Life is a Special Occasion

When you hear the term special occasion, the usual milestones probably come to mind — birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, the holidays, etc. And, while celebrating these events is important, how often do we pause and linger in those other, any day moments that make life special? Such as …

• That totally unexpected, yet hilarious, question from a child: “So, how much do I cost, Mommy?” after stepping on the scale.
• The “just because” phone call we receive in the middle of the day that makes us drop everything: “You’ll never guess who I just saw at lunch … Mike from our senior year!”
• That perfectly imperfect moment that might not seem particularly special at the time (and may be downright frustrating), but you can’t help recalling it with fondness and a smile for years to come: “Look Mom, Wags is a mummy!” (The dog looks great, but now you have to run to the store for more bathroom tissue after you just changed into your pajamas.)

At Hallmark, we want to make sure we’re not letting the best of life pass by in a blur. We want to encourage people to savor those any day moments — to recognize and enjoy the “us” times as they happen and pause long enough to enjoy the perfectly imperfect, unplanned moments together.

We introduced our new brand campaign, Life is a Special Occasion, earlier this year, and we’re already hearing wonderful stories about how people are reframing their thinking around moments that otherwise might have gone unnoticed or underappreciated. For example, we dig this post by Kim Borchert (Prairie Mama) about the unique special occasions in her life.

At BlogHer this year, we want to hear from you. Visit us at booth #307 and contribute to a Life is a Special Occasion installation. Pick up a t-shirt and customize it with your own special occasion, then tweet a picture of yourself wearing it for a chance to win fun hourly prizes. And, when you just need a break and want to recharge your batteries (both literally and figuratively), stop by our suite and relax in our “recharge” lounge (where we’ll have plenty of outlets for charging your mobile devices or laptops), and connect with loved ones across the miles via one of our Skype stations or choose from a variety of cards, including our new Postage Paid cards you can address and send right from our suite! Or connect with your friends at BlogHer by filling out and leaving a card in our suite for another blogger at the conference. We’ll tweet at bloggers who have cards waiting for them. 

We look forward to seeing you in August. In the meantime, we’d love to hear about some of the special occasions in your life. Feel free to leave comments here, like us on Facebook or send us a tweet @HallmarkPR. For more inspiration, we also encourage you to visit the Parenting Positive Kids group on CafeMom.com or, for some genuine laughs, check out the winning Messiest Mealtime Photos submitted as part of a recent Hallmark contest on DisneyFamilyFun.com. No doubt these fall into the “perfectly imperfect” category of special moments.

We look forward to hearing from you!

See you soon,
Your friends at Hallmark