Kids’ summer activities usually include sunshine and swimming, water and fun. A writing activity might not seem like something that any child might want to do, but you may be surprised at how easy it can be to get kids involved in letter writing activities as part of their itinerary of kids’ summer activities.

Retain School Skills with Summer Writing Activities for Kids

Summer writing activities help to keep kids on their toes during the summer months when it’s easy for them to forget what they’ve learned in school. Often, teachers end up using most of September reviewing and refreshing their classes with what they learned the previous year. Incorporating summer writing activities during your kids’ summer break gives them a leg up and can help boost their confidence for the new school year. What’s more, many writing activities also help establish common rules of etiquette and foster positive habits in good manners.

How to Incorporate Writing into Summer Activities for Kids

Many typical summer experiences naturally lend themselves to simple and fun writing activities.

Keeping in Touch with School Friends: For many children, while summer activities are fun, they also lack the daily social interaction with their peers at school. Sometimes distance keeps them apart from friends they have grown very close to during the school years. Encouraging children to write letters to friends is a great way to help them feel close, share their highlights of summer and getting  excited about returning to school. 

If your child complains of being bored or lonely without school friends around, encourage him or her to sit down and compose a letter.  Not only will letter writing skills get honed, but your child can practice expressing his or her feelings in writing, and feel closer to the ones they miss.

Even a school teacher would appreciate a nice summer note from a fondly regarded student. If your student tends to be shy or nervous about the new school year , helping your child write a letter to the upcoming year’s teacher can help him or her feel more connected, more confident and maybe even impress the new teacher!

Perfect for younger boys, Choo Choo Notes are so colorful and fun, while no little girl could resist the pull of Little Lollipop notes that are sweet enough to eat! A set of personalized note cards such as these or any of the other selections of personalized stationery at Giftsin24.com would also make a great gift for a childhood playmate who is moving away. A box for your child and a box for a pen pal and the mailman will struggle to keep up as new pen pals write away!

Writing from Summer Camp: The camp experience naturally lends itself to letter writing. Before you send you away to camp, supply him or her with a box of personalized stationery or note cards to keep in touch and share their summer fun. For example, a tween girl might enjoy our “Sprightly Note” cards, while an older teen would surely enjoy designing his or her own Tyme Correspondence card by choosing personalized colors and having his or her name professionally printed.

Include a quality pen and don’t forget to pre-stamp the envelopes to make this summer writing activity as simple and enjoyable as possible. And don’t forget to write back and send cookies!

If your child doesn’t go away to camp, even a day camp experience for kids can involve writing.Just as they make special connections during the school year, camp friends and counselors can become good inspiration to keep kids writing to stay in touch. Also, learning to acknowledge the extra efforts of those who bring positive experiences to our lives, such as a camp counselor who goes above and beyond to make camp fun, is a great way segue into how to…

Add Thank You Notes to Summer Activities for Kids

Often still considered a chore at the top of the procrastination list, writing thank you notes can be made into a simple and enjoyable activity for kids, especially if they are given fun tools like colored pens and personalized thank you notes. To help foster this often ignored but very important etiquette protocol, it helps to have your child choose his or her own style of thank you notes.  Starting the habit of writing thank you notes with kids at a young age can actually eliminate the sentiment that writing thank you notes is a chore to be avoided. Your kids won’t consider it a dull activity if you make it exciting from the start!

Girls of all ages would be thrilled to see their names printed on their very own Pink Tower Thank You Notes. Boys  will likely resonate more with our Polka Dot Notes in bright colors. The idea is to allow your child to choose his or her very own personalized stationery to create a sense of ownership and excitement.

Don’t Forget the Final Inspiration for Kids’ Summer Writing Activities

The joy that comes when the postman brings a well deserved reply!

In fact, you can even use the motivation to get your kids writing letters as your own inspiration, too. Set a good example by sitting down with them, or better yet, write a letter to your child and mail it! Once kids experience the good feelings from letter writing or and receiving thank you notes for a nicely cleaned room or a chore well done, they will be more likey to embrace your ideas for summer writing activities, and even thank you notes will not be met with groans.

The history of calling card stationery spans back to an era when personal calling cards were left after finding that no one was home upon making a house visit.   Life without cell phones and computers was a different life, unimaginable to many of us today.  Yet we can still appreciate the charm of personalized calling card stationery and handwritten letters.

Personal Calling Cards of the 18th and 19th Century

In 18th and 19th century society, what we now refer to as “visiting” was known then as “calling.”  Personal visiting cards, as they were termed, actually postulated their own delivery etiquette.   As Belight Software points out, the history of business cards harkens back to a time when society embraced certain social conventions and rules of etiquette.

Personalized calling card Victorian era

Calling Cards in the Little House on the Prairie

In Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie series, there is a lovely chapter in “By the Shores of Silver Lake” when Laura becomes mature enough to socialize; there is great excitement when Ma and Pa tell her she can order her own personal calling cards.  Obtaining her own calling cards is as much a rite of passage as putting her hair “up” or the length of her skirts. The shopping and purchasing decision on Laura’s calling card design is detailed, as is the admiration of her friends’ personalized cards. It truly is a glimpse into a forgotten, yet captivating , way of life.

Personalized Calling Card Stationery Etiquette Throughout History

The historic etiquette of personal calling cards reminds us of age-old social formalities that we can appreciate in the present day.

• There had to be a personalized calling card for each lady in the home on the first visit.
• At the ring of the door bell, the servant greets the guest with a card tray on the left hand on which to place the calling card.
• The calling card was given to the servant, who would then present it to the hostess, and only upon approval would the guest be allowed entry.
• Young ladies could only have personal calling cards of their own after one year ‘in society.’  They could carry their cards in cases.
• Gentlemen would carry their personalized calling cards in their pockets.  In America, men would never fold the corner of a card, whereas European gentlemen folded the upper right corner to confirm that the calling card was personally delivered.

These personal calling card rules of etiquette echoed the formal societal customs of this period, which necessitated a certain period of “courtship.”  We can see hints of this practice in today’s new world of communications and relationship-building.

Easton personalized calling card

Flourish Customized Calling Card

Stylish personalized calling card stationery

The Significance of Personal Calling Cards is That People Desire Personal Ties

Personal Calling Card Etiquette can help us gain insight on how to build relationships in today’s world

If we compare the personal calling card courtship period to that of courtship in dating, it seems that we may actually be resorting back to this societal convention of taking more time to get to know one another on a personal level with online dating.  And judging from the success of online dating sites, perhaps this actually still works!  In this same way, businesses that recognize the value of building personal relationships with vendors and clients are more successful.

Using personal methods of communication such as Personalized Calling Card Stationery and Thank You Letters generates a subconscious feeling of connection

The recipient feels that the sender has taken the time to cordially present themselves or show their appreciation.   And in today’s world of mass production, a little personalization goes a long way.

A movement to bring back this traditional approach to communication and relationship building through the use of personalized calling cards and personalized stationery is on the rise.  You may want to explore some options for yourself; follow these links to view some of our Personalized Calling Card Stationery and Personalized Thank You Notes. It just may be time to bring back these tried-and-true customs.

 
Is April 22 marked as a special day on your calendar? If you work in any professional capacity in any office type of situation, the chances are not only the day should be marked, but the whole week should be given a little bit of extra attention.

Administrative Professionals Day formerly known as Secretary’s Day is an unofficial secular holiday observed on the Wednesday of the last full week of April and this year it falls on April 22^nd. The whole week is actually the annually observed Administrative Professionals Week to recognize the work of secretaries, administrative assistants, receptionists, and other administrative support professionals.

As stated, a great majority of people who work in an office either fall under one of these job descriptions of work closely with someone who does and really, whose constant assistance and skills make your work day a heck of a lot easier all throughout the year. It’s a rather nice gesture to not only be aware of the day, but to acknowledge those who are your right hand helpers. Everyone does like to be acknowledged and appreciated, so this holiday provides a nice change to thank those who make our lives easier.

Over the years, Administrative Professionals Week has become one of the largest workplace observances. The day is often celebrated by giving one’s assistant such gifts as flowers, candy, trinkets, lunch at a restaurant, gifts, or time off. 

At Giftsin24, we have a nice selection of personalized gifts that can demonstrate a deep level of appreciation and caring:

Our MonteVerde Medalia Neck magnetic Pink Ballpoint Pen shows a perfection combination of function and form. Since pink is not for everyone, we have plenty of other beautiful MonteVerde pens to select from.

Other “working” desk type gifts, such as our “Bachelor Pad” cherry wood desk note pad looks professional and is much more appreciative than a pile of scrape paper. For a more casual approach, we also have a fun selection of “Morph Sculptural” note pads to choose from.

If your worker is not just a busy bee, but say a Georgia Tech fan, may we suggest our Georgia Tech Collegiate Note Cards. Of course, we have a full section of other popular varsity note card and stationery sets to choose from which are also a really great idea for a graduation gifts!

Or how about our classicand traditional customized monogrammed notes  Or something like our classic Bordered Note card which also falls under our free printed return address envelope promotion.

Receiving a gift that is personalized can help demonstrate to the recipient that the gift was really thought about and planned for.

Whether you have never heard of the day before, or even if you wait until the last minute, there is still time to purchase a gift of appreciation for the professional assistants in your life. With our onsite printing facilities, even if you choose to present personalized stationery, the majority of our products are created and shipped out within 24 hours. Or you might want to print out this blog post and leave it around the office as a hint to your own boss.

No matter what you choose to do mark the date and spread the word because cranky underappreciated and feeling undervalued co-workers are not positive in any office.
]]> http://www.giftsin24.com/blog/special-occasions/administrative-professionals-day/when-is-secretarys-day-this-year/feed/ 1 http://www.giftsin24.com/blog/kids-stationery/141/ http://www.giftsin24.com/blog/kids-stationery/141/#comments Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:06:42 +0000 Pat http://www.giftsin24.com/blog/?p=141