Thursday, September 14, 2017

A Bit Fuzzy

100% Open and Honest. We were looking back at some of our posts, and didn’t see our motto included, so we wanted to remind you all of our goal to always be “100% Open and Honest.” So, just so you know, we’ve only received positive feedback about all of the cards we’ve sent out. Also, we’ve received great pictures from some of the hospitals/shelters and have heard and seen some lovely stories. Even with all that positive news, we know there’s some potential negative issues with some of the tools that are being used to make the cards. We wanted to share with you some new guidelines. Please be aware that the person hosting an event may not have seen these guidelines yet, so be kind to each other – and simply direct them here for future event planning. WE RECOMMEND THAT PEOPLE COMPLETELY AVOID SPRINKLE GLITTER, FUZZ BALLS, FELT STICKERS, OR OTHER FUZZY MATERIALS.


Our first concern with these types of crafts is that they donn’t last. Often by the time the cards reach us here at Cardz for Kidz! a lot of those types of materials have already fallen off. Then when you think that we have to check them, then ship them to our locations there’s even more room for damage during transport. That’s why we previously told people to refrain from using beads, buttons, or bulky items. If you look closely at the bag below, you can see one of the cards lost a lot of its sparkle before the young boy even opened it up. 



Similar to a lot of children, and as confirmed by his mother, he was still excited to receive the cards, but it still wasn’t exactly what the artist intended it to be.
  • Cardzforkidz: “…Looks like a little glitter is coming off, sorry about that!”
  • Mother: “No biggie! Our daughter loved the glitter 😊

While this child and parent didn’t have a problem, there’s still 30K+ other families who haven’t told us what they think! Based on that, and that we want all our cards to get to kids in one piece, we’re definitely leaning towards using glitter glue rather than sprinkle glitter.

But, now, where it comes a bit more serious, we have to ask, “what if?” We understand that with standard card stock, we don’t have to worry about transmitting germs as much. In addition, with stickers or decorations that attach firmly to that type of paper, we don’t have to worry about the cards falling apart or kiddos choking.

In addition, we heard from one hospital when they requested that we not send cards with glitter since that could impact patients’ breathing tubes. We haven’t heard anything from the other places we partner with, but we still think it’s something we should look out for.

Since we’re always a bit over protective of our kids, we’re asking that if you’re making cards to send to kids who are currently in-patients, that you don’t use fuzz balls, feathers or other little things that are NOT effectively attached to the cards. With buttons, if you can secure them tightly, then that works well! And, remember, the cards have to survive a couple of trips through the post office and our sorting process!

Since we haven’t heard back from the hospitals and/or shelters declining these types of materials, we understand we may be being a bit over protective, but we just wanted to get the word out, before it was a 100% must. So right now, will the kids still love those cards, YES. Will the hospitals or shelters still accept those cards, probably. Do we still want those types of cards? The answer to that is A BIT FUZZY right now. We’ll accept them, but we’d LOVE it if you could avoid those materials. Either way, to be on the safe side, we updated the Supplies list on our How-To page to only include supplies that will work best for the children.

#abitfuzzy #upliftingspirits

To see more pictures and stories, please check out our website www.cardzforkidz.org; like us on Facebook; follow us on Twitter and Instagram; visit our Google+ or LinkedIn pages! Also, check out some of our videos on YouTube!

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