8 Essential Tips for Shipping All Your Holiday Gifts in Style

Got long distance loved ones? Us too, and as more and more folks move to amazing places, the possibility of seeing everyone you love for the holidays has become pretty impossible. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t send your favorite people great gifts with a personalized touch. We’ve teamed up with FedEx to share eight essential tips for shipping all your holiday gifts in style. These tips are all about making sure your holiday season is packed with peace of mind, as well as lots of beautifully packaged gifts!

FedEx

Shipping Services and Packing Services. With just a few simple steps, you’ll be delivering holiday joy to your favorite peeps in no time.

1. Make Your Own Gift Wrap: Kick things off by making your own custom gift wrap. You can use paint pens to create patterns or go more airy by using watercolor to create a simple and beautiful wash.

2. Handwrite Your Cards: Think of how much you appreciate a handwritten card, letter or even gift tag. Your friends and family will feel the same when they receive a package from you complete with handwritten notes. It takes minutes and is totally worth that extra time.

3. Wrap Your Gifts Before You Pack Them: As tempting as it is, it doesn’t always make sense to wrap your shipping box. Not only can your decorations get ruined in transit, but they can actually get caught in FedEx sorting machines which can put a snag (literally!) in your gifting plans. Wrap your gifts before you pack them, including ribbons and gift tags and the whole nine yards.

Choose the Best Box

Now, time to choose the perfect box for your gift. Use a new, sturdy box that’s a few inches larger than your gift on all sides to allow for plenty of cushioning. If you’re reusing a box, make sure it’s still strong enough to stand up to shipping — if you see torn flaps, holes, corner dents or water damage, it’s time for a new box. And don’t forget to remove all old shipping labels. To find a FedEx location (complete with boxes, cushioning peanuts and more) head to this handy FedEx Locator.

5. Cushioning is Key: Protect your gifts by using at least 1-inch layers (preferably 2 inches) of cushioning around the item — top, bottom and all four sides. It may seem like a lot, but it will insure that your gift arrives in tip top condition.

6. Fragile Gift? Double Box It: How on earth are you going to send those glass Pantone ornaments to your design-obsessed sister-in-law? Double down! When you’ve got a breakable item to ship, it’s best to use two boxes. Cushion your item with at least three inches of packing peanuts or other cushioning material, and seal it in a box. Then place that box within a second, slightly larger box, with another layer of cushioning. All that added padding is added protection for your fragile gift.

Pack in the Address

Sometimes winter weather can ruin or remove shipping labels and paperwork can get lost from pouches. Just in case, always put an extra shipping label, business card, or letterhead with the shipper and recipient’s address information inside your box before sealing things up. You can also write it on the inside flap of the box. Not only is this smart, but it will give you peace of mind when you’ve got all sorts of holiday packages going out in a big storm.

Add Surprise Party Props

Finally, we love including party props in packages so that it’s as if the party has traveled all the way across the country, globe or state. We love these push pop confetti poppers (available in the B+C Shop) for getting the party started.

Are you a small business owner looking for a good loan to grow your business? California Small Business Loan Match makes it easier to find the right loan for you. Loan Match pre-vets mission-driven lenders and matches you with the best lender for your business, at no-cost. Get started in less than 10 minutes with a brief pre-application and no credit check required!

Loan Match is powered by IBank, a state government agency that helps to promote healthier economies and improve quality of life in California communities. All lenders are enrolled in IBank’s Loan Guarantee Program, which helps bridge the gap between responsible lenders and small businesses.

Photo by RDNE Stock project

Wondering if you're eligible? Any business operating in the state of California, with 1 to 750 employees, is eligible. You just need to be a business entity (Sole Proprietor, LLC, Cooperative, Corporation, Partnership, S-Corporation, or Not-For-Profit), and operate in an eligible industry according to the 2022 NAICS codes (read: a legit business).

Here’s how it works:

Step 1: Fill out a short pre-application questionnaire that takes just minutes to complete. No credit check required!

Step 2: Based on your eligibility, they’ll match you with lenders who fit your needs.

Step 3: Review details about each lender, select the one you like, and they’ll connect you with them.

Step 4: The lender will reach out within three business days to complete the application process. (You’ll also get their contact info so you can follow up directly.)

Most California Small Business Loan Match lenders are certified as Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), which means they offer competitive rates but specialize in helping borrowers who don’t meet the rigid lending criteria of traditional banks — for example, small businesses that have a lower credit score, a prior defaulted loan, or no up-front collateral. CDFIs specialize in helping people in lower-income communities too, and offer a much more flexible and affordable repayment plan than online lenders or Merchant Cash Advance (MCA) loans.

Check them out to help you grow your business, meeting our mission to help you succeed! Good luck!

Hero photo by Amina Filkins

Out of all of this May's movies (and all the 2024 movies, TBH) there's one I'm most excited for: The Fall Guy starring Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling! I haven't seen a big, silly action movie in so long and they always prove to be the perfect summer movies because they match the energy we all have when we're this close to sunny bathing suit weather.

The Fall Guy 2024 is absolutely a movie made by movie lovers, for movie lovers. It's also director David Leitch's "love letter" to the stunt community, and gives them the celebration they deserve! While the Emmys have a stunt category, the Oscars don't, and Emily and Ryan actually brought it up while presenting at the 2024 Oscars. "The Academy's history runs deep with the fearless work of the incredible artisans of the stunt community," Ryan said in a voiceover during the show. "Stunt performers and the action they design continue to create some of the most memorable moments in the history of cinema."

While The Fall Guy cast got me into the theater, the movie had plenty of unexpected twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time! Here's everything you need to know about the movie before you see it this weekend.

What's The Fall Guy 2024 film about?

Image via Universal Pictures

The Fall Guy follows Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling), who disappears from Hollywood after a stunt gone wrong. When the lead of his ex's (Emily Blunt) movie goes missing, derailing the film, Colt jumps back into action to find him and save the movie — and, hopefully, get the love of his life back too.

While it definitely has plenty of explosions, fights, and stunts, The Fall Guy 2024 is just as much a rom-com as it is an action movie! Emily and Ryan have such great chemistry, and their characters are goofy, hilarious, and lovable. There's the classic miscommunication we see in all our favorite rom-coms, and the two of them continually watch out for each other in a really sweet way. They complement each other so well and I NEED to see them in another movie ASAP!

How to watch Fall Guy movie 2024?

Image via Universal Pictures

The Fall Guy hits theaters May 3, 2024. It's a great movie to see with all your friends, or for date night (either with your partner or on a solo date).

Who's in The Fall Guy cast?

Image via Universal Pictures

The Fall Guy cast is crazy good — alongside Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling, we'll see Stephanie Hsu, Hannah Waddingham, Winston Duke, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

What is The Fall Guy 2024 film based on?

Image via Universal Pictures

While a lot of movies are based on books, The Fall Guy 2024 is actually based on a TV show. The series, which debuted in 1981, follows a stunt man named Colt who's also working as a bounty hunter. The show takes an opposite approach to the story (with Colt working as a bounty hunter instead of basically fighting them like Ryan does) and now I absolutely have to watch it.

Where can I watch all 5 seasons of The Fall Guy TV series?

Image via Universal Pictures

You can rent episodes from The Fall Guy on Apple TV and Prime Video. The TV show stars Lee Majors as Colt and Heather Thomas as Emily Blunt's character Jody.

What other spring and summer movies are you excited to watch this year? Ride the Ryan Gosling hype, and check out Ryan Gosling Supports Eva Mendes "In All The Ways," And It Makes Us Love Him Even More!

Lead image via Universal Pictures

Mallory Levy leads a busy creative life in NYC as head of social for Brit+Co. She wrapped 2023 with a dreamy forest wedding and bucket-list honeymoon to Australia and is back to work creating clever and often hilarious posts for our Brit + Co followers, from snappy recipe Reels to inspiring quotes to celebrity interviews and more. Where does she get her inspiration to bring you the best social content?

“I’m lucky to be within walking distance of world-class museums, theater, and cool events, like fashion week. The inspiration is endless!” she says. “Social media can get overwhelming at times, but I often come away feeling more inspired than anything else. It’s a great way to connect with other creators and find new inspiration, which fuels my creativity to deliver fresh, engaging social media content every day.”

Mallory’s secret to bringing her inspiration to life? She uses Adobe Express, the all-in-one AI content creation app, to ideate and design colorful and engaging content on-the-go. “The features on the all-new Adobe Express mobile app make editing and collaborating on projects easier than ever!” she says. “Because we’re a remote team, I’m very rarely at my desk, so being able to ideate and create, or make adjustments, when I’m out and about is truly game-changing.”

Adobe Express makes designing easy and fast for anyone – even if you’re not a pro – with thousands of beautiful, professionally designed templates and a massive selection of assets for your Instagram and TikTok content, flyers, logos, and more. Plus, Adobe’s Firefly generative AI technology, which allows you to create the perfect image, edit with ease, and generate and customize amazing text effects with styles or textures that really stand out. All these features are now available on the mobile app.

In this fresh, new Reel, Mallory shares a day in her colorful life as she creates standout visual assets for Brit+Co’s social channels using the generative AI features in the new Adobe Express mobile app. Check it out below!

What a fun, creative job, right? “My day-to-day is genuinely such a blast. I love having the creative freedom to run with my ideas and infuse some of my own humor and pop into our content,” says Mallory. “Most of my friends and family don’t believe that this is what I get to do every day!”

Looking to improve your social content game? Here are tips for saving time and making an impact on social media for your work, side hustle, or to build your personal brand.

1. Engage with your audience: Engaging your audience with content that resonates can lead to higher reach and visibility. Thanks to Mallory’s constant performance monitoring, we know our B+C follower loves to treat herself and her besties, she’s super creative, indulges in celebrity news (especially nostalgia TV), and gets joy from entertaining, travel, food, and decor. Knowing this, Mallory creates fun, interactive posts like polls and quizzes, and always keeps our content fresh and interesting using the massive library of fonts, photos, and design assets in Adobe Express.

“I’m always out and about filming fun content for TikTok and our other video platforms,” says Mallory. “Adobe Express makes it so easy to add clips, music, and captions (and record voiceovers!) so I can edit it all together in real time.”

2. Generate anything you can imagine: AI has become a powerful tool for content creators, helping them enhance their creative work and simplify tasks. Leveraging the right AI tools can help you work and create high-performing content faster! The new Adobe Express mobile app is packed with AI goodness that makes complicated tasks simple. For example, speech to animation lets anyone easily animate extraordinary characters using their own voice. Adobe’s Firefly generative AI, which is designed to be safe for commercial use, helps creators ideate, generate, and edit stunning images and turn text and headlines into attention-grabbing designs – all on-the-go and in just a few taps. And the Adobe Express Generative Fill feature even lets you insert, remove, or replace people, objects, backgrounds and more with just a description.

“The AI tools are fantastic,” says Mallory. “Even the most obscure ask in the Text-to-Image feature will yield dozens of options. My favorite hack is to include “hand drawn” or “illustrated” in the prompt box to get a more authentic/stylized result.”

3. Embrace trends: Hopping on social trends quickly can boost your visibility and relevance. Constant collaboration ensures our team is on top of what people are talking about – and Mallory takes that to social media to make sure our POV is part of the conversation. The ever-changing nature of marketing and social media can make it hard to keep up! With the Adobe Express TikTok Creative Assistant tool on the desktop version, you can easily ideate and search what’s trending, so you’re in-the-know and able to reach more followers and stand out with your creative take on the latest trends. Then head to the mobile app to quickly schedule or post the content directly to your necessary social platforms! More on that below.

4. Keep it short and sweet: Attention spans on social are short, so it's best to keep your content concise and to the point. Use clear and concise language and don’t be too fussy (sound like the real person you are!). Break things up with text with photos, emojis, and bullet points to make your content more scannable.

5. Create a consistent visual style: While our audience can have slight nuances across our social channels, Mallory makes sure our content is instantly recognizable. Using tools like brand kits in Adobe Express (shown below) can help you easily stay consistent and on brand, easily saving and applying colors, fonts, filters, and imagery to any asset to create a cohesive look and feel across assets – and in a fraction of the time.

6. Repurpose content: Repurposing our top-performing content into different formats or for different platforms helps stretch the impact of a post and helps us test performance. Sometimes a post that didn’t perform well in the past kills months later!

7. Schedule ahead: In today’s on-demand world, consistency is key to keeping your social audience engaged. Develop a content calendar and schedule posts in advance to ensure a steady stream of content. With easy-to-use tools like the Adobe Express Content Scheduler, you can quickly plan, preview, schedule, and publish in a few clicks to all your social media channels and on-the-go.

8. Leverage data: Use analytics tools to track the performance of your social media content and identify trends, patterns, and audience preferences. Analyzing data can help you achieve a successful content strategy and focus on creating content that inspires, delights, and keeps your audience coming back for more!

Download the all-newAdobe Express mobile app today to try out all the innovative and fun features, including Adobe Firefly generative AI—a one-stop shop for all your content needs!

Video Direction & Editing by Mallory Levy.

Last season of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, we all speculated that Kyle Richards swapped one Mo for another given her separation from Mauricio Umansky and budding friendship with Morgan Wade. While Richards was tight lipped throughout each episode, we learned a lot more from Buying Beverly Hills and tabloids alike, featuring more definitive timelines and theories about what was really going on at home with the Richards-Umansky family. Now, with Mauricio reportedly fully moved out and Morgan allegedly out of the picture, what's left for Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 14? Here's a breakdown of everything we know, from returning cast members, remaining couples, and more.

Who's returning to "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" for season 14?

Images via Bravo

There aren't any official announcements about the returning cast yet, but there are plenty of stories out there about who's not returning — and who's potentially getting demoted!

First up is Dorit Kemsley. Dorit's been on the show a while now, gabbing and girling with Kyle Richard throughout the latter half of the show's history — but there's been a wrench in that relationship ever since Kyle befriended Morgan Wade. And now, The Daily Mail exclusively reported that Dorit may even get demoted to "friend of the show" after not being fully truthful about the state of her relationship with husband PK Kemsley. Kyle Richards "dismissed" these reports, but we'll have to see about that. Fingers crossed she and Kyle can mend things...and that she and the producers can as well!

Next, we've gotta address Anne Marie Wiley. Anne Marie was let go from the show after just one season — where we can't help but giggle at the journey from calling herself a literal doctor to finally addressing that she's actually a nurse — and is allegedly okay with it. She told Peoplethat she's "in a great space" since then, so...good for you, girl! Just maybe don't obsess over someone's esophagus in your next foray into the film and TV world.

A regular for the last three season, Crystal Kung Minkoff is also not returning to the RHOBH world, according to Deadline. She noted on Instagram how heavy it was to carry "the weight" of being the first — and only — Asian American woman to join the RHOBH cast. Her presence and thoughtful opinions will definitely be missed!

For now, we can only assume that Kyle Richards, Garcelle Beauvais, Erika Jayne, Dorit Kemsley, and Sutton Stracke will make a return, but only time — and tabloids — will tell!

Will any new cast members join "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" season 14?

Image via NBC

Apparently Melanie Griffith, known for starring in projects like Working Girl, is joining the RHOBH crew for season 14, according to In Touch Weekly! She's a long-time friend to Kyle Richards, and I think that'll add a great dynamic...especially given how rocky things got between Kyle and Dorit last year. The girl needs friends now more than ever!

One of the sillier rumored cast situations is that Chelsea Handler was joining the show. The hilarious comedian quickly shut that down, however.

A person we don't think will ever return as a main cast member, friend, or otherwise? Miss upside down jacket herself, Denise Richards. 🤭

Who's still a couple on "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" right now?

Image via Netflix

That's a very, very good question! Kyle and Mauricio are definitely broken up, and seemingly for good. The only other remaining couple is Dorit and PK, and well...according to The Daily Mail, PK's living in the Beverly Hills Hotel at the moment. It's not looking great for them, but we're hoping for the best!

When will "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" season 14 air?

Image via Bravo

There's no set air date for Real Housewives of Beverly Hills season 14, but I'd have to guess that we'll see these ladies (and whoever else joins them) by sometime in 2025.

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We’re ever so thankful that things are warming up a bit, and with a new season comes a whole new round of trends. Talking about color specifically, the 2024 Pantone Fashion Color Trend Reportgives a good guide to all the hues we’ll be seeing this summer. We hand-picked our 4 favorite colors that are approachable for everyday wear – and just downright fun. Hop into something vibrant, and explore the coolest summer colors for 2024 below.

Kimchi Blue Shay Smocked Cropped Top

Butter Yellow

This serene shade of yellow is honestly the “It” color of the season. It’s literally smooth like butter, and is super adorable alongside a good pair of denim shorts or jeans. Butter yellow is light and breezy, just like the summer season.

Free-est Made Me Smile Mini

This adorable strapless dress would go great with a patio on a warm day.

Jeffrey Campbell Dancerina Mary Jane Ballet Flats

Knock out two trends at once with these simple butter yellow ballet flats that work wonderfully with skirts and jeans alike.

Adidas Samba OG Sneakers

Lilac

Since it was spotted on our fave gal, Taylor Swift, this purple-y hue isn't going anywhere. Lilac feels like an elegant graduation from lavender (ahem, someone play “Lavender Haze”), and we are totally here for it. It looks so dreamy on flowy skirt styles or more structured tops.

Maeve Boxy Tee

This casual tee is worthy of everyday wear. Its cotton construction makes it super breathable for the office or the gym.

Wild Fable Leisure Mini Skort

You'll wanna jet around in this easygoing mini skort for those wild summer adventures. It's fitted with attached shorts for extra coverage and is delightfully stretchy so you have freedom of movement.

Old Navy High-Waisted Crinkle Gauze Pull-On Ankle Pants

Red-Orange

Basic red was trending so hard last year, so it’s no surprise that its orange-y color cousin has entered the chat. Red-orange is just the shade you need for embracing summer, especially if where you live is heatin’ up. Make a statement with a red-orange dress, or even just add a simple pop of color with some earrings!

Free-est Oasis Midi Dress

This fiery, flirty dress is an easy one-and-done for summer date nights. The fluttery sleeves and tied neckline add to a very whimsical vibe.

Universal Thread Flat Sprayed Metal Hoops

Add a splash of color to a basic get-up with these colorful hoops! They're fairly large, so you can't miss 'em.

Everlane The TENCEL™ Boxy Shirt

Chambray Blue

Denim is undeniably having its moment right now (everyone say “thank you, Beyoncé”), but it’s not always practical for the hotter months. That’s why chambray is the perfect solution! Chambray is essentially woven cotton, so it makes for a lighter, more breathable wear. You can rock it alongside more denim pieces, or even white pants or skirts to pull it off easily.

Chinese Laundry Rozie Half d'Orsay Slingback Pumps

Step out in trendy style with these paneled slingbacks! The chunky square heel makes each and every step comfortable as ever.

J.Crew Astrid Pants

Stretchy pants FTW! These easy, breezy chambray bottoms have a flattering wide waistband and a singular back pocket for practicality.

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