The Covid-19 pandemic has been very hard on the relationships between people and their elderly relatives. Many people in assisted living facilities have had almost no contact with their loved ones.

While phone calls and video chats are nice, they aren’t available to all seniors. In addition, it’s sometimes nice to have something tangible to hold on to during a tough time.

As a result, there’s been a real resurgence in card-making and care packages.

Using Card-Making to Make Communication Stronger

Many people think of cards as things that are sent only on birthdays and holidays. Yet it doesn’t have to be this way.

Take home a stack of blank cards and keep them close. Write whatever messages or daily reflections you come up with. Tape or glue recent family photos to your cards, or slide them inside the card and envelope. Discuss family updates or even just the events of the day.

Your senior wants to know. Remember, people in assisted living lockdowns don’t necessarily have much going on in their lives. This can even limit their ability to maintain a phone conversation because they won’t have much to talk about.

The physical reminder of connection can make isolation and separation easier. They also make calls easier. You’ll be able to discuss the topics on your cards and will remember them better. Often the events of a single day fade in the onslaught of a busy week. Your elderly loved one will have all those little stories right in front of them, though, and can ask you about them.

It’s a talking point for you both, and it can really help.

Note this is a tradition that children and grandchildren can really take advantage of. They can add stickers, draw pictures, write little notes to show the recipient is being thought of, and otherwise participate in the process.

Tip: use cheery, colorful card stock. Vision is dwindling for many seniors and bright, colorful cards can make the messages easy to send.

Putting Together a Great Care Package

The residents of assisted living facilities used to get visitors on holidays to have meals together. This is no longer happening. So consider putting together an old-fashioned care package!

Grab a pretty box. Add pretty tissue paper. Send a baked good. Add some crafts that the children made. Add puzzle books like Sudoku puzzles or crossword puzzles. Add a nice new book to read and perhaps some more pictures or magnets. If you can think of any other little thing that your senior will love it’s a good time to add that, as well.

This Resurgence Is Here to Stay

While the pandemic may be over by next year this is a tradition that seems like it’s going to have some sticking power. The pandemic has definitely taught us all about the importance of family ties, and about the ways that separation can harm us all.

Let’s face it, receiving a tangible reminder and love and care is important to seniors no matter what is going on in the outside world.

So stock up on supplies, and remember to keep your senior firmly in mind even after the pandemic comes to a close. Our lives can get busy. Theirs can get lonely. This tradition is a wonderful way to keep in touch.

Stop by Paper Plus for all your card-making and care package supplies! We have boxes, tissue paper, card stocks, envelopes, stickers, glitter, care package gifts, and more. We’re still following Covid protocols in our store, so don’t be afraid to pop by and see us. 

There are lots of reasons why pitching a tent in your own backyard makes sense. The number one reason right now is that in California, we are all sheltered in place due to COVID-19.

Backyard camping is always an option! If you have little kids who want to experience camping you get to let them do it without taking them too far from their own comfy beds, toys, and routines (many will want to go inside eventually). If money is tight you can this is the perfect idea for a fun staycation.

Here are some fun backyard camping ideas that with a little creativity won’t break the bank.

1. Pitch a Perfect Tent

If you’ve already got a tent then pitch away! Then jazz it up with fun decorations, strings of light, and a big air mattress. Since you don’t have to worry about car space you can bring your own sheets and blankets, creating a bed that’s both more attractive than a standard sleeping bag and more comfortable.

Don’t have a tent and don’t want to buy one? If you have a tarp or fabric lying around, you can make one of your own. There are quite a few tutorials on YouTube on how to do so, and figuring out how to make a tent could be a fun family activity in its own right.

2. Bring on the Bonfire

If you have a fire pit then you’re all set, but what if you don’t? What if you live in a neighborhood that bans open flames?

You could create a fake bonfire out of LED lights. Simply wind coils of orange and white lights together and set them in a circle, or use a wide basin or birdbath to contain them. Or just hang light strings: the effect is magical, and it will make you all happy to be outside once the sun sets.

Doesn’t look ‘flamey’ enough? Try cutting paper flames out of orange, red, and yellow tissue paper, then gathering them together on cardboard “logs.” You can again use a birdbath or other basin to contain your ‘fire.’

Obviously the fake fire is for backyard camping with kids. If you’re backyard camping with adults skip the fake fire and go straight to the barbeque pit, or pop open a bottle of wine under the stars.

3. Don’t Forget the Food

Why not pack a cooler and have a picnic? Grab s’more supplies and make them. You don’t have to have a fire: you can make skillet s’mores.

As for other things you might serve, the sky’s the limit. Hot dogs and hamburgers are popular and fun. Chips and healthy vegetables with dip offer fun finger foods. You could even set out a big bowl of trail mix to keep the camping theme going strong.

If you’re having a party you can have even more fun with this. For example, you can get compostable plates, cups, napkins, spoons, and forks. That way you’ll be helping the environment even as you enjoy your camping fun.

4. Let the Games Begin

What would your staycation weekend be without backyard camping games? Here are a few ideas:

• Use sidewalk chalk to make a giant copy of any one of your favorite board games, then let your kids pretend to be the pieces.
• Create a scavenger hunt with a number of clues appropriate for your kid’s age: 3-5 for a younger child, 5-10 for an older child, and up to 20 for a tween.
• Go classic with horseshoes, croquette, or cornhole
• Wear animal masks and play “wild animal hide-and-seek” with stuffed animals.

Add a few more outdoor activities that aren’t competitive. Bring out the soap bubbles, or bust out the sidewalk chalk again so the kids can decorate your back patio.

5. Have a Wind-Down Plan

Eventually, you’re going to want your kids to go to bed, and this break in routine might make it difficult if you don’t have a plan.

Signal the beginning of nighttime activities by passing out wearable glow sticks. Get a family clean-up effort going so your back yard “campsite” doesn’t get overrun with flies and ants.

Then it’s time to settle in for a story, or perhaps a movie under the stars if you have a projector and a screen.

Sleeping arrangements are up to you. Some kids will want to sleep in the tent. Others will be ready to go back to their own beds. Use your judgement.

In the morning, give yourself a high-five! You’ve planned and pulled off an amazing family day activity that will be the subject of good memories for years to come. Have a victory mimosa at breakfast to celebrate a successful backyard campout night. You’ve earned it!

Car window decorating has become a big deal for a number of different occasions. People have used it for graduation parties, weddings, sporting events, and gender reveal parties. Maybe you’ve even got your own event to celebrate. Now you just need some ideas.

Not to worry! There are plenty of ways you can get the job done. And of course, you don’t have to limit yourself to windows at all.

Car Window Decoration Supplies (Or, for the Whole Car!)

Let’s start by equipping you with your own car decorating kit. You’ll want to make your own both so it will be specific to your event and so you can avoid things which might damage your car, such as silly string. (Why avoid silly string? Because it’s akin to egging your own vehicle).

Many pre-sold kits also come with adhesives. But many stickers can be very hard to remove. They can damage your paint job or lower the value of your vehicle.

Car Decorating Paint

Temporary paint pens are the only ones you’ll ever want to use on your car’s paint job. Make sure the paint pen says “all surfaces” before you use it on the trunk, hood, or sides of your car.

A good car decoration paint pen should be water-based and solvent-free so you can clean it up with a wet rag, later.

Car Window Decorating Markers

Most of the markers you can use to decorate your car are meant for your windows. Liquid chalk markers, or washable window markers, are both good bets here.

The one you choose will depend on the look you’re trying to achieve. The chalk markers really do look like chalk, making them absolutely perfect for senior car decorating. After all, if you’re going to celebrate the end of your school career you might as well do it with a shout out to the school experience!

Markers will give you a more versatile, colorful look. They’re great for wedding cars or gender reveal cars.

Streamers & Banners

Streamers and banners are both fun and traditional. Often you’ll tie them to bumpers or car mirrors to get them into place, and to keep them there.

The sky’s the limit here, depending on your theme. There’s such a wide variety of streamers and banners to choose from. For some, it’s easy enough to make your own if you can’t find anything that suits.

Flowers

You can use real ones. Artificial ones usually work better.

There are a couple of different ways you can do this. The one that is the least harmful to your car is usually to use a hot glue gun to affix your flowers to magnets. You can then stick the magnets to any non-window surface.

As long as the magnet is powerful enough it will stay until you peel it away. Other options can damage your paint job.

Noisemakers

Decorating a “Just Married” car? Tying tin cans to the bumper or trailer hitch is traditional. Some people have experimented with other things like old keyboards (for tech enthusiasts).

Just make sure they’re tied tightly so your decorations don’t break free to threaten other drivers.

Colored Powder

Tire burnout powder or exhaust powder in either pink or blue are both popular options for gender reveal parties. But they come in far more colors than pink or blue.

Tire burnout powder is a small package of colored powder with an adhesive. You peel the back off and place it on your tire. When it’s time to drive, you’ll run over the packet. Festive clouds of color balloon out everywhere! Exhaust powder is made of the same materials. Instead of taping it to your tires you use a funnel to pack it into your exhaust pipe so that bursts of colored smoke pour out of the pipes when you drive.

Want to honor your sports team? Grab some powder in the appropriate colors. This is good for graduation, too, since you can sub in the school colors. It hasn’t caught on for weddings yet, but if you don’t want tin cans on your getaway car you could use powder that matches your wedding colors.

Miscellaneous Exterior Decorations

LED lights, temporary stickers, and other accessories can all be helpful on your quest to decorate your car, too. License plate rims are another cool option. They’re easiest to find for sports teams, but you can find them in assorted colors, too. You can even find license plate rims outlined with colorful LED lights.

Just grab some items in the appropriate colors or with the appropriate motifs, and have some fun!

Car Interior Decoration Ideas

Many people neglect their interiors when they decorate their car. But you can really pull the look of yours together by paying some attention to it. People can see into your car. And the driver and passengers no doubt want to feel festive, too!

The main thing here is you don’t want to blind the driver, or distract the driver. You can do a lot with steering wheel colors. LED cup holder liners can be a lot of fun too. You can stick them inside of your cupholders to make them glow in different colors at night.

You can add little decorations on clips (use small safety pins if the clip isn’t already there). Hot glue gun them to small toys, and affix them to your vents.

How to Decorate a Car for Your Chosen Occasion

Now that you’ve got your car decoration kit assembled, it’s time to dive into some more specific car decoration ideas.

Graduation Car Decorating Ideas

Creative senior car decorating ideas can be hard to come by. Start with the basics! You’ll need the school colors, and a way to paint the name, and the year, and a heartfelt message.

From there, why not use decals or more paint to create the school mascot somewhere on the vehicle? As mentioned earlier, it might also be a cool idea to use colored exhaust or tire powder to poof out the school colors. And don’t forget the inside! A little stuffed animal mascot could be a great addition to any graduation car.

See also: Simple High School Graduation Party Ideas.

Birthday Car Decorating Ideas

Car decorating is becoming a big deal at birthday parties, too, especially for Sweet 16 parties, quinceaneras, and the good old “Lordy, Lordy, someone’s 40” parties.

See also: Quinceañera Decoration Ideas for the 3 Most Popular Party Themes

Here, you can even add a few more items to your car decorating kit. Tying a few colored balloons to the antenna, mirrors, or bumper of your car can instantly give it a birthday look. Try to pull together a few themed colors.

If it’s a 40th birthday, don’t forget the black flowers! Use chalk markers to add some gravestones, too. Hey, it’s all in good fun.

Wedding Car Decoration Ideas

Pinterest has thousands of images you can look through, here. Don’t feel compelled to follow the crowd, though.

Here, there are three things you’re going to want to consider. The first? Your wedding colors. Second? Wedding flowers. And third, your wedding theme. A rustic, backyard wedding with mellow outdoor lighting and mason jars is going to suggest a very different scheme than a 1940s-themed wedding at a 5-star venue.

Using “bride and groom” stuffed animals is getting popular. You can hot glue gun these to magnets just as you can hot glue gun flowers. These usually sit on the trunk or hood.

You can also use flowers to spell out the “Just Married” message if you prefer not to use banners. If you’re going for a more rustic wedding you can use a big magnet to add a chalkboard to the back of your car. Use colored chalk to write your “Just Married” message.

Gender Reveal Decoration Ideas

You already know all about the colored smoke, but what else can you do?

One idea could be to use the same magnet method to put a baby doll on the hood or trunk of your car. You could also draw big, stylized question marks in pink and blue all over your car body or windows.

You could even get a little silly inside of your car by adding some GI Joes, Barbies, and other, traditionally “gendered” toys to the dashboard or to the rearview. If you’re feeling bold, you can tie these on the back like you’d tie the tin cans on a wedding car.

See also: Cute Baby Gender Reveal Party Ideas.

Homecoming Decoration Ideas

These ideas stand in for any other major sporting event. But homecoming is a great example.

Sports team colors and mascots are a natural start. You could also add traditional flower varieties in these colors. Many people like to put a large, colorful bouquet right on the hood or on the front grille.

Both flowers and colored banners are great options for anyone who is going to be using their car as a parade float.

Other Quick Tips

First, don’t forget to wash your car before you get started. Dirt on cars can get stuck in markers and scratch the paint job. It can also defeat your attempts to make your magnets adhere to the surface. Nobody wants to shed decorations all the way down the street!

Second, don’t plan your car idea before you’ve looked at your local supply options. You don’t want to get fixed on an idea only to find you can’t quite make it happen.

Where should you start your search?

Right here at Paper Plus at 1629 San Pablo Ave, Berkeley, CA 94702, where we’ve got banners, streamers, markers, chalkboards, glue guns, and a whole lot more to help your car stand out at your next event.