Give Your Valentine A TisBest Charity Gift Card!

How will you show that you care this Valentine’s Day? Will it be with a box of expensive chocolates? A bouquet of crimson long-stem roses? Why not show your Valentine how much they mean to you by giving them a gift that makes a difference in the world: the ability to support their favorite charity with a TisBest Charity Gift Card. With the ability to place virtually any image on your TisBest card, the customization options are endless (and free!).

Custom images
Take a look at the Valentine’s Day stock images on the TisBest site to see what’s available, or upload your own image for a truly special gift your Valentine will never forget!

Need a little inspiration for your custom charity gift card? Check out our Valentine’s Day Lightbox on iStockPhoto for some great image ideas!

Remember, all custom images need to be a .jpg in horizontal/landscape format, and less than 1 MB in size.

Pro tip: For best results, crop your image to 1000 pixels wide by 622 pixels high.

Shipping information
There’s still time to order a 100% recycled plastic gift card and have it delivered to your Valentine by the 14th! Select a priority shipping option at checkout to ensure an on-time delivery. Email and print-at-home cards are always available instantly.

Ready to make the world a better place?
Place your Valentine’s Day order now at www.tisbest.org.

Love in action: A Valentine’s Day charity gift

By Karli Larson, TisBest Charities and Communities Manager

The wise and compassionate Fred Rogers once said that love is an active noun. What he meant by this is that love is not necessarily a state of being; it’s a state of doing. Love in motion is a powerful force. It can give hope, shelter and relief. It can change someone’s day- or their life. It can bring us together in ways that nothing else can. It’s an incredible thing to think about, really: just by being human and having the capacity to love, each one of us has the ability to change the world.

With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, it’s a good time to think about love in its many forms. I love my children, my partner, my extended family. I love my friends and my neighbors and my community. How do I show this love? What is it that I do to “pay it forward,” using the love I feel as a starting point for a ripple effect of good things? The way my love is enacted changes depending on the person or situation, but the intention is the same each time. I want to leave the things, the people, and the places I love better than when I found them. I want my love to change things for the better, in all cases. This could sound egotistical, but it isn’t, not really. After all, to know we are loved is life-altering and life-affirming. It’s powerful. It just is.

Part of my job is to understand the reasons behind and the motivation for giving a charity gift card as a gift, rather than the alternative (whatever that may be). One of the most common reasons people seem to choose giving a charity gift card is that they want their gift recipient to have the experience of doing something amazing. While many of our TisBest Charity Gift Cards end up lovingly paired with other, more conventional gifts of “stuff,” the overwhelming consensus in our gift card purchasers is that they want their colleagues, friends and loved ones to have that “warm glow” feeling of doing something good in the world. Even when given to a boss, an acquaintance or a perfect stranger, the desire to give this gift of goodness is a perfect example of love in action. Call it fate, destiny or kismet, the conclusion here is clear: Valentine’s Day and TisBest Charity Gift Cards were made for each other.

This Valentine’s Day, try adding a charity gift card to your bouquet of long-stem roses or box of chocolates. Tuck it in a card. Slip it under a pillow. Pop one in the mail and send this little dose of goodness and love to someone far away. Show the people in your life how your love for them can start a chain reaction. Together, you will change the world.

Design and order your own charity gift card now at www.tisbest.org
Remember: Email and print-at-home cards are available instantly!

December birthday? This gift makes it special.

Do you have a December birthday in your family? If so, chances are you’ve realized it takes a bit of extra effort to make the birthday girl or boy feel special. December birthdays run the risk of being overlooked or lumped in to the month’s holiday festivities, and during this busy time of year, it can be difficult to switch gears from holiday plans to birthday plans. The good news is creating a super-special gift for your December birthday pal is easier than you think! Here’s how to plan a meaningful and memorable December birthday gift, TisBest-style.

Find the perfect picture
Take a peek through your photos and find one that would be especially meaningful. How about a picture of a beloved pet for your child’s December birthday, or a fun memory from that trip you took with your best friend a few years ago? Make your gift truly impactful by sharing an image that reminds your December birthday how much they mean to you, and how happy you are to have them in your life.

Create a charity gift card
With Hanukkah and Christmas right around the corner, your December birthday is likely soon to be inundated with gifts of stuff. Do they really need one more travel mug, board game, or scented candle? Why not make your birthday gift something they will enjoy and remember for years to come: the experience of supporting their favorite charities with a TisBest Charity Gift Card. Make sure you’ve got that perfect picture handy- it’s going on the card!

• Go to www.tisbest.org and click the red Buy Gift Cards button
• Next, click Upload My Own Image
• Click Browse or Choose File to select the image from your computer (pro tip: make sure your image is horizontal/landscape and is a .jpg file that is less than 1 mb in size)
• Once you’ve selected the image form your computer, click Upload Image
• If you like the way your image appears on the gift card, proceed with your order by selecting the “Email Gift Card to Recipient” delivery option. Don’t forget to add a special birthday message!
• Need more help? Watch our 2-minute video tutorial

Select the email delivery date
We can deliver your charity gift card in an email immediately, or on a future date. For delivery on the recipient’s birthday, simply input that date. Once you’ve completed the checkout process, there’s nothing more you need to do. We’ll automatically deliver the gift card in an email on their birthday. Your recipient will receive a beautiful image of the gift card you created, along with your special message and instructions for using their charity gift card.

Voila! Your December birthday will now experience the joy of supporting a charity that is important to them with their charity gift card. They will remember your gift- and your generosity- for a very long time.

• How do charity gift cards work? Click here to learn more
• Ready to start your order? Go to www.tisbest.org

How to customize your TisBest Charity Gift Card

TisBest cards can be customized (for free!) by uploading your own image to use on the card. Watch this quick video tutorial to see how it easy it is to personalize your gift!

Start your gift card order now at www.TisBest.org!

Take a look at some of these beautiful sample cards:

Black Friday Perspective

By Chad Edwards, TisBest Creative Services Director

I, like my mom, am a shopper. Somehow the shopping gene largely skipped over my older sister and came to me.

And more accurately, I love good deals and the hunting it takes to find them. To that end, I have gotten up in the wee hours of the morning on many a Black Friday (a name that sounds more like the day marking a terrible Medieval epidemic than a positive financial benchmark) to stand in line with my mom for a great deal. For us, it has been a way to connect, spend time together, and save some green. Who can resist at least peeking at the $3 DVD bin? A League of Their Own! Remastered?!? In Dolby TrueHD? Sold.

My mom is visiting this week, and you are likely to find us wandering an antique store and connecting over repurposing old items rather than in a retail store line on Black Friday. Although we do not have plans to head out to the stores, I decided to go out and get a pulse on the ads. I had the sense that the definition of the “wee hours” (anyone remember 7 a.m. door busters?) has been shifting as retailers attract shoppers to the best deals by opening earlier and earlier. What I did not comprehend is how out of hand this shifting has gotten.

Did you know that several stores are now opening at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day to get shoppers started? What? At 8 p.m. on Thursday, I hope to be watching a movie (read: dozing) or playing a game of dominoes (read: Sweet Valley High the game – trust me, it’s awesome) with family.

It strikes me that there may be no end in sight to this encouragement to consume. My guess is that retailers will continue to open their doors earlier and earlier, and shoppers will continue to walk through them. Even if this means cutting the Thanksgiving meal short or not stopping by a friend’s place or skipping game time with the kids or turning off the end of the Lions or Packers game. Unless, of course, we shoppers decide we can wait until Friday morning and pull a no show on Thursday evening.

My hope is that both you and I will reserve this time for a friendly get together or maybe some dozing. And if you are plum fresh out of ideas by the time 8 p.m. on Thursday rolls around and Target is calling your name, consider telling a friend or family member about your favorite charity. Many charities raise a significant percentage of the funding for their world-changing work through events and appeals during the holiday season. And nothing is more powerful than a personal referral.

So here’s to connecting, eating, gaming, family-ing (humor me), friend-ing (not just on Facebook), and dozing without the shopping, line-ing (I’m almost done, I promise), and consuming.

Help us choose a new Christmas charity gift card image

TisBest is updating our stock image selections just in time for the holiday season!

We’ve already chosen several that we love, but we want YOU to pick the final image. The TisBest Charity Gift Gard image that gets the most votes will appear as one of the new stock image selections in the Christmas category. Vote for your favorite using the poll below. (Click each image to view larger.)

We’ll announce the winners on our Facebook page in a few days, so make sure to LIKE TisBest on Facebook!

Don’t want to wait? Start a gift card order now by going to www.tisbest.org and clicking Buy a Gift Card. Choose from one of our dozens of beautiful, high-quality stock images or upload your own to customize your card for free.

3 ways to live a thankful holiday season

By Karli Larson, TisBest Charities and Communities Manager

Thanksgiving is approaching with haste. What are you thankful for this year? Although many of us can quickly assemble a mental list of things we’re grateful for, it’s another thing entirely to live that gratitude every day. Here are three ways to live a thankful holiday season that are sure to help round out your year in a positive, meaningful and wonderfully thankful way.

1. Speak 
“Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.” -Rumi

When was the last time someone told you how much they appreciate you? Do you remember how it felt to be recognized, even in a very small way? Each of us works so hard to do our best and contribute to the world each day, and although we hope our efforts are noticed the feedback we receive is so often negative. We hear what we should fix, not what we’ve done well. Do your part to change this. Make an effort to notice and speak aloud your gratitude for the work and presence of those around you. You’ll be amazed by the power your kind words hold.

2. Act
“If you can’t feed a hundred people, feed just one.” -Mother Teresa

We don’t have to perform grandiose acts in order to make an immense difference. Sometimes even the smallest things can have the biggest impact. Vacuum out your spouse’s car, read that extra bedtime story or arrive at Thanksgiving dinner with a thoughtful hostess gift. Do something extra to show your love and support for your friends, family and colleagues. Imagine how different your life would be if everyone you knew did a little something extra for you each day? Be the catalyst for this change in your life.

3. Reflect
“We begin to find and become ourselves when we notice how we are already found, already truly, entirely, wildly, messily, marvelously who we were born to be.” -Anne Lamott

Take some time each day to look back on the year you’ve had. Can you believe all the marvelous things you’ve accomplished? You are kinder today than you were a year ago. You are stronger today than you were a year ago. You are braver and gentler and even a little bit more flexible. You’ve grown so much and tried so hard. Perhaps you’ve made some glorious mistakes, but at least now you’ve got some good stories to tell at parties. Every day you are living your life, and you are doing such a wonderful job. Remind yourself of this each day. You are exactly who, where, and what you are supposed to be. Maybe tomorrow you’ll do something different. Maybe not. Your future is unwritten and it is full of immense possibility. And that is truly something to be thankful for.

Giving Thanks: A Unique Hostess Gift Idea

By Karli Larson, TisBest Charities and Communities Manager

I have yet to host Thanksgiving dinner at my house, an achievement that I attribute gratefully to my vegetarian upbringing. I can candy yams til the cows come home, but no one wants a vegetarian lady in charge of the sacred Thanksgiving turkey. Being somewhat socially awkward and more than a little bit introverted, I’ve also never mastered the art of hosting any sort of gathering that doesn’t involve eleven four-year-olds huddled around a birthday cake. So it is with deep admiration and gratitude that I arrive at Thanksgiving dinner each year, hostess gift in hand.

Usually, my go-to hostess gift idea is a nice bottle of wine. While this gift does show my appreciation for being invited to dinner, it’s a little predictable and generic, and may not send my hosts the message of authentic gratitude I wish to convey. Personalized gifts are always thoughtful and well-received, but it’s a bit hard to personalize a bottle of wine! So this year I’ve decided to create a customized TisBest Charity Gift Card to give to my hosts. What better way to say “thank you” than with a hostess gift that makes a difference in the world? Follow these steps if you’d like to create your own charity gift card to give as a hostess gift.

• First go to www.tisbest.org and click the red Buy a Gift Card Button.
• Next, select from one of TisBest’s images, or create a custom card by uploading your own image.
  Pro tip: Images must be under 1 mb in size, and must be in .jpg format. 
• Finally, select a card style, then follow the prompts to specify the mailing options, card value, and recipient information.

For my customized hostess gift, I created a card with an image of my little pug Winston. I added text to the image before I uploaded it to TisBest using a free online photo editor (I recommend Ribbet). Once the final image was uploaded and card value determined, the result was a darling and truly unique gift that my hosts will adore.

Giving a TisBest Charity Gift Card as a hostess gift shows my hosts that their generosity deserves more from me than a generic bottle of wine. I want to show my gratitude by sharing a giving experience that will extend far beyond the reaches of our little Thanksgiving table. By helping my hosts make a difference in the world with a charity gift card, I’m giving them an experience they will remember warmly for years to come. I can’t think of a better way to spend Thanksgiving.