ecards – Page 14

How to pick a Halloween Costume

Kids’ favorite time of the year is back. Seeing all the Halloween costumes on display in stores led me to wonder- how exactly do you pick a costume when there’s so much to choose from? How do you decide on a Halloween costume for your kids (or yourself, for that matter?) Do you simply pick the one that’s most attractive? Or do you go with the year’s most popular choice? Do you shop by price?
This will be the first year I will be actively shopping for a Halloween costume for my 3 year old. And these are some of the ways I’m considering shopping.

Browse around: If I’m going to spend approximately $30 on a costume that will most likely be used just once, maybe twice, I’m going to spend some time and effort looking for the best value. Consider looking at options in at least three different stores before you decide on a costume. Browsing around lets you compare variety, prices and quality. You don’t have to set aside a date and time to do this – just keep your eyes open when you go shopping for something else or to the mall. You can start this preliminary research in late September or early October.

Discuss your budget and costume ideas with your kids: If you leave costume shopping until the last minute, you’re sure to end up spending an exorbitant amount on costumes which may not even be your kids’ first choice. Planning a little ahead is helpful, especially with older kids. Sit your kids down a few weeks before Halloween and let them know what your costume budget is for the year. Make sure they understand that any costume they pick has to be within that range. Then, ask them if they have any particular characters or costumes in mind. So when you go window shopping, you know what you’re looking for. Encourage them to be flexible with the costume or character idea. Keep a few backup costume ideas handy in case the one they want is out of stock or beyond your budget.

Decide on a theme: You could decide on a Halloween costume theme as a family. Come up with a theme that you all can agree on – say, for example, you all dress up as a family of witches. Be creative and come up with original themes. Your family could dress up as green vegetables – one of you could be spinach, another broccoli, a third lettuce and so on. You could go trick or treating as a salad plate!! Or maybe you could be characters from Harry Potter. You don’t have to stick to traditional Halloween ideas. Together, you can come up with a costume theme that is fun for everyone and you may be able to save on accessories when you buy them in bulk.

Look for costume’s future potential: Another aspect to keep in mind when picking a Halloween costume is whether you can reuse it. If a school play is coming up where you child plays a certain character, you might consider buying a costume that could work for both occasions. Or maybe a sibling or cousin could use the costume the following year. Halloween costumes usually have short life spans. But, if you can stretch their value a little more than usual, it’s savings you could certainly use.

Make your own costume: This is my favorite way to get a Halloween costume. Whenever possible, I prefer reusing and recycling things at home rather than buying something off the shelf. While the finished product may not look as professionally made as the store-bought one, the pride and joy of making something, the learning experience and the time spent together as a family are far more valuable. This goes for birthday gifts, homemade gift wrappers, free halloween printable cards and yes, Halloween costumes as well. There’s a lot you can do with a piece of fabric, an old pillow cover or towel, cotton wool, brown paper, cardboard, cereal boxes and other things you’ll find if you just looked around you.

This could be a great craft project for kids and a fantastic money saver for parents. Not to mention a super-fun family time.

Tell us about how you go Halloween costume shopping!

Update on – What are we working on?

A few weeks back we talked about how to Indian Festivals will kick off our busy season. Obviously Christmas and New Year is going to be the play offs. But these days we are working on diwali ecards and Halloween ecards do check them out. Also do not forget free printable Halloween cards here you can find cards to color. This is an awesome project for kids and since they are free you can print out a bunch so that they can distribute to their classmates. The other fun feature here is that you can even add a class photo and make it even more personal.

Do not forget we have recently added printable photo cards perfect to create birthday invitations right at home. We are also working to add more photo frames that will be halloween themed. So be sure to re-visit us soon or join our newsletter.

Free Ecards for Diwali – How do you pick a favorite?

Nothing symbolizes Diwali better than an image of children enjoying fireworks, dressed in their finest, new clothes. Which is why this is one my favorite Diwali ecards this year.

Something about the colors and joyous expressions on these kids’ faces puts me in Diwali mood already. It reminds me of all the Deepavalis I celebrated as a child. Although the anticipation of the festival set in weeks earlier, the real highlight was the arrival of gifts and firecrackers. The heavenly aroma of sweets and savories would start wafting through our home a few days before Deepavali. One evening, a few days before Diwali, my dad and uncles would bring home huge boxes of fire crackers and sparklers for all of us kids to enjoy. Friends, relatives and neighbors would drop in with boxes of sweets and gifts. Grandparents would narrate tales associated with Diwali. Every year, they would introduce us to an aspect of a story or character that was new to us.

Another of my favorite rangoli Diwali ecards (has the delicate fingers of a lady adorning her home with the traditional Rangoli – a design made on the floor with rice flour and colored powder. It is an art I have not managed to master yet, but every time I see an intricately created Rangoli, I can’t help but stop to admire it. There are many different styles of Rangolis in India. In Tamil, they’re called Kolams. A kolam is a meticulously created geometric design that adorns the front of a home or the entrance to a shrine. The more auspicious the occasion, the more ornate the design. In North India, Rangolis – as the name suggests (Rang = Color) – are colorful designs, usually of flowers or other auspicious symbols, as seen in this free Diwali ecard.

During Diwali, the kolams and rangolis are adorned with beautiful Diyas or earthen lamps. The glow of the lamps further enriches the artistic designs, highlighting the best parts. Some rangolis are also decorated with colorful flowers and leaves.

And of course, how can one forget Lord Ganesh? On Diwali, and any other auspicious occasion, Hindus invoke His blessings before beginning any of the celebrations. So, it’s only natural that He is featured in some of these free ecards. If you have never sent out a Diwali ecard before and are not sure of which one to pick, one of these is sure to be a good choice.

Enjoy all of them and pick the ones you like the best. Go ahead and send as many as you wish. They’re all free, animated and easy to send.

Do stop by and tell us which free ecard or printable diwali cards you like best and why.

The Joys of Gift Giving

Everybody loves getting gifts. Christmas, birthdays…whatever the occasion, we all love seeing packages with our names written on them, seemingly taunting us from where they sit on the other side of the room, or underneath a Christmas tree. In fact, you could almost say that getting presents is the greatest of life’s joys. You could almost say that, because truly the biggest joy is giving gifts to others.

Giving gifts to those we care about isn’t just about filling an empty spot in their kitchen with a new toaster. No, things like ecards don’t just exist to give our friends and family members a few chuckles. Gift giving is all about injecting a little bit more meaning into your own life.

Everyone hears that it’s better to give than to receive, and most of us just hear that statement and kind of roll our eyes. But it’s a true statement, nonetheless. The evidence is certainly there. Getting a new gaming system on Christmas makes for a good memory, sure; but finally being able to give your fiancé an engagement ring creates a great memory. And twenty years from now, which day will you remember more fondly: you day you bought your first car, or the day you gave your daughter some money to help her buy her first car? What I’m getting at is that when we are able to help the people we care about achieve happiness, our own joy is a greater, more meaningful feeling than any other in the world.

That’s why we need to make sure to remember our friends and loved ones on their birthdays and on holiday. Not because the gift you give your son will make him happy, but because being able to give it to him makes you happy, as well.

And we’re not talking about flashy expensive gifts, either. Something more personalized, with little to no cost attached, does the trick just as well—and even better, really. Printable birthday cards or free birthday ecards for example, give everyone involved the great joy of gift giving, without putting a big hit in your wallet. Plus, when you take the time to make a personalized gift, the value of the gift surpasses any sort of monetary value.

Birthdays and holidays are times for togetherness, and they’re times to spread joy around to those we love and care about. Just remember—giving someone a gift on their birthday brings you just as much joy as it brings them.

Diwali in North America

To experience spicy food, vibrant colors, foot tapping Bollywood music and traditional Indian arts, music and crafts, you don’t have to travel to India. Although, celebrating Diwali in India has its own magic, you can experience the spirit of the season almost anywhere in the world. Many cities in the US, UK, Canada and other western countries that have a considerable Indian population, host Diwali celebrations in one form or another. Some of them are quite spectacular, not very different from July 4^th celebrations.

This Diwali, if you can’t make it to India, be sure to check out what your city has in store. There’s sure to be a Diwali Mela somewhere in your city or in a neighboring city. Take some time off to enjoy India’s biggest festival with your family and don’t forget to send free Diwali ecards to your friends and family.

Atlanta : Oct 9 2009 : Win a diamond ring for Diwali! Enjoy an evening of fun, food and fireworks with your family at Festival of Lights – A cultural Extravaganza, a program organized by DesiRoots. Celebrations include cultural performances, food stalls, shops, games and fireworks, starting at 5 pm. Please note: this program was initially scheduled for Sep 18, but has been postponed to Oct 9 due to inclement weather in Atlanta. So, don’t miss this second chance! Who knows – you may even walk out with a diamond ring. http://www.desiroots.net/
Dallas : Oct 4^th 2009 : How would you like to celebrate Diwali in the state-of-the-art Cowboys stadium? This year, if you truly want to experience the grandeur and spectacular nature of Diwali celebrations, then don’t miss the Diwali Mela 2009 in Arlington, TX. Programs and activities include cultural performances including a special Ram Leela production, kids games, magic shows, animal rides and raas, garba dances in which you can participate with your family. http://www.dfwdiwalimela.com/
San Francisco Bay Area: Experience the most colorful aspects of India and the festival of lights, by making it to the Cupertino Diwali celebrations. Highlights include dance performances from various parts of India, Bollywood dances, kids’ shows, animal rides, games, wood workshops, coloring contests, Mehendi or henna booths, food courts, Indian bazaars and handicraft displays. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/23/NSUC19OO4H.DTL
San Francisco, Oct 9-11: How would you like to be transported to India, just for Diwali? There is a chance that this will happen if you participate in the Sunnyvale Hindu Temple Diwali celebrations. Slated to be the biggest Diwali event of Bay Area, this 3-day long festival features classical concerts by seasoned musicians and performances by local artists. Other programs include cultural performances, talent shows and games like Antakshari in which you can participate with your family. Food booths and handicrafts displays enrich your experience as you celebrate the festival of lights in sunny California.http://www.sunnyvaletemple.org/diwali2009.htm.
Vancouver, Oct 18 – 12-7 pm : If you’re in Vancouver and wish to experience the fervor of Diwali, then mark your calendar right now – Downtown Diwali – is an event like none other. A day-long extravaganza that combines the finest elements of traditional, classical South Asian arts with contemporary, fusion forms. The event promotes local South Asian artists, presenting performances in various styles – Bharatnatyam, Bhangra, Hindustani, Bollywood, Jazz, fusion, hip hop. Besides Downtown Diwali, several other arts and culture workshops and performances will take place throughout the month at various locations. These include Diya or lamp painting workshops, workshops that teach the art of wearing a sari and others. So, this Diwali season, experience a slice of India in Vancouver. http://www.vandiwali.ca/events/

So, where will you be celebrating Diwali this year?

And be sure to upload a picture from the Diwali Mela you go to and create a free photo ecard to share with your friends and family.

Origins of Halloween

My favorite holiday of the entire year is quickly approaching. I’m not talking about Christmas or Thanksgiving, or any of our more ‘sacred’ holidays, but Halloween, the most frighteningly fun day of the year. And I’m not alone in my love of Halloween, either: outside of Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Year’s, Halloween is the third most popular holiday in America; and it is the second most popular holiday in the entire world! But as popular as Halloween is, a lot of people still aren’t fully familiar with its roots.

Depending on your age (mostly), Halloween today is either a time to dress up in costumes and go trick-or-treating; or it’s a time to gather with friends, watch scary movies and throw parties. Halloween’s more sacred origins, by all accounts, have kind of fallen by the wayside. Though it’s mostly a secular holiday today, its origins do have spiritual, if not exactly religious, undertones.

All the way back in the 9^th century, Irish Celts put on an annual festival, known as Samhain, to commemorate the end of harvest season. With all their crops put into storage and resting right on the cusp of winter, the Celts would take inventory of the supplies already harvested, and slaughter livestock for winter storage. They also believed that on one single day of the year—October 31^st—the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead would dissolve.

The spirits of the dead, the Celts thought, would come through that dissolved boundary, and wreak havoc on the living, most damaging by attacking their crops. And so in efforts to ward off the spirits, great bonfires were built. Spirits were supposedly afraid of fire, and it was thought that throwing the bones of recently-slaughtered animals into these fires would make them burn hotter and more brightly.

The custom of wearing costumes comes directly from these festivals, too. Though costumes today run the gambit from princesses to smiling, friendly ghosts, the costumes worn at Samhain were universally evil-looking ghouls. Some of the costumes were designed to resemble what the Celts thought evil spirits looked like—the thinking was that evil spirits would see the Celts in their costumes, and move on, thinking the area was already ‘covered.’ Other costumes were designed to be as horrifying as possible, in the hopes that the evil spirits themselves would be scared away.

Trick-or-treating also comes from Ireland, albeit not specifically from the Samhain festivals. Trick-or-treating likely has its roots in a centuries-old Irish and British custom called ‘souling.’ On Hallowmas, or November 1^st, poor villagers would go door-to-door to the homes of the rich. The poor folks would offer sacred prayers for the souls of dead family members, and in return for their prayers they were given food. Over the centuries, of course, souling has merged with Halloween itself, and instead of offering prayers for food, children make light-hearted threats of playing tricks, unless they are given candy.

Though we don’t really afford Halloween the same serious respect as we do other holidays like Christmas, Halloween, like most holidays, has a very sacred and important past. I hope that knowing a little bit more about where this great holiday has its roots will help you enjoy it, just a little bit more! and why not get into the spirit of things and send send out halloween ecards now.

Free Birthday Ecards

Recently I came across some interesting facts about greeting cards some of them are listed below.

Do you know that there are about 7 billion greetings cards purchased every year? Of which 50% is for birthday, thank you, get well soon etc. and the other 50% is event related like Christmas etc. So every year about 1.5 billion Birthday cards are sent out.

Women purchase more than 80% of all cards. On our site has about 64% women visitors.

Do you know that in average a person receives 20 cards in a year and about 30% of it is birthday related? We wish we had such numbers for free ecards. But we definitely know that birthday is the most popular category. So why not send out free birthday ecards, today?

Durga Puja 2009

Some of you requested that we list the days of Durga Puja 2009 especially since it is a 4 day event. So here are the dates –
25th September 2009 Saptami
26th September 2009 Mahashtami
27th September 2009 Navami
28th September 2009 Vijaya Dasami

Hope you have fun during this festival. If you have not done so send out your Durga Puja Ecards and Navratri Ecards. Read about Durga Puja here

Diwali The Mother of all Indian Festivals

Holidays are here.

Maybe not in the US and other Western countries, yet.

But, in India, the festival season has already swung into action with the onset of Navarathri and Durga Puja.

The next big festival of course is Deepavali or Diwali – the festival of lights. This is one occasion that people of all faiths celebrate. Although Diwali has its roots in Hindu mythology, the manner in which it is celebrated is such that people of all faiths and walks of life join in the festivities.

Diwali Preparations

Celebrations include meticulous planning of family meals. Exotic sweet dishes and savories are prepared for the occasion in large quantities to be shared with neighbors and friends. People clean their homes(much like spring cleaning), and beautify it in preparation for Diwali. Walls are washed and painted. Festoons and flowers are used to decorate walls, ceilings, door frames and windows. Earthen lamps are brought out, washed, cleaned and set out to dry in the sun. Some are even decorated with paint. Families, especially those with young children purchase several packs of fire crackers and sparklers weeks in advance. Children find it exciting to discover the latest fire crackers on the market and compete with each other, showing off their best buys.

Diwali Eve

Celebrations officially begin on Diwali eve. Women dressed in their finest traditional garments, light up dozens of earthen lamps. They fill them with oil or ghee and after lighting them, carry them on trays to different parts of the house and set them down in decorative arrangements. The front porch, backyard, window sills, doorways, roofs, balconies – all take on a beautiful glow, adorned with rows and rows of lamps. Rangolis or colorful, floral patterns are created on the floor in front of the house and in other prominent places. Guests begin arriving. Families come out into the courtyard or street to enjoy a display of fire crackers and to greet each other.

Diwali Day

In some parts of India Diwali begins with a Mangal Snaan (Holy Bath.) People awake at dawn and apply oil to their hair and body before bathing. Wearing new clothes, they offer prayers before going out to meet friends and family and participating in a fireworks display. A grand feast is prepared and the whole family, including members of the extended family, meets for lunch. Some visit temples or other relatives during the day to

share sweet dishes and to exchange gifts and greetings.

In other places, Diwali celebrations begin only at dusk. People gather to greet each other and enjoy a family dinner. This is followed by partying and games. A popular custom is that of playing cards through the night. In North India, this is considered auspicious and a means to invoke Goddess Lakshmi who represents wealth. Diwali is considered to mark the beginning of the new year and thus, people pray for a year of good fortune.

New movies come to theatres on Diwali day in most Indian states. People throng the theatres to catch the first show. The past decade has seen a decline in families going out and celebrating Diwali with friends and family as specially produced Diwali themed TV shows claim their time.

Free Diwali Ecards

No matter how you celebrate Diwali, sending a free ecard will only take a minute. It tells your loved ones that you’re thinking of them on the auspicious occasion. Our animated Diwali ecards represent all the wonderful aspects of the festival from Rangolis to rows of lamps, fireworks to sharing boxes of sweets. So, even if you’re not celebrating Diwali with family, our free ecards serve as a reminder of each its beautiful elements. And if you are, then, there’s no better way to reinforce the Diwali spirit than with a free ecard.

Durga Puja

Have you sent out Durga Puja ecards or your Navratri eCards to your loved ones? If not, there’s still time.

Navarathri or Dussehra begins in a couple of days, right after the new moon or Amavasya night. So, go ahead and select from our free Durga Puja cards and send them to your friends and family on this auspicious occasion. Send as many durga puja ecards as you want, to as many loved ones as you want. They will still cost you nothing.

Our selection of free Durga Puja ecards includes colorfully animated cards with music, poetry and drum beats that will transport you magically to your hometown or childhood memories when you celebrated these festivals with family. Even if you’re not spending the holidays with your family and friends, these free ecards capture the essence of the celebrations and help convey your heartfelt wishes across the globe.

If you prefer a more personalized way of greeting your family, then head to our Photo eCards section. Simply upload a picture of you, your family or any symbol that represents Durga Puja for you, add your personal message and send it. What better way to let your family know that you’re thinking of them? Ecards are great for sending your children or younger siblings your best wishes and also for seeking the blessings of elders – both of which are essential components of Durga Puja and Navarathri.

Here’s wishing you and your family a beautiful Navarathri season and a happy Durga Puja.