The welcome mat

is officially out here at hen and barley. Aside from all the hen and barley press & stationery news you could ever want, I also hope to bring you many tidbits related to some of my favorite pursuits. You'd be amazed how many things relate to the world of stationery!

Many babies seem to have been born in March 7-8 years ago, because a lot of kids seem to be having parties. See, just watch me relate this post to stationery...

Despite being in the stationery business, I know that it is easy (and oh so tempting) to use the invitations that your child's party venue gives you for free. I get it, I do. But, if you have the time & energy to devote to a more attractive invitation, here are some ideas:

- for his 8 year old's race car party at a slot car place, a creative dad cut out a car shape from dark red card stock, and then in simple ink, drew a little race car and the party's details. Nothing fancy, but completely adorable.

- for a 7 year old girl's party at a local party zone type place, the parents printed big flowers on photo paper, along with the who, what, when, and then folded it into an invite. Easy!

- for my son's 7th birthday, a pool party, we chose a border from hen and barley's new Completely Custom collection and after picking our colors for the border and text, voila, had a completely unique invitation. Click on the hen and barley press link at right for more details about Completely Custom.

Now, while we're on this topic, let's throw in a little manners tutorial. There are a few absolutes in the world of children's birthday parties, and they are:

1) Do not distribute invitations at school, or anywhere near school, unless you are inviting the whole class

2) Tell your child not to discuss his/her party at school, no matter how much they want to tell friends how awesome it's going to be. The first time your child is the one to hear about a party they weren't invited to, you'll understand this rule better, trust me.

3) Respond to invitation you receive, people! And I don't mean send your child to school and have them tell their classmate they'll be there. That's not responding, that's violating rule number 2. Pick up the phone, or fire up the computer, and respond properly (or better yet, have your child do it).

4) Tell your child not to talk about the party after the fact with kids who weren't there. Since kids are forgetful, I remind my kids about this one often, because there's nothing worse than letting someone know they were left out.

Next time: fantastic party ideas for the tricky, tricky 'tween set.