Some of my most memorable times as a child were with my aunt who was a teacher and spent time with me making holiday crafts. It got me thinking-this could be a great idea for a holiday party. Get everyone together to make hot chocolate, gingerbread cookies and fun, holiday crafts. Here are some other ideas for planning a holiday craft party this year.

Send out a holiday invitation asking guests to bring specific materials like glue, scissors, or whatever else you might need.

ACTIVITIES. Serve up some hot chocolate and make these sweet treats for kids to take home or to use as holiday gifts for friends and family. Gingerbread people from Martha Stewart. Hot chocolate cones make great gifts, recipe serves four and is from FamilyFun. Peppermint Bark, another holiday treat from Martha Stewart, are great for snacking and for giving away.

If you are planning to have your family and friends over for Thanksgiving this year, now is the time to start shopping for some sweet Thanksgiving party invitations to hint at the delectable delights headed their way! Here are some adorable designs from Tiny Prints that are sure to charm kids of all ages:

While you are doing your online stationery shopping, don’t forget to pick up some cute and cuddly fall clothes and accessories for the kids to wear to the party! We love the cozy sweaters, hats and coats available for kids this fall. Check out these adorable designs from Lavish, Bean New York and babyGap:

Besides the usual trick or treating, know of any other fun and unique ways to celebrate Halloween? Well I didn’t either, until I did a little research. Enjoy the fruits of my labor and no matter what you do, here’s hoping you’ll have an awesome Halloween!

1. Budget Travel has come up with Halloween-Themed Hotel deals that start from $59. Travel to Scottsdale, Arizona to visit their Rawhide Western theme park with its annual Doomtown Halloween theme event packed with haunted houses and Halloween decor.

2. Not as inexpensive but loads of fun, Disneyland and Disney World boasts their annual “Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party” which is filled with kid appropriate fun activities like trick or treating in the park, parade and fireworks all in honor of Halloween.

3. Throw your own Halloween party! Serve up ghoulish treats and invite guests to this scary soiree with one of these Halloween party invitations.

Summer’s going by fast, so take advantage of the month of August with nonstop celebrations with family and friends. Take a look at my inspiration board for ideas on how to make the summer of ‘08 the best one yet! From Martha Stewart’s corn-on-the-cob cupcakes to a hot dog and fries birthday cake, here are some ways to get creative with the kids this season.

Photos:Top row from Martha Stewart, middle row FamilyFun and Kite Party Birthday Party invitations from Tiny Prints.

A girl’s sixteenth birthday is her first chance to have a stylish soirée thrown in her honor. With all of her friends and family there, it’s her opportunity to let her budding sense of style shine as bright as her rhinestone tiara! As a result, the pressure is on to make this party as chic and sassy as possible.

If you are having trouble deciding what theme, decor, food and games to feature, draw some inspiration from these flirty and fashionable ideas from our very own party planning experts. There is even a cake sculpted to resemble a Marc Jacobs bag! You’ll make sure no one is crying over her sixteen candles by suggesting these fun and fabulous themes!

• Modern Masquerade
• Roaring Twenties
• Alice in Wonderland
• Once Upon a Time
• Sixteen in the City
• Winter Wonderland
• Caught in Candyland
• Red Carpet Rendezvous
• Tahiti Sweetie
• Murder Mystery
• Mall Madness

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A fun activity I’m starting to get into is making my own popsicles. It’s so simple and easy to do, plus you get to choose what goes into these perfect summer treats. All you need to do is purchase an inexpensive popsicle mold. Amazon.com has a variety to choose from including this one–Tovola Shooting Star Pop Molds.

For a delicious recipe for an orange creamsicle popsicle, go to Health.com. And for fun and exotic popsicle recipes like Mojito pops and Blueberry Cheesecake pops, check out the book, “Pops!: Icy Treats for Everyone” by Krystina Castella.

Here is a recipe for Honeydew Melon Pops from her book that was featured on TheNest.com, and a chocolaty invitation that would sweeten up anyone’s day!

Ingredients (makes 6)

4 cups diced (1/2-inch cubes) ripe honeydew melon
1/3 cup plain yogurt
Juice of 3 limes
Grated zest of 1 lime
1 tablespoon of honey

Combine 2 cups of the melon with the yogurt, lime juice and zest in a food processor or blender; process until smooth. In a microwave-safe cup, heat the honey in a microwave oven for 30 seconds, until thinned. Add the honey to the melon mixture; process again to combine. Stir in the remaining 2 cups melon. Fill the pop molds with the mixture. Insert the sticks. Freeze for at least 6 hours. Remove from the freezer; let stand at room temperature for 5 minutes before removing the pops from the molds. Dip into this beautiful, amazingly juicy pop.

Kodak Gallery has great ideas for gifts that were submitted by customers. One idea I loved involved creating a mini photo book for a baby shower.

Photo from KodakGallery

All you have to do is ask guests to submit photos to you online and then create the book through their website. Request submission of photos on your baby shower invites, then when you get the photos you just add the pictures and leave space for guests to write little words of advice for the mom-to-be.

Do we sense a controversy simmering? Seems there is quite a bit of uncertainty regarding how to spell one of the most basic terms on our site, stationery…or is it stationary? We’ve done some research and come to our own conclusions but would love to hear you weigh-in as well.

We have to thank Mike over at DesktopSupplies.com for bringing the issue to our attention. To summarize, the evidence suggests that when people are searching for printed paper products online such as birthday party invitations, birth announcements, holiday cards and personalized stationery, they are frequently using “stationary” as part of their search term. As Mike duly references in his post, stationary is defined as: “standing still; not moving.” He goes so far as to say that people have written in to correct the spelling of “stationery” on their site to “stationary.”

This obviously creates quite an issue for us because we’re in the camp that believes we sell stationery. However, many use what we’d politely call the “alternate” spelling to find our cards. Naturally, we’ve ruled out building new site utilizing the word “stationary,” confusing people with more than one spelling or sending out a mass e-mail to all English speaking people correcting them of their ways. But…we’re open to suggestions.

The other day, a relative of mine who is planning our family reunion forwarded a family tree spreadsheet via e-mail to every member of the family with a request to update any missing or incorrect data and to verify addresses for the customized party invitations she created on our site.

As soon as the e-mail arrived, I thought to myself, “There has got to be an easier way.” Imagining each person making changes and returning the document, I wondered how all the information could be merged into one cohesive family tree.

A quick search indicated there are several products available to help categorize this kind of information, but the problem was that she wasn’t just interested in the family tree–she wanted current e-mail, phone numbers and mailing addresses as well.

In this case, a spreadsheet makes sense because it can be converted to a document that most contact software can read and convert to mailing labels. But, instead of an e-mail attachment, the ideal solution would be to use a relatively new product called Google Documents. Her existing spreadsheet could be uploaded and shared with all of the family members at once. Since they would all be editing the same document, no merging of the data would be necessary. Even better, everyone can access the document through a simple web portal, so no additional software is required. Voila!

Since Tiny Prints is in the business of helping people keep in touch, we’re always interested in hearing your techniques for keeping friends and family connected. If you have something to share, please let us know!

Whether you’re planning a birthday party or just a special day for your kids, cooking is a great activity to share with them to encourage healthy eating and teach them an important skill. Here are a few ideas that will hopefully inspire your next cooking event!

1) Purchase aprons and chef hats for kids. If you get white aprons, one of the activities at your party could be to have guests personalize their own aprons with markers.

2) Find recipes. Have guests bring in their favorite recipes. They can then compile their very own cookbook with some colored paper, pens and scissors.

3) Take an outing. Check out what types of cooking classes are available in your community. A few stores such as Sur La Table offer a variety of classes, with some especially made for kids.

4) Cook at home. If you don’t want to take a class, just buy, borrow or look up fun recipes for kids online. The Food Network is kid-friendly and has great cooking demos for kids.

5) Stock up on food. The best thing about throwing a cooking party is that your guests are the chefs. Just buy ingredients, some snacks and everything needed for baking a sweet birthday cake.

6) Send sweet invitations. These adorable invites are so appropriate for this occasion. They’re ready to serve to your guests for a memorable event.

Cooking: Boy Birthday Party Invitations

Cooking: Girl Birthday Party Invitations