Mom business cards for playdates

by Charlene Prince Birkeland (Subscribe to Charlene Prince Birkeland's posts) Feb 23rd 2006 1:32PM

In its "Get Organized" section, the latest issue of Parents magazine highlights a common scene for moms at the park. They meet a new mom friend and attempt to exchange numbers but have no pens, no paper or no time to jot each other's names/numbers/emails down. The solution? A "business," er, playdate card for moms. The cards could have your name and something like "Mom to Sally & Trevor" along with your digits.

Parents points to VistaPrint to get a free batch of 250 cards. The only hitch is that you have to use VistaPrint's designs - not so cute. You could also print out a batch yourself if you buy business card kits at your local stationary store. But who has the time?!

If you want something simple, you could try these cards at Mommybizcards. Now if I were ordering Mom Cards, I'd prefer the snazzy, retro designs from Momics. You can select one of five mom looks - from classy conservative to my favorite pick, the playful mom in yellow.

Sure, they're a little pricey at US$31.95 for 60 cards but how long would it take you to hand out 60? And as the Momics website says -"An influential job like yours deserves stationary."

(I think I've just convinced myself I should buy these cards...excuse me while I place an order.)

Source

Comments (23)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

momma2mingbu 2-23-2006 @ 1:45PM

What a good idea! I may have to make some of my own. They would have really come in handy last summer.

michaele 2-23-2006 @ 2:10PM

I did this 6 years ago when my first child was about 2 years old. I even used VistaPrint too!! Guess what I found in the back of a drawer last week?! A few hundred "mommy cards" with our old address :-)

My suggestion? Get a little moleskine notebook and a pencil and COLLECT names rather than distribute yours...it works better, really! What I do now is enter stuff on my blackberry and email it to myself...

Laura Hamilton 2-23-2006 @ 2:41PM

You don't need to use their templates at all. I got cards from Vista Print and uploaded my own images for both front and back. I did them in Photoshop and the cards came out absolutely perfect. I couldn't be happier! The price is right too.

Regarding the previous comment...you don't need to put your address on the card. I just have my email address and website, plus the products I sell. If I WANT to add my phone number, I write it in by hand.

charlene prince birkeland 2-23-2006 @ 3:09PM

hi laura - according to the vistaprint site you have to pay for the cards when you upload your own design - they're considered custom. in order to get the free cards you have to pick from their designs. to be honest, not everyone has photoshop or the knack to create their own design for a card.

charlene

just a thought 2-23-2006 @ 3:39PM

Personally, I think these are a great idea, and a while ago, I printed up a batch, on my own computer using a digital photo of my kid as background. I was excited to test 'em out, but I got such a horrible reaction from moms that I tried to give them to. (And mind you, I wasn't forcing myself on people; it was just like "Oh, you need my neighbor well I happen to have this card...etc." Anyway, they looked at me like, "What? Are you that snotty that you have a business card? Can't you scribble down a number on the back of your hand like everybody else?" Needless to say, I felt like these cards are not "accepted" in my all-too-clicky-and-judgmental suburban California playground. I was surprised, but I stopped using them 'cause of the bad response.

Susan 2-23-2006 @ 3:53PM

My mother had some 'mommy cards' made up one Christmas, for my sister-in-law and me. But she went to Kinko's (or some local equivalent) and got them for nearly nothing. And--a grad school girlfriend of mine, who had two addresses, made her own on her laptop, with some nice card stock and a scarpbooking paper cutter.

I loved my cards, and they came in handy, as they had my cell phone number and e-mail address on them.

Meredith 2-23-2006 @ 4:21PM

I did this last year when we moved. Instead of sending out generic "We've Moved!" cards, I got free business cards with all of our new info and cell phones numbers. I sent them to everyone who might have needed the new information and still have hundreds left over.

I take a pile with me wherever I go, as I tend to run in to a lot of people from ages ago (small town). Then, I just hand them a card. It is so much easier than finding a pen, etc.

I love the mom graphics! Very cool.

MoMo 2-23-2006 @ 4:27PM

I guess I need to learn how to make mommy friends first, huh? If I ordered 60 cards, I think I would have 59 left at this point.

Karen 2-23-2006 @ 4:35PM

That's amazing - I've been using cards for a while myself. I had a bunch made for "interview" purposes when my company folded, for my job search, but since deciding to take a little more time off after my 2nd mat. leave, have been using these "business" cards for playdates, when I meet new moms etc. It is super handy - I've even used it at a restaurant drop box and received a $10 coupon for my next visit!

Tara 2-23-2006 @ 5:12PM

MoMo,
I'm in the same boat and I just think it is plain out silly. Of course I have asking myself questions to save money--like is this really a need or a want and that helps me keep things in check.

Marlynn 2-23-2006 @ 6:51PM

Hi there - I had this post forwarded to me from a mama pal and I just wanted to note that the designs they posted on page 100 of Parents magazine are, in fact, my designs from my company, Event Bliss. Parents magazine erroneously directed folks to the wrong site, and will print a correction in their May issue. If you would like to purchase the designs shown on that page, or any of the 10 template designs offered by Event Bliss, please visit www.eventbliss.com and check out our Baby & Mama section. We've been doing all sorts of custom designs for moms across the globe. Our cost is more than Vista Print, but our designs as well as the quality of our cards is far superior to anything they have to offer and anything you can print at home (you can't do glossy UV coating at home, nor does Vista Print offer this), and you'd be supporting a mom-owned business!

Hope that it's ok for me to chime in, since your post was reffering to Event Bliss cards after all :) I know I use my own Mama Calling Cards all the time!

Meredith 2-23-2006 @ 9:06PM

Marlynn,
I think it is a-ok to offer that up! Thanks for stopping by!

eden 2-24-2006 @ 12:02PM

I also have zero mom-friends in my area, in a few month we're going to move (to where I do have mom-friends) and I'm so smitten, I think I need these calling cards. I dig the Event Bliss ones; I'm so glad Marlynn stopped in to share that URL.

David 2-24-2006 @ 1:03PM

How about an outfit that makes 'Daddy Cards'. Stay-at-Home-Dads don't have any more free time than Mommies.

charlene prince birkeland 2-24-2006 @ 1:43PM

david - you're point is well made. i did a search for Dad cards and I smell a business opportunity. Perhaps the folks at event bliss can come up with some options.

-charlene

Julia 2-24-2006 @ 5:26PM

Ohhh, thank you so much...I love this idea. I finally, FINALLY met a Mom friend in Target, and didn't have a thing to write with or on. Marlynn, I will be checking out your site today!

Marlynn 2-24-2006 @ 5:35PM

Charlene - I had emailed David to tell him that his timing was perfect because I have been working on Papa Calling Cards! Although we may call them Daddy Calling Cards... Anyway, at least three designs are in the works and will be posted within a few weeks on the site! My husband, for one, is glad we are finally doing something for the dads out there :)

karrie 2-26-2006 @ 10:49AM

Hmmm.....Am I the only one reading this who thought "Eeuuw? For one, I dislike referring to myself as "mommy" (mother or mom or even better, my first name, please). And really, is it so difficult to program a new friend's information directly into your cell phone? Or so horrible to jot your name & # down on an old receipt?

When I WOH, and travelled a good bit, I still rarely used actual printed business cards. (I still have a box that is nearly full from my last position.) I think most of the cards that left the cute little carrier went to those "Win A Free Lunch" fishbowls in restuarants. I guess that might be one bonus for At Home Parents-cards--we could all use a free lunch and someone to clean up the mess afterwards.....

Carrie Hughes 3-22-2006 @ 7:40AM

Hi

I use mommy cards myself too. I found that I would be out with my son and would meet someone that would be great to do playdates - but it just always seemed so difficult to find paper or pens to write numbers down or I would put them on little scraps of paper, and then lose them. I find that handing someone a cute mommy business card seems to work great!!

Stacie Welch 3-23-2006 @ 11:50AM

Come visit my site for mommy cards (momsink.net) - I'm a stay at home mom of 4 and started this business when I had written my phone number on one too many scraps of a stained receipt! That wasn't the impression I wanted to give people - it's also a great gift for a new mom / new grandma (or heck, even dads!)

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 20 Comments

How To Submit Photos:
If you'd like your children (any age will do!) featured on ParentDish, upload photos into the ParentDish Flickr Pool. Be sure to read our main Flickr page for more information.