Archives for: November 2007

One of the best things about the holidays is decorating. Dressing up your home to celebrate the season is always fun and a great way to establish or carry on family traditions. For a few short weeks you transform your house from its everyday look into festive attire.

So whether you’re throwing an elegant holiday extravaganza or quietly spending time with family and close friends, read on for some unique and easy decorating ideas to help add more merriment and cheer!

• Who ever said you could only have one Christmas tree? Put smaller trees in the kitchen, bathroom, or kids rooms. Let the kids make their own decorations for their tree.
• Decorate a hanging chandelier by tying beautiful colored bows around each arm, or hang ornaments or crystals from them. You could also lay fresh or artificial evergreens across the arms too.
• Tie festive bows around lamp bases, candlesticks, vases, doorknobs, or stair railings.
• For a unique centerpiece, top a collection of brass, silver, or glass goblets, candleholders, or vases with beautiful ornaments.
• Set out large, clear bowls and fill them with pine cones, ornaments, candy canes, or other colorful holiday candy.
• Deck the halls...and doorways and windows and mirrors and picture frames with various types of garland.
• Display an arrangement of red winterberry and greens in a large vase or container to add festive color.
• Don’t forget to put out scented candles throughout the house to add beautiful and aromatic fragrances to your home.
• Display Christmas or holiday cards you’ve received in the past. Place them on the mantle, tabletops, or attach them to a piece of garland and drape over a doorway.
• Don’t just hang your holiday wreath on the front door. Hang one over the mantle or place around a candle centerpiece.

These suggestions should help get you started on your holiday decorating, paving the way for a joyous holiday season!

Tags: holiday decorations, christmas decoration, decorating ideas, christmas tree, holiday wreath

So, you’re making plans for your holiday party and want your invitations to be special. Here are a few ideas that you might like to try.

Many a bride-to-be sends Save the Date cards to inform invited guests of her approaching wedding day. Well, to invite your guests to your holiday party, why not send them a Save the Date magnet? An imaginative and functional invitation that won’t get lost or thrown out. It doesn’t have to be large, the size of a typical business card would do. Choose a cute holiday scene and include the date, time, and location of your party. Don’t forget your phone number so guests can RSVP or call to get directions. With your holiday invitation magnet firmly affixed to their refrigerator door, guests will be constantly reminded of your approaching shindig. And, after the party, they’ll have a neat little memento of your festive bash.

For the more techno-savvy, create an invitation on your personal Web site. Send an email to all invitees and include the link to the invitation in it. Accept RSVPs by reply email or, if you’re really technical, design the Web page so guests can respond yay or nay right there.

If you’re more a traditionalist, you can always go to LCI Paper’s Web site and browse their selection of paper, card stock, envelopes, and embellishments offered for holiday invitations. Select a pre-designed invitation kit or create your own. With LCI’s abundant collection, creating a unique invitation for your holiday party will be a breeze!

Visit LCI's unique selection of
Holiday Invitations and Christmas Cards.

Tags: holiday invitations, holiday cards, christmas cards, holiday party

One of the highlights of any wedding has always been the wedding cake. Beautifully decorated, deliciously sweet and proudly on display until the moment when the bride and groom cut it and taste it for themselves.

Today’s wedding cakes have changed dramatically from what you might remember. Now, personalized wedding cakes are the newest trend. A bride may specifically request that the cake’s design match her gown’s detail. Monogramming the cake with the couple’s initials has become popular as well as creating a personalized cake topper.

Unusual shapes have become the latest thing. No longer is the three-tiered cake the standard. Now you see cakes made of unique shapes such as a crooked stacked cake or one made of both square and round layers.

A lot of cakes reflect the color of the bridesmaids’ gowns instead of the traditional white fondant. Hues of light blue, pale blush, butterscotch, or café au lait are springing up, adding to the confectionary masterpiece. Does your wedding theme have a color scheme? Let your cake play a part in it too.

In fact, why have a wedding cake at all, when you can have a cupcake wedding cake. Typically less expensive, the cupcake wedding cake has one layer of cake so the bride and groom can do the traditional cake cutting. But the rest of the cake is cupcakes which can be of different flavors and colors. They also freeze nicely for that first year anniversary!

Wedding cake design is rapidly approaching the level of bridal attire design, so expect a lot of choices, and create the cake of your dreams.

Tags: wedding cake, wedding reception, wedding ceremony, personalized wedding cake

Pocket Fold Invitations Decorative Papers Inspiration

Marlboro, MA — Making your own holiday cards and invitations has never been easier, thanks to LCI Paper, Inc. This online store, which offers a unique selection of stationery and handmade paper, serves as a valuable resource for people who want to go the DIY route this holiday season.

“We provide the products that people can put together in their own ways to create custom cards that look like a professional made them,” explains Larry Chase, who founded LCI in 1995 in order to make high quality paper products easily accessible and affordable for consumers. “People can buy the paper from LCI, then all they need is their imagination and printer to make their own cards from the comfort of home,” says Chase.

When choosing the pieces from LCI to put together a custom card, the possibilities are endless. For instance, shoppers can mix and match different card styles and shapes, vellum or tissue overlays, envelopes and accents like ribbon and bows to create their own unique look. Or they can select from sets of coordinating items (such as cards, vellum and envelopes) that come together as an easy-to-use kit.

In addition to offering more traditional stationery and cards, LCI also provides a variety of options that can help users to make a real statement. Take the new pocket fold Invitations currently featured on the website. The small outer folders serve as invitation wraps that people can customize by gluing square cards inside. The wraps also have a pocket attached to hold directions or rsvp cards. Further, for people who want to steer away from the classic reds, greens and golds, LCI suggests opting for one of its dark brown (called chocolate) colored cards to send a sophisticated and unexpected holiday greeting.

Chase says that people can print their messages and addresses right on the cards, either through their own Microsoft Word program or by purchasing a special easy-to-use printing press software available through LCI that will work on home computers. With the variety of choices and tools available at LCI, Chase says that DIY has never been easier.

To shop LCI’s selection of holiday products, visit http://www.lcipaper.com or call 888-488-0120. Orders submitted Monday through Friday by 2:00 p.m. EST are filled on the same day and customer satisfaction is guaranteed.

To find out more, please contact:

Larry Chase
LCI Paper, Inc.
888.488.0120
service@lcipaper.com

About LCI Paper, Inc.
LCI Paper, Inc. is a privately held company that was founded in 1995 by Larry Chase to provide fine quality paper for consumers at affordable prices. Today, the company continues to fill this important niche. LCI Paper buyers travel the world to discover the best and most unusual selection of papers and accessories that people can use to create their own invitations and announcements for weddings, business functions, and other special events.

Tags:
holiday cards
holiday invitations
pocketfold invitations
decorative paper

Stuck on favor ideas for your winter wedding? Don’t be. This time of year offers plenty of choices, whether your big day falls close to a holiday (Christmas, New Year’s, or Valentine’s) or is simply reminiscent of the season.

Take a look at the following suggestions. Maybe one of these just might be the perfect favor for your winter event.

• Fill old-fashioned knit mittens with candy and tie off with a satin ribbon personalized with your names and wedding date.
• For inexpensive and homemade favors, fill pretty tins with a spiced hot chocolate mix or hot cocoa mix with marshmallows.
• Snow globes are ever-popular. Give miniature globes with a bride and groom inside or a cute snowman couple.
• Anything snowflake is always appropriate. How about a snowflake wine bottle stopper or snowflake gel candle or even a snowflake glass photo coaster with a picture of both of you enclosed?
• For Christmas weddings, ornaments make splendid favors. Personalize them with your names and wedding date so your guests can take home a lovely keepsake which they can use for years to come.
• Give a holiday cookie cutter complete with cookie recipe attached. Include your names, wedding date, and the words “cut out for one another.”
• For a Valentine’s Day wedding, indulge your guests with a small box of decadent dark chocolates.
• Celebrate your New Year’s wedding with small bottles of champagne for your guests or blow horns and party hats presented in a flashy gift bag.

Tags: winter wedding, wedding favors, holiday wedding