The campaign to elect the invitation to your party

OK, we’re 13 days from electing our next president. This Presidential campaign, which seems to be endless, actually will come to an end. And someone will win. And that might be someone you support (or don’t).

For many people, election night is a time to throw a party. If you’re one of those people, why not use an election-themed invitation? At Tres Chic Designs, you can create an invitation showing your support for Democrats or Republicans in general, as well as for Obama or McCain in particular. Create your design using stars, stripes, donkeys, elephants, flags, martini glasses (martini glasses? Maybe they think we’ll be toasting victory, or drowning our sorrows in defeat)…But get your order in soon so there will be time to invite your friends to your party.

On the other hand, if you’re really into politics, you might want to keep this “election” thing going. Bees Cards has an election-themed bar mitzvah invitation, including a customized ballot card for the RSVP.

Whichever party you support, we hope you will elect to have Purple Raincoat serve as your official invitation keepsake creator for all of your parties - celebrations, that is. Check out our portfolio, then voice your choice - call us and put us to work. "Keepsakes you can believe in" from Purple Raincoat put your "Celebration First."

Here’s to the red, white, and blue, and may the best people win!

98 and counting…

My father was born on October 10, 1910 - that's 10/10/10. He turns 98 today – happy birthday, Dad. One of the things my father loves about birthdays is getting cards, and fortunately he gets a lot of them. This year, my husband, daughter and I are going to visit him for a family birthday celebration, so I’m going to bring him a special card: a Purple Raincoat collage made especially for him. It is focused on one of my favorite quotes about aging, which certainly applies to my father:


I typed the quote on white cardstock and mounted in on black circle embossed paper; black/white/gray circle patterned paper, black and white dotted paper, and textured black paper. The background is a complementary black/white/gray circle printed paper. The horizontal accent is black-on-black diamond cardstock topped with white striped embossed paper and textured black ribbon. The vertical accent has white circle embossed paper layered on black-on-black striped paper. Portions of black circles accent the top, bottom, and right sides of the collage. Black circle brads finish off this piece, which will go into a textured black frame.

Here’s to a great 98, Dad. You’re not just close to magnificent, you’re already there.

Have a favorite saying you would like to showcase in a Purple Raincoat keepsake? Get in touch – we would love to turn that memorable phase into an unforgettable keepsake. It's the perfect gift for the person who has everything and is celebrating a milestone birthday - 50th birthday, 60th birthday, 70th birthday, 75th birthday - you get the idea.

Invitation keepsakes start with great invitations, Part IIIa: Be ready to answer your dealer's questions

A good dealer (see Invitation keepsakes start with great invitations, part II; selecting a dealer) will ask you lots of questions before you start – and you should be prepared to answer them. Key questions include the following:

• What is the occasion - for example, is it a wedding, engagement, bar/bat mitzvah, or milestone anniversary, baptism, retirement ceremony, or surprise birthday?

• What kind of party (or parties) you are having – for example, a country club reception following a church or synagogue wedding ceremony, a luncheon following a bar/bat mitzvah and a separate party for children?

• Is everyone invited to all parts of the event? For example, only out-of-town guests may be invited to a special brunch or dinner, and some children may not be invited to a rehearsal dinner.

• Is there a caterer who needs to know your guests’ choices of entrees? If so, you may want to include this information on your response card.

• Are there out-of-town guests who need to make hotel reservations and let you know what parts of an “event weekend” they will be attending?

• How are you going to address your invitations – for example, do you plan to do them yourself, hire a calligrapher, or have the invitation company print the guest addresses?

• Do you have any budget constraints when it comes to selecting your invitation? Most good dealers carry a wide variety of invitations at a wide range of prices. A dealer should have invitations available in your price range – if not, it’s time to find another dealer. Browse the invitations available through eInvite (get there from the Purple Raincoat homepage) to get ideas of what is available in various price ranges.

Your dealer also should be able to suggest ways to save money without compromising the quality of your invitation. For example, some invitations allow for more text than others, and so may eliminate the need for a reception card. Others may have room only for the essential information about a wedding ceremony or a bar/bat mitzvah service, making it necessary to include a reception card with the information about the celebration.

Working with your dealer, you should be able to create an invitation that is as unique and special as the people and occasion being celebrated. So don't hide that invitation in a drawer - display it proudly with a one-of-a-kind Purple Raincoat keepsake. You put a lot of thought into the invitation; we put a lot of thought into showcasing it as a unique work of art in a framed invitation keepsake. Great for any special occasion. No question about it!

The apocryphal bar/bat mitzvah invitation

Here is the bar/bat mitzvah companion to the "don't let this happen to you" wedding invitation. (You'll have to click on it to read it but trust me, it's worth it).

In my days as an invitation designer, fortunately, I never saw anything like this. You can find versions of it all over the internet at places such as The Bat Mitzvah Blog (which has the fabulous subtitle, "You're not going to wear that, are you?) But you know there are people out there who can totally identify with these sentiments - if they haven't given the party, they have gone to it.

Would we turn this into a Purple Raincoat collage? Let's just say I have a feeling this is going to show up as a sample one of these days...

In the meantime, if you receive a bar mitzvah invitation or bat mitzvah invitation that doesn't look like this, have we got a gift for you - give the gift of Purple Raincoat memories. Take a look at some of the framed keepsake collages Purple Raincoat has created for bar/bat mitzvah invitations.

Both boys and girls absolutely love getting these keepsakes. One girl even designed her invitation so that the collage would include the color she wanted...now that's thinking ahead. It's also a great gift for a few people to chip in and give as a group gift. The bar/bat mitzvah child will always remember who gave him/her their Purple Raincoat collage, long after the thank-you notes have been written.

So give the gift they want - make it easy on yourself and call or email Purple Raincoat.

Calling all brides, present and past

You’ve heard of Martha Stewart, maybe? You know Martha Stewart has a thing for weddings, right? Well, Martha has completely updated and revised her the “weddings” portion of her website, in cooperation with Wedding Wire. There are two routes to this resource: you can get there from MarthaStewart.com (click on the “weddings tab”) or from Wedding Wire. You’ll find free planning tools, a community where you can ask questions and share experiences, and the opportunity to set up a website for your own wedding. And of course, on Martha’s wedding site, you can get ideas on everything that’s wedding related – how to choose your wedding cake or a color scheme, for example.

This is a fabulous resource for wedding-related vendors from all over the country. You can search by geographic area to find vendors who are close to you – you can browse multiple geographic areas to find vendors such as Purple Raincoat, who service the entire country. The vendor websites offer you a chance to learn about providers and services that might be useful to you.

Wedding Wire also is the place for engaged couples and the recently married to review their vendors, helping those with upcoming weddings to benefit from your experience. So if you have ordered or received a Purple Raincoat framed wedding invitation keepsake, you will be invited to post a review of Purple Raincoat on the website. And don’t stop with Purple Raincoat if you’re a recently married couple - anyone who posts reviews of five vendors gets a gift card from Martha Stewart, so why not let those with upcoming weddings benefit from your experience?

Purple Raincoat is proud to be affiliated with Martha Stewart and Wedding Wire. You can find Purple Raincoat’s listing in the Boston geographic area under these categories: Unique Services, Flowers and Décor, and Invitations and Favors. The “unique services” category includes everything from fancy porta-potties to horse-and-carriage rentals to pole dancing parties…things you didn't know you needed!

Still working on your invitations? Martha Stewart has a beautifully illustrated article on different invitation styles. If you’re looking for creative ways to combine wording and design for an invitation that completely reflects your style and personality, check out these samples. Here’s one new and creative idea: a letterpress invitation made from the bride’s handwriting (see the sample “Loaded with Laid-Back Charm”).

Once you have your invitations, be sure to give Purple Raincoat the opportunity to turn it into a one-of-a-kind keepsake that will bring back the memories of your special day (and all the hard work that went into it). After the wedding is over, the invitation is one of the few tangible “things” you have left – it makes a wonderful keepsake, but not when it is stuck in a drawer. Purple Raincoat will showcase your invitation as a unique work of art that is not only meaningful but also beautiful in its own right. Contact us – or ask someone special to order one for you. Cheers!

Save that envelope! Save that stamp!

Personalized stamps, such as those made by PhotoStamps, are becoming increasingly popular for weddings, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, and other celebrations. The PhotoStamps website is a fountain of inspiration and information about personalizing your postage and ways to use these stamps. The stamps are a small indulgence, but remember that the price per sheet goes down the more sheets you order – that’s another reason to find lots of uses for them.

For weddings, for example, in addition to using them on your invitations and response cards, you can use them on save-the-date cards and thank you notes. Here’s another creative idea from PhotoStamps – take photos of your wedding party and turn them into customized stamps - give the stamps to your attendants as a token of appreciation for sharing your special day.

Once you start paying attention to these stamps, you’ll see them everywhere. My daughter was visiting her friend Sarah one recent afternoon. Sarah’s sister is having her Bat Mitzvah this year (along with many of her friends) so she is starting to get invitations to her friends’ celebrations. An envelope had arrived in the mail that day, and Sarah and her mother were trying to figure out who sent the invitation – they didn’t recognize the return address. But the envelope's stamp featured a photo of the guest of honor, which my sharp-eyed daughter noticed – she pointed it out and said, “you can see who it is.” Mystery solved!

Even if you don’t order custom postage, you may be able to find a stamp that fits your occasion. I’m working on a bar mitzvah invitation collage now for a boy who clearly cares a lot about baseball. The invitation has a personalized baseball-theme stamp with the date of the event. But for the response card, they are using the regular “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” stamp from the post office. So with a little detective work (find a post office that has a good selection of stamps and friendly clerks who don’t mind spending a few minutes while you browse the possibilities) you might find something that is almost the equivalent of custom postage, but without the custom cost.

Custom stamps make wonderful additions to Purple Raincoat invitation keepsake collages (see my earlier thoughts on this subject). Envelope linings also can be featured in the keepsakes - see my daughter's Silver invitation keepsake. There are more examples on the Purple Raincoat website (see Jill's Platinum keepsake in the Bat Mitzvah examples).

So when you get an invitation in the mail, don’t throw the envelope away – it might have something I can use it when I create a beautiful framed invitation keepsake for you. Have an invitation to an upcoming event? Ready to order? Hang onto that envelope, and contact us today – we can’t wait to get started on your one-of-a-kind gift.

I love New York…weddings

Is anyone you know getting married in New York City or on Long Island? If so, be sure to let them know about these two wonderful wedding resources: www.liweddings.com and www.nycweddings.com. If you need it for a wedding, you can find it on these sites. And there are great forums on the site for brides and grooms to ask questions and share experiences. Engaged couples and newlyweds can find lots of useful information there.

Purple Raincoat is proud to be a participating vendor - we have our own page on both sites with detailed information on our framed wedding keepsakes and many photos of samples. So tell those New York and Long Island brides and grooms to check us out. After all, as the song says, “it’s autumn in New York that brings the promise of new love”.

Even if you’re not getting married in New York, there are vendors on these sites that you might want to use – you'll find everything from favors to “save the date” magnets – even invitations…

We look forward to seeing you at Long Island weddings and NYCity weddings, and at www.purpleraincoat.com, where you’ll see samples of our distinctive framed keepsakes for all occasions.

Celebrate the silver moments

We can’t all be Michael Phelps and win gold every time we dive into the pool, but winning the silver remains an accomplishment to celebrate. So when Fitness Together in Lexington, MA was awarded a certificate commemorating their status as a Silver Level Franchise, they didn’t just want to frame the certificate – they wanted to display it in a way that was commensurate with this achievement. Who you gonna call? Purple Raincoat, of course.


Kerri Powers of Fitness Together with her Purple Raincoat collage

This custom-sized (11”x17”) collage uses blue, black, white, and (of course) silver to capture the spirit of this achievement. The certificate is mounted on full sheets of black textured metallic paper and gray-on-gray printed paper. Split sheets of blue suede paper are anchored with large silver eyelets. Below that is a subtle silver-on-black striped paper a layer of ocean blue paper, accented by strips of silver-patterned white paper. Silver metal mesh and sheer silver ribbon provide horizontal and vertical interest. A simple black frame picks up the strong black circle on the certificate.

How do they like it? “It’s really cool,” says Kerri Powers, co-owner of Fitness Together (and personal trainer extraordinaire). This collage is on display to inspire their clients and to remind them that success at every level should be celebrated.

Life is short; you’ve got to take advantage of every occasion to celebrate, whether it is large or small. So what are you proud of? Somewhere – in a box, in a drawer – you probably have a certificate marking some significant accomplishment in your life. When life gives you an award, say thank you, and then be sure to showcase your achievement with a Purple Raincoat collage.

P.S. Would you like to create an award as a keepsake for someone special in your life? Let’s talk – Purple Raincoat can help you with that, too.

The other side of the coin - $27,800 just doesn’t buy what it used to

In contrast to our last post (the popularity of the $100+ invitation), it’s clear that rapidly rising prices are causing more couples to take a closer look at how they spend money for their weddings. From the August 20, 2008 Boston Globe:

“Couples planning their big days are finding that their budgets - whether hundreds of dollars or tens of thousands - won't stretch as far. The cost of the average American wedding is still $27,800 with 153 guests, but that $27,800 doesn't buy what it once did. Local brides and grooms have pared down guest lists, taken on creative tasks themselves, changed venues, and in some cases considered moving their wedding over state lines to save money.”

Even some couples without budget constraints appear to be toning down their celebrations. According to Rebecca Dolgin, executive editor of the Internet’s popular TheKnot.com wedding website, “…there's less shame in going small as opposed to emulating a celebrity wedding. Some couples with no budget restrictions are using their money to make an affair look homier and small by doing weddings at home and on beaches, she said.”

So small can be beautiful. Take my wedding, for example. My husband and I got married on two weeks notice in front of 28 close family members and friends in my mother-in-law’s living room. Our reception was held in her home’s lower level. All of my out-of-town family was able to attend, as was our rabbi who came down from Maine (after Shabbat began). We had beautiful flowers and fabulous food (grilled outside) on December 30, when every caterer in town was available. I bought an off-the-rack dress and veil that needed minimal alterations. My husband wore his best suit; we did buy a new tie for the occasion. Our chuppa (wedding canopy) was made using my husband’s late father’s tallit (prayer shawl) and dowels from the hardware store (decorated with greenery by our florist). Ironically, we didn’t even have invitations – everyone was invited by telephone.

Our biggest indulgence was to hire the best available photographer, which was a fabulous decision because after all, photographs are one of the few things you have left when the wedding is over. We didn’t skimp on that, and we’re still happy about that decision. We have gorgeous photographs of our warm, intimate, spectacular wedding, which I wouldn’t have traded for anything. All without the stress of long-term wedding planning. And we had money left over to enjoy a honeymoon in Mexico.

So don’t be afraid to think small. Oprah Winfrey did a show on how couples might be better off having small weddings and saving their money for major anniversary celebrations if the marriage lasted 10 or 20 years. That’s not a bad philosophy. The important thing is to get married, not to go into debt to have a “fairy tale wedding.” And it’s a lot easier to live “happily ever after” when you start married life without a mountain of debt.

Six months after our small wedding, we had a party where we invited all of those friends and co-workers who otherwise we might have invited to our wedding. We kept it simple in a private room at a local restaurant with gourmet pizza, wine, and another wedding cake. For this party, we did have an invitation – now preserved in a Purple Raincoat keepsake collage with a photo from our actual wedding.


Wedding Anniversary Framed Keepsake
Originally uploaded by PurpleRaincoatonline

This collage uses a photo from our wedding plus the invitation from the "reception" held six months later. Read more about it and see other examples on the wedding/anniversary page at www.purpleraincoat.com

It’s never too late to create a cherished invitation keepsake. Dig out that wedding invitation and let Purple Raincoat help you bring back the memories of that special day. What a wonderful anniversary gift for you to give to your spouse – or, kids, to give to your parents to celebrate their 20th, 25th, 30th, 35th, 40th, 45th, 50th, or any other wedding anniversary.

So think ahead if there is one of these milestones coming up in your family, and get in touch with Purple Raincoat - beat the rush.

Have you heard the one about the $100 invitation?

For many people, holding an event to celebrate a life milestone involves making choices based on cost. Some have an afternoon event because lunch costs less than dinner. Some use potted plants as centerpieces because they are less expensive than flower arrangements. Some print their own invitations or send announcements by email to save on printing and postage costs.

But it is obvious that for some people, cost is no object. I received an invitation years ago in a box that cost $4 to mail. The invitation itself involved multiple folds, inserts, wrapping, ribbons, and photographs. I can’t even imagine what that invitation cost.

When the sky is the limit, the invitations can take your breath away. And that’s not always a good thing, according to this story by SheSez on Divine Caroline.

(“T)oday I came home after schlepping the kids all over tarnation for after school activities, and spied a twelve-inch square box. What could it be? I lifted the lid to reveal the mother of all invitations! Sitting in a nest of curly, angel hair pasta-like wood shavings was a hand-painted tambourine. It was a beautiful work of art, depicting the first song that appears in the Torah.

And there’s more. The explanation of the relationship between the musical instrument and the Bat Mitzvah girl is offered on gold, pink, and cream colored stationery. It spells out the significance of the Bar Mitzvah girl and the scene depicted on the tambourine.

I couldn’t help but start calculating how much this individual invitation must have cost. With a couple of clicks of my mouse, I established that each of these works of art retails at $65. Then, there’s the stationery, the wooden “pasta,” the square of Papyrus paper that adheres to the inside lid of the box, as well as the pink envelope that holds all the very expensive stationery. As I examine the box more closely, I note that the pre stamped, pre-addressed RSVP envelope bears a very special 58-cent stamp. But this is no ordinary stamp. Instead, the face of the stamp bears a photographic image of the Bat Mitzvah kid, posing like a showgirl cabaret style.

I’m on a roll here. I get out my calculator. I determine the cost of the individual invitation before applying a very simple multiplication calculation that would reveal the sum total of the invite alone. Now, remember, that’s before even considering the cost of the party.
Tambourine—$65
Uber-Stationery—$10
Packaging—(gold colored, 12-inch square cardboard box, wooden “pasta” nest), probably $10
Postage—Silly me! It didn’t arrive in the regular mail delivery, it was delivered by courier. $20?

Math is not my strong point but that has to bring the cost of an individual invitation in at approx $100+. Now, we know at least one hundred kids have been invited so, what? Multiply this by 150? 200? You get the picture.

Suddenly, I have to stop my math project. The TV is blaring in the background with images of the fire wreaking havoc in Southern California. An estimated million residents have been evacuated and 1,500 homes have been burned. I’m thinking about how much time and money it will take to make things okay for these traumatized people.

Back to the matters at hand. I check the box noting my child won’t attend. He tells me (after all this!) he’s not especially friendly with Tambourine Girl. As I walk to my mailbox, the ash-laden air, contaminated from the Malibu fires, makes me cough slightly. I pop the envelope in the mailbox, marveling at the craziness of the world.”

In some communities, given unlimited resources, there will always be a “can you top this” competition – “oh year? Well, my invitation is (bigger, thicker, more layered, more expensive, more creative…you get the idea) than yours.” Does this make sense? You can draw your own conclusion. Send in your comments - we want to know what you think.

In my opinion, the most important thing about any invitation is that it reflects who you are and captures the spirit of the event. And that can be done at almost any price point.

Here's my invitation to you if you’re having a wedding, bar/bat mitzvah, Sweet 16, quinceanera or other celebration
Whether you’re spending $1 or $100 on each invitation, make sure that Purple Raincoat has the opportunity to turn that invitation into a unique framed keepsake. We look forward to hearing from you and getting started on your one-of-a-kind work of art.