With family and friends getting together to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee, it's a good time to play games old and new! Here are a few of our favourite ideas.

With everyone communicating through social media and text messages, writing letters and cards has almost become a forgotten tradition. Sending greetings cards dates back hundreds of years, but it’s still super special and relevant today. Here are the reasons why we love writing cards (and why you should too!).

1) Loved ones will appreciate it

Featured product: Kraft Scattered Flowers - Personalised A6 Note Card No matter your age, receiving a card is always so exciting! Whether you’re sending a classic greetings card for a special occasion or just a note to say thanks for being there, a handwritten card is sure to make someone’s day. We think that writing a card is such a simple way to remind someone how much they mean to you.

2) It can be a special keepsake

Featured product: Ready to Write Thank You Cards - Bright Summer Flowers Whilst a text is forgotten about within minutes, a heartfelt message written with pen and paper is likely to be cherished forever by the ones you love. Cards and letters are perfect for capturing a moment in time and never letting it be forgotten.

3) Keep in touch

Lost touch with an old friend? Reach out with a special letter! This extra bit of effort really shows that you care. It’s sure to make them smile. Plus, you get the excitement of waiting for their reply in the post!

4) It's a great way to get creative

Featured product: Vintage Flowers - Thank You Notelet - Pack of 20 Writing a letter doesn’t have to be boring! Get creative by expressing your feelings in a unique way. Perhaps try writing a poem. A funny rhyming verse will go down a treat with friends and family, whilst a classic Shakespearean sonnet is super romantic for your partner. You could also add illustrations alongside your message to give it an extra special touch.

5) It's romantic

Who doesn’t love a bit of romance? We find that many couples like to give their significant other a special card to open on the morning of their wedding day. This is a great way to express your feelings, plus it makes a lovely keepsake. Love letters and romantic cards can also be passed down the generations so your children and grandchildren can look back fondly on your special memories. It also makes a beautiful tradition. Super sweet!

6) Practice your writing

Featured product: Sweet Sherbet Dreams - Notelet Writing Set So many modern jobs involve working at computers or away from a desk. This means writing has become a rare activity for lots of people. And even if you do write regularly, it can still be a struggle to write in a neat and presentable way! Greetings cards are not only a great way to express yourself, but they’re also ideal for practising your handwriting. Looking for a new hobby? Try out calligraphy! It makes your handwritten cards, letters, and invites just that little bit more special.

7) It's a great excuse for new stationery

Featured product: Got To Dash - Greetings Cards If you’re going to be writing cards, why not treat yourself to some new stationery? As stationery lovers, we find that we always need fancy new pens and paper! Sending cards makes the perfect excuse to splash out.

8) It can make you happy

We’ve talked about how you can make someone’s day by sending them a personal card. But writing notes can make you feel better, too. Taking some time out to sit down, relax, and focus on a creative activity can be a great way to unwind. Plus, knowing that you’re doing something special for someone else is very rewarding! Overall, we think there are so many different benefits to writing cards. No matter the occasion, sending cards is such a lovely thing to do, and a tradition that should be continued for later generations. Why not write a card today?

8th June is Best Friends Day, making it the perfect time to show your own best friend how much you care. There are so many ways to put a smile on their face, whatever the day of the year! Here are some lovely ideas on how to treat your friends.

Write a Letter

There's nothing like a hand-written message to brighten your best friend's day. You can thank them for sticking with you though all the ups and downs, remind them of fun memories you've shared, and let them know just how special they are to you. Use a beautiful notelet or greetings card to make your message extra-special! Featured Design: 'Sweet Sherbet Dreams - Greetings Cards'

Find a Gift

Treat your best friend to a present they'll adore. You could get them that special something they've wanted for ages. Or maybe a reliable favourite that they always love, like a box of luxury chocolates or a flower bouquet. Alternatively, look around for a unique gift that reminds you of them. It could be a quote that sums them up perfectly... Featured Design: 'Business Print - Working Nine to Wine' Or, for the practical friend, get them something that's as useful as it is gorgeous. This one is for the stationery lovers who have a list for everything! Featured Designs: 'Earn Your Stripes - A5 Chunky Notebook' & 'Join The Dots - Notepads - Pack of 3'

Best Friends Day Out

Gifts and cards are lovely, but nothing beats meeting up with your best friend for a chat. So, why not make a day of it? Visit your favourite spots, explore somewhere new, or just sit back and share a relaxing afternoon tea! It can be whatever you want it to be, so start brainstorming a list of the things you love doing together and make a plan for an unforgettable day out.

Here at Dotty about Paper, we can't get enough of the 2018 Royal Wedding excitement! The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan on 19th May is the perfect excuse to throw a street party with friends and family. So, to help you celebrate in style, here are our favourite royal street party ideas! Before we take a look at some beautiful inspiration, there's just one important point to remember. Think about the size of the event you'd like to hold before you begin planning. If you really want to get into the community spirit and plan a proper street-wide party, you'll need to get permission from your local council. But for a smaller party, there's no need.

Invitations

Start the party off with some traditional British tea party invites. This will set the tone and get guests excited for the fun ahead. Use a design that really captures your Royal Wedding street party theme. Featured Design: 'Tea Party Invitations - Royal Tea Party' Make sure you include all the key details guests will need, such as the location and time of the party. While a dress code isn't usually important for a street party, we think it's a fun idea to ask guests to come in their best royal family or 'red, white, and blue' themed outfits - you could even hold a 'best dressed' competition. Featured Design: 'Tea Party Invitations - British Street Party'

Entertainment

The main event of the day is, of course, the Royal Wedding itself! And there's good news - the BBC have said there'll be no TV License fee to screen the special event. The service starts at midday, followed by carriage procession at 1pm. For kids and adults at heart, you can add some classic party games in throughout the morning. Bowling pins on the lawn, a ring toss competition, or even a spot of croquet will all go down a treat! In addition, why not consider music - live or recorded - so guests can really party after the Royal Wedding? You could also capture some magic memories of the day with a photo-booth and props. Source: ThatPerfectPartyCo

Decorations

It's not a street party without bunting! So, use a flag mix of red, white, and blue to represent the royal couple. You could use this colour palette to decorate your tables, too. Or, if you're in the mood for a regal and refined vintage street party, go for something floral to capture the springtime wedding. We think these beautiful vintage paper plates and napkins will look stunning in an outdoor setting! Source: Fabulous Partyware

Food & Drink

Treat your guests to refreshments fit for royalty. In celebration of Harry and Meghan, why not cook up a mix of quintessential American and British snacks? Think savoury bites like posh burgers, paired with sweet bakes like scones and Victoria sponge. And of course, no street party is complete without a range of teas, juices, and fizz. Also, you can add some decoration to the food table with cute cake toppers and adorable mini-bunting. And how about this lovely cupcake kit, complete with a cake stand? Source: Cake Craft World

To celebrate World Stationery Day, everyone at the Dotty about Paper studio has been picking their favourite products from our desk stationery collection! Here are the top picks from the team.

World Stationery Day - Our Top Picks!

First up is our Director, Lisa! Lisa loves a little bit of sparkle to inspire her as she works, so she's picked our Time to Shine - Gold Glitter Journals as her favourite item. In addition to looking fabulous, Lisa says she likes how the notebook is hard-wearing, making it a great accessory to keep in your bag when you're on the go. The Design and Marketing team members all picked one of our A5 exercise book sets. Design & Marketing Manager Natalie, is particularly fond of Llama Drama. She loves the way the pretty pastel palette can be combined with the Join The Dots range. Leah, our creative assistant loves animals, so the Panda Eyes set was an obvious choice! And apprentice Alice can't get enough of our cute Pink Bee books when she's taking notes. Our Pinking Out Loud Chunky Notebooks are popular with Nici and Hollie from the dispatch department. Customer services advisor Katie agrees; the motivational bookmark and fun design keeps them smiling during their busy workdays. Customer services advisor Charlotte and apprentice Lainey both picked the Light Blue Colourblock, while apprentice Emma chose the Sweet Sherbet Dreams Desk Planner as her favourite. She loves the way there's a to-do list column for each day of the week, along with an extra box for jotting down all her weekend plans! Customer service team leader Yvonne went for the Earn Your Stripes Pack of 3 Notepads. She's always busy taking notes on the latest orders and queries, so she needs plenty of room to write. Having three list pads ensures she never loses track of her tasks. Our stationery collection has something for everyone! You can explore our complete range of products on our website today - which one will be your favourite?

In our busy digital age, handwriting has become less common as emails and texts provide a quick and easy alternative. It can be easy to forget how special it feels to receive a handwritten message! On 23^rd January, we celebrated National Handwriting Day. So now's the time to send a lovingly handwritten card! “In the age of social media, taking the time to add a personal touch can often be forgotten,” says Lisa Forde, Director of The Card Gallery. “Everything is instant, and we forget sometimes about the real relationships that we have forged. National Handwriting Day is the perfect opportunity to really take the time to tell someone how you feel.” To help you celebrate the written word this week, Lisa has come up with ten ideas to try.

Surprise Notes

We all know how busy mornings can be; we don’t always have time to talk with our family before we have to rush out the door. Leaving a handwritten note in your partner’s bag is a great way to give them a little surprise. It’s sure to leave them smiling for the rest of the day once they read it! The Card Gallery has a great range of notelets perfect for small messages. Featured Design: 'Vintage Flowers - Thank You Notelet'

Keep in Touch

It’s hard to keep in touch with people we don’t see every day. We all have our own schedules, and despite our best efforts to stay in contact, life often gets in the way! So why not send a letter to a friend you haven’t seen for a while? You might write to an old school friend, or a distant relative. It’s a touching way to show you’re thinking about them.

Leave a Gift

People might not always associate letters with gifts, but a carefully handwritten letter makes a wonderful keepsake. It’s unique and personal to the recipient. Try giving a lovingly crafted letter instead of a present – they can read it on the day or save it to read in the future.

Learn to Write

Try mastering a new skill! Calligraphy and stencilling are great fun to learn. You’ll soon be creating your own beautiful letters! This means you can also add a personal touch to your cards on special occasions. Our ready-to-write stationery has room for you to show off your new talent! Featured Design: 'Gingham Thank You Bunting - Ready to Write'

Message in a Bottle

This is an exciting way to share the joy of handwriting! Tucking a letter in a bottle and throwing it in the ocean might be traditional, but we don’t want to encourage littering! So instead, take a photo of a handwritten letter with a point of contact, post it on social media, and see how far it goes! “In a world where some believe we are becoming more disconnected, the more we connect, the closer we feel,” says Lisa. “These ideas for National Handwriting Day promote communication, creativity, and happiness.”

The schools are out and, as I’m writing, the sun is out. Everyone’s in a holiday mood, including me, so I thought I’d share with you some International Festivals to inspire you into some international summer celebrations.

1. Air Guitar Festival – Finland. From the nation who bought us Monster –rock Euro winners us, Lordi, this is the Eurovision of air guitar. Air-guitar lessons, qualifying rounds and a grand final lead to the crowning of the World Champion air-guitarist on the 30^th August. The slogan for the festival: “Make Air not War.”
2. Comic-Con International – San-Diego. Ok, so it sounds like you might bump into Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory, but if you’re into comics, sci-fi or fantasy adventure, this event is for you. Think you’re not a geek – think again, hands up all those who love Sponge Bob, Simpsons, Pokemon and My Little Pony.
3. Edinburgh Fringe Festival – Scotland. I’ve actually been to this one. This is truly the Good, Bad and the Ugly of theatre and art. If you are lucky you’ll get to see some amazing up-and-coming comedian, if not you might end up watching a play that “crawls like a slug across your afternoon” (an actual review of a play I was involved in). There’s the very expensive tickets for people you’ve heard of and the “pay what you can” ticket for the people you’ve never heard of and never want to see again. Take your pick.
4. Esala Perahera – Kandy, Sri Lanka. This is the Festival of the Tooth of Lord Buddha and lasts 10 days. Parades of lavishly dressed elephants and local dancers make this an exciting and colourful symbol of Sri Lanka.
5. Fuji Rock Festival – Japan. Its billing as the “cleanest festival in the world” makes this instantly appealing to me. With an international line-up including Basement Jaxx and Travis and a number of tribute bands across seven stages this looks like the real deal.
6. Maine Lobster Festival – USA In its 66^th year, this festival has a global following of visitors who go along to taste fresh lobster (and other crustaceans) in this massive food fest. There’s also music, arts and crafts and pageants to make it a truly American fair.
7. Mount Hagen – Papua New Guinea – This most colourful of Commonwealth countries puts on this annual gathering of over 100 tribes to show case their own cultural dances and music in a pageant to celebrate their diversity. Noisy and vivid, this one is still for the more adventurous (and prosperous) traveller.
8. Newport Folk Festival – USA – Legendary for introducing Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, and Alison Krauss to the world, this is a festival who’s tradition is in being progressive. Not just for folk aficionados, this offers a diverse musical menu from start to finish.
9. Pukkelpop Festival – Belgium. I love the name (why does it make me think of Leeds fest?) and there’s an amazing line-up of over 200 acts. One of the biggest music festivals in Europe and it has over 30,000 spaces to park your bicycle.
10. Tango-Beunos Aries – Argentina. The festival of all tango festivals. Get prepared for the Strictly season or your wedding’s first dance. Thousands of people dance the tango in the street and compete for the tango world championship. Hot, hot, hot.

Phew. I’m feeling inspired for my next Big Zero party – tangoing whilst playing the air-guitar followed by lobster eating and body painting. Now, do we have an invitation card for that?

Starting with the football World Cup there is just no getting away from it, the nation will be going sport crazy this summer. Love it or loathe it, if you are planning a party between now and September chances are that somebody will want to watch the sport. The World Cup clashing with weddings is a four-yearly problem and we have already shared our advice with brides who have fallen foul of the fixtures here. In this blog, however, we are going to look at how you can be a “good sport” and embrace the sporting excitement without actually having to watch it. Whether you are arranging a birthday party, family event, hen-do or just want an excuse for a get-together, sporting events can provide fantastic inspiration. Make sure your invitations let your guests know any arrangements you are making for the sport and reflect your theme. There are two sporting events coming up that play to our love of fashion and summer living. Be inspired by the fashions of Royal Ascot (June 17th to 21st June) and get the girls together in best dresses, hats and heels and sit in the park drinking bubbly. Many race courses now have a ladies day, so if you are arranging your hen do later in the summer look out for Newmarket in July and York in August. The great British tradition of Wimbledon starts at the end of June. Whether it is the rippling muscles or strawberries and cream, tennis at Wimbledon has more appeal than many sports. We hope Andy Murray will give us the chance to get the flags out and celebrate with a Wimbledon inspired tea-party. All you need are scones, strawberries, cream and Pimms (or a good cup of tea) and some umbrellas. Invite the family and I can guarantee that when rain stops play granny will sing Cliff Richard songs like a trooper and shout “Come on Tim” even without the tennis on TV! Then there is Le Tour. Up until Britain became good at cycling and a Brit actually won it, the Tour De France was a bit of a continental mystery to us. Now the biggest annual sporting event is coming here. I will be out there on the streets wearing my best yellow lycra as the route goes virtually past my house. Given that the peloton (even I’m catching the lingo) will go past in the blink of an eye, I will also be packing up my baguette, brie and Beaujolais and heading off for a French-styled picnic with family. Yellow and green will be the colours of the summer. Annoy the fellas by having an alternative footie party – you can take all the good bits of Brazil – sun, samba, spicy chicken, cocktails- and party without having to watch the match. Then we hope a bit of Jamaican lightning will hit Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games – Jamaica’s colours: yellow and green; most important jerseys in the Le Tour – yellow and green. There’s a bit of a theme here. So if you want to party this summer embrace the sport. Some of your guests will actually like the sport and want to watch it, let them know and plans you’ve put in place for viewing - they are more likely attend the whole party rather than sneaking off to the pub or arriving late.

Happy National Marriage Week! Did you know that every year national marriage week is celebrated? This year it’s from the 7^th February 2014 to the 14^th February 2014, concluding on yes, we’re sure you’ve remembered it, Valentine’s Day! 'Marriage Week' was launched in 2009, encompassing various events to celebrate the love and commitment of those 2 little words which mean so much... ‘I do’. The week, which always encompasses St Valentine’s Day, is supported both in the UK and around the world, and last year a whopping 1.5 million people took part in a Marriage Week event worldwide, with 15 countries celebrating the event. Marriage Week is part of a registered UK charity which aims to spread the word, locally and across the world. Are you going to celebrate? We think it’s a good excuse to take some time out and reminisce on how you got together...how far you’ve come and why you fell in love! The organisers of the week, marriage-week.org.uk say celebrations can be anything from a special dinner to reaffirming your marriage vows and making promises to each other. This year, event organisers are hoping to set a new Guinness World Record for the number of couples reaffirming their marriage vows and making promises to each other. The event, ‘Big Promise’ will take place on Saturday 8^th February at 5.15pm when couples will attempt to break the record of 1089 couples reaffirming their vows, set in Ohio, USA in 2009. Venues across the UK where couples will be simultaneously reaffirming their marriage vows are shown on www.BIGPromise.org.uk We would love to hear from you, if you or someone you know is getting involved in the ‘Big Promise’ event and to see some of your lovely pics.