Punchbowl Blog

This post was written by Matt Douglas, Founder & CEO, @mattdouglas

Over the last few years Punchbowl has partnered with several media and retail companies, including Oriental Trading Company, 1-800-FLOWERS, and Lifetime. I’m very pleased to announce our latest partnership: Punchbowl has signed a technology-licensing agreement with RealSimple.com. This is a substantial deal for both companies, and enables RealSimple.com users to send and receive Digital Greeting Cards. We’re excited to bring our digital cards to Real Simple users in time for the holiday season.

Here’s the full announcement:

Real Simple Partners with Punchbowl to Offer Free Digital Greetings

Framingham, MA, December 2, 2011 – Today, Punchbowl.com, the leader in start to finish party planning and digital greeting cards, announced a technology-licensing agreement with best-selling women’s lifestyle brand Real Simple. The partnership will allow RealSimple.com users to send beautiful, free digital greeting cards for all occasions. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We’re excited to add Real Simple as one of our key partners,” said Matt Douglas, CEO, Punchbowl. “The brand wanted to offer their customers a best-in-class digital cards service, and we were able to deliver with our new Digital Greeting Cards technology.”

Digital Greeting Cards on RealSimple.com offer the ability to send thoughtful well-wishes online that have the look and feel of a traditional paper card. They are a suitable alternative to traditional greeting cards complete with attractive folded designs, matching envelopes, realistic postmarks, and the complete mail-opening experience. Additionally, cards can be personalized with accents such as envelope liners, custom postage, and rubber stamps. Digital Greeting Cards are ideal for birthdays, special occasions, life milestones and holidays such as Christmas and New Year’s.

“Partnering with Punchbowl was a natural fit for Real Simple,” said Shannon King, General Manager, RealSimple.com. “Readers turn to Real Simple for inspiring ideas and practical solutions particularly around holidays and entertaining this time of year, and Punchbowl provides a premium Digital Greeting Card service which we feel fits perfectly within that strategy.”

Punchbowl has received critical acclaim and industry recognition for its usability and simplicity. The award-winning site is a leading destination for start to finish party planning and digital greeting cards. In addition to Real Simple, Punchbowl has several other licensing agreements in place with leading media and retail companies.

To send free Digital Greeting Cards on Real Simple, visit: https://greetingcards.realsimple.com

This post was written by Stephanie Fader, Sr. Marketing Manager

One of our partners got a new look this week! Celebrations.com relaunched their site with a whole new look that includes a new user friendly interface. Punchbowl partnered with Celebrations to introduce the Celebrations Party Planner last fall, which also has a new look as part of the relaunch.

To promote the relaunch of the site, Celebrations is running the “Celebrations New Look Sweepstakes.” Visit the sweepstakes page to enter to win one of more than 70 prizes, including gift cards to 1-800-FLOWERS.COM and SpaWeek, gift baskets from Fannie May and WineTasting.com, and much more!

We know what it’s like to get a brand new look! When MyPunchbowl became Punchbowl in September 2010, we got a whole new look that included new colors and a new logo.

Congrats to our friends at Celebrations and good luck to you on the sweepstakes!

This post was written by Matt Douglas, Founder & CEO, @mattdouglas

I’m pleased to announce that Punchbowl has partnered with Cozi.com to bring our party planning platform to busy families this holiday season.  Cozi is a free web and mobile service that helps keep families organized with an online calendar, to-do lists and more. We’re excited to launch the Cozi Party Planner powered by Punchbowl just in time to help Cozi families to plan all of their holiday parties and celebrations.

Here’s the full announcement:

Punchbowl Partners with Cozi to Bring Award-Winning Party Planning Platform to Busy Families

Framingham, MA (PRWEB) November 10, 2010 — Punchbowl.com, the one-stop site for start to finish party planning, today announced a partnership with Cozi.com, the world’s leading family communications and organizational platform. The new Cozi Party Planner is launching in time for the busy holiday season.

Cozi is a free web and mobile service that simplifies busy family life with an online calendar, the ability to track shopping and to do lists, organize household chores, and share family moments with relatives and friends. The Cozi Party Planner powered by Punchbowl complements the communication and organization features already available on Cozi and includes the award-winning features found on Punchbowl.

“The Cozi customer is a busy mom who embraces time-saving solutions to keep their family organized,” Robbie Cape, CEO and co-Founder of Cozi. “Punchbowl is a great partner to help us deliver party planning to Cozi families this holiday season.”

The start to finish party planning features of the Cozi Party Planner make it ideal for planning Christmas parties, New Year’s parties, birthday parties, and even Thanksgiving dinner. The Date Decider helps hosts get group consensus on the ideal party date—one of the biggest challenges during the holiday season. Digital Invitation Studio offers hundreds of beautiful, digital invitations and save the dates, each with companion envelopes in a variety of shapes, sizes, and stunning color palettes. Organized families will enjoy the Potluck feature, which allows guests to easily sign up to bring items and allows hosts to effortlessly manage who’s bringing what. Hosts can also keep track of their RSVP list with ease and share party details with their social networks.

“Punchbowl is excited to bring our party planning service to Cozi,” said Matt Douglas, CEO, Punchbowl Software. “We’re thrilled to help even more families plan unforgettable events this holiday season.”

This post was written by Matt Douglas, Founder & CEO, @mattdouglas

Last month, we announced our partnership with 1-800-FLOWERS.COM. This month, I’m pleased to announce another new partnership: we’ve partnered with Lifetime Moms to launch the Lifetime Moms Party Planner. We’re excited to bring our party planning suite to Lifetime Moms in time for the holiday season.

Here’s the full announcement from AETN Digital, the content provider for Lifetime Moms:

AETN Digital Partners with Punchbowl to Offer Party Planning Service to Moms

New York, N.Y., October 19, 2010 – AETN Digital and Punchbowl today announced the launch of the Lifetime Moms Party Planner, a free party-planning service that moms can use to effortlessly plan all of their holiday celebrations.

The Lifetime Moms Party Planner powered by Punchbowl is available on LifetimeMoms.com, an online resource for moms, by moms, offering original content in 10 verticals including parenting, health, pregnancy, food, home, beauty & style, and product reviews. The Lifetime Moms Party Planner includes all of the core party planning features of Punchbowl.com.

“Lifetime Moms is for real moms who have busy lives and face real challenges,” said Kim Dobson, VP, Lifetime Moms. “We chose Punchbowl because of their ability to provide a high-quality party planning solution that will make life a little easier for the Lifetime Moms audience.”

The innovative features of the Lifetime Moms Party Planner make it ideal for planning Halloween parties, Christmas parties, New Year’s parties, and even Thanksgiving dinner. The Date Decider helps hosts get group consensus on the ideal party date—one of the biggest challenges during the busy holiday season. Digital Invitation Studio offers hundreds of stylish and modern invitations and save the dates, each with companion envelopes in a variety of shapes, sizes, and stunning color palettes. The Potluck allows guests to easily sign up to bring items and allows hosts to effortlessly manage who’s bringing what. Hosts can also keep track of their RSVP list with ease and share party details with their social networks.

“Savvy moms love to use Punchbowl’s start to finish party planning platform to plan birthdays, holiday parties and other family events,” said Matt Douglas, CEO, Punchbowl Software. “Punchbowl is excited to bring our party planning suite to Lifetime Moms this holiday season.”

To create a free account, visit the Lifetime Moms Party Planner: http://lifetimemoms.punchbowl.com

This post was written by Matt Douglas, Founder & CEO, @mattdouglas

I’m excited to tell you about a new partnership for Punchbowl. As you might know, in addition to running Punchbowl.com, we also work with leading retailers and media companies. Our newest partner is 1-800-FLOWERS.COM who we’ve partnered with to launch the Celebrations Party Planner.

Here’s the full announcement from Celebrations.com, a subsidiary of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM:

CELEBRATIONS® Teams up with Punchbowl.com to Offer Party Planning Service

CARLE PLACE, N.Y., Sept. 20 /PRNewswire/ — Just in time for the upcoming holiday season, Celebrations the premier online destination for fabulous party ideas and planning tips located at celebrations.com, has joined forces with Punchbowl.com to launch the Celebrations Party Planner. With this additional Party Planner capability, Celebrations, a subsidiary of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. (FLWS), is a one stop resource for all of your party planning needs.

The Celebrations Party Planner, powered by Punchbowl, is a free service that includes the core party planning features of Punchbowl.com. The Celebrations Party Planner complements the planning content already found on Celebrations.com, including expert advice, exclusive tips, and recipe, theme and decor ideas.

“Punchbowl provides a high-quality innovative party planning platform from start to finish,” said Jim McCann, Founder of Celebrations. “We are excited to offer our customers a convenient way to plan their parties and events on Celebrations.com.”

The innovative features of the Celebrations Party Planner makes it ideal for planning Halloween parties, Christmas parties, New Year’s parties, and even Thanksgiving dinner. The Date Decider helps hosts get a group consensus on the ideal party date—one of the biggest challenges during the busy holiday season. Design Studio offers hundreds of stylish and modern invitations and save the dates, each with companion envelopes in a variety of shapes, sizes, and stunning color palettes. The Potluck allows guests to easily sign up to bring items and hosts are able to effortlessly manage potluck details In addition, hosts are able to keep track of their RSVP list with ease and share party elements with their social networks.

“We are delighted to work with Celebrations to bring our party planning platform to their customers,” said Matt Douglas, CEO, Punchbowl Software. “Punchbowl shares the Celebrations commitment to help customers connect and build lasting memories with the important people in their lives.”

To learn more and create a free account, visit the Celebrations Party Planner: http://celebrations.punchbowl.com.

This post written by Stephanie Fader, Marketing & PR Manager

The Indianapolis 500 is just a few short days away on Sunday, May 30. If you’re a huge racing fan, you know that the Indy 500 race is one of the largest sporting events in the world. In fact, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the world’s largest spectator sporting facility!

MyPunchbowl is excited to partner with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to offer Indy 500 party invitations. Use one of these branded invites to spread the word about your Indy 500 party.

Once you’ve sent your invites, move on to the decorations. Checkered flags are a must if you want to make guests feel like they’re at the Indy Speedway. Cross two checkered flags together on the front door to get guests revved up for the big race!

One of the Indy 500 traditions is to release multi-colored balloons at the start of the race. This is something you can easily accomplish at home to make guests forget that they don’t have Indy 500 tickets. Instead of releasing balloons outside, blow up red, white and blue balloons and have them drop down from the ceiling onto guests just as the race begins!

Enjoy the race!

This post was written by Matt Douglas, Founder & CEO, @mattdouglas

Whew! It’s been a very busy week with two big announcements. I wanted to take a few minutes to share our great news with our blog readers. On Tuesday morning, we sent out two press releases:

1) MyPunchbowl inks a deal with Oriental Trading

2) MyPunchbowl expands leadership team with veterans of Evite.com and Pizza Hut

Here’s a little more information about each release:

We announced a multi-year technology-licensing agreement with Oriental Trading Company, the nation’s largest direct merchant of value-priced party supplies, arts and crafts, toys and novelties. The deal includes deep technology and product integration, including the development of a party planning site for Oriental Trading called Party Planner. We’ve been close partners with Oriental Trading for about a year now, and this is a significant expansion of our relationship. It gives us the resources to keep making MyPunchbowl great.

Second, I’m proud to announce that the former General Manager of Evite.com, Harry Lin, has joined the Punchbowl Board of Advisors. During his tenure at Evite, Harry fueled brand growth and the site experienced 50% growth in revenue. Prior to operating Evite, Harry was vice president of ABC.com where he led new initiatives in e-commerce. He is currently President at Photometria Inc., the technology company behind Taaz.com, a site for virtual makeovers. This is a great win for our Board.

Additionally, brand-marketing expert Bob Perkins has joined the Board of Directors. Bob Perkins, former SVP of Marketing for Pizza Hut and head of Global Marketing and Licensing for Calvin Klein, has a distinguished career managing global brands. Bob also served as President of Chiat/Day New York and lead director for 24/7 Real Media Inc. where he led the company to a successful acquisition. He is currently President of Consensus Research Group, providing global strategic research and consulting for leading consumer brands and media companies.

The pair joins a distinguished group of experts on our Board of Directors and Board of Advisors.

Want to learn more about these announcements? Read the official Oriental Trading partnership announcement and the official announcement about the expansion of our leadership team.

This post written by Stephanie Fader, Marketing & PR Manager

This week (Feb 7-14, 2010) is Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week. To help raise funding and awareness for this important issue, Punchbowl has partnered with The Children’s Heart Foundation to create a campaign called “Spread the Love.” During the month of February, Punchbowl will make a donation to The Children’s Heart Foundation for every recipient of a MyPunchbowl eCard.

Congenital heart disease is considered to be the most common birth defect, and is a leading cause of birth-defect related deaths worldwide. The goal of The Children’s Heart Foundation is to bring health, hope and happiness to children impacted by congenital heart defects.

There are millions of families affected by congenital heart disease. This one story really touched me, but there are many others like it:

Cora Mae McCormick was born on November 30, 2009. Cora’s mom, Kristine, had a normal pregnancy, labor, and delivery. When Cora was born she displayed no signs of a bad heart. She brought her parents overwhelming joy and happiness from the moment she came into their lives.

On December 6, Cora died in her mother’s arms suddenly and unexpectedly. She was only five days old. Her parents rushed her to the hospital after she stopped breathing, but doctors could not revive her.

The preliminary report says that Cora was born with a congenital heart defect. Kristine is sharing her story to raise awareness about CHD, to make sure other babies get screened, and to raise money for CHD research.

One way to help raise awareness and funding is to participate in “Spread the Love.” Send free Valentine’s Day eCards to your friends and family and a donation will be made to The Children’s Heart Foundation for each valid, unique email address on your list. The more you send to, the more money we donate!

For more information about the Spread the Love campaign and to send a free eCard, visit: http://www.punchbowl.com/spread-the-love

This post was written by Matt Douglas, Founder & CEO, @mattdouglas

Well, it’s Groundhog Day (again), and this year is a special one for the Punchbowlers. As usual, Groundhog Day is a company holiday — so we all get the day off. But this year we organized a volunteer day (for the record, completely optional for employees and guilt-free). In the afternoon this Groundhog Day, we’ll be painting a few rooms at a local homeless shelter. We’ve been calling it “Phil’s Philanthropy Day” after the venerable Punxsutawney Phil. After waking up early to watch the grand prognostication, I can’t think of any better way to spend the afternoon.

And that’s not all….

This year I’m very excited to report that Punchbowl announced an official partnership with Groundhog.org and the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. This is a partnership that makes me happy on a number of levels. First, it’s great exposure for Punchbowl, with an audience that matches our target demographic. And second, it’s been a long-standing goal of mine to find an official way to be involved in the Groundhog Day festivities. Here’s a quick snippet from the blog post I wrote on my start-up CEO blog about this partnership announcement:

For 2010, I wanted to do something special for Groundhog Day– so on a whim, I picked up the phone and called the folks who developed Groundhog.org. I told them that I wanted to partner with the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club and create an eCards site. After a little negotiation, we signed an agreement with Groundhog.org to become the exclusive provider of Groundhog Day eCards. This morning, we made the official Groundhog Day press announcement.

And last but not least, my wife and I are planning our 14th annual Groundhog Day party for this coming Saturday. This year’s theme is Disco, and with the combination of disco party supplies, unique party favors, disco costumes, and a 70s play list, we have planned an awesome party. We’re expecting about 30-35 people this year. Of course, we’ve used MyPunchbowl to plan the entire event from start to finish, and it’s been a great experience.

Groundhog Day is all about community, revelry, and celebration of the ordinary. So whether you take a moment to turn your attention to Gobblers Knob or you send someone a free Groundhog Day eCard, please remember the infamous words of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club:

“There are many important events in life — and Groundhog Day is not one of them.”

Happy Groundhog Day!

This post written by Stephanie Fader, Marketing & PR Manager

Do you believe Christmas is this week? If you’re like me (and most people), you probably still have a few more gifts to buy. Most likely for those people on your list that are the hardest to shop for!

If you’re still trying to find the perfect gift - and don’t want to fight the masses at the stores - we have a terrific, unique gift idea for you. Over a thousand actually…

Earlier this year we introduced MyPunchbowl Experiences, an extraordinary selection of experience gifts that engage the recipient’s personality and passions. Ranging from indoor skydiving, first flight lesson, helicopter tour to model for a day, wine making, glass blowing, or a private safari, the possibilities, like the memories they create are endless.

With so many experiences from which to choose in categories such as Wine & Gourmet, Sport & Adventure, and Arts & Culture, there is something for every age and every budget.

To celebrate the holidays, we’re excited to offer $20 off any MyPunchbowl Experience purchase of $100 or more. Use the code “QUICK” at checkout. Browse experiences now.

Make sure to choose the Email or Print It Now delivery options - you’ll have a really cool, unique gift in time for Christmas that fits perfectly inside a cute card!

Happy shopping!