Hosting a Coffee Party

Whether shared between colleagues in the break room, sipped after a family meal or savored during conversation with friends, coffee is a fixture on the American social scene. After experiencing a surge of popularity in the 1990s, coffee is now so entrenched in our culture that the idea of the traditional tea party has given way to the "coffee party".

Coffee parties offer friends a chance to gather and enjoy each other's company along with a hot cup of a favorite brew. Sound like an inviting experience? If so, here are some ideas for hosting a delightful coffee party for you and your friends:

* Send invitations to your friends, instead of just an e-mail or phone call. This adds a special touch that everyone can appreciate.

* Let the coffee be the star of the show. Have a variety of brews and flavorings on hand for your guests to try. It's easier than you think when you brew your drinks using a single cup coffee maker. Be it a Senseo, Melitta or Keurig coffee machine, your guests will love how quick and easy it is to make their favorite coffee. Single cup brewers can make one cup in less than a minute – there's no mess and no waiting to finish the pot before trying a different coffee blend.

* Use decorative mugs and plates to serve your guests – these can be fun, colorful dishes or something more dainty and sophisticated, whatever suits the mood.

* Make your coffee party a special event. Put up decorations, be they simple flower arrangements or multi-colored streamers.

* Play up your indulgences. Serve finger foods and bite-sized desserts, such as biscotti, lady fingers or mini-muffins. Get your friends involved by asking everyone to bring his or her favorite baked goods.

* Give your coffee party a special theme. Whether it's a going-away party, a Hawaiian luau-styled event or an occasion to dress in formal wear, your coffee party is sure to be a hit.

* Enjoy the company. Whether you're exchanging books, playing board games, watching a movie or just catching up with one another, the point of the coffee party is to have a good time with the people you care about.

Remember, all it takes is a little imagination and a few good friends to make your coffee party a big success.

This article is copyrighted by CoffeeCow. It may not be reproduced in whole or in part and may not be posted on other websites, without the express written permission of the author, who may be contacted via email at coffeecow@

R.L. Fielding Bio

R.L. Fielding has been a freelance writer for 10 years, offering her expertise and skills to a variety of major organizations in the education, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, financial services, and manufacturing industries. She lives in New Jersey with her dog and two cats and enjoys rock climbing and ornamental gardening.

CoffeeC goes to great lengths to provide the highest quality products, the fastest service, and the deepest discount prices you will find on Keurig coffee makers, regular, decaf, and flavored coffee and tea, and a full line of coffee supplies. Developed by coffee professionals with over 35 years of experience in fulfilling any coffee service need, CoffeeCow offers all the coffee conveniences for your home or office.

Executive Gifts Including Printed Umbrellas

Printed umbrellas, when part of executive gift packages, can be wonderful advertisements for your business. In addition to packages for the executives in your professional life, employees and key vendor secretaries will enjoy gift packages including printed umbrellas.

For the Golfer

Printed golf umbrellas are paired up nicely with custom imprinted Wilson Ultra golf balls, a golf tool and leather scorecard holder. If you are shipping your gift packages, you can forego the heavy golf balls and choose printed shoe bags instead. For less than £30 per gift package, you can include a matching printed umbrella, balls or shoe bag, golf tool and scorecard holder.

For the Outdoorsman or Woman

If your industry attracts the outdoor types, you can include printed umbrellas with a few other imprinted items to create wonderful gift packages. Sunglasses, portable radios, sports drink bottles and t-shirts can all be paired with promotional umbrellas for wonderful outdoor adventure packages. Depending on how complex the shirts, drink bottles and umbrellas are that you choose, you can create these packages for between £12 and £50 each.

For the Traveler

If your company or industry calls for frequent travel, you can count on their need for compact, mini-umbrellas. Order mini printed umbrellas and coordinating luggage tags, travel bags, portable MP3 players and first aid kits for a handy gift any traveler will appreciate.

For a Winter Season Promotion

Winter brings rain and snow in almost all parts of the country and world. As you create your winter season promotion, consider sending larger gifts to the executives that have the most buying power. In addition to classic printed umbrellas, you can include coffee mugs, torches for power outages, heat packs, puzzles, fleece jackets, sweatshirts or windbreakers. These gift boxes can run anywhere from £15 to £100 depending on the items and options you choose.

For the Commuter

People that spend an hour or more on the commuter trains will appreciate compact printed umbrellas paired with stress toys, travel mugs, torches, MP3 players, pens and notepads. Consider packaging your gift items in a printed travel bag or rucksack for easy toting.

For the Fashion Conscious

While no one prefers the wet, just in from the rain look, there are some members of society that are high fashion types. If there are a number of executives or employees that fit this profile, you can find plenty of promotional items, including printed umbrellas, that won't be shunned by the highly fashionable. The Hoyland Square umbrellas is very classy and available in more than 70 colors. Add these to a gift package including a laptop computer carrier or executive business bag, a heavy executive pen and a hip flask for a well rounded, stylish gift.

For Front Office Staff

The administrators, secretaries and office staff are often the backbone of a business. They appreciate gifts as much or more than the executives usually rewarded for their purchases. Consider a stylish printed umbrella, travel mug, clock, nice pen and mouse mat as an administrator gift pack. Don't forget your own secretaries.

Tina Rinaudo is one of the leading lights in the UK promotional umbrellas industry. Tina is a key member of YesGifts, the UK's fastest growing online printed umbrellas resource specialising in promotional pens, mugs, mouse mats, umbrellas, conference items and much more. For more information please visit

Matching Advertising Gifts To The Client

Advertising gifts can be a great way to increase your business by getting your name out to clients and potential clients in a way that they will enjoy and appreciate. No one thinks twice about being handed a business card, however handing promotional coffee mugs to a potential client will have a great effect on the way that your client continues to think about you and about your business. It is your job to advertise yourself to your clients and to spread your own name and the name of your business to new clients and to refresh your business with old clients as well.

Advertising gifts do not have to be expensive or complicated, either. Consider sending out a postcard with updates to your clients every so often. Make it interesting by having the face of the postcard be a great recipe that you and your family love this way you add that little extra personal touch to your campaign. If the postage is going up, send out two cent stamps to your clients along with a business card and a reminder that you are still available to meet their needs. An advertising gift at the right time to the right people will have them thinking of you for their needs in the foreseeable future.

The problem is when your gifts are poorly matched to your customers. A gift that the client cannot or will not use only frustrates them because they will have to find a way to dispose of your gift. They will not be thinking kindly of you, perhaps not of you at all, when the time comes for them to do business again. If you give them something that they will use or that they will enjoy, however, your work is partially done for you.

A useful advertising gift is something that no one looks for but everyone loves to get. A coffee mug for your office, a nice pen for the desk, or even a pad of post-it notes could be useful as long as it is targeted to the kind of person who will need these things. That is not to say that you cannot give out the same pens to everyone, but a busy executive and a housewife will not have the same needs, and a cheap pen might not work for someone who places a high value on image.

Quality advertising gifts that are targeted to the kinds of people who will appreciate them will go a long way toward increasing your customer base, and a really useful or unique gift that is meant to be shown off will likely help you achieve even more business in the future. Your client does not work with you exclusively, and if everyone with whom he or she comes into contact is interested in the wonderful advertising gift that he or she uses, those people will see your name and think of your business as well.

Targeting your advertising gifts will save you time and energy and keep you from wasting your advertising spend.

Gareth Parkin is the co-founder of Ideasbynet, the UK's leading online advertising gifts supplier based in the north of England. Established in 2001, he has taken the UK gift market by storm. For more details visit

Invite Profits - Mouse Mat Invitations

Promotional items need to not only advertise who you are and what benefits you can provide, they need to "WOW" your audience. Whether you are sending promotional pens or t-shirts, you are taking the risk that they'll be used once and tossed out. Get your message out and send an invitation or greeting card with a mouse mat invitation.

Product Launches

When your company introduces a new product or service to prospective buyers, you want everyone to be clamoring to see it. Choose an image of the product or ask your graphic designer to create a picture of problems it can solve. This image will serve as the front of your card and will be a detachable mouse mat.

The inside of your product launch card should include the date, time and location of your launch party.

Holiday Cards

Holiday gifts for vendors, clients and networking contacts can become very expensive quickly. After you factor in printing, shipping, repackaging and sending to your contacts, the final bill may be astonishing. By choosing mouse pad greeting cards can serve as a holiday well-wishing as well as a gift. When you order mouse mat cards from YesGifts, your custom cards come individually wrapped in a plain white envelope ready to address and mail.

You could use a company photo or a holiday themed product layout as the mouse mat image. Don't forget to include your contact information on the mouse mat and card.

Gala Invitations

Non-profit organizations are in the top five industries that spend money on promotional products. Fundraising events and galas are the ideal time to use an extraordinary invitation – like a mouse mat card. They are great to send to former contributors as well as community members that have expressed interest in your charity. Consider a picture of the groups you help on the mouse mat (along with your web address, of course) and invitation information on the inside of the card.

Family Cards

Families often wonder how they can make their Christmas cards stand out in a sea of red and green. Mouse mat cards double as both a gift and a greeting. You can send them to family members and friends, acquaintances and service providers like mailmen and teachers. A family photo, either formal or casual, serves as a great mouse mat.

On the inside, you could include well wishes from each family member (don't forget a little "bow wow" from the family dog) and your mailing address.

Sending is a Snap

Sending your mouse pad cards, no matter what reason, is very easy. Simply print out mailing labels, stick them on the included envelopes, add postage and you're done. You'll pay a little more than a typical holiday card but not nearly as much as you'd spend on shipping t-shirts or coffee mugs.

Invite profits by reminding clients of a new, exciting product. Watch donations skyrocket when you invite contributors to a gala. Make family members and friends smile each time they click when you send these original mouse mat greeting cards.

Tina Rinaudo is one of the leading lights in the UK promotional mouse mats industry. Tina is a key member of YesGifts, the UK's fastest growing online promotional mouse mats resource specialising in promotional pens, mugs, mouse mats, umbrellas, conference items and much more. For more information please visit