Today’s post is about thinking outside the box. I’m featuring customers that took one of our standard designs and changed it to suit their needs. I’m not just talking about picking your favorite colors and fonts – that’s fairly standard and expected. These people took it to the next level…

Ella’s mom Liz started with a birth announcement and ended up with an adorable first birthday party magnet:

These wild and crazy folks (okay, it’s my brother) took a wedding photo card and imagined it into a fabulous family photo Christmas card!

You’ve read about Melinda before, as she prepared her daughter for a new arrival. She creatively turned this baptism invitation into a birth announcement for baby Kaylin. Then for big sister Zaylee’s second birthday, a birth announcement became a party invitation. I love how the monogram was switched to a number “2″.

So if you see a product you love, but it’s not quite right for your announcement or invitation, fear not! MagnetStreet Baby is all about customization, wherever your imagination takes you.

Do a little browsing through the birth announcements, party invitations, baptism invitations and holiday cards. Remember, it’s okay to be out of the box!

Are you hosting a baby shower anytime soon? Baby shower games seem to fall into the love/hate category, so be sure to check with the guest of honor on her preference. Personally, I’m a fan of games, but for those who aren’t, I’ll point out that games help get all the guests involved. That’s especially important if they don’t know each other, having only the mom-to-be in common.

A recent post at Extra(Hour)dinary Parenting got me thinking about some alternate methods of bringing the guests together. Amanda’s friend hosted a children’s book baby shower, for which each guest brought a book as a gift, and read it out loud. (Read her entire post for details, including a fun idea to keep the reading from getting long or boring.)

Some of my former co-workers each gave me their favorite childhood book when Tate was born. I loved that gift, and it would be so fun to have that be the theme of the entire shower.

This “ABC” baby shower invitation would be a perfect fit for a book shower. It also comes in a flat card version. Click here to view other shower invites.

Have you hosted or attended any unique baby showers? Any fun activities beyond the traditional games? Please tell us about them!

Photo Courtesy:
clevercupcakes

Does planning a birthday party for your child fill your heart with delight or panic?

We’ve certainly all heard stories of extravagant parties costing hundreds or even thousands of dollars. I guess like every area of parenting, it’s not fair to judge anyone else’s choice. But if you want to laugh at someone’s extravagance, read this hilarious article by one of my favorite writers, Dave Barry (thanks to Sonya for sending it my way!). 

At the other end of the spectrum, many families are choosing to simplify birthday celebrations. This post from Simple Mom gives some excellent suggestions for minimizing materialism, such as creating gifts for a charity in lieu of traditional party games.

Since I work for an invitation company, I can’t completely get behind her suggestion to use Evite or handmade invitations. I’m biased of course, but ours are just so cute! View the entire birthday invitation gallery online, or modify your favorite birth announcement design to be a party invite.

For tips on what’s appropriate for birthday parties at each age, read this article by Kimberly Hargis. I like her idea of having bigger celebrations for the milestone years (5, 10, etc.) and something simpler for those in-between.

How do you celebrate your kids’ birthdays? What were your own birthday parties like as a child?

Are you hosting a couples baby shower? I’ve never been to one, but if done right, it would be a fun way to include both parents in the preparations for baby’s arrival. Rather than just adding men to what is typically an event for ladies, though, take some extra consideration in your planning. 

Not to be stereotypical, but the cucumber sandwiches and mini quiches might not be so welcome with a co-ed crowd. Go for something a little more substantial (translation: meat!).

Likewise, I know at least my husband would groan and roll his eyes at the average baby shower game. You could either skip the games altogether, or check out these sites for ideas that might go over a little better with the guys:

My favorite at Creative Baby Shower Ideas is the Stroller Obstacle Course. How fun would that be?!

On a Yelp message board, I saw this fun idea from Kristin C: It’s a variation on the newlywed game, where the husband and wife have to guess each others answers to questions about their child. For instance, how many diaper changes will the baby need in a day? When is our child first allowed to date?

And no shower would be complete without an adorable invitation to draw in the guests. As with all of our products, you can customize the colors, font and text. Tip: mention all the MEAT you’re having at the shower. There’s also a folded-card version of this design and you can view all of the shower invitations online.

Have you already hosted or attended a couples baby shower? What worked? What didn’t?

This is the 101st post for Notes on the Nest! The milestone kind of snuck up on me, in the midst of a busy month. Thanks for your patience in my lack of posting. After a week of family camp, the BlogHer conference, and a family reunion, I’m now unpacking, doing laundry (okay, I’m only thinking about the laundry) and deep-cleaning most of the house.

Not because I’m that much of a clean freak, but because the whole main floor had a thin layer of sheetrock dust. Due to a plumbing fix upstairs, we’ve had a gaping hole in our dining room ceiling since I was pregnant with Tate. We finally decided to have it patched up while all three of us were out of town for the conference. So the ceiling looks better, and now we’re doing cleanup…

In celebration of my repaired ceiling, an almost-clean house, and 101 posts, I’d like to offer you (and anyone with whom you’d like to share) a 20% discount off of any product at MagnetStreet Baby. You’ll find birth announcements, shower invitations, baptism announcements, birthday invitations and more. Just enter the promotional code NEST20 when you place your order - it’s valid until October 31, 2009.

And because posts are always more fun with photos, here’s Tate signing “more”. He’s telling you that there will be more posts coming soon: our travel adventures, a BlogHer recap and new voices in the Pregnancy Decisions series – stay tuned!

Another great sale this week at MagnetStreet Baby! Starting today, June 15th, through the 22nd, our top ten 5″ x 7″ magnet designs are 20% off!

Within the ten most popular designs, there are birth announcements, birthday invitations, and baptism/christening invitations.

Scroll over any of the designs on the sale page to see an example of customizing the colors and fonts in our Design Studio. This sale only lasts one week, so spread the news to your friends and family who are celebrating big events in their baby’s life!

It’s a little early, but I’m going to go ahead and wish myself a Happy Birthday. Approximately 32 years ago, my 10 pound, 1 ounce self was entering the world. Thanks again, Mom, and sorry about being late!

And not only was I born 32 years ago, but my first birthday was being celebrated 31 years ago. (I know, I’m awesome with the maths.)

I’m pretty sure magnetic birthday party invitations weren’t an option for my parents. But now, in the wonders of 2009, you can put your child’s birthday invitation on a magnet, with his or her adorable photo, in the colors of your choosing. What a wonderful world.

So without further ado, here are my favorites:

All of these designs can be ordered as either magnets or on linen cardstock. You can view the entire birthday invitation gallery online.

And…happy birthday to Sue, Sonya, Queen Elizabeth and Tony Danza.

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Confession: Tate is often shoeless. He has two very cute pairs, but he doesn’t often wear them. My husband thinks this is why he’s not walking yet, and admittedly he slips around on our hardwood floors in his stocking feet. Even when we leave the house, I rarely put on his shoes. He was barefoot all last summer. My friend jokes about Tate’s “sans shoes” fashion statement. 

Maybe if I had a girl it would be different- my niece has bazillions of pairs of shoes, and always has just the right pair for every outfit. Okay, that may also be a reflection of her stylish momma. But I think little girls do lend themselves a bit more to accessorization.

It could be that I’m getting my “girl fix” in other ways. Confession #2: I love to dress up my envelopes. Both Tate’s birth announcements and our Christmas cards had return address labels and envelope seals that matched the enclosure. The addresses are written with a matching pen for the finishing touch.

I’ll admit to being pretty sad that the United States Postal Service chose a primary-color nutcracker design for this year’s holiday stamps, which completely threw off my aqua and lime green palette. Don’t even get me started on the pink monstrosities I had to use on my green and black wedding invitations…

Anyone else out there love a pretty envelope? There are so few occasions for which real mail is sent nowadays, it seems a shame not to make them all they can be. Check out these adorable options for envelope seals and return address labels:

There are lots more designs online to match your birth announcements, shower invitations, holiday cards and thank you notes. Have fun playing dress-up!

Photo Courtesy:
USPS

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Just a few weeks ago, a friend sent me photos from one of my baby showers last year. Wow – I forgot how big my belly was! It’s funny to think back to that time when I didn’t know Tate, didn’t even know whether he was a boy or a girl. I was so thankful for my showers, not only for the gifts that helped us prepare for baby’s arrival, but for words of encouragement and wisdom from others.

Each guest was invited to share a piece of mommy advice. When my mom offered the reminder that children don’t like it when mom is on the phone (and thus not paying attention to them), one of her friends agreed, sharing that her son had actually cut the phone cord in two!

Remembering what a special event that was for me, I’m really excited about the new shower invitations at MagnetStreet Baby. They’re pretty and modern, and best of all, customizable for your favorite mommy-to-be. Change the colors to her favorites or to match the theme of the shower, if you want.

This design incorporates a photo, which could be either a cute snapshot or an artistic professional shot.

Browse online through all the shower invitation designs, in a variety of sizes and styles. Shower in style!

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