Hello party planners, One of the most common questions or suggestions we get from our customers is to have a preview system for personalized items such as invitations.We spent allot of time on this asking you, our customers what features are important, as well as how theses features should look and work so that they will be as intuitive and easy to use as possible. So, you asked and commented and we are happy to deliver what we feel is a fast and easy way to set up and preview any of our personalized invitations!
Our brand new preview system is now fully live and is currently available for any of our personalized invitations and will soon be rolled out to ALL of our personalized products!Our new customize and preview system will allow our customer to do the following in real time:
Adjust the text format so it is just the way YOU want it!
Choose text size
Choose text color
Choose text style
Choose text alignment and spacing
What this means to the customer is:
Now it is TRULY PERSONALIZED by the customer!!!
Quicker processing time
Faster Shipping
Better visualization of the whole personalized invitation
We can now offer Better Pricing to our customers!
We wanted to pass the savings of order efficiency on to our customers so we are also really excited to offer new lower invitation pricing with quantity discounts as low as $1.09 per invitation!So stop by the Candles and Favors website and try out our new customization and preview system and let us know what you think!
If you are scrambling for the perfect February Baby Shower Themewhy not use what comes to mind, Valentines and Cupid! Last time I checked Cupid is a little Cherub and in many depictions a baby which sounds like a no brainier to me.
If you are scrambling to pick the perfect baby shower theme for the month of February and the mommy to be hasn't given you any input why not consider our Cupid baby Shower Theme. The Cupid baby shower theme offers our cut little baby dressed as a little cherub for St. Valentines Day and is available in everything you will need to throw a perfect baby shower such as our custom baby shower invites, baby shower candle favors and baby shower decorations.
Our Valentines Baby shower theme is really fun and different for a baby shower being held in February that your guests will love, it gives you lots of fun choices for food to offer your guests such as red velvet cake or cupcakes as a dessert option! Actually anything “Sweet” should work with this theme! A great baby shower favor would be to give sweet heart candies to each guest either wrapped in an organza bag or cello bag with a personalized tag and some red ribbon or why not put them in a personalized Cupid themed baby shower mint tin?
We would love to offer our guests more ideas for this theme what are your ideas for food, decorations and favors?Help your fellow party planners, let us know below!!!
The Candles and Favors team has selected the first Review and Win! customer and the winner is Isabel B. She has just won a $50 Amazon.com gift card. Congratulations Isabel!!!!The next drawing will be held on 02/01/12 so don't forget to review your ordered products, each and every product review is one (1) entry!!!
If your child is one of the estimated 2,500,000 who have birthdays (numbers taken from www.lifeslittlemysteries.com) during the winter months you may be wondering what type of party to throw he or she and where to have it. While their are plenty of fun and cool birthday party themes out there (just ask your child) Mother Nature won’t always cooperate especially during the winter. Cold weather can really put a damper on a birthday party, I know this from experience as I am a January baby and my youngest daughter is a New Years Eve baby! The best option from October to March in most cases would be an indoor child's birthday party and we thought we would give you some ideas as to what themes have been really popular at Candle & Favors, click the following link to take a look at all of our children's birthday party themes.
1. Bowling Birthday Party
The bowling birhday party theme is one of our most popular birthday themes. Bowling birthday parties are a “tried and true” favorite that has been around for a long time that will work for both girls or boys. Nothing is more fun than a day of bowling with good friends and family. Most bowling lanes offer good deals for birthday parties that include food and a few lanes to minimize the wait for the kids, many offer bowling ball ramps and gutter rails for the little ones so they get some strikes. One thing that we thought was really cool the last time we were at such a birthday party was that the birthday girl got to keep a bowling pin signed by all the invited guests which is a pretty great keep sake!2. Movie Night Birthday Party
Our second most popular kids birthday party theme to date is the movie birthday party, what is more fun on a cold and rainy day or night than to curl up eat some popcorn and watch a good movie? The movie birthday party is quite versatile in that it can be at home or a movie theater. With the recent advances in home electronics picture quality and sound are almost as good as going to the theater, and I happen to like microwave popcorn allot! If you would prefer the real movie experience many theaters offer birthday packages and have a location to have lunch, cake and some will even announce the birthday boy or girl on the silver screen before the movie starts so they can get their 60 seconds of fame.3. Pottery Painting Birthday Party
The Pottery Painting Birthday Party can be for girls or boys but seems to be more popular for little girls. A fast search on google will show results for your local pottery places where you can create a variety of items that your invited guests will have for years to come. The idea here in case you have not herd of this is that your guests will get to choose from a selection of “unfinished” items such as plates, mugs and figurines that can be painted with a mind numbing selection of paint colors. Once they are painted they are left in the very capable hands of the people that work there to be glazed and fired in kilns. You guests will be able to pick their masterpieces up usually in about a week. One thing that I think is cool here is that the piece of art that your guests created are truly a one of a kind birthday party favor!4. Video Game Birthday Party
Who doesn’t love video games? While you may think this is totally for boys, girls can hold their own in this theme as well! As mentioned above the advances is home electronics make this type of birthday party really easy to throw at home. Most households have at least one game console if not two. The one issue we can see here would be kids waiting to play as most game support no more that four players depending on the game and the amount of game controllers you have.You could also offer traditional party games as fill ins bit a better option if you are sold on this party theme would be to find a local place that holds LAN parties or video game parties. If your budget allows a search on Google will find you places that bring the gaming to you in the form of an 18 wheel truck loaded with everything you could imagine! Is it wrong for a 42 year old father of two to have a party like this? If my wife is reading my birthday is coming up! One thing to keep in mind is the type of games you will offer at the birthday party, weather it be Mario or the Master Chief you may want to get parents consent so that you stay out of trouble for having violent games.5. Ice Skating Birthday Party
No matter where you live you can find at least one ice skating rink. This is birthday party theme that works with either girls or boys and is sure to be a hit. Most local ice skating rinks offer birthday party packages with fun music to skate to and some even have some fun birthday party games such as tricycle racing on the ice and even snow play. If ice isn’t your child's thing don’t rule out roller skating it is just as much fun!6. Laser Tag Birthday Party
This is my personal favorite birthday party theme! What could be more fun than to have everyone running around being active. For added fun you can also turn this in to a competition, set up teams or the player with the most wins can get a special prize. If you have never been to one of these places it is quite a site! Usually very dark, space like with black lights so that things glow with lots of tactical locations where you can pick off your prey with a laser beam of light. Everyone gets some sort of vest that has a sensor that you try to shoot and your standard regulation laser riffle that you will use to defend yourself. I guarantee by the end of your birthday party the parents will be playing too!The above is a list was taken from the most popular birthday party invites and favors that we sell during the winter months, if you have a great idea or think we missed something we would love to hear from you! If you liked this post or have a suggestion please leave us a comment, like, tweet or share this post!Thanks for reading and happy party planning!!!!!Nick
The Candles & Favors creative team is constantly working on interesting and unique baby shower themes. We continually speak with our customers, follow the newest themes and trends so that we can offer you our customers new one of a kind themes as well as reinvent old ones.
One of the tried and true classic shower themes has always been the "A Star Is Born" theme. When one researches this theme you will usually find that the focus is the baby on the way with a sort of nursery rhyme feel featuring cute cuddly stars and moons. We got to thinking about this theme and because our team thinks rally different and most are from Los Angeles, Hollywood came to mind!
So we are proud to announce our brand new Star is Born Hollywood Baby Shower Theme. This theme is everything you could want for a Red Carpet Inspired Baby Shower right down to the velvet rope! We have taken our adorable babies and made them the center of attention on the red carpet at what could be the babies big premier. Our famously cute baby is available in both boy and girl and is offered in multiple ethnicities after all America is a melting pot. Our bouncing baby star is ready for the flashes from the Pavarotti's cameras with a pair of trendy sunglasses and lets face it just to look cool! The new baby diva knows how to accessorize with pink sunglasses and a voluptuous pink boa only fitting for a star studded event.
Our brand new Hollywood Baby Shower Theme is offered in all of our popular products including our world famous hand poured candle favors so you can really complete your baby shower.
Here are some fun ideas to really bring your Red Carpet Baby shower together:
Decorations:
Of course we offer our star is born baby shower design on our cost effective banners and posters but you may also want to consider some old fashioned movie posters or even a picture of the Hollywood Sign. Another functional and unique table top decoration would be a one tier Hollywood baby shower diaper cake on each table as a centerpiece. For an easy table centerpiece that won't take much time or break the budget order extra invitations and staple three together in a star formation so that they stand up on the table. You can supplement all of this with Red, Black, Silver and gold balloons and streamer for extra pizzaz.
Food:
You can offer the usual food at your baby shower or take it up a notch and have some fancy high end finger foods after all this is a Hollywood premier! For desert cupcakes are all the rage so why not bake your own cupcakes and add either our matching cupcake wrappers and for an easy fun twist order our 1.67" personalized Hollywood baby shower stickers or our matching personalized address labels and make cupcake signs with tooth picks.
Hollywood Inspired Games:
The first game that comes to mind when you think about anything Hollywood would be a good old game of scene it, the game where you watch a scene from a movie and guess what movie it is. Another fun idea to really get your guests thinking would be a game of guess the baby star. Find some baby photos of your favorite movie stars and have your guests try to figure out who they are.
We are really excited about this new theme and would really love to hear from you! Please comment on this post with any fun Hollywood Baby Shower Games that may work with this theme….we are counting on you!
One of the items to do on your vast list when throwing a baby shower is to find the right baby shower favors for your invited guests. Shower favors are one of the most important parts of the shower, right up there with thank you cards! The favors that you give your invited friends and family should have the following qualities in my opinion:
Personalized, they should be intimate and personal.
It should be something that you yourself would want to use and enjoy.
It doesn't need to be very expensive, but it should be functional.
A unique item that will get your guests talking.
The favor should match or connect to your chosen baby shower theme.
So with the above qualities in mind the Candles & Favors team feels that personalized baby shower lotion favors fit the bill. Our shower lotion favors can be personalized with what ever words you would like to say and are available in any of our exclusive baby shower themes. They are under $3.00 each and can include an organza bag or our one of our matching favor boxes to make it even more special. If you think about it everyone uses skin care products, I guarantee you this is a favor your guests will need and use, maybe even as soon as they get it.
Picture this….
Right after you hand out the baby shower favors the first thing your guests will do is most likely admire the design and notice how it "pulls together" with the rest of the baby shower theme, especially if you chose to add our matching personalized favor boxes. It wouldn't surprise me if your guests opened the favor and used it at the shower! Your guests will be talking about the wonderful fresh linen scent and how wonderfully soft it makes their skin feel. Who doesn't need to moisturize during the dry winter months.
For a fun functional gift package:
To add more to the favor if your budget allows you can include one of our personalized hand sanitizer favors as well this way they can sanitize and moisturize, they both fit perfectly in one organza bag or the above mentioned favor boxes for added bling.
So as you can see we feel really confident that that you friends will truly love this extravagant and functional favor. If you decide to add the hand sanitizer to the package they can be not only moisturized but be "germ Free For The Baby To Be" as well.
The personalized hand lotions will be a gift that they are sure to use and talk about.
Hey CnF customers, we are really excited to tell everyone that we have just launched a brand new product review page! Our product reviews are now greatly improved and much easier for you all to do.
By providing the Candles & Favors team with your valuable feed back you can let us know how we are doing and help us to continually improve our products and services. Your reviews also help our customers to make an informed decision when choosing their products. To say thank you for taking the time to let us know your thoughts every product you review will enter you into a monthly drawing to win all sorts of cool prizes, this month is a $50.00 Amazon gift card!!!So if ya hanen't done so please visit us at the link above login to your account and let us know what you thought about our stuff.
No matter how hard we try to plan an addition to the family sometimes the way things pan out may not align with your schedule. If you or a friend is expecting and have a due date that happens to be around that magical time of year we call "The Holiday Season" and Christmas aligns with their believes why not use Christmas as the baby shower theme?
While at first a Christmas themed baby shower may sound well...weird, if ya think about it, it's a really good idea! Everyone already has a slight spring in their step, they are all humming those songs we all know and love. They are out and about filling their Christmas lists and decorating their homes. So while they are already celebrating they might as well celebrate the new baby that's on the way too!Location Location Location! - Choosing a Place to have Your Christmas Baby Shower One of the first things to think about when planning a Christmas baby shower is where is this special event going to be held? When I think about this the usual locations come to mind such as a friends house, a nice restaurant or a community hall. If you can think of a place such as a restaurant that has the winter feel such as a log cabin complete with a fireplace that would defiantly add to the theme. We have a local restaurant here called The North Woods Inn., it is complete with fake snow, fireplace and log walls which is perfect for us here with perfect California weather!
You Are Invited - Choosing a Christmas Baby Shower Invitation Once you have a place in mind for the shower and a guest list, the next thing to figure out would be which Christmas baby shower invitations you want to use. While you most likely will have no issues finding Christmas themed invitations they may not be the best for a baby shower. If you search the web you can find lots of great websites like Candles & Favors that offer many original invite designs made for this theme that are perfect and will really bring home the the whole holiday baby shower theme. Some website may offer down-loadable invitation templates. Printing your own invitations is always an option but quality may be an issue. If quality is important to you, the print your own invitation option may not be the right choice, for a few good reasons such as:
Print quality: Most standard printers such as ink jet printers may not print the best, are very slow when set to high quality and the ink can be costly.
Paper Quality: Most if not all of the consumer printers available at your local store are not designed to handle heavy card stock. 100lb card stock is what we recommend to give you Christmas baby shower invite that quality feel...yes invitation feel is important as it expresses quality.
Quality graphics and themes: Most free stuff is well...not that good lets face it!
Another option would be to just do some form of an “E-vite”, email, Facebook or even a text message. Our feeling here is while everyone is budget minded these days you really shouldn't skimp on a nice quality invitation. Digital forms of invitations while novel have limitations, people that are not as tech savvy will be confused or never even get them. Digital invites do not serve as a good reminder to your invited guests, most people hang their invites on the fridge and bring them to the event. Invitations are also make wonderful keep sakes you can’t pull out an old digital invitation form the baby book show them to your child and think back to that special day. Invitations should mark the special day for years to come! Stay, Sit and Eat! - Christmas Baby Shower Food Ideas Once your invited guests get settled in they will want to socialize and nosh on some food. If you will be having your shower at a restaurant your guests may just order a dish, or you could have a buffet based on the locations menu. A more cost effective option is to have a “Pot Luck” theme for the baby shower where each guest brings their signature dish, this could require a little coordination and communication to pull off but we think it will be more interesting and fun. The food that is offered can stay with the theme.......what themed food? You could offer holiday favorites that are often served for the season such as roasts like turkey, lamb and beef or traditional ethnic favorites that your family normally serves for the holidays. For instance our Italian family usually serves seafood this time of the year. Deserts are where the Christmas baby shower theme can really shine as you can make themed cupcakes maybe with Christmas themed cupcake wrappers, themed cakes, personalized candy bars and even my personal favorite holiday butter cookies. It is even possible for your local baker to add the same graphic used for your invites and favors on a cake with the permission of the graphic owner. We here at Candles & Favors have provided our files at no additional charge in the past because we rock. For a fun drink idea nothing says the holidays like Eggnog, but as the mommy to be is currently on the wagon lets make it without the rum, here is a good recipe from Betty Crocker that is easy and yummy! For more fun holiday recipes check out the north pole website here to see popular food ideas.Lets Have A Little Fun! - Christmas Baby Shower Game One of the best parts of the baby shower is the cute activities that your guests will play. What you can do here is take the standard baby shower games and maybe add a holiday flair to them. For the guess the size of the mommy’s belly game instead of string how about Christmas ribbon or garland or even holly. Many suppliers of baby shower products may also have Christmas themed versions of popular games like baby bingo or Christmas baby scratch off games. For a fun take on the baby name game, have each guest write the word Christmas down and start a timer for say five minutes. During that time period the guests must write as many baby names as they can think for the boy or girl on the way that start with each letter in Christmas the person with the most names is the winner.
We have created a fun FREE Christmas Word Unscramble to use Here so Enjoy!
We have created a fun FREE Christmas Baby Shower Name Game to use Here so Enjoy!
Deck The Halls! - Choosing The Right Christmas Baby Shower Decorations Some benefits to having a December baby shower during the Christmas holiday season is that there will be no shortage of Christmas decorations not to mention matching plates, cups, napkins and anything else you could imagine. You could really pull the theme in by adding lights to the location of your baby shower. You could hang the lights to work into the Christmas baby shower theme, like spelling out the words Baby Shower or in the shape of a stork, the possibilities are limitless just use your imagination and you will be fine. Other decorating ideas which are obvious would be to use matching colored balloons, streamers and the usual fair. For that personalized touch, why not add a personalized Christmas baby shower banner, poster, or wall art. Custom made diaper cakes make a great table centerpiece that is very functional and becomes a useful gift for the parents to be. With a little research you would be able to find how to make your own diaper cake we have a video to show you how to do it, or you can buy a Christmas baby shower diaper cake ready made and you can say you made it we won’t tell!Take a Look at Our How To Make a Diaper Cake Video
Thanks For Coming! - Christmas Baby Shower Favors It is customary but not required to give a favor to your “guest” for sharing in your special day. After all they most likely gave you a functional and needed gift to help you care for your new baby. The Christmas baby shower favor does not need to be expensive, in our opinion it should be an item that they can and will use and when doing so will remind them of your Christmas baby shower. To achieve this we recommend that the item be personalized, by personalizing the favor it also becomes a baby shower keep sake and tells them thank you in your own words. Some of the more popular baby shower Christmas favors that are something that won’t break the bank and are great during the colder, drier weather are; personalized hand lotions, personalized hand sanitizer favors, personalized Christmas baby shower candle favors, & personalized mint tins. One easy holiday baby shower favor that you can say you made is one of our favorites, a Christmas baby shower personalized candy bar wrapper. The personalized candy bar wrappers require a standard Hershey chocolate bar and just a few minutes per candy bar to wrap yourself. You can buy a large selection of personalized Christmas baby shower favors on our Christmas baby shower theme. If you prefer to make the favors yourself because D.I.Y. (do it yourself) baby shower favors is how you want to express your gratefulness.... Try using our personalized baby shower favor boxes or adding a personalized tag or sticker to a little stocking. This is a easy and affordable way top to add that personalized touch to those cookies you baked, that little craft that you made or the little candy canes or Christmas themed candy that you want to wrap-up.
Thanks For The Gifts! - Christmas Baby Shower Thank You Cards It is proper manners to always say thank you when some one goes out of their way to do something nice for you. So once the shower is over it only makes sense to send a hand written thank you card. If you are a stickler for matching your theme all the way to the end then you may have chosen to purchase all of your themed shower supplies at the same place to assure it all matches. If matching thank you notes is not that important to you, you will be able to find quite a large selection of Christmas themed thank you cards to get the job done. The rule of thumb here on sending out baby shower thank you cards is sooner than later. But another good idea is to wait till your new addition has arrived and send out thank you cards with a photo or even just do a photo announcement card with some kind words written on the back. If the baby is born during the holiday season they could even be Christmas themed.
What Games would you play at a Christmas Baby Shower? Give your fellow party planners some ideas in the comments below....we are all counting on some great ideas so lets hear them!
