Many years ago I bought this book on a whim, it’s called ‘Make it memorable: An A to Z guide to making any event, gift or occasion dazzling’ by Robyn Freedman Spizman. It was an amazing find and I read it from cover to cover. What I loved most about it, is that it was encouraging readers to make an effort, to work harder at making an event or gift memorable.
I had been having these regular rants to my husband about the fact that so few people entertain these days, we were the only ones who would hold dinner parties or Christmas parties for example. If someone was celebrating a birthday, a restaurant table would be booked and a brief email or text message was sent. That was it. My man (who is the anti-effort king) said it was because people didn’t like to make an effort any more. It was easier, he said; to go to a restaurant, have others pay for their meals, have someone else clean up and so on. Now this is true, and there is certainly a place for this kind of entertaining but it made me SO SAD.
See, for me, the thing I love about parties or events is the opportunity to make an effort for people, to show them a good time and to make them feel special. Nothing about this trend in entertaining was about making an effort. Part of what I love about the party industry at the moment is that there seems to be a rise in ‘effort-making’.
So, as I was lay in bed last night, after flicking through this book again, I had a brainwave. I want to try and use my little blog to try and encourage people to make an effort again, not just for parties, but on an everyday basis. So welcome to the ‘Make it Memorable Monday!’ Each week I’ll use this book to give you an idea, or sometimes I come across cute ideas on my blog rounds that I will share, or maybe, just maybe, YOU will send me some ideas yourself!
The point of these ideas will be to inspire you to take that teeny weeny extra bit of time (hey, I am a mum, wife, employee and business owner too, I understand the shortage of time!) to make an effort to make it memorable for someone else in all manner of ways.
Wow, that was a wordy introduction wasn’t it?! But I am excited about this new series and hope you are too!
To kick of Make it Memorable Monday my random selection from the book is…
First impressions count – an addition to your addresses.
As a paper lover it is no surprise that I love paper invitations. While electronic invites have their place (though who says you can’t make a bit of an effort there too) receiving an invite in the post makes a fabulous first impression.
What about if you took that extra bit of time when you were writing an invite to address it in a way that was special. For example; what about ‘to the World’s best Grandparents’ instead of just Mr & Mrs. XXX, or "Sarah Smith, the friend that puts 'best' into best friend'.
Now wouldn’t that have a smile on the receivers face – before they have even opened the invite?
What do you think?
What could you add to your addresses to make it extra inviting?!
