Author: Mark Oppenneer

Idea #1006 Get creative for your Valentine’s Day gifts this year

Posted on | by Mark Oppenneer

Valentine’s day is just around the corner. The English poet Geoffrey Chaucer was the first to record St. Valentine’s Day as a day of romantic celebration in his 1375 poem “Parliament of Foules”.

While flowers and chocolates are certainly appreciated, a photo gift guarantees your message of love is both personal and remembered.

Make your Valentine’s face light up with joy this February with custom items, created by you.

Here are our five favorite ways to gift and print outside that usual matte or glossy paper.

  • Give a gift that showcases your favorite “couples” selfies. A coffee mug or tumbler is a perfect way to display your portraits.
  • Add some love to your kitchen by displaying your most recent couples getaway with beautiful magnets.
  • Show your love and protect your wood surfaces with custom photo coasters.
  • Take your Valentine to work with you, with a practical and easy-to-design Post-it note cube.
  • Want to surprise your Valentine with an upcoming trip? Design custom luggage tags as a hint for your next getaway!
  • Don’t forget the kids Valentine’s Day exchange in class! This year, create the perfect Valentine’s Day cards showcasing your child.

Idea #1005 Why choose Raise-A-Buck as your Fundraising partner?

Posted on | by Mark Oppenneer

While there are many companies offering fundraising opportunities, Raise-A-Buck is uniquely focused on partnering with you to achieve your fundraising goals. Our company was founded on the idea that fundraising with personally made, creative and well-made products should be easy to coordinate.

To that end, we have products to help you begin raising money for your cause or school.

  • Social media templates to easily spread the word.
  • With the click of a button, it’s easy for your participants to participate.
  • 100% On-Line ordering and payments.
  • 100% Home delivery of orders. No storing, sorting or coordination of products.
  • Easy review tools for coordinators to manage the campaign’s progress.

We welcome your questions and look forward to partnering with you on your next fundraising goal.

Start a Fundraiser

Idea #1004 Photo Books: The best way to safely hold your memories

Posted on | by Mark Oppenneer

Any parent will tell you, one of the best feelings they have is watching their child perform and achieve greatness in their chosen athletic pursuit. Many of our smartphones are loaded with images of a child running down a field, on stage with their dance troupe, or performing a special skill they have mastered.

As parents, we sometimes forget all the steps it took to get to a high performance level (such as a Varsity Team in High School), as life can get busy. One of the best ways to retain those early memories, easily and beautifully, is to document and create a custom photo book that details your child’s sports life. Creating this themed book is easy.

Things to consider:

  • Is this the first time your child has played this activity?
  • Why did he or she choose this specific sport?
  • How often does your child compete? Is it a weekly or daily commitment?
  • How does the activity impact your family?

Planning the layout of your book before choosing the photos you have collected will make the creative process easier and enjoyable. Be sure to include action images and imperfect pictures as this makes your book more meaningful.

Check out our Custom Photo Books

Idea #1003 How to Write Awesome Fundraising Emails

Posted on | by Mark Oppenneer

Here is some motivational introductory text to get the excitement rolling…

Here are a few sample email ideas.

An email sent by a child to a family member

Hi [name]!
I am raising money for my school  and could really use your help!
We are working with Raise A Buck, who makes our pictures into cards, photo books, even dog collars. And our school gets 20% of all orders!
This is what my teacher asked us to include in this email:
Raise A Buck is... [send this to family members and friends - please share on your social media too, every little bit helps].
Our fundraiser kicks off right now! All you have to do is to CLICK HERE and begin your order! When you check out, just enter the PROMO Code: [promo code] to make sure my school receives funds.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
[name]

An email sent by a parent to a friend or family member

Hi [name],
I wanted to let you know that [child] is participating in a fundraiser for school and I really like what they’re doing this year.
The school has partnered with Raise A Buck, a company that provides photo print products like photo books, photo cards, etc. Since it was time to order our family holiday cards, I jumped on the site to check it out and I loved it!
I uploaded our photo to a card, played a bit with the fonts and stuck in the school's promo code at check-out. [child]'s school gets 20% of the sale and I get really great quality cards (I saw a sample at the school!).
The site also has a lot of other items like mugs, mouse pads, canvas prints, etc.  At some point I'll go back and use our summer photos from Maine to make mugs for my in-laws and cute return labels for the kids' stockings!
In any case, I wanted to let you know about the fundraiser in hopes that you might help support [child]'s school.
The site is www.raiseabuck.com and you MUST enter the promo code [promo code] in order for the school to get the credit.
Hope you all are well - miss you!
Mugs category

Idea #1002 Wedding party gift love and more!

Posted on | by Mark Oppenneer

Photo books today are full of creative possibilities and ways to beautifully preserve precious memories. In addition to preserving these memories, presenting them as a gift to loved ones or the super special people in our lives as a heartfelt remembrance of a specific time.

A bride recently created a custom photo book for each one of her six bridesmaids, as a special thank you for being part of her wedding party. In each book, the bride added photos and personalized remembrances of their friendship, laid out in stunning clarity, detailing their influence on the couple’s life and how precious the friendship is to both of them. Explore other great ideas… 

Photo books of today use digital photos from your phone or digital camera, and provide greater flexibility in displaying images. Are your parents about to celebrate a wedding milestone? Take pictures of the old photos with your smartphone and create a “Then and Now” custom photo book that preserves their journey to the special date in stunning quality. Another great idea for a heartfelt gift would be to create a “Brag Book” custom photo book for a long-distance Grandparent, displaying the images of your child competing in their chosen sport or favorite activity. Your child is an artist? Take pictures of their creations and place them in a timeline to showcase his or her talent. Most of the basic photo books use a matte finish on pages, and have soft or hard cover options.  Photo book sizes

Knowing your photos should be on display doesn’t mean you have to stick to the tried-and-true standard photo print, or photo book. We rounded up a few less traditional ways to memorialize your photos. Unique photo prints on Canvas Canvas Wall Decor or Metal Wall Decor Metal Prints also make great gifts. Give your child’s favorite Uncle or Aunt a personalized coffee mug Coffee Mug to enjoy all year long. Create personalized Thank You cards Thank You card to recognize those special gifts. Use your child’s school photo to create a lasting year-end gift Teacher gift for a special teacher. Here are our favorite ways to print outside that usual matte or glossy paper.

Make it a picture perfect and print away with Raise A buck!! Happy memory making from the RAB team!

Check out our Custom Photo Books
Prints

Idea #1001 Photobook Inspiration

Posted on | by Mark Oppenneer

Digital photo books allow you to display your memories safely and beautifully, and it is easier than you think. Follow these tips and links for helpful pointers to help create beautiful books to share.

That old photo album your grandparents had sitting on their coffee table isn’t the only way to display photos anymore. Storing your photos only on a hard drive is like leaving pictures in a shoebox in the closet. For capturing memories and putting them in a timeline to tell your story, a photo book is perfect. How do I do this? Photo books of today use digital photos from your phone or digital camera, and provide greater flexibility in displaying images. You can can also take a digital photo of an old paper photo to preserve your non-digital memories. Most of the basic photo books use a matte finish on pages, and have soft or hard cover options. Explore photo book sizes and options.  Create a photo book as a gift for a special couple, grandparent, or friend to commemorate a special occasion.

Here are a few creative book ideas.

Birthdays

Weddings

Showers

By children for children

Children’s art

Artist portfolio

Client book

Anniversary

Celebration of Life

Yearbook

Photo of the Year, Month, or week

Color book (photos of similar color tones)

Cookbook or cocktails with recipes

I Love You

Pets

Nature

Travel…the ideas are endless.

Our Raise A Buck quality photo books are printed on a glossy, laminate cover to give off a professional look and feel, each archival quality page is topped off with a semi-gloss finish. Sturdy hard cover photo books are great coffee table books for displaying major life events such as weddings, new arrivals, and family photos. Each book starts with 20 pages.

Check out our Photo Books