Card Party is in full swing

Greetings:

If you have been following the Take Action Now Blog you know that I am throwing a card party for my sister. We are actually in the third week and things are going well except that what worked in theory doesn't work in practice.

I thought if I sent a card a day she would receive a card a day. Yes in theory, but not in real life. In real life there are days when my sister receives a card, some days she doesn't get any and others where she has a bonanza of cards, one day she got three. Not exactly sure how that all works.

So putting the Post Office issue aside my sister is loving getting a card a day. She expressed what I thought would be true, it is fun getting real mail. She says she looks forward to checking her mail every day wondering if there will be a card and what surprises it will hold.

So far her favorite card has come from Noah, my favorite waiter at TGIFriday's. I am having people I know sign cards for my sister just to add a little excitement to the mix. Noah wrote a great diddy about how wonderful it was to be turning 47 and he was looking forward to seeing her soon (Noah has never met my sister and chances that he will are slim but it was cute for him to write that). I also included a $10 gift card from TGIFridays which made it a card with a surprise in it!

The other thing that is fun is I am talking to my sister every day. I call her or she calls me to see what if any card she got today and to chat about how much fun she is having with this project. That has been an unexpected bonus.

I was telling my friend Halley which will be 17 in a few months about what I was doing and she immediately figured out when I would need to start sending her cards so she could have a card a day for 17 days. Now I have people requesting card parties!

If you want to have a card party for someone here are some tips:

Give yourself plenty of time to find the cards. It isn't as easy as just going to the card shop. I went all over town finding the right cards.

Get other people to sign them to add a little fun and mystery to the party. Or have friends and family of the birthday person sign them. You could even just ask everyone to send a card, however that is a little more risky because you can't be sure they will do it. You would have to manage that one.

Put little surprises in the cards. I have put everything from a post-it-note pad, gift cards, bookmark, and little coins and tokens. If the card is a funny shape or has something protruding in it you will want to take it to the post office and have it checked. They actually have special 62 cent stamps for odd shape envelopes and things that are protruding (it isn't that these may weigh more than a regular envelop they just require special handling so you have to pay a little more for them). Keep in mind that if you can get a stamp on it you can mail it.

So I am off to mail another card!

Here's to taking action,

Rachelle