Punchbowl Blog

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

Thanksgiving is coming up next week and if you’re like many, you’ve probably already started planning your menu. It’s interesting to see how the traditional Thanksgiving dinner has evolved over the years. While many of the popular dishes found around the Thanksgiving table are foods that the Pilgrims are believed to have eaten, there are a number of traditional dishes that were introduced much later and some that are missing from the table entirely.

Seafood, for example, was one of the dishes that was served at “The First Thanksgiving” in 1621. Specifically, fish, lobster, and clams. Makes sense since this “First Thanksgiving” took place in New England where seafood is abundant. Today, however, we rarely find seafood around a traditional Thanksgiving dinner table. Instead, we serve turkey, squash, berries, and fruit - all of which were present that “The First Thanksgiving.”

As for traditional side dishes and desserts, those can vary greatly by region. Popular staples, however, include green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cornbread. For traditional Thanksgiving desserts, it’s all about pie! Pumpkin pie, apple pie, and pecan pie reign as the top Thanksgiving desserts.

Need inspiration for your Thanksgiving dinner? Check out a few delicious facts about the culinary delights that Americans will be feasting on this Thanksgiving:

• 248 million turkeys are raised in the U.S., weighing 7.11 billion pounds
• 750 million pounds of cranberries will be made into sauces and jellies
• 2.4 billion pounds of sweet potatoes are used to create this quintessential side
• 1.1 billion pounds of pumpkins will be used to make everyone’s favorite dessert
• 266.1 million pounds of cherries will be used for this tart and fruity pie
• 2.01 billion bushels of wheat are needed as wheat is the essential ingredient of bread, rolls, and pie crust
• 656,340 tons of green beans will be ready to go in your casserole dishes

Still need recipes for your Thanksgiving dinner? Check out our full list of Thanksgiving ideas!

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

Earlier this fall, we introduced our new Digital Greeting Cards service - a suitable alternative to traditional paper greeting cards complete with folded designs, matching envelopes, realistic postmarks, and the complete mail-opening experience. We’ve received wonderful feedback about Digital Greeting Cards so far and we’re just getting started.

Free holiday eCards, for example, are a wonderful way to send warm thoughts to family and friends during the busy winter season. Families can write a personal message, modify text colors and fonts, and upload their own photo to create a truly personalized digital greeting. Winter holiday categories include Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year, and Season’s Greetings.

As for more immediate card-sending occasions, there are also digital greeting card categories for Veteran’s Day eCards (Friday, Nov. 11) and Thanksgiving eCards (Thursday, Nov. 24). Simply choose a design, edit your message, and send your well-wishes to as many people as you like - free!

Need to send cards for another occasion? Check out our selection of digital greeting cards for birthdays, announcements, occasions, everyday, and care and concern. Browse all of our free eCard categories now and let us know what you think on our Facebook page!

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

Gobble, gobble, gobble! Grab your fine-feathered friends and get ready for a fun and delicious holiday. Believe it or not, Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away! If you plan to host Thanksgiving this year, here are a few tips for planning your Thanksgiving feast!

• Plan your guest list: Things to consider include space and accommodations, cooking time and preparations, the number of adults and kids, as well as overnight guests. Get more tips for planning your Thanksgiving guest list.

• Send Thanksgiving invitations: Once the guest list has been determined, send out beautiful Thanksgiving invitations. Punchbowl offers a variety of free invitations in popular Thanksgiving motifs.

• Create a delicious menu: It may seem obvious, but a delicious menu is key to a successful Thanksgiving. The main dish and sides are often filled by family favorites. However, you can still wow your guests with creative and easy Thanksgiving appetizers this year.

• Set the scene: Create a warm and inviting Thanksgiving for family and friends with small, but charming touches such as beautiful Thanksgiving table decorations and creative place cards.

• Thanks guests: On this holiday of giving thanks, don’t forget to thank guests for attending your Thanksgiving dinner. After the event, send free Thank You eCards to your guests.

Is your tummy rumbling yet? Whether you like to use recipes that have been passed through the family for generations or want to try something new, a delicious meal is a wonderful way to bring people together. For even more Thanksgiving ideas and recipes to help you plan, check out all of our Thanksgiving dinner ideas!

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

The weather is nice, the days are long, the flowers are in bloom — all of which make summer the perfect time for celebrations! However, summer is also a time of year with very few official holidays. While the two-month period between July 4th and Labor Day may be void of popular holidays, it’s chock full of fun and quirky reasons to celebrate!

Want to find out which quirky holidays to celebrate this summer? The Reasons to Celebrate section of Punchbowl highlights interesting and unusual reasons to celebrate for all 365 days of the year. In most cases there is more than one reason to celebrate per day. There are also weekly and monthly reasons to celebrate.

I noticed that some of our favorite reasons to celebrate are coming up within the next week. Here’s a list of popular summer reasons to celebrate. The list includes those favorites that I mentioned — can you guess which ones they are?

• National Gummi Worm Day (July 15)
• National Ice Cream Day (July 17)
• National Daiquiri Day (July 19)
• Girlfriends Day (August 1)
• International Beer Day (August 5)
• S’mores Day (August 10)
• National Relaxation Day (August 15)
• Eat Outside Day (August 31)

If you want to be the first to know the daily reasons to celebrate, there are a couple of ways to do this. First, go to any Reasons to Celebrate page and sign up to “Get daily email updates!” You can also like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. We post the day’s reason to celebrate every morning.

Check out the upcoming holidays and let us know what your favorite reason to celebrate is this summer!

This post written by Stephanie Fader, Marketing & PR Manager

Wednesday, September 29 is a big day for caffeine addicts everywhere—it’s National Coffee Day! This annual holiday is one of the most popular Reasons to Celebrate of the year. Is anyone surprised? You can enjoy coffee in a number of ways, whether it’s hot, iced, flavored, decaf, espresso, cappuccino, or latte!

Here are three ways you can celebrate National Coffee Day:

1) Send a free National Coffee Day eCard to remind your friends, family, and coworkers to take a coffee break in honor of National Coffee Day.

2) Enjoy a free cup of joe from participating coffee shops. Find out where you can get free coffee.

3) Spread the word about National Coffee Day with your social networks, like Facebook and Twitter. We have easy “Share” options right on the National Coffee Day page  (below the National Coffee Day description) that you can use to spread the word!

Don’t forget to take time out of your day for a coffee break of your own. Enjoy National Coffee Day!

This post written by Stephanie Fader, Marketing & PR Manager

After last week’s excitement, it’s nice to have some fun Reasons to Celebrate coming up this week, like National Checkers Day on Thursday, September 23 or Love Note Day on Sunday, September 26.

One thing that’s great about our Reasons to Celebrate is that they’re really perfect for parents and teachers. With the number of food holidays on the calendar, our Reasons to Celebrate sometimes help with menu planning. How about making Pecan Cookies for dessert on Tuesday, September 21 or planning a seafood spectacular for Crab Meat Newburg Day on September 25.

For teachers, Reasons to Celebrate make great topics for the classroom. Take Checkers Day, for example. It’s not exactly what you might think. While most people hear Checkers Day and assume it’s meant to celebrate this classic game, this holiday’s origins stem from politics!

Here’s the entire list of this week’s Reasons to Celebrate:

• September 20: National Punch Day
• September 21: National Pecan Cookie Day
• September 22: National White Chocolate Day
• September 23: National Checkers Day
• September 24: National Cherries Jubilee Day
• September 25: Crab Meat Newburg Day
• September 26: Love Note Day

Also, did you know that Halloween is just six weeks away? If you’re trying to come up with costume ideas, consider hosting a Halloween costume exchange party to recycle costumes with friends. You’ll clear out your closet AND come away with a new costume. Get some tips for how to host a Halloween costume exchange party or start planning your own Halloween party!

This post written by Stephanie Fader, Marketing & PR Manager

Since Monday, September 6 is Labor Day and a lot of people take off early to enjoy the long weekend, I thought I’d share next week’s Reasons to Celebrate a few days early…

One important holiday to note is Grandparents Day on Sunday, September 12. Plan ahead to spend time with your grandparents if you’re lucky enough to still have them with you. Sunday is also National Chocolate Milkshake Day so a trip to your local ice cream shop or an old school ice cream parlor could be in order.

Another holiday next week is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which will be celebrated on Thursday, September 9. We wish everyone a very happy and sweet new year!

Now that we’re into September, it’s also a good time to start thinking about Halloween. Yeah, that’s right, Halloween is just around the corner. Thinking about having a costume party or pumpkin carving night? Send a Halloween Save the Date to get your event on guests’ calendars!

Here are all of the week’s Reasons to Celebrate:

• September 6: Labor Day
• September 7: Salami Day
• September 8: International Literacy Day
• September 9: Teddy Bear Day & Rosh Hashanah
• September 10: TV Dinner Day
• September 11: National Hot Cross Buns Day
• September 12: National Grandparents Day

Have a nice long Labor Day weekend!

This post written by Stephanie Fader, Marketing & PR Manager

Can you believe August is already over?? The summer always seems to go by so quickly! With Labor Day coming up on Monday, September 6, the unofficial end of summer is truly upon us. Do you have plans? There’s still time to plan an impromptu cookout with friends and family. Need a little more incentive? Here are some tasty (and easy) recipes you can try: baked beans and beer margaritas.

Another fabulous reason to enjoy the late August sun is Eat Outside Day on Tuesday, August 31. Grab the kids, your coworkers, whoever, and go find a nice spot to enjoy lunch outside. Lunch doesn’t work? Have dinner on the patio or picnic in the backyard.

This week marks another extremely popular Reason to Celebrate. Sunday, September 5 is National Cheese Pizza Day! A favorite with kids and adults alike, it no wonder this classic meal has its own day. One idea we love is a Make Your Own Pizza party. You can use our Potluck feature to have guests sign up to bring the toppings!

Here are all of the week’s Reasons to Celebrate:

• August 30: National Toasted Marshmallow Day
• August 31: Eat Outside Day
• September 1: National Cherry Popover Day
• September 2: National Blueberry Popsicle Day
• September 3: National Welsh Rarebit Day
• September 4: National Macadamia Nut Day
• September 5: National Cheese Pizza Day

Have a great week!

This post written by Stephanie Fader, Marketing & PR Manager

As August winds down, this week’s Reasons to Celebrate remind us to sit back and enjoy a few summer treats. Grab a cherry popsicle on Thursday, August 26 for National Cherry Popsicle Day.

If you’re a big fan of bananas, embrace the true banana lover in you on Friday, August 27 — Banana Lover’s Day! That leads us to another summer treat that can be enjoyed by banana lovers and non-banana lovers alike, the banana split. That’s right, Wednesday, August 25 is National Banana Split Day. Stack yours with chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and your favorite toppings!

Labor Day is also approaching on Monday, September 6. It’s a great time to get the family together for a cookout or round up your neighbors for a block party. It will be here before you know it, so send your invitations today.

Here are the rest of the week’s Reasons to Celebrate:

• August 23: National Sponge Cake Day
• August 24: National Waffle Day
• August 25: National Banana Split Day
• August 26: National Cherry Popsicle Day
• August 27: Banana Lover’s Day
• August 28: National Cherry Turnover Day
• August 29: Chop Suey Day

Have a great week!

This post written by Stephanie Fader, Marketing & PR Manager

If you love eating everything from entrees and sides to desserts and snacks, this is the week for you! Nearly all of the Reasons to Celebrate this week have to do with food and they pretty much cover every meal from bratwurst and potatoes to spumoni and soft ice cream.

This week we also celebrate a favorite summertime beverage: lemonade. Friday, August 20 is National Lemonade Day. If you’re looking for a way to celebrate and cool off from the heat, you can make an Arnold Palmer (half lemonade and half iced tea), which are pretty popular in our office. Or, you could help your kids make a big pitcher of traditional lemonade and set up a lemonade stand.

Also, don’t forget that Labor Day is just a few weeks away. If you’re thinking about having a family cookout or some kind of get together, why not invite a few more people over to celebrate one last summer hurrah?

Here’s a snapshot of all the week’s Reasons to Celebrate:

• August 16: Bratwurst Day
• August 17: National Vanilla Custard Day
• August 18: National Soft Ice Cream Day
• August 19: National Potato Day
• August 20: National Lemonade Day
• August 21: National Spumoni Day
• August 22: Be an Angel Day

Have a food-tastic week!