FeeFiFoto Blog

Every Day's A Holiday

Making personalized calendars even more personal with the addition of memorable dates; here are some for March

FeeFiFoto was one of the first web sites to offer a service for customers to upload photographs, design, create and edit their own customized calendars.  This was a vast improvement over relying on Kinko's to:

• scan your photos
• crop your photos
• add your captions
• create your calendars
• call you for pickup
• miss some knuckleheaded mistake requiring them to rerun the entire project
• repeat until you finally gave up because you were tired of driving to Kinko's

Creating your own photo calendars online is so easy that you could make a different design for each recipient, leaving out the birthdays of yucky in-laws on calendars for all other relatives. 

You want your personalized calendar to be such an entertaining memento that the reader not only will keep it but will refer to it over and over just for its entertainment value?  We're making that part easy too.

Did you know March 20 is Festival Of Extraterrestrial Abductions Day?  How could you not make this special event a centerpiece of your annual gift calendar?

See below for other interesting March dates:

March

1

National Pig Day
Peanut Butter Lover's Day

2

Old Stuff Day
Dr. Seuss, b. 1904

3

I Want You To Be Happy Day
Peach Blossom Day
National Anthem Day
Alexander Graham Bell, b. 1847

4

Holy Experiment Day
Knute Rockne, b. 1888
Antonio Vivaldi, b. 1678

5

Multiple Personalities Day

Shouldn't multiple personalities be entitled to more than one day?

6

National Frozen Food Day
Lou Costello, b. 1906

7

National Crown Roast Of Pork Day

Defrost your crown roast on the 6th; see above

8

Be Nasty Day

9

Panic Day

10

Festival Of Life In The Cracks Day

11

Johnny Appleseed Day
Worship Of Tools Day
Ralph Abernathy, b. 1926

12

Alfred Hitchcock Day

13

Jewel Day

14

Pi Day

Can you guess why?

Albert Einstein, b. 1879

Big hint...

National Potato Chip Day

Has nothing to do with the two previous dates

See also National Tortilla Chip Day

15

Ides Of March
Everything You Think Is Wrong Day
Buzzards Day

This one makes complete sense:

• On the Ides of March Julius Caesar thought he was safe. 
• He was wrong. 
• Consequently, he was consumed by buzzards.

16

Everything You Do Is Right Day

17

Submarine Day

18

Supreme Sacrifice Day

19

Wyatt Earp, b. 1848
Poultry Day

In honor of Poultry Day we all do the Chicken Dance

20

Proposal Day
Festival Of Extraterrestrial Abductions Day

21

Fragrance Day
Johann Sebastian Bach, b. 1685

22

National Goof-off Day

23

National Organize Your Home Office Day
National Chip And Dip Day

24

National Chocolate Covered Raisins Day
Harry Houdini, b. 1874

25

Pecan Day
Waffle Day

26

Make Up Your Own Holiday Day
Spinach Festival Day

27

National "Joe" Day

28

Something On A Stick Day

29

Festival Of Smoke and Mirrors Day

30

I Am In Control Day
Vincent Van Gogh, b. 1853

Definitely wasn't in control

31

Bunsen Burner Day
National Clams On The Half Shell Day

What do you do in observance of Pi Day?

See also: February Strange Holidays

Visit FeeFiFoto to create personalized photo calendars with all kinds of unusual holidays.

Your Ad Here

One way to make money blogging.

Take a look at the middle of this page on the left hand side.  See the box that says "Your Ad Here"?  Know what it means?  It means you can place your ad here.  On my blog.

Duh.

The code comes from Project Wonderful, where you can create space on your blog to sell advertising and maybe, possibly, pleasepleaseplease generate some income; or you can buy advertising for your site on someone else's.  The space is sold to the highest bidder, kind of like Google Scamwords AdWords, but waaaaay less headachy / stomachachy / hyperventilaty.

Does AdWords make you hyperventilate?  Discuss.

Visit FeeFiFoto to design personalized photo gifts or else I'll hyperventilate.

Location, Location, Whatever

 

Photo from alvingigi.com 

The quest for the ideal Bar Mitzvah party location begins.

Schpilkes assumed I'd shove the whole Bar Mitzvah ordeal celebration onto her lap and let her plan it, as she's really good at party planning and she knows how much I hate it.  Not just hate it -- I fear it.  While my sister, Curley, throws a party every chance she gets, even letting my kids throw their parties at her house, I restricted myself to holding the celebration for our grandmother's birthday, which was on July 4.  Entertaining on Independence Day is easy, as expectations are very low.  I'd provide cold cuts, potato salad and cake, which I let the kids decorate, and voila: par-tay.  But throwing a Thanksgiving dinner or a Passover seder?  ::shiver::  No way.  My family discourages me from trying, since they know I'd freak out so extravagantly they'd have to do all the work anyway and clean my house before and after.

I just want everyone to like me.  That's why, in addition to not entertaining, I'm reluctant to choose restaurants or movies in case my companions blame me if they don't like my recommendations. 

But now I really have no choice -- as much as I'd rather send an invitation with a contribution envelope and call it even, I can't.  A Bar Mitzvah calls for a celebration.

So, I'm prospecting for the ideal location.

See also:  Planning A Party Two Years In Advance

Where do you think I should have it?

Visit FeeFiFoto for personalized photo gifts.  We can't help you choose a location but we can provide all kinds of fun personalized Bar Mitzvah party favors.

Multitasking

I can click the remote with my left hand and the mouse with my right, watch the Academy Awards with my left eye:

 

and navigate Entrecard with my right:

Wordless Wednesday: Is Barking Allowed?

Here's where I found it

Blogging To Market Your Business

Using Your Blog To Sell Your Business

Kristen, my Blogging Boot Camp drill sargent, has written a post about little old me, as I am her teacher's pet class clown star student.  Everything I am I owe to her -- except for my curly hair, which I got from my father because he wasn't using it any more.  Thanks Kristen, and Happy Birthday.  You don't look a day over 50.  ;-)

Do you need help learning how to blog and refine your blogging skills?

See also: Alternatives to Google Adwords, Blogging Advice, Social Media, Mommy Blogging, Raising Your Online Profile, Giveaways To Boost Readership And Customer Loyalty

Visit FeeFiFoto to design a personalized photo tote bag to hold you laptop and all your blogging notes.

The Winner Of The FeeFiFoto Spring Fame Contest

The newest winner of FeeFiFoto's unconventional Fame Contest.

Laura Williams, take a look at your adorable (and muddy) kids on this cool mouse pad and on the FeeFiFoto landing page.  Congratulations on your win!

If you didn't win this time, don't despair.  I'll be running another Fame Contest for summer.

Aren't these some of the cutest kids ever, even though quite muddy?

See also: Mousepad Evolution, Winter Fame Contest Winner 

Look to FeeFiFoto to put your kids' photo or artwork on a mouse pad for Easter baskets, Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Pocket-Sized Pups

Personalized Pet Gifts

Oh. My. Goodness.  I've just found the absolute cutest inanimate objects ever ever ever.  See this picture?  It's a miniature Bichon Frise made from polymer clay and then covered with needle felting.  The artist's name is Kay Turple and she resides in Ontario, Canada.  Each dog can take up to 25 hours (take a look at the Old English Sheepdog), and a portion of every sale is donated to the Ontario SPCA.  Visit her Etsy shop and try to resist all the cute faces.

Oh, okay.  She make cats too.

I have all sorts of stuff with depictions of my current and past dog breeds, including a couple of FeeFiFoto handbags with pictures of Miss Puppy.  I'm also very crafty.  But.  I could never. Ever. muster the patience to make something this glorious.  Think I may have to commission one.

Do you buy everything you find with your dog or cat breed on it?  I do.

See also: Puppy Purse, Family Photos And Artwork

Visit FeeFiFoto to find gifts you can design with photos of your own beloved dog or cat.

Fame Contest For Real

Announcing the REAL winner of the FeeFiFoto Spring 2008 Fame Contest, since our previous winner has failed to announce herself.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for.  The winner of the FeeFiFoto Fame Contest, Spring 2008 Edition, chosen by Miss Puppy herself, who tried to eat the applicable slip of paper:

Laura Williams, come on down!

Yay Laura!  Congratulations!  Mazel Tov!   Whoop whoop whoop!

Laura, send me a photo file in jpeg format and I'll let you know when your graphic is up on FeeFiFoto's home page.

Have you ever won some or lost some?

Visit FeeFiFoto to decide which item you'd like to see your photo on.

Darn Laptop

I'm tiptoeing around the net for the next few days as the spanking new *coughSonyVaiocough* laptop I bought on November 14, 2007 has a defective hard drive and will inevitably suffer a fatal heart attack any day.  I spent a couple of hours on the phone trying to scare the living daylights out of reason with *coughSonycough* Customer Contempt Service, but they laughed in my general direction and returned to debating whether Queen Amidala could beat Princess Leia in a smackdown.  As I'm racing the clock to try to make sure all my records are safe before my laptop starts moving toward the light, I'm probably not going to be blogging much this week, much less monitoring my business.

Spring 2008 Fame Contest Winner

Announcing the winner of the FeeFiFoto Spring 2008 Fame Contest. 

Yes, I know it's the Lombardi Trophy.  You got a problem with that?

Mooom!!  Stacey blogged me!!

Just in time for the declaration of the latest winner of the FeeFiFoto Fame Contest, Stacey wrote an amazing and blushingly complimentary blog post on a photo watch she won from FeeFiFoto in December.  Please take a moment to drop by her blog and maybe get some pointers from her on how she wins so darn much stuff.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for.  The winner of the FeeFiFoto Fame Contest, Spring 2008 Edition, chosen by Miss Puppy herself, who tried to eat the applicable slip of paper:

Taryn Scarfone!

Yay Taryn!  Congratulations!  Mazel Tov! 

Taryn, send me a photo file in jpeg format and I'll let you know when your graphic is up on FeeFiFoto's home page.

Have you ever won some or lost some?

Visit FeeFiFoto to decide which item you'd like to see your photo on.

Our New Tagline

How to distinguish your site from all the others.

One of the things I've been trying to do since buying FeeFifoto is make a name for myself and my site, and I mean that in a good way.  I changed the name a year ago from PhotoGiftPlace to FeeFifoto, after a three day mental and internet search for just the right name with just the right amount of wit and memorability and cheekiness.  I like FeeFifoto.  It mentions photos, which is key to what we do.  It's witty and punny, which is what I'm about (sorry).  And it offers the potential for a great marketing theme tied into the "Fee Fi Fo Fum I smell the blood etc. etc." giant business.

So today I unveil our new banner and tagline:

Get it?  Get it?!  FeeFiFoto... FeeFiFoFum ... giants ... gifts ... giant packages... get it?  Come on -- it's funny.

Wait -- come back -- I can stop punning, honest.

Hmph.

Do you think I'm punny?

Visit FeeFifoto, in spite of my goofiness, and design personalized photo gifts.  Mother's Day is right around the corner.

They Might Just Make It After All

Kids really do want to make a difference.

A month ago I posted about my concern that Americans' environmentalism will fizzle as soon as we find something easier or more appealing, like American Idol or something -- naah, that could never happen.  Maybe space travel...

Anyway, today Robespierre told me that one of his friends is circulating a petition around the fifth grade suggesting that the school install solar panels to cut down on electricity use.  He signed the petition and wants to organize a fund drive to raise money for solar panels.

Way to go friend!  Way to go Robey!  Way to go fifth grade!  Looks like at least some of my preaching encouragement has gotten through.

See also:   Kids and Politics, Kids and Giving

What are you doing to reduce your environmental impact?

Carry FeeFiFoto personalized canvas tote bags to the supermarket to cut down on landfill use.

Wordless Wednesday: What Would Rorschach Say?

See also:
The Odd Sock
South Park Avatar
Valentine's Day Gifts
Fantasy Architecture
Think About Music Everywhere You Go
Free Air Guitar

Planning A Party Two Years In Advance

Commencement of Bar Mitzvah planning

Last week I received a letter confirming Robespierre's Bar Mitzvah date, in June of 2010.  For anyone who doesn't know, a Bar Mitzvah is a ceremony where a thirteen year old Jewish boy (for the girls it's called "Bat Mitzvah") reads passages from the Torah in Hebrew; it signifies a child's transition to all the rights and responsibilities of Jewish adulthood.  Before and after the ceremony there are approximately eleventy celebrations, each requiring new clothes for everyone involved, as well as photographers, videographers, bands, decorations, speeches, party favors, and oh yes -- food.  Meanwhile, a mortified terrified 13-year-old is expected to work the crowd with the ease of Barack Obama; on the other hand, the scope of gifts is astonishing.

So you know how The New York Times reports that the United States Olympic Committee will be preparing three meals a day for American athletes this summer in China, including beef, chicken and pork from Tyson, Frosted Flakes from Kellogg's, and more than 6000 pounds of ice a day?  Planning a Bar Mitzvah is like that.  Only way more complicated.  Especially for those of us who get stressed out even thinking about going to a party, much less throwing one a whole weekend full of them.

eek.

Do you like planning parties?  If so, would you like to plan this one?  Pretty please?

Visit FeeFiFoto to create lovely personalized photo gifts for Bar Mitzvahs and Bat Mitzvahs.

Getting Personal ... ized

Upping the ante on party favors

Kristie, at Not Quite What I had Planned, chafes over planning her daughter's first slumber party:

"OK, so tomorrow night is [my daughter's] first-ever "Ten Squealing Girls for an Overnight Slumber Party Complete with Cake and and Hot Fudge Sundaes and Karaoke and Dance Dance Revolution and Dear Lord Where is the Advil Can I Take an Entire Bottle as a Preventative Measure Now?" sleepover birthday party. I'm sure it will be fun, once my migraine goes away, the one I don't even have yet, but that I will undoubtedly get and that won't go away until probably sometime the middle of next week.

But what about tomorrow? Am I supposed to send the girls home the next morning with a goody bag? Will they be expecting something? Is one final sugar rush with donuts ... going to be enough? Is taking all ten of them out for pizza, then back here for an overnight sugar frenzy, too lame? Are they going to leave here disappointed if they don't have goody bags?"

Oh Kristie -- as if you didn't already have enough on your mind, what with researching in advance how to get coral sparkle nail polish off Berber carpet!

Whose idea was it to distribute party favors at baby showers, weddings or birthday parties?  When I was a kid we ate cake, pinned the tail on the wall donkey, and went home. Some of us tried to repossess the gifts we'd brought, but it never worked; we didn't really expect to bring anything home in exchange for being entertained by scary clowns.  Now the schwag you score is as important as the gift you bring.

Nine years ago my sister, Curley, threw a beach party.  In March. Indoors.  There wasn't a speck of sand in sight, much less a speck of sunshine.  Guests wore shorts, kids played volleyball, Jimmy Buffett wasted away in Margaritaville.

My brother-in-law took Polaroids of each guest and cut each photo in a circle, which he bound onto badges like political campaign buttons, only way less controversial.  Everyone thought it was sooooo cool to walk out with personalized party favors.  I'm sure nearly all those buttons made their way onto bulletin boards instead of landing in the trash; there's something special and un-throwawayable about any object with your photo on it.  Here's mine and Robespierre's; nobody noticed our matching Hawaiian shirts that day.

How quaint it seems now.  With digital photography and tiny portable printers about the size of a lunch box, party favors have become way more sophisticated.  Now you can bring your digital camera to a party, take photos of all the guests, download them (the photos, not the guests) to the internet and create genuinely personalized items that people can actually use; each party favor is unique because it has the recipient's own photo on it.  Take pictures of all the kids at your child's second birthday party and have them printed on personalized melamine Disney plates.  At a bar or bat mitzvah, take photos of all the kids and have them put onto personalized mouse pads or tee shirts.  The great thing is that now you can make personalized gifts practically effortlessly, so you get way more bang for your buck than having to shoot polaroids of every guest and then spend half the party cutting them into circles and binding them into buttons.

What's the most unusual party favor you've ever received?

Visit FeeFifoto to design personalized photo mouse pads or melamine cartoon character plates as favors for your next birthday party.

 

I'll Be Darned If She Didn't Do It Again...

Sunday we went to dinner to celebrate my older nephew's 16th birthday, although this time not to The-Finest-Restaurant-In-Town.  After soup (tomato) but before dinner (salmon), Cleo fell asleep on the couch in the lobby.  When she woke up she tiraded briefly about having to miss Wizards of Waverly Place, the Disney Channel flavor of the moment, then she fell back to sleep.

What's with that kid?

Courageous Humanitarian Voyage

Shannon, from Rocks In My Dryer, is on a humanitarian blogging expedition to Uganda, where she and other bloggers will be blogging about relief efforts there.  Read about her trip here, and please note the button in my right hand column.

Thanks.

Offering Free Stuff To Build Loyal Customer Base

Offering the chance to win free merchandise can grab a potential customer's attention

Belinda, at Creatively Belle, writes about the payback of giveaways:

"[R]unning competitions and sweepstakes [is] the easiest way to gain attention and be given contact details at a craft fair, jewelry show or bridal expo for my email newsletter list ...

Be generous with your prizes. I give away 3 x $50 Gift Vouchers at my bridal expos and craft shows that can be redeemed at my online jewelry store. The gift voucher lets the customers choose what they want and lets you make offers across your product range.

I find having multiple prizes with the prospect of improving the chances appeals to more people than simply having one big prize - people like good odds..."

She's absolutely right.  On a recent Saturday I was at the grocery store with my kids and a lady handed us a flier from a nearby bank, announcing that if you opened a minor savings account that day with a minimum of $25 dollars, you'd receive another $25 in each account at the end of a month.  Having a bit of unexpected time on our hands, we headed to the bank, and in less than thirty minutes each child had a new savings account with a free $25.  Neither one needed a savings account; in fact we'd recently closed their accounts and transferred the money into investments.  Still, how could we pass up free money? So the bank got two new customers and Robespierre and Cleopatra got some free bucks.

I've learned, thanks to Kristen the Drill Sargent, that giving something away is one of the best ways to gain goodwill while expanding your customer base.  Now, it's not like I'm going to give a way a Maserati -- if I had one I'd certainly keep it for myself.  But, every time I publicize the giveaway of a personalized ornament, or mouse pad, or even fame from FeeFiFoto, it drives traffic to my blog and to my site.  It's worth it to me to gain the expanded readership and fan base.  It's funny -- I used to do craft fairs to sell off extra pottery (have I mentioned that I make my own?), but it had never occurred to me to run a contest.  By now, I'm convinced.

Have you ever won anything in a blog giveaway?

Visit FeeFiFoto and take a look at all the gifts you can personalize with your photos.  Then, click back here and enter the Fame Contest.

What Sort Of Gift Is Appropriate For Vacuum Day?

Making personalized calendars even more personal with the addition of peculiar dates; here are some for February.

FeeFiFoto has been producing personalized photo calendars as a core part of our business since we were established about five years ago.  For a long time our designs and features were relatively unchanged, but last year we added a bunch of new templates, a thousand or so pieces of clip art, and the capacity to arrange photos in collages instead of being limited to a single photo per page.  We've always had a feature that lets you enter your own family birthdays, anniversaries or special events. 

Last year the kids and I designed calendars for our family, and in addition to the usual birthdays and anniversaries, we chose one day each month for a fictitious holiday just to see if anyone was paying attention.  January 16 was Talk Like Pirates Day, February 24 was Walk Backwards Day, March 1 was Talk Really Fast Day, August 17 was Snowball Fight Day, and November 2 was Kiss Your Mom Day.  We also acknowledged some legitimate holidays and anniversaries, like the Ides of March (March 15), Beethoven's Birthday (December 16) and the anniversary of Paul Revere's Ride (April 18).  It was fun and silly.

I can't imagine that the majority of customers who buy personalized photo calendars from FeeFiFoto have my family's twisted warped exotic highly developed sense of humor, but on the outside chance that at least someone out there appreciates a good absurdist joke, I've compiled a list of some really weird, but apparently true, national and international holidays.  Eventually you'll find the entire list as a separate page on this blog, but to get us started, here are some unusual holidays for the month of February:

February

1

Serpent Day

2

Purification Day

3

Carrot Cake Day
Cordova Ice Worm Day

I don't even want to know about his one

4

Rosa Parks, b. 1913
Thank A Mailman Day
Create A Vacuum Day

I've heard Dysons are really good

5

National Weatherman's Day
Disaster Day

Could these two be related?

6

Lame Duck Day
Babe Ruth, b. 1895

7

Charles Dickens Day 

8

Kite Flying Day

Shouldn't this be in April?

9

Toothache Day

Think I'll pass on this one

10

Umbrella Day 

11

White Tee-Shirt Day
Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk Day
Thomas Edison, b. 1847

12

National Plum Pudding Day 

13

Get A Different Name Day
Dream Your Sweet Day
Read To Your Child Day 

14

Ferris Wheel Day
National Heart to Heart Day 

15

National Gum Drop Day

But please, don't drop your gum on the sidewalk

16

Do A Grouch A Favor Day

But only if he asks nicely

17

Champion Crab Races Day 

18

Pluto Day 
National Battery Day

Umm -- is there a National Assault Day?

19

National Chocolate Mint Day

You got my attention with this one

20

Hoodie Hoo Day

Woo hoo -- it's Hoodie Hoo Day!

21

Card Reading Day 

22

Be Humble Day

The rest of the year, be as conceited as you like

23

Banana Bread Day
International Dog Biscuit Appreciation Day

Miss Puppy likes this one

24

National Tortilla Chip Day 

25

Pistol Patent Day (Samuel Colt)

26

National Pistachio Day

I like pistachios better than pistols

27

International Polar Bear Day

I like polar bears

28

Public Sleeping Day

I like sleeping

29

National Surf and Turf Day

Do you commemorate Beethoven's Birthday?  And what is an "Ides" anyway?

Visit FeeFiFoto to design really personalized calendars with your own photos and dates.