Printing Insights USA Blog ( News and Tips )

Super Bowl Party – Do and Don’ts

Written for ColorCopiesUSA.com by Steve Wright, experienced sports and travel writer.

Super Bowl parties are fun and everyone should make a point of going to one. It is the only game of the NFL season that everyone wants to watch. To that end maybe you want to throw a Super Bowl party but are unsure of how to go about making yours the best on the block. If so, follow this handy guide to party greatness!

1 – Do – Decorate the house

Decorating for other types of party (birthday, Christmas, etc.) comes as standard, so why not go all the way and do the same for your Super Bowl party. Get some banners printed out. Or better yet, get some removable wall coverings with your pictures! Cover the table in the logo of the NFL or the team you want to win the game. Maybe even find some lights or light bulbs in team colors to really set the atmosphere. The limits here are only what your mind allows and a great set up in terms of decoration will really set your party apart from the crowd. #decorate-for-super-bowl-party

example of wall decoration, Super Bowl Party — Removable wall decorations add so much flavor to the football party

2 – Don’t – Try to provide all the food

If you have 30 or 40 people coming over and you are trying to be the sole provider of food then you are crazy. This is one of those occasions where it just doesn’t matter if all the courses on the menu are perfect compliments for one another. Get the word out and get those friends to bring snack food, sides, and (obviously) drinks, so that it takes a little of the burden (and cost) off of hosting.

Alternatively cater in Chipotle. Then everyone wins.

food organized to look like a football field — Decorations for food trays can be so original!

3 – Do – Create some friendly competition

One of the few issues with the Super Bowl is that people are not necessarily invested in the two teams involved. If you are a Kansas City Chiefs fan for example the matchup between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons means nothing. Maybe change that by printing out some t-shirts for your guests to wear and have a little prize in mind for those wearing the winning team’s colors at the end of the game.

4 – Don’t – Run out of ice

Seriously, this happens at every single Super Bowl party. The theory that I am running with is that because it is always so cold outside people just assume ice will not be needed. If you have a lot of people over then they will make lots of drinks. It is an indisputable fact. If you think you have enough ice then walk away from the computer, get in the car, and go and buy a couple more bags. Now you are good.

5 – Do – Invite the right amount of people

There is literally nothing worse than going to a party like this and one of things happening. Firstly, there are too many people for the space involved and there is nowhere to sit and watch the game. Secondly, the only people there are you and the host. Neither is good. Hit the middle ground and base it on house size and number of TVs available.

6 – Don’t – Talk over the half-time show/commercials

I get it. Lady Gaga is just not your thing. This is understandable (though it must be said that the girl has proven to be money on the biggest stages). You also don’t care about the dumb commercials. You are all about the football.

While this is fine, there are literally going to be people at the party that only care about what Lady Gaga sings and what the cute puppies are doing on the Doritos TV spot. Let those people have their Super Bowl moments, though if you and the other football nuts at the party need to create a drinking game around these parts of the broadcasts then that’s ok too.

7 – Do – Make people change if they come in a rival jersey

We get it, you hate the Patriots. That though does not mean it is ok to show up to a Super Bowl party wearing a Bills/Jets/Colts/Steelers shirt. Nor is it ok to turn up in the jersey of a neutral team, such as the Cleveland Browns (there is no one more neutral than the Browns). As host you can deal with this how you like, but a good way is to have a few newly printed T-shirts on hand with a few words of your choice showing just what a bad decision it was to turn up in other NFL gear. Let your imagination run with this one…

8 – Don’t – Forget to clean your house

This is supposed to be a party. There will be people coming to your crib that have never been there before. The first impression you want to give to those people is not that you are living the life of a college frat boy. Obviously there likelihood is that the house is going to get a little messy as the party proceeded (fix that with table covers), but the initially impression must be great.

Just try not to think about the post-party cleanup as you get ready to host.

9 – Do – Confiscate all cell phones

This serves a couple of important purposes:

1 – It stops people from ruining the flow of conversation by texting people at other parties all night long.

2 – It stops guests posting on social media for the duration of the game. Given how many Americans take the Monday following the Super Bowl off work for “medical reasons” then plausible deniability about their actions from the night before is important. This is less possible if you are checking in on Facebook every 20 minutes in growing states on intoxication.

10 – Don’t – Let anyone with face paint into the house

unless they are under the age of 16. Just send them home and remind them that an adult with a face covered in corn starch and food coloring is not ok.
Ever.

So there we have the keys to throwing a great Super Bowl Party. Yes, making all this happen takes a little bit of planning, but as you see your guests enjoying your fully decorated house and you realize you didn.t have to pay for all the chips and salsa being eaten, then it will all be worth it.

The Party Planning Printing Ideas Checklist

Planning a party? Need some ideas? No matter what type of celebration you are having, custom printing some key items will help make your party a smashing success! By ordering professionally printed products, such as invitations, banners, signs, party gifts and thank you cards, you save the time and effort it would take to make things by hand or print them yourself. Custom printed items nearly always look better too. Save time and add those special touches that will make your party more memorable.
Here’s a simple party printing ideas checklist of printed pieces that will help make it a fun affair, whether it’s a surprise birthday party for a loved one, a reunion for family or friends, a corporate holiday office party, or any type of gathering where you want to impress the guests.

Invitations, Banners, Signs, Party Gifts, Thank You Cards and more…

Invitations– Even in a day of e-vites and online RSVPs, it is still in good form to have physical invitations to announce special events. Create postcards to hand out at the office or at school. Here’s an idea – mail out your invites instead of emailing them. Everyone loves to receive the ‘good’ type of mail. They are cheaper to mail than you might think as well ( if the invites need to be sent out, rather than passed out ). Sending an invite always ads that personalized touch that impresses would-be guests. Use a fun photo of the guest of honor, or create a custom design that reflects the significance of the day.
Banners– Make a few custom vinyl banners and posters to hang up around the party area. Use colors that coordinate with the theme of the celebration, and choose lettering that conveys your special message about the event. This could be words of encouragement or congratulations, depending on the occasion. Think “Welcome Home” for a returning vet, “Happy 50 th ” for the golden anniversary for your parents or “Congratulations Graduate!” for your high schooler who just passed her SAT’s and is about to graduate.
Signs– Make signs to hang outside of the event, to guide people into it. If it is in a harder to find location than usual, create a few extras to offer directions and place them at common intervals on the way to the party. Signs also make surprise parties, bar mitzvahs and birthday parties that much more special. Think of how excited your child will be to see a bigger than life size sign saying ‘Welcome to Emily’s Birthday Party!!’ – she’ll remember it always!
Party Gifts– Give guests a special custom memento to take home with them. This could be as simple as a colorful pen and fun graphic notepad, to as elaborate as a custom calendar with personal pictures. Give everyone a custom t-shirt, hat, or tote bag to wear for the event. Other ideas include journals, coffee cups, barware, or pet accessories such as collars or tags.
Thank You Cards– Follow up any great celebration with thank you notes to everyone who attends. This is especially important if you held the event to raise awareness for a cause or gifts of any kind were received from guests.
You can even print custom wrapping paper for your gifts – just ask our friendly and creative printing specialists about this and other Printing Ideas.

Every product we mention above can be customized to your specifications. Create the perfect ambiance to celebrate a special occasion with loved ones or a fun environment to hold a business event. At ColorCopiesUSA, your friendly printing specialist will help make sure you can check off your custom printing needs all at once, and move on to the other party planning tasks on your list. Call us today at (877) 421-0668 or click here and let us know all about your special event – we’ll make it that much more special!!

“The Profit” Host Finds Signage to be Key in Remodeling

It’s Friday night, the night where I catch-up with TV programs such as The Shark Tank and The Profit.

Shark Tank

The Shark Tank always makes me smile at some point when I recognize one of those aha moments happening. The show immediately connects me to so many of our clients, working with so much passion and creativity on their projects using print signs and digital signage to make their ideas a reality. We (I mean the team at ColorCopiesUSA) often feel that we are part of the business creative world and that makes us feel so proud!

The episode of The Profit that I watched tonight was about remodeling a store located in the Chelsea Market in New York. Marcus Lemonis, the host and investor in that show was trying to unclutter the store and make it easier for the store’s clients to find the product they are looking for.

The work done during the remodeling was significant, but the directional signs, those signs that help the clients find their way in the store, were the ones that seemed to make the biggest difference in the before-after comparison

Directional signs can transform a “bad location” into prime location! Smart and appealing messages drive clients to find their way.

Have a great weekend!

Business Yard Signs: They are all over the place!

– Did you just say “Yard Signs”?

Yes I did! I fact I’ve been looking and talking about yard signs a lot lately. You know, it’s the election cycle that brings lots of those in front of your face…. everywhere….. but they are there all the time!

Why are business yard signs used all year round?
For just one simple reason. Yard signs drive people into taking action. Like it or not, all of us look at them when they are out there.
Don’t get me wrong; when there are 10 of those at a corner promoting 10 different candidates… forget it. That’s too much clutter.
But when used wisely, yard sign can make your business feel it.

When I say “your business will feel the effect of yard signs” I mean that even when you put out a yard sign to promote a garage sale or something like that, what’s behind that, is in reality some sort of business transaction that you expect to happen…..

What is a Yard Sign?

Yard signs are also known as lawn signs, bandit signs, placards or road signs. These are small advertising signs that, are placed on the lawn so that people or vehicles circulating will see the advertising pieces.

picture showing dozens of yard signs and lawn signs — Dozens of yard signs and lawn signs saturating the message. Credit to the Tennessee Beacon Center

This year we’ve seen a tooonnnn of yard signs that express support for one or another of the political candidates running for office, judges running for benches and local representatives such as city councils.

picture of yard signs with creative messages and graphics — Business Yard Signs can be creative and unique.

What are Yard Signs made of?

Yard signs are made out a plastic material called coroplast,which is a plastic sheet that is hollow. Because of the constructive method, it is very strong. The plastic walls that links both faces of the board give to it an incredible mechanical resistance and strength.

The small pipes that are created in the sheet are usually called “flutes”. Since the yard signs are usually kept in place by inserting a metal H stake in the flutes, it is always important to understand if the sign that you need requires vertical or horizontal flutes

H metal stake to hold a coroplast yard sign — The metal stakes fit in the flutes on one end, and are pushed into the ground (usually by pushing with the foot) on the other end

picture showing a coroplast sheet explaining how it is made and why it is so strong — Whether a 4mm or a 10mm board, the structure remains the same and you can see how its built

How do yard signs get printed?

There are three methods that are the most popular or maybe four if you will consider hand writing.

Vinyl letters cut and adhered
Printing on vinyl film in a poster-size-large- format printer and laminating it to the coroplast
Directly printing on the coroplast on what’s called a “flat bed” printer.

Which are the Typical Sizes of Yard Signs?

The most popular sizes are 18″x24″ and 12″x18″

During the political periods, you can see larger signs made out of coroplast. In those examples, the sign company will build a custom wood structure and the coroplast will get stapled or screwed to it.

“Shapes or business yard signs”

These are usually rectangular, although they can be made in any custom shape, thanks to the use of sophisticated router cutters.

We look forward to hearing your comments!
Till next time!

Halloween Spirit with Creative Labels

Tic Tac, Tic Tac…..

The clock is ticking and we are just a few days away of Halloween, which probably means that most of you are putting together the best ideas and best decorations for Halloween.

Halloween celebration and the marketing related to the day are big here!

I don’t know how Halloween is celebrated within your community (In fact I would like to hear from you!), but my experience in this area, South Florida, is that children and their families have a ton of fun when planning for this day. Even those adults with adult children get ready.

Going to the candy store, buying candy containers and putting together a nice decoration of the homes and the yard are a part of a tradition here that cannot be skipped.

Even HOAs will “rule” on how to celebrate and create the safest conditions for the comunities as a whole.

If we were to talk about how businesses celebrate, that’s a whole category in itself. We’ve seen greeting cards, scary flyers, postcards and even surprise gifts as part of the celebration.

But what caught our attention were the labels! It used to be that printed labels would have regular shapes, such as either square or round. The fact that we can now provide them in any shape or size or color creates a wave of creativity that we had not seen!

Examples of creative labels for Halloween.

This is a great example of a creative label. In this case the creation is by Mark Chipkin and the size of the label is 2.25″x4″, which makes it ideal to be stuck on a chocolate bar, on the front of the plastic bag that you might be using to put the pack of candies together.

Here is another great example on how to make the Halloween night even more fan, and take an extra pleasure when getting the stuff together.

2″x2″ Halloween label

This other example Brianna wants to make her community so much more open and friendly, came up with this idea where she created so many Halloween related cliparts which were placed as part of the giveaways.
This is a great example of how to build community and have fun!

friendly halloween label — Make your community friendlier by getting to know each other

Share with us what is special about Halloween for you

Till next post!

Why Print Still Matters

Hi there everybody!
We are inaugurating this blog. We communicate the news here. The first post will try to explain why print still matters.

When we talk about business marketing platforms, we never can forget good old-fashioned print. Despite many business owners opt to replace paper advertisements with online media, social media marketing campaigns, and other innovative digital renditions, the best solution appears when we use a combination of print and digital advertising.

Print is their main selling tool:

Fact-filled catalogs for the bookshelf
Posters for the walls
Brochures for the racks
Photo-filled booklets for the students
Branded surveys and sign-in sheets
Forms, info sheets and marketing materials for the high school counselors.

The Advantages of Print Advertising

You know, when you read a book, the “book” object still has some magic. It is not the same thing to read it on a digital device. This analogy can be used to understand the actual power of an advertisment. Besides, digital media’s immense amount of accessibility leads to distractions such as popup and sidebar ads tailored specifically to your personal needs using your search history. Many people find these ads intrusive and irritating—almost an invasion of privacy.

Print advertisements not only enable your company to reach a non-digital audience, but they also give consumers a positive impression of your brand. Print is currently trendy in millennial circles, as are most “old school” practices.

Colorful, classy, clever, compelling print.

In fact, when students inevitably ask about campus life, the recruiters keep the focus tight. No mention of photos, Instagram or Pinterest. No pointing to videos on Periscope, Blab or YouTube. Nope. No digital distractions. Recruiters from several Universities tells that colorful brochures allow to create a direct message to the future students. “Take a few for your parents and friends” they say.