Back To School Sale!

Have your kids gone back to school?  Mine started last week so in honor of school starting back it is time for our first sale!

Save 15% off your total purchase with a minimum purchase of $6.00 from now until the end of August.  
Use code SCHOOL2013 at checkout.  Valid on Etsy and Website

First Day of Kindergarten Poem

As my daughter prepares for her first day of kindergarten next week I came across this poem and had to share.

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Jack who was about to climb his very first beanstalk. He had a fresh haircut and a brand-new book bag.
     Even though his friends in the neighborhood had climbed this same beanstalk almost every day last year, this was Jack's first day and he was a little nervous. So was his mother.
     Early in the morning she brought him to the foot of the beanstalk. She talked encouragingly to Jack about all the fun he would have that day and how nice his giant would be. She reassured him that she would be back to pick him up at the end of the day. For a moment they stood together, silently holding hands, gazing up at the beanstalk. To Jack it seemed much bigger than it had when his mother had pointed it out on the way to the store last week. His mother thought it looked big, too. She swallowed. Maybe she should have held Jack out a year...
      Jack's mother straightened his shirt one last time, patted his shoulder and smiled down at him. She promised to stay and wave while he started climbing. Jack didn't say a word.
     He walked forward, grabbed a low-growing stem and slowly pulled himself up to the first leaf. He balanced there for a moment and then climbed more eagerly to the second leaf, then to the third and soon he had vanished into a high tangle of leaves and stems with never a backward glance at his mother.
     She stood alone at the bottom of the beanstalk, gazing up at the spot where Jack had disappeared. There was no rustle, no movement, no sound to indicate that he was anywhere inside.
     "Sometimes," she thought, "it's harder to be the one who waves good-bye than it is to be the one who climbs the beanstalk."
     She wondered how Jack would do. Would he miss her? How would he behave? Did his giant understand that little boys sometimes acted silly when they felt unsure? She fought down an urge to spring up the stalk after Jack and maybe duck behind a bean to take a peek at how he was doing.
     "I'd better not. What if he saw me?" She knew Jack was really old enough to handle this on his own. She reminded herself that, after all this was thought to be an excellent beanstalk and that everyone said his giant was not only kind but had outstanding qualifications.
     "It's not so much that I'm worried about him," she thought, rubbing the back of her neck. "It's just that he's growing up and I'm going to miss him."
     Jack's mother turned to leave. "Jack's going to have lots of bigger beanstalks to climb in his life," she told herself.
     "Today's the day he starts practicing for them...

And today's the day I start practicing something too: Cheering him on and waving good-bye."

(Author Unknown)

Printing Invitations

I get a lot of questions asking how and where to print invitations.  So this post will hopefully help those of you who are not sure where to go once you order your invite.  It really boils down to what your preference is.  Some people want to just attach it in an email to save paper and some people want it printed on cardstock.  Whatever your preference is I have a recommendation.  

★EMAILING:  Yes you can email the invite out to your guests.  This is in fact what I prefer to do because people are more inclined to RSVP to email anyway.  It is also very budget and earth friendly!  I just print out a copy for my memory book. 
-Simply save the file to your desktop then attach the file to your email and email it to all your guests.
★PRINT AT HOME: Printing at home is another great way to save on cost if you are on a budget.  You can buy cardstock or photo paper to print the invites on your own computer.  You will need a color printer and a program that can print photos.  I use Microsoft Office; just make sure you select your size of 4x6 or 5x7 before printing.  Then cut using scissors or a paper trimmer.
★PHOTO LAB CENTERS:Using a photo lab is another option for printing out your invitations.  You can use any photo lab center that prints 5x7 or 4x6 photo prints.  My top recommended places are CVS, WalMart, Walgreens or Costco.  These have been used previously by me and my clients with no issues.
★CARDSTOCK PRINTING: Many people like the look and feel of invites on cardstock.  You can print them at home on white cardstock or you can take them to an office supply store to have them printed on cardstock.  My top recommendations are Office Max and Staples.  These have been used by several of my clients with no issues.  Some clients have used Kinkos but have had issues with Kinkos being able to print them properly.  Please note this is an issue at Kinkos and not with my file.   

*I do not recommend using other online printing companies such as Vista Print, etc. as they all have different sizing requirements and I do not reformat my invitations. 

THINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN PRINTING:

Colors will vary from monitor to monitor and printer to printer.   This is not an error but you have to remember that not every printing company uses the same printer or ink and that is what causes variations.  I did a test prints to see the difference.  I had one printed at WalMart and one printed at CVS and it amazes me how different they are.  WalMart was vibrant/brighter and CVS was lighter and more pastel in color. For this reason I do recommend doing a test print.  

Do NOT forward files from your phone or tablet devices to the printer.  These electronics cannot handle the size of the files and will automatically decrease the size of the file to send it.  This will cause your items to print blurry and not be in the right resolution.  This is not a result of a low resolution file being sent to you but the fact that it was changed when it got forwarded on your device.  Pink Hippo Party is not responsible for misprinted items because of this.

Welcome to our Party Blog!

Welcome to our new PARTY BLOG!  Pink Hippo Party offers everything you will need to create the perfect party for your little hippos!  This blog will showcase our new designs as well as tips for printing, assembly help and much more.  Please be sure to follow our blog, Facebook page and Pinterest page so you don't miss out on anything! You can click the links to the left to access our website, Facebook page and our Pinterest page.