sure you spell the person’s name correctly. Determine whether you can write a casual or formal greeting depending on the person and reason you are addressing.
• Immediately thank the person and acknowledge why you’re sending a thank you note. For example, write, “Thank you so much for the birthday gift” or “I appreciate that you took the time to interview me for the position.” If it has been longer than a month since you received the gift or attended the event, include a simple apology for the lateness. A thank you for a job interview should be sent immediately.
• Include details in your note. Personalize the note by listing the gifts, explaining why you’re thankful and/or describing how you will use the gift. For example, you could write, “I really wanted that book and am so thankful you got it for me!” or “I’m excited to use your gift card to get the pair of earrings I was hoping for.”
• End the note politely, adjusting it to how formal or informal it can be. Add a closing line talking about the future, such as how you look forward to touching base with the person again. Thank the person a final time. Then, end the note with your favorite phrase of regards such as, “Sincerely” or “With much love.”

Follow the above tips to send the perfect handwritten thank you note. Anytime you want to acknowledge someone for his or her action or thoughtfulness, writing a note will add a personal touch to show your appreciation.

Discover our collection of personalized thank you notes.

Set an inviting table with luxury Airlaid napkins. The perfect celebratory napkin should be durable and dependable. We guarantee these new line of napkins are both.

Beautifully designed and embellished exactly how you like, Airlaid napkins are a tabletop must-have. Use them for any occasion:

• Weddings
• Anniversary parties
• Special birthdays
• Graduations
• Holidays
• Work banquets
• Quinceaneras
• Bar and Bat Mitzvahs
• Baptisms and First Communions

Printed in gold or silver foil on white paper, these fine beverage napkins feature our most popular designs and lettering styles. Use your monogram, name or a special message all your own. No matter how you personalize these napkins, they’ll perfectly complement your special day.

The foil lettering lends sparkle and sophistication, and is perfectly applied to the paper for a sturdy bond that will never flake or peel.

Airlaid napkins, made in Germany, are wonderfully absorbent, with a smooth, lint-free surface. What’s more, they are also tear-resistant when wet, protecting your surfaces and ensuring a perfect meal.

Unfolding to a little more than two-thirds of a square foot, these one-ply luxury napkins are generously sized and soft to the fingers.  Use them any time you want to add a special touch to an important occasion.

See the collection here. You’re sure to find a design you love.

Choosing a gift can be difficult for certain situations. This is especially the case when you need to select a gift for someone you don’t know well, such as your child’s teacher, or you’re searching for a hostess gift. Not sure what to choose? It’s always appropriate to consider personalized stationery.

Stationery includes decorative paper, notepads or cards — along with the envelopes for sending the notes. You can customize the stationery to fit the occasion and show that you put thought and care into your gift.

When to Give Stationery

Stationery is ideal for specific occasions. You can help people thank their guests for a shower, wedding or other event by giving thank you stationery. This will make the couple’s life easier when they are ready to send thank you notes. A wedding is also an opportune time for personalized stationery, because you can start the newlyweds off right.

You can give stationery to a host or hostess of a party — whether you give it by itself or along with a larger gift. For this occasion, the stationery could help the hosts thank their guests or could simply provide notes for whenever your recipient feels like writing throughout the year.

When someone is going on a trip or moving, stationery is an excellent gift. You can add a return address to celebrate your friend’s new home. Stationery is also ideal for someone young who is going to camp or college.

How to Personalize Your Gift

By personalizing the stationery, you make it a thoughtful, unique gift. Stationery can be individualized in a variety of ways. First, you can choose designs and paper that fit the occasion. Select colors that match a bride’s wedding theme, choose a design with the recipient’s favorite flower, or pick cards decorated with different countries for a traveler. Once you have chosen the stationery, you are able to customize it with the person’s name and even a greeting. For example, you could give paper with letterhead that says, “From the [ ] family.” Or you could tailor the stationery to an event. For instance, help a couple thank people for their wedding gifts by customizing cards with a saying such as, “We were so happy to share our special day with you.”

What could be better than the gift of personalized stationery when you attend an event or want to encourage someone to keep in touch? Fine stationery makes an impression, while personalizing it shows you put the extra time and attention into your gift.

See our collection of personalized stationery for all occasions:

Personalized Cards

Personalized Notes

If you are ringing in the New Year with a sparkly new engagement ring on your finger, congratulations! A holiday proposal is so romantic. We hope you are enjoying showing off your new ring…and your beautiful new commitment to one another.  Before you know it, your days and weeks will be filled with planning. And of course, you’ll be looking for wedding invitations. Which is wonderful, because now your favorite personalized stationery, napkin and gift company offers wedding and special event invitations.

Wedding Invitations in Days, Not Weeks

Now you can create beautiful wedding invitations in minutes and they will ship the very next day. There are 10 invitations and coordinating response cards to choose from. Check them out. We hope you’ll fall in luuuuurve with them. Whether you prefer a woodsy aesthetic, shabby chic or oh-so-elegantly-traditional, you’ll find an invitation that expresses your beautiful, perfect relationship/

You can immediately preview your creations, so you can play to your heart’s content with the 20 lettering style choices, 11 raised-ink color choices, paper color options, and solid envelope lining choices to discover the combination you prefer.

Lettering Styles

You can use one lettering style, or combine two. There are no hard and fast rules…it’s really up to what pleases your eye. But here are some rules of thumb.

Opposites attract: Pairing something round and flowy for the names with something simple and easy to read always works.

Easy does it: Avoid using a hard-to-read font for large blocks of text. That can be frustrating and …oops! Send Uncle Harvey and Aunt Noreen to the wrong address.

Words to Wow Them 

If you know how you want to word your invitation, wonderful! You have up to 15 lines to express your joy and welcome your guests. Not sure what to say? Never fear…sample invitation text is available. Click on the ‘Insert sample text’ link and… voila… we’ll automatically supply it.

Get started now in creating the wedding invitations of your dreams. 

Consider the bounty of your life on National Thank You Note Day…December 26

We’ve opened our gifts. The guests have gone home. The year 2018 is about to end. This is a day to consider the bounty of our lives. And then it’s time to start writing.

It’s time to say thank you for the gifts we’ve received during the holidays: homemade cookies from our niece, that bottle of wine from our neighbor. For the people who helped us or engaged with us in a meaningful way in 2018. Maybe it was a teacher who helped us learn a new skill, a counselor who helped us through a difficult week, a boss who expressed kindness or special consideration, or a friend who we trust to the ends of the earth. 

We can jot a line or two, or write a longer letter. But the important thing is that we do it. This social gesture can feel small or meaningless, but it is actually part of the glue that holds together a family, friendship or community. We lead such busy lives and it’s easy to forget to stop and express gratitude for the richness we enjoy…if not in money, then in the things that really matter: our relationships with others. 

Writing a thank you note isn’t complicated, and there are many places online you can find hints and tips:

The Emily Post Institute

Forbes Magazine

Real Simple Magazine

And, you can see these tips we’ve written in past blogs.

Here are some of our top-selling writing papers for beautiful thank you note writing.
 

Celebrate life’s milestones with personalized holiday gifts.

Life happens fast. And it can feel complicated at times. But some decisions are easy, like celebrating life’s milestones with personalized gifts. Baby’s first Christmas. Our first home together. A beautiful new marriage. Someone dear who passed this year. These are all important touchstones in our lives, and there are all manner of ways to mark them.

A holiday gift is such a wonderful opportunity to do so. And a personalized gift is all the more meaningful.

Here are some of our favorite personalized gifts to celebrate life’s milestones:

Baby Milestones

Baby’s First Christmas Ornament   Cherish your precious little one’s first Christmas with this sweet ornament. It’s a colorful and thoughtful memento the family will enjoy for years. Include a name and year, and we will print it along with adorable baby booty and Christmas artwork onto jade glass.

Little Miss Muffet Picture Frame  Remember baby’s first glorious day with a personalized Little Miss Muffet Picture Frame. We can engrave the baby’s first name, middle name, last name, date, weight and time of birth. You can include a 4″ x 6″ photograph.

Wedding Milestones

Mr and Mrs Cork Coaster  Personalized to remember your special day, the Mr. and Mrs. Cork Coaster includes a set of six, absorbent cork coasters in 5 popular lettering styles. Includes the option of two lines of text below the “Mr and Mrs” artwork.

Established Cutting Board Celebrate how you felt the day you first moved into your new home and serve up the fun with this eco-friendly, personalized bamboo cutting board. Features a single initial and three lines of text, which are laser engraved into the wood. Makes the perfect gift for a wedding, housewarming, anniversary and more.

In Memory Of Milestones

Butterfly Kisses Memorial Frame   Remember a loved one who has passed with this memorial frame that accommodates a 4″ x 6″ photograph.

Pet Memorial Glass Ornament  Pets are a special part of our lives. We cherish them forever. This ornament features your pet’s name and memorial dates or special phrase.

A beautifully decorated tree evokes cozy feelings and Christmas cheer. As you peruse each ornament, warm memories arise of specific moments in the life of your family. Discover new keepsake ornaments that can help you remember each of life’s precious moments. We’ve added a new spin on our glass keepsake ornaments: four-color printing.

Featuring charming designs printed in full color on clear jade glass, the new printed ornament collection will stand the test of time. Whether you want to celebrate your first home together, a new baby, or a cherished pet, you’ll find a design that works for you.

The full color designs feature cheerful artwork printed in full color. From snowflakes to Santa, from home to happy birthday, the printed keepsake ornaments are not only perfect for Christmas gifts, they also make beautiful year-round gifts. Consider bringing one to every party you go to this season…your hosts will be delighted and touched.

Printed keepsake ornaments offer plenty of space to add a short message, dates or names. Whether they hang on a tree or grace a dining table as place holders or adorn a gift as a gift tag, these ornaments do the trick.

Each ornament includes a silver ribbon for hanging, along with a black velvet pouch for storing. Create your ornament in minutes, and it will ship tomorrow for free.

Themes include:

• Holiday
• Teacher appreciation
• Sports
• Baby’s first Christmas
• Pets
• New home
• Wedding
• Monograms
• Sisters
• In memory of
• Music

See the full collection of printed and engraved keepsake ornaments here.

Unconditional Love Picture Frame

Introducing the newest additions to Giftsin24’s personalized picture frame collection: printed frames.

These frames are made from the same, beautiful solid wood that all of our engraved picture frames are made from. But there’s a new twist: We create the personalization with shiny, colorful ink, not a laser.

Four-Color Fun

Available in 23 designs, these four-color frames bring your photographs to life. Vivid ink give these designs a bright and modern vibe. Plus, you’ll note the sharp, precise printing from our state-of-the-art presses. Our quality is always 100% perfect, and backed up by our Greatness Guarantee.

Highland Picture Frame

From children’s themes to sports, from pets to patriotism, from school to love/weddings, you’ll find a design that’s right for your most cherished photographs.

Besides adding color, these new printed picture frames offer a smooth surface that’s easy to clean. The ink is shiny and crisply printed and contrasts beautifully with the natural wood finish of the picture frames.

Gorgeous Gift Ideas

Personalized picture frames make wonderful gifts. Your friends and family will be deeply touched when they see a cherished photograph encased in a beautifully personalized picture frame. They’ll give your gift pride of place in their home, whether on a mantle, table top, shelf or piano.

Each frame includes an easel back for standing, d-rings for hanging on a wall, and glass to protect your photograph. The opening accommodates a 4-inch by 6-inch photograph.

Looking for gift ideas for the holidays, birthdays, children’s birthdays, new babies, weddings and more? Explore the entire collection of engraved and printed picture frames here.

New for holiday 2018: Add a grosgrain ribbon to any notepad.

As the holidays roll around, you’re probably looking for gift ideas for the writers in your life. The good news is, there are many options at Giftsin24! Whether you’re talking about a brother-in-law who works professionally as a book editor or a co-worker who’s known for sending thoughtful notes, anyone who values the written word is sure to appreciate a set of custom-made cards, notepads or stationery.

Save yourself some stress this season, and get inspired with these fantastic holiday personalized gifts for writers:

Personalized stationery

Jotting notes to a pen pal, friend or family member is instantly more fun when it’s on personalized stationery that bears your name and style. For the writer on your gift list, personalize a set with that individual’s initials or name. At Giftsin24, we offer a wide range of personalized stationery gifts, from paper to cards. You can go modern or traditional in style, and all notecards include envelopes. Browse our catalog to find features such as crisp embossing, rich raised ink, colorful borders and more — all of which help you customize the paper to your recipient.

Custom notepads

Most people reach for a pad of paper from time to time — whether it’s to jot down a grocery list, write a to-do list, or create a quick note for a friend. Treat your loved ones to personalized notepads with their names, initials or another design. Every time they use their notepads, they’ll think of you. Even better, Giftsin24 has all kinds of customized notepads available, so it’s easy to find a great solution for anyone.

Monogrammed cards

Another excellent idea for gifts for writers is to create personalized cards. Choose from bordered cards, apex cards, raised print cards, embossed cards and more — any of which may be monogrammed or personalized with the recipient’s name. We offer such a wide selection of designs to make it easy to find a look and feel that’s perfect for anyone.

What writer wouldn’t love to receive the thoughtful gift of stationery, notepads or cards personalized with his or her name? In today’s on-the-go society, awash in digital communication, handwritten notes are more meaningful than ever. Surprise someone with the perfect present this year, and order custom paper catered to his or her tastes!