All the feels for TOYW

By Tracey Bearton
24 September 2024

10th anniversary Thinking Of You Week hits wave of love and happiness

 

Personalised paintings, great window displays, visits to the elderly, free card giveaways, fluffy clouds and greetings from the king and queen have made for a fantastic 10th anniversary Thinking Of You Week.

Celebrating the GCA’s Send A Card, Deliver A Smile mantra to its fullest, the greetings industry has been helping everyone harness the emotional power of cards to create a wave of love, caring, and happiness for TOYW, which ran until Sunday, 22 September – and Orberry Strawberry, one of The Ponks shop dogs from Cardies in Stevenage, was happy to get the show on the road as shown in the video below.

Above: Love was the theme of Earlybird’s special window display in Stoke Newington, and shop owner Heidi Early announced on Facebook: “We’re big believers in the power of cards and encourage you all to spread the message this and every week!”
Above: Sending love was the theme of Earlybird’s special window display in Stoke Newington, and shop owner Heidi Early announced on Facebook: “We’re big believers in the power of cards and encourage you all to spread the message this and every week!”
Above: Handpicked By Henrietta owner Sarah Halsall decided to take TOYW to the people in Poynton, getting support from Cherry Orchard Publishing to make a special delivery to Hope Green Care Home. Sarah explained: “The year five children at Lower Park School have written cards to all the residents with wonderful illustrations too. We did this last year and the residents loved it so much some still have last year’s cards up!”
Above: Handpicked By Henrietta owner Sarah Halsall decided to take TOYW to the people in Poynton, getting support from Cherry Orchard Publishing to make a special delivery to Hope Green Care Home. Sarah explained: “The year five children at Lower Park School have written cards to all the residents with wonderful illustrations too. We did this last year and the residents loved it so much some still have last year’s cards up!”
Above: “The loveliest thing has just happened,” Sally Matson revealed from Red Card in Petworth, “I commented on a local Facebook group post where this gentleman, Alan Simpson, had put a photo of an old Christmas card. I said the GCA had an archive and cards like that were very precious. This morning he came into the shop and gave me this envelope full of very old Christmas cards that were all special to his family. I was a little overwhelmed.” And to thank him for his generosity, Sally has made a £100 donation to the Aldingbourne Trust residential home.
Above: “The loveliest thing has just happened,” Sally Matson revealed from Red Card in Petworth, “I commented on a local Facebook group post where this gentleman, Alan Simpson, had put a photo of an old Christmas card. I said the GCA had an archive and cards like that were very precious. This morning he came into the shop and gave me this envelope full of very old Christmas cards that were all special to his family. I was a little overwhelmed.” And to thank him for his generosity, Sally has made a £100 donation to the Aldingbourne Trust residential home.
Above: UK Greetings worked with major retailers across the country to promote TOYW, including Tesco which put the publisher’s POS strips across their card racks, including Danilo’s Mr Men & Little Miss designs, and Sainsbury’s had UKG shippers and clipstrips in many stores.
Above: UK Greetings worked with major retailers across the country to promote TOYW, including Tesco which put the publisher’s POS strips across their card racks, including Danilo’s Mr Men & Little Miss designs, and Sainsbury’s had UKG shippers and clipstrips in many stores.
Above: Cards ’N’ Things founders David and Ruth Southgate celebrated 40 years of the Hellesdon shop earlier this year – and that’s been topped with perfectly-timed diamond wedding anniversary card from King Charles III and Queen Camilla
Above: Cards ’N’ Things founders David and Ruth Southgate celebrated 40 years of the Hellesdon shop earlier this year – and that’s been topped with perfectly-timed diamond wedding anniversary card from King Charles III and Queen Camilla
Above: House of Cards celebrated with special goodie bags as giveaways for customers at its seven stores in the Home Counties. “We gave away 2,500 cards,” said co-owner Miles Robinson, “each goodie bag contained five cards donated by the lovely publishers Bexy Boo, Lucilla Lavender, Paper Shed, Paperlink and Wrendale, wrapped in a lovely branded belly band kindly printed by Windles and The imaging Centre. There were 500 packs in total complete with a flyer explaining what Thinking Of You Week is all about and its origins. The goodie bags were distributed in our branches throughout the week, and given free to selected customers along with our teams engaging with the consumer and explaining the TOYW concept.”
Above: House of Cards celebrated with special goodie bags as giveaways for customers at its seven stores in the Home Counties. “We gave away 2,500 cards,” said co-owner Miles Robinson, “each goodie bag contained five cards donated by the lovely publishers Bexy Boo, Lucilla Lavender, Paper Shed, Paperlink and Wrendale, wrapped in a lovely branded belly band kindly printed by Windles and The imaging Centre. There were 500 packs in total complete with a flyer explaining what Thinking Of You Week is all about and its origins. The goodie bags were distributed in our branches throughout the week, and given free to selected customers along with our teams engaging with the consumer and explaining the TOYW concept.”
Above: Customers made a positive contribution at Highworth Emporium near Swindon where everyone who bought a Dandelion Stationery card during the week could write a positive message and pop it in the jar.
Above: Customers made a positive contribution at Highworth Emporium near Swindon where everyone who bought a Dandelion Stationery card during the week could write a positive message and pop it in the jar
Above & below: Over 30 personalised sketches helped raise £280 for the East Cheshire Hospice through the TOYW event at Stationery Supplies in Wilmslow, where Tracey Colliston from Ginger Betty spent Saturday, 21 September, in store sketching her trademark woodland characters in return for a donation. Shop owner Sarah Laker said: “Customers were also able to have a go on our stationery lucky dip, try some delicious ginger biscuits or buy some raffle tickets while listening to live cello music.It was a really busy day in the shop and it was lovely to see the reaction on the customers faces when they saw the wonderful sketches by Tracey.” And Tracey added: “It was a truly lovely experience. I’m so pleased with the money we’ve raised. Meeting Sarah’s customers and sketching a personal gift for them was delightful. A highlight for me was exchanging sketches with a little girl, Elsie. She was so excited, and her imagination ran riot as she drew hedgehogs and mushroom houses! The whole thing was like a giant hug.” Also helping out at the event was Sarah Reynolds, the Ginger Betty north west agent, who commented: “Being part of the TOYW event was such a treat, raising money for the East Cheshire Hospice, bringing together retail friends, publisher friends and customers worked so perfectly and was a fantastic team effort! The real highlight for me was definitely Elsie, the little girl who was so excited to sketch something for Tracey! Inspiring the next generation of artists was a real joy to see. Tracery certainly sprinkled a bit of Ginger Betty magic in Wilmslow.”
Above & below: Over 30 personalised sketches helped raise £280 for the East Cheshire Hospice through the TOYW event at Stationery Supplies in Wilmslow, where Tracey Colliston from Ginger Betty spent Saturday, 21 September, in store sketching her trademark woodland characters in return for a donation.
Shop owner Sarah Laker said: “Customers were also able to have a go on our stationery lucky dip, try some delicious ginger biscuits or buy some raffle tickets while listening to live cello music.It was a really busy day in the shop and it was lovely to see the reaction on the customers faces when they saw the wonderful sketches by Tracey.”
And Tracey added: “It was a truly lovely experience. I’m so pleased with the money we’ve raised.
Meeting Sarah’s customers and sketching a personal gift for them was delightful.
A highlight for me was exchanging sketches with a little girl, Elsie. She was so excited, and her imagination ran riot as she drew hedgehogs and mushroom houses! The whole thing was like a giant hug.”
Also helping out at the event was Sarah Reynolds, the Ginger Betty north west agent, who commented: “Being part of the TOYW event was such a treat, raising money for the East Cheshire Hospice, bringing together retail friends, publisher friends and customers worked so perfectly and was a fantastic team effort! The real highlight for me was definitely Elsie, the little girl who was so excited to sketch something for Tracey! Inspiring the next generation of artists was a real joy to see. Tracery certainly sprinkled a bit of Ginger Betty magic in Wilmslow.”

TOYW roundup pic 10

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