It’s been a little over two months since our family expanded. I’d already put together our announcements and was ready to post about them when the site I’d used to printed them contacted *us* about doing a giveaway. So… this is the easiest giveaway post I’ve ever written, since I was going to share them anyway. I chose to print them via Zazzle (affiliate link) and I’ll tell you two BIG reasons why I like them so much. But first, here’s one of my favorite DIYs ever:
Oh, how I love her. So much that I’ll feel a bit, um, frazzled, at the end of the day. I’ll breathe a sigh a relief to be able to put her to bed successfully amid the dinnertime and big sisters frenzy, and then about 5 minutes later I’ll miss her. And consider going back to pick her up. Usually I opt not to…. but I’m amazed at how strong the urge is, and sometimes I can’t resist. World leaders need baby snuggle breaks. It’d fix a lot of things.
With each of my babies I’ve wanted to announce them properly. Which to me means nice paper and a sweet photo and hand writing the address and a pretty stamp I chose just for the card. I know not everyone cares about old fashioned fancy paper announcements (or holiday and birthday cards, for that matter) but I love them. For me it’s part of the process of savoring the moment. I know not everyone is into that. I can totally appreciate women who would rather spend that time doing something else, like holding the kid they worked so hard to make! We all prioritize. Just don’t ask where showering has fallen on my list lately. Announcements are more important than showers this week. And makeup? Whatev. I did brush my teeth though. I think.
So one of the reasons I chose Zazzle is that in addition to working with one of their many pre-made designs, you can upload your own. I wanted to do it myself! I used Illustrator to design my cards, but you could just as easily do the same thing with Picmonkey. Just create your image and size it to match the format you choose on Zazzle. They have a lot of size and shape options. Not only that, they have a lot of choices for paper. And I think it’s cool that the preview adjusts your image to show you how it looks with the tone of the particular paper underneath. I want to hug the internet for things like that.
I chose “felt” which is beautifully thick and gently textured. If paper were food, this would be a butter-filled hip-widening dessert.
The paper choice brings me to the second thing that makes Zazzle different and my favorite. You can print ONE. I wasn’t sure how the colors would look on paper versus on my screen and I wasn’t sure which paper I wanted, so I ordered one on each of a few different papers to check them out, and later ordered the number I needed for mailing. It’s inexpensive to try it and see which one you like. I have commitment issues when it comes to something so important to me, and I knew I’d cry if I ordered a whole bunch of announcements and later realized I didn’t love them. And when I placed my order there was a sale on invitations! That’s my tip – because I use the site fairly often, I subscribe to their weekly e-mails that tell me what’s on sale. They run some really good specials. Sometimes as much as 75% off. No, they didn’t ask me to ask you to subscribe to their newsletter. I’m saying it because I’m a compulsive deal-sharer.
I’ve been sitting in front of the computer for too long. I need to go and scoop her up and smell her. I’ve told you I like Zazzle because I can upload my own design and I can just order one, if I want to. I really enjoyed the process and think it’s worth checking out.
Would you like to try it for free? Zazzle will give one winner $50 to use on announcements or holiday cards (affiliate links) or on anything else you’d like! Enter by commenting below telling us the silliest gift you ever got. And by silly I mean funny OR ridiculous OR terrible. Whichever. I’m totally excited to hear these answers. One entry per person, duplicates will be nixed. Enter by Saturday morning, November 2, 9 am Eastern. We’ll post the winner on our Facebook page!
My mom is notorious for her awful gifts…one Christmas she gave my brother a wrapped bucked of wrapped cleaning supplies, and that was it. My worst (and her best) was a trio of howling yellow coyote statues that she knew I wouldn’t want but that she wanted and knew I would leave at her house.
My little boy used to bring me worms he dug for me out of the dirt…
When I was in middle school, my boyfriend went on vacation with his family. When he came home, he gave me a beautiful necklace with a spaceship on it. I was so excited that he thought about me on his trip and got me a gift. I put it on immediately and planned to never take it off… until I saw three other girls wearing the same necklace at school the next day!
One Christmas my brother in law gave me a TON of Ohio State merchandise. It was all really nice…except for the fact that I am a die hard University of Michigan fan!
So I actually don’t have any bad gift stories. My family is great at giving gifts because we’re terrible at it and so we just ask straight up what the person wants and them go buy them that exact thing. Lame, but it works for us. Oh, I guess the worst is that one year for Christmas my husband gave me a pair of used hockey socks (his old ones) that he tricked me into thinking he bought them just for me.
perfect timing for this giveaway … i’m having a baby THIS WEEK!
so, weirdest gift ever … would definitely have to be a potpourri warmer we received as a wedding gift from some dear friends. the issue was that the scent was SO STRONG we couldn’t stand to have it in the room with us! we put it in a ziploc bag downstairs, and we could still smell it!
Our family’s favorite silly give to give is a silly picture of yourself. Especially if you put it in an ugly frame. I got a picture of a friend once as a white elephant gift, and we have used the idea several times since. My favorite experience of giving a picture was when we re-gifted an extremely gaudy picture frame we got as a wedding present to my husband’s best friend for his wedding. We found ourselves 20 minutes before the reception in the Walmart parking lot taking a silly face picture in the car and then getting it printed as fast as we could so we could get to the reception on time (my husband was the best man). The best part is that they thought it was so funny they hung it right next to the bathroom.
Every flipping year, my mother-in-law gives me huge, dangly earrings. Every. Single. Year. Doesn’t sound too terrible until you learn that all I wear are studs. I have no idea what her agenda is other than to completely annoy me!
I once got a candle holder that was a sadistic looking ring of cats. It cast eerie shadows in the walls. Love your announcements!
One year we had very little money for Christmas presents. My husband went to a thrift store with $10 to see what he could find for me. He ended up with corkboard and a mirror with an accordian-like wall connector. Still makes me laugh!
My husband (we were dating and 19 at the time) got me a skin care set from Clinique that was all wrinkle and age defying products! I remember being competent annoyed, but he has gotten much better with gift giving since then! Thanks for the chance!
Really stinky cheap perfume. He tried, right?
Luggage! Not that exciting when you’re in high school.
My Aunt is notorious for horrible gift giving. She always gives us a box full of stuff that she found at garage sales, etc. There is always at least one item of clothing that is 3 times bigger than what size I am.
Adult sized footie pj’s (a few years ago) It was a joke and they were from a thrift store. Now i’ve noticed they have them at Target..maybe the gifter was just before her time?
The giver of the strange gift is something like my third cousin twice removed and she is known for her crazy gifts…especially at Christmas, but my favorite was our wedding gift from her. It was the face of a clock…we think. It was round and wall clock sized with a hole in the middle where we think the clock mechanism should have been. The paint was a bit worn off in places and the picture was of a folk-ish painted rooster. We still haven’t asked what it is supposed to be for. She also gave us a (slightly dirty) bundt pan and a wine saver cork. I’m thinking she forgot about the wedding and just went digging thru her closet!
Once, for a white elephant gift exchange, I received a stuffed pheasant that once hung in my great grandmother’s home. It was in the biggest box, so we all thought it was going to be a good present, not a stuffed dead bird! It ended up at my dad’s office building and hangs on the wall…not sure what his customers think about that.
My husband gave me a Dust Buster vacuum for one of our first Christmases after getting married. I was shocked!
Worst gift ever?? When the giant Christmas box arrived from my aunt and uncle, filled with sweets and gifts for Mom, Dad, and my brother. There was nothing inside for either my sis or for me, and no mention ever made by them about why we were left out. roflmao!
For the life of me I can’t think of any crazy gifts *I’ve* received, but I’ll never forget when, upon opening our ONE gift on Christmas Eve (saved the rest for Christmas morning), my mom chose a tiny wrapped gift that my dad had placed on a branch of the Christmas tree. She was thinking it might be jewelry…she thought wrong. It was a pair of ear plugs.
My family is actually really good at gifts. Oh, my sister who is kind of awful at crafts insists on giving me crafts she made every year, usually with some religious or political-ish saying that I just don’t want displayed in my house, even if the object wasn’t so tacky.
A black and white plaid cowboy shirt though we lived in San Diego and definitely was not into the western thing…
My roommate in college got me a pink purse (and I hate pink) with a heart on it. With my boyfriend’s name in the heart. In calligraphy. My mom took it out whenever she needed a good laugh.
The first Christmas after my husband and I were married. My mother in law gave me luggage. I was not sure how to take it.
It was a very interesting gig to get from my new inlaws. Was hoping she was not wanting me to pack my things and leave. My husband and I joke about it all the time.
Once when I was around 11 or 12, my Mimi gave me some granny panties for Christmas. They weren’t in a package either, which made me pretty certain that she had bought them for herself and they didn’t fit or she didn’t like them, so she passed them along to me (she was fond of giving things she already owned as gifts).
I once received a gigantic box of tea – it’s still in my cupboard years later. I’m a coffee drinker.
Funniest Christmas present has to be the learn to country line dance video from Grandma.
My husband bought me adult footy pajamas one Christmas. Thanks for the giveaway.
My dear husband bought me an electric can opener for Christmas. This was 13 years ago, but every year this story will pop up at least once =).
The worst gift I remember wasn’t given to me, but to my sister by our grandma. She gave her a red hair bow that was huge! So my sisters and I took the big red bows used to decorate for Christmas (about a foot wide) and put them in our hair for a picture. The funniest thing that actually happened to me wasn’t a gift, but a cake. When the bakeries first started putting actual photos on cake, my Dad and stepmom surprised me with one. As they sang happy birthday, I was almost on the floor laughing. It was the wrong kid! I have brown hair, brown eyes, this cake had a pic of my cousin who has blonde hair and blue eyes!
For our wedding we got a box of mismatched plastic cups that were definitely not new. We didn’t find this out until we were going to write thank you notes and we decided to look in the box just to make sure it was what was on the outside (our families are notorious for using any box to wrap presents). Luckily we did otherwise we would have thanked them for a crystal candy dish!! Needless to say, we recycled those pretty fast!
Hand towels from my aunt last year. Not that I have anything against towels, as we all use towels every day, but it was weird because everyone else in the family got gifts that showed she thought about them and considered what they would like, an apparently thought of me and decided I needed to dry my hands in style.
A gargoyle flower pot as a wedding gift!
For Valentine’s Day one year, I was given a bouquet of dead roses and a half used candle, with a card professing love to me… he was my friend’s boyfriend. Silly, and sad. Needless to say, he’s NOT the man I married. :)
As a wedding gift we got a pair of large wooden coasters with silver edges. Apparently they are for holding wine bottles on the table? We use them. They’re pretty classy. But for several months, we had no idea what to do with them!
I think I was 12 or 13 and I got a sweater shaver for Christmas from my grandmother. Awesome gift Gam! Sad thing is my thirty-something self could really use one of those!
I might be the one who gives terrible gifts… I love to craft things, but maybe my family isn’t such a fan of my scarves and coasters. :) On the other hand, I have some relatives to also like to make things and WOW. They are not always winners either! One time in my mid-teens though, my grandmother gave me a desk set – blotter, white board, magnets – from LL Bean, complete with puffy pink hearts and PERSONALIZED with my name. It was kind of her to think of me, but I never used it once!
Wait, you had a baby in August?!!!! OMG you are incredible!! How the heck did you make such beautiful garments on PS while looking after a newborn! And looking like you’ve never been pregnant before?!! You’re a super woman!
As a kid, my uncle Diug always gave my cousins and I the oddest gifts. One year, he gave each of us a small gift bag. Inside was a toothbrush and fifty $1 bills balled up (literally crumpled up). Wasn’t too sure about the toothbrush, but the money was nice!