We believe strongly in building a community of fabulous people like you on Facebook {we refer to it unofficially as the Salutations Nation}.  Through this community, we hope you will exchange ideas with each other and give us feedback on how we’re doing, as well as ideas for new products or services you’d like to see.  Having a larger community of fans will help facilitate this communication and exchange of ideas.

During the month of May, for every person who becomes a fan of the Salutations page on Facebook, and writes on our Wall that you referred them, you will be entered to win a $50 gift certificate.  The winner will be announced during the first week of June.

Ready to start racking up those entries?  Just update your status with this message (or feel free to revise any way you wish):

Help me win a $50 gift certificate! Become a Fan of Salutations Fine Stationery’s page on Facebook and tell them I referred you.  Every person who does this increases my chances of winning!

Then click on “Link” below the status box and past this link:  http://facebook.salutations.com

It’s that easy!  Have fun, good luck, and thanks for helping us build the nation!

Host a Salutations Web Soiree^TM and earn merchandise credit and discounts for your guests!  Think of the gifting occasions coming up ~ Mother’s Day, teachers’ gifts, graduation, Father’s Day, birthdays ~ the possibilities for savings are endless.

Here is how it works:  You send us an email to let us know that you’d like to host a Web Soiree and the date that you’d like the party to begin.  We will email to you a customized invitation and a soiree code that you can email to your guests.  {We don’t require you to submit your friends’ email addresses to us.  If they want to share their email with us, they can register for our Inspirations newsletter.}

Web Soirees last for 10 days, during which your guests can shop on Salutations’ website and receive 15% off of their purchases using the special soiree code.  At the end of the 10-day period, you will receive a merchandise credit worth 15% of the total of purchases made by your guests using their soiree code.

You can even include a theme for your Web Soiree (e.g., Pajama Party, Girls Night Online, etc.).

Get started compiling your list and send us an email today to let us know the date you’d like to reserve for your Web Soiree!  Know someone who might be interested?  Share this with them!

One year after the last increase, the United States Postal Service is increasing postage rates again ~ effective May 11, 2009. The rate for the first ounce is increasing from $0.42 to $0.44; the one-to-two ounce rate is going from $0.59 to $0.61; and the postcard rate is going from $0.27 to $0.28. The Forever (Liberty Bell) stamps will remain effective, so you may want to stock up prior to May 11th.

Brides especially will need to take note. Wedding invitations typically take the two-ounce stamp {although you should always have your local post office weigh a complete invitation set to be sure}. Reply cards will also need to be stamped with the new postage. The good news? The USPS is about to release a new set of wedding stamps, based on the photography of Washington, DC photographer Renee Comet (pictured above). These photo-based stamps are so much better than the current horror of a wedding set. {Seriously, is there anyone out there who actually liked these stamps?}

Of course, if you want to one-up the USPS, you can customize your own wedding stamps at Zazzle.com. Choose from their stock images or upload your own photo or graphic design. The other good news? For 100 wedding invitations and reply cards, we’re only talking an increase of $4. In the grand scheme of things, this one is not worth stressing over.

We had so much fun with this give-away.  We gained many new fans on our Facebook page and loved the comments that several of you posted about your favorite birthday cake and invitation combo.  Without further adieu, the winner is . . .

Robin Williams of Charlotte, NC, who wrote “My favorite is the Lion Cake and Jungle Girl invitation.  So cute!”  Congratulations to Robin on winning the 20 Jungle Girl invitations printed by Salutations!  Here are her picks:

A recent post on the Hostess With the Mostess blog, Absolutely Amazing DIY Birthday Cakes, reminded me of my days in Northern California when my children were young and the excitement and anticipation that went into planning each of their birthday parties.  It would begin (giddily) with a trip to my favorite local stationery store, Out of the Envelope, to painstakingly select just the right invitation based on the theme of that year’s party.  I would then walk out of the stationery store, a sample invitation in hand, and walk directly to the fabulous bakery Icing on the Cake a block away and place my order for a birthday cake decorated to match the invitation.

Since I had more time for scrapbooking in those days, the party-day preparations necessarily included a photo shoot of the printed invitation propped near the decorated cake. The cake-invitation display remained in a prominent place throughout the party to elicit the “oohs” and “ahs” of the arriving guests. Imagine if I could have said “I made the cake myself.”  {Picture uber-mom tiara floating above my head.} The how-to tips and pics in the 31 Awesome Birthday Cake Designs article on Parenting.com via HWTM, paired with a Salutations invitation, are all you’ll need to be the most admired (and envied) birthday-party-throwing-mom around.

To help you achieve this revered status, we are giving away a set of 20 birthday party invitations printed by Salutations. We’ll even print your return address on the envelope flaps if you’d like. {Since our Easy-Bake ovens are on the fritz, you’ll need to create the cake to match.}  Simply go to our Facebook page, become a fan (if you aren’t already), and click on Photos {Birthday Cakes & Invites album} to see these amazing cakes paired with our invitations.  Then write on our Wall to let us know your favorite invitation and cake combo. We will randomly select the winning entry from comments posted by our fans and announce the winner on Monday, April 20th.  Good luck!

I just found this useful article, The Art of Menu Planning, which has some great tips on planning, organizing and shopping for the week.  I use the MomAgenda desktop planner (in lime), which has a place for each child’s activities, my appointments, and dinner for each night all in a stylish week-to-a-view layout.  When I make the time to plan out my week in advance, including juggling three carpools, doctor’s appointments and small details like my 60+-hour-a-week job, I feel much more organized and ready to handle anything that comes my way.  When I don’t make the time for this planning, I end up feeling harried, overscheduled, and burdened by the eternally nagging question “What will we make for dinner tonight?”

This never ends well, requiring yet another trip to the grocery store or, worse yet, ordering take-out or delivery.  Too many of those fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants-nights really add up ~ and dull the luster on my uber-mom tiara!

Did I mention that the momAgenda planners are now on sale at 50% off?! Just think of the savings ~ to your wallet, your time and, perhaps most importantly, your sanity!

By the way, I found the menu planning article while looking at Simple Mom Finds, after reviewing a blog post on the Simple Mom website, which was linked to by Hostess With the Mostess blogger Jennifer Sbranti on Twitter.  I love social networking!