“Mail for me?” Little Johnny is so excited to finally get his very own piece of mail. However, the excitement doesn’t last long. When he tears open the envelope to see a boring white card with some words on in it, he tosses his mail aside. Obviously, the sender didn’t realize that birthday invitations for a child’s party should be fun and colorful. Luckily, VistaPrint knows all about colour. To create custom invitations the guests will love to receive, you should:

• 1. Choose an invitation that reflects the birthday party theme. Children will enjoy looking at the bright images and will be able to see what type of party they are being invited to.
• 2. Make sure you don’t fall for cute images that will embarrass your too cool, too grown up little boy or girl. Children as young as three or four are horrified by things that seem babyish to them.
• 3. Include a small gift in the invitation envelope. A temporary pirate tattoo is easy to include in an invitation to a pirate themed party and is very inexpensive.
• 4. If you have additional information to pass on to the parents, include a smaller envelope with the parents’ names on it in the invitation envelope to hold this unexciting but important part of the party news.

You can’t wait to add a bunch of bells, whistles and even a few sirens to your new site. Every new gizmo and high tech option, from streaming music to high resolution graphics, will find a place there. People are going to be amazed with your incredible website design. You have to wonder why so many other businesses are creating such boring sites, though. Don’t they like the thought of using these cool options?

While those other businesses may just adore video content that plays the second the site starts loading or huge flash pages, they are smart enough to put those things where they belong on their personal pages. Why? Imagine sitting in an office cubical and quickly looking up the drycleaner’s website to get the phone number so you can call to make sure your suit is ready to be picked up during your lunch hour, which starts in five minutes. The big boss is strolling by, but you aren’t worried because your monitor is facing away from the corridor. Suddenly, your computer starts screaming out the lyrics to “Splish, Splash.” So, how frequently are you going to visit that drycleaner’s site in the future?

Simpler websites load more quickly and are less likely to cause customer embarrassment, which is why most businesses tend to avoid all the bells and whistles that seem so exciting.

You would love to make your own postcards, but you just aren’t sure quite where to start. How hard is it to design your own cards with VistaPrint? Can someone without much computer experience do it? If you can handle clicking a mouse, you can handle postcard printing through VistaPrint. It really is as simple as pointing and clicking, with a bit of typing thrown in. To make your postcards, you should:

• 1.  Begin by deciding on a design that suits the occasion. If you don’t find the perfect design, you can create your own postcard from scratch and upload it, but to do this, you will need just a bit more computer savvy than someone who has a few basic mouse skills.
• 2.  Write your text in the available spaces and adjust the font size and style to create a nicely balanced postcard. If all of your text doesn’t fit easily, you can add more text boxes. Just be sure you don’t crowd too much information on the cards. If you have a lot to say, consider pointing people to a website with complete details instead of cramming it all on the card.
• 3.  Thoroughly proof the postcards to be sure you have not made any typos and then place your order.

As Jane Doe opens yet another little cream invitation envelope, she stifles a yawn. It seems like every single one of her friends is graduating, getting married, or having a baby this year and every one of them is sending party invitations in the same understatedly elegant envelopes. What happened to the wild gang of fun loving rebels she used to have so much fun with? If only Jane had a friend who was willing to push the envelope, or even get rid of it entirely. To help Jane overcome her invitation ennui, you should:

• 1.  Add some colour and fun to the envelopes. Rubber stamped designs, sketches, or silly doodles can transform a staid, drab envelope into an exciting piece of art.
• 2.  Shake things up with stamps. You can look for interesting stamps at your local post office or you can look into personalised postage stamps.
• 3.  Use a completely different container, such as an Easter egg. Simply fold the invitation and stick it inside. Tape the egg shut and adhere a mailing label. The post office may think you’ve lost it, but they’ll mail those eggs. People have successfully mailed everything from old shoes to rubber duckies through the post office.

You’ve agreed to take ten active little boys to the amusement park. Seconds later, you regained your sanity, but it was too late. How are you going to handle that many kids? As you hook up a portable I.V. to your espresso machine, you realize that your biggest problem (besides the way little Jimmy gets sick on roller coasters, merry go rounds and any other ride ever made) is identifying your ten little boys in the hoard of children that will be running through the park. Then you remember the memo you got from your boss the other day asking you to check into custom t shirts on VistaPrint.ca because he wants to hold a promotional event. Matching t shirts for the boys is a terrific idea!

You create a colourful design for your shirts that is sure to stand out in the crowd and upload it to VistaPrint. Then, you order the t shirts and start working on the next part of the plan convincing the kids to wear them. Perhaps you should have considered using one of the designs that were already available instead of making your own. After all, what boy would object to wearing a shirt with a sleek yellow sports car on it?

You’ve got some absolutely amazing business cards from VistaPrint. Believe it or not, these cards match the colours you’ve chosen for your brick and mortar business. In fact, you like the cards so much that you’re going to order your stationery, your postcards and your promotional fridge magnets from VistaPrint, as well. Then, you see there’s an option for custom website design through the site, too. Since you are a detail oriented person who believes that a brown belt can only go with brown shoes, you are all for having everything match, from the business cards to the free website. However, you have to wonder if you are going too far. Is using the same design for everything okay? Absolutely!

When you develop the same look for all of your business promotional materials, your site and even your checks, you are creating something that is known in the business world as a brand. A well developed brand is a great thing to have, because customers associate you with certain characteristics and develop trust and loyalty when they see these things over and over again. They will subconsciously begin to look for your colours, fonts and logo when they are looking for a service or product that your company provides.