Jul
2016

School’s Out For Summer! School Holiday Activities

Categories: Uncategorized

School’s out for summer…Yay! Or Arghhh!  Depending on where you stand.    The long school holiday is the time when we lose our free childcare.  We have to think of STUFF TO DO.  And hope that it’s not gonna rain all summer.  Of course it’s great to spend time with the family.  But six weeks?  SIX WEEKS!   We’ve come up with a few activities for primary school age kids.  If you’ve got any more ideas, let us know.  It’s six weeks, we need lots.

If you work from home school holidays can be a challenge. But it’s best to accept that your working day will be disrupted rather than getting annoyed.  Whether you can spare the time to play with the kids, or need something to distract them while you work, have a bunch of activities ready to pull out of the bag.

Stuff to do with your kids in the school holiday

Chuck ‘em outdoors.

If you’ve got a safe space for them to be outside, that’s where they should be.  Raining?  That’s what coats are for !

Set some challenges: build a den, dig a hole, learn to juggle

Water.  Water is the best fun.  If you haven’t got water pistols and cannons, try empty washing up bottles, and balloons filled with water.  They’ll soon find a way of maximising the fun out of that.  Have a towel ready for when they’ve done.  For little ones, fill an old baby bath or washing up bowl with water and provide beakers, plastic bottles, kids’ tea sets, yoghurt cartons, large spoons and let them at it.  Again, towel.

School Holiday Stuff to do in the City

Ready Made Activities Check your city’s websites – councils and museums usual run summer activities for kids – craft, sport, creative play, that sort of thing.

Shopping Taking the kids with you on a shopping trip can be a nightmare.  So don’t fight it, turn it into an activity.  Set them a treasure hunt.  Provide a tick list of things to spot, like those old I-Spy books we had, but specially adapted to your kids.  Don’t expect to be able to do a full afternoon’s shop without moaning.  Timetable in some café breaks or sit-downs.  Icecream for final reward?

School Holiday
Set the kids a DIY I-Spy challenge

Indoors

Cooking afternoons – bake a pizza and a pudding for tea

Tea-party for friends/dolls/teddybears – get them making buns and sandwiches with their fave fillings

Build a den.  Provide blankets and sheets and cushions.  Help younger children but if they can do it themselves, let them get on with it.  Tea-sets, teddy-bears, etc optional.

Write or draw a journal.  Whether it’s on the laptop with accompanying photographs, or a notebook and felt tips, set them a challenge to keep a diary for a week.  It can be true-to-life or total fiction.  Let their imaginations run wild.  Don’t worry about the final result, just let them enjoy it.   If you’re out and about some days, they can collect “souvenirs” to add to their journals (till receipts, tickets, postcards, feathers, sweet wrappers, whatever they fancy holding on to.

Have a film day.  There’s always gonna be a day when it’s just horrid outside, and everyone’s a bit demotivated.  Have a film afternoon.  Invite friends round if you can cope with more kids.  Make popcorn and snacks in the morning (see, there’s another activity!).  Arrange the chairs, close the curtains.  Serve snacks in the “intervals”.  By evening, you’ll all be square eyed and ready for something different, so get round the kitchen table for a fish and chip/burger/pizza supper, with special drinks and silly straws.

Model-making Invest in model making kits and commit the kitchen table to construction for a week.  If you get age/ability suitable kits this should be pretty self-maintaining a lot of the time.

Next week:  Prising Teenagers out of their Rooms


Jul
2016

We’ve been nominated for an award!

Categories: Do you punctuate?

Nominated for an Award!

We’re up for another award!  And it’s all down to the hard work of Bec.  DYP has been going from strength to strength over recent months.  Our orders have been through the roof.  Who’d have thought two years ago we’d be having to take on staff? It’s been a thrilling ride. But not only that, our achievements have been officially recognised.

ESpark

DYP founder and head honcho Bec Gilray, has been part of Entrepreneurial Spark for 12 months.  E-Spark is a national business accelerator for new ventures funded by Natwest.  “Our Leeds entrepreneurs have accomplished some amazing feats in recent months, from raising substantial investment to creating jobs, disrupting the market, and creating a positive impact on the UK economy, and I would like to say a massive well done to them all!” says CEO of Entrepreneurial Spark Lucy-rose Walker.  These awards celebrate how far they’ve progressed.

So far Bec has won a number of prizes for the progress of the business.  Now she’s been nominated for the Acceler8 Entrepreneuring Award, along with two other local businesses.   There’s thousands of pounds in prize money at stake, but it’s amazing just be nominated.  We couldn’t be more proud.  We’re keeping our fingers and toes, and frankly anything that can be crossed, crossed.  The winner will be announced at a prestigious Awards ceremony this Wednesday.

Entrepreneurial Spark was first set up in Scotland by entrepreneurs with experience of start-up businesses. It has since been rolled out across the UK.  A private not-for-profit company, it’s main partners are RBS and Natwest.  It is also supported by KPMG.  The support Bec has received includes courses, mentoring, networking, peer support, access to resources, and greatly raised profile.  The past 12 months with ESpark has been a major catalyst for the growth of DYP.

Catalyst for Growth

Bec says “It’s been fantastic.  The contacts I’ve made have made all the difference, and I’ve learnt to think far more ambitiously about my business.  I’m so excited to have been nominated again.  It would be fantastic to win, but it’s great just to have the recognition of the progress I’ve made.  It’s great to take stock of everything we’ve achieved in the last year.”

Whether the award comes our way or not, we’ve got a lot of thanking to do.  And top of the list is our customers.  Finding new ways to be outrageously rude especially for you really is the best way of earning a living!

Thankyou


Jul
2016

Name the Beast: A New Printer at DYP

Categories: Uncategorized

We have a new beast and it needs a name!  Enter our Facebook competition to help name our new printer.   Whoever comes up with the best name will win one of our This Kitchen Runs On Love Laughter Gin and Prosecco teatowels.

Growth

DYP has been growing fast.  We’ve expanded our operation massively this year.   A lot of that is down to the support we’ve had from Entrepreneurial Spark.  E-Spark is a Natwest and KPMG initiative to support new businesses.  The support has been amazing.  But it’s getting hard to keep up with all your orders.  We’ve been working round the clock to meet demand, but with our clunky old (otherwise known as huge high quality) printer just wasn’t up to the job.  So we’ve had to upgrade our technology.   It’s a major investment, but we know it will improve our production and our service.

Relegating our workaday printers to the sidelines.
Relegating our workaday printers to the sidelines.
New Printer
Should be just about enough room for it in this corner!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The New Arrival

This week a new beast arrived in the DYP Shoffice.  It’s so massive it almost didn’t fit through the door.  There was a lot of late night shuffling around of furniture in the Shoffice to make room for it, and relegate our itsy bitsy printers to the sidelines.  And we had a special technician to come and install it.  This is no desk-top printer.  And at 20 cards per minute it’s already changed how we work. We’re ready for your orders guys!

New Printer
The new printer installed.

Competition Time

But, we need your help… the beast needs a name.  We want you to come up with it’s moniker.  Get creative, no Printer McPrintfaces, we want original!  Hope over to our Facebook page to enter your suggestion.  Best one will be decided 29th July and the winner will receive one of our fab Teatowels.


Jul
2016

Teachers Rock, Thankyou Teacher!

Categories: Do you punctuate?
Thankyou Teacher

It’s time to say thankyou teacher.  The kids can’t wait for the hols.  No more school uniform, no more homework, no more lessons.  Lots of lie-ins, and playing-out.  Teachers in the meantime are frantically checking that everything’s been done.   Have all the papers been marked?  Have all the children reached their goals?  Are the reports written?  Have lists been ticked?  Is everyone ready for the next year?  And looking forward to 6 weeks of rest.  But before you get jealous of that six week holiday, here’s 10 reasons teachers rock.  And why they need those 6 weeks.  And to say thankyou teacher.

  1. They put up with our kids, even when they are really really horrible. Without totally losing it.
  2. They help their students learn what they thought they’d never learn. They’re inspire and encourage.
  3. Even when they have hundreds of parents waiting to talk to them, or thousands of emails to answer, or a zillion papers to mark, they are still there in the classroom, teaching the lesson
  4. They have 30 or more children in every class. 30 or more different needs and different problems.  And at least a handful of pains-in-the-butt.  And yet somehow, they manage to teach them all.
  5. They’re patient and forgiving and will teach your kids even when they are the worst kids ever.
  6. They get all sorts of criticism from the public and in the press. And yet 93% of teachers say the reason they teach is they want to make a difference to student’s lives.
  7. They get really long holidays, yet only 17% of them say that was an important factor in choosing to go into teaching.
  8. They spend every evening of term time marking work and planning lessons. And most weekends too.
  9. They sacrifice family time and a social life to give their best to their pupils.
  10. They can drink a cup of tea in 2 minutes and eat their lunch in 4. Just so they can rush to the next lesson, or the next meeting.

So lets give it up for the teachers.  Where would we be without them?  Happy holidays teachers, enjoy your rest, you deserve it!

Thankyou Teacher Thankyou Teacher Thankyou Teacher Thankyou Teacher

 


Jul
2016

Positive Thinking? DYP says Chin Up Love!

Categories: Do you punctuate?

Positive thinking? Pah! How many times do you see those memes in your timeline?  The ones telling you to everything will fall into place through positive thinking?  Are you like us and thinking, yeah right… that’ll work?

Are you going, ah yes, I’ll think positive and I’ll be a great success?  My bills will get paid; my roof will mend itself … are you?  Or like us, are you thinking fuck that shit, and scrolling down the page.  We’ve been wondering where all this Positive Thinking comes from, so we’ve done some digging.

Our favourite Positive thinking memes

We’ve crawled through our timelines and found some you’ll just love!

Positive Thinking

Where positive thinking all started

We were wondering where all this positive thinking malarkey began.    It turns out it has its origins over a 100 years ago.  It started out as a bit of a rebellion against Calvinist work ethic.  It has influenced lots of New Age thinking.  But it also influenced the Christian Science movement: the power of the mind.

But it’s not all great.  People have pointed out the danger of positive thinking. Barbara Ehrenreich(1) says that it hasn’t helped the American economy one bit. She argues the cult of positive thinking means no-one makes contingency plans.

Psychologist Gabriele Oettingen(2) devised experiments to see if positive thinking works.  What she found out was startling.  Those who were thinking positive thoughts about their work achieved less!  It was like they’d relaxed too soon.

The Power of Negative Thinking

“Pessimism, when you get used to it, is just as agreeable as optimism.”

Arnold Bennett

Positive Thinking

Negative thinking all started with the Greek Stoics in the 3rd Century BC. They believed that negative things are only negative because you think they are, and that by facing up to the worst, you can then realise that it isn’t the worst at all.  There’s a whole lot more shit can happen, and so you may as well be content with what you’ve got.

More recently, research suggests that the route to happiness is not positivity at all.  In fact, it can make things worse. Squaring up to the worst case scenario gives you the heads up.  It gives you chance to take evasive action.  Pretending you’re not scared doesn’t mean you’re not scared.  Best to look it in the face, check the danger signs.

So … we don’t want you going round being negative all the time.  And a bit of positivity is good for us.   But keep it real guys, keep it real!

 

  1. Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World; Barbara Ehrenreich; 2010
  2. As cited in The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking; Oliver Burkeman; 2012

Jun
2016

Trust a Poet – If a good insult is what you need!

Categories: Do you punctuate?
Insult

Trust a poet if a good insult is what you need!

Want to know how to really insult someone? If a good swear is what you need, trust a poet to come up with the goods.   Say what?  Yeah, well it has to be the right poet obviously.

Back in the day, John Cooper Clark was your go-to insult monger.  And his poem “Twat” is a classic.  He may not be from Yorkshire, but we love him, and his swears !  Next time someone needs a good telling, you know where to turn.

We never knowingly turn away from a curse.   A good swear is sometimes what you need.  Even when you don’t mean it.   DYP have a fine line in potty-mouth, all with the best possible intentions!   We’ve printed the old favourites.  We’ve learnt some new ones from our customers.  We’ve made some up.  Here’s some of our- and your- favourites:

insult insult insult insult insult insult HB_Cuntface_large HB_dickhead_1024x1024


Jun
2016

Anyone for Gin and Prosecco?

Categories: Do you punctuate?

Anyone for tennis?  Balls to that, we’re cracking out the summer cocktails.

It’s the first day of Wimbledon and that means just one thing… it’s time to shake and stir some summer cocktails.  We’re not very sporty here at DYP but we do like a good cocktail.  And Wimbledon seems like a good excuse to dust off the cocktail shaker.  Ignore the weather forecast, make like it’s summer, and get mixing. Here’s some recipes to get you started.  Don’t forget to share your own recipes with us if you’ve got some good ones.

Summer Cocktails

Gin Prosecco Love and Laughter

Since we’re pretty much fuelled by gin prosecco and laughter, we’ll start with this one. Discerning drinkers discovered the joys of mixing gin and fiz at least 150 years ago. Summer Cocktails

  • 1 measure elderflower cordial
  • 1 measure lemon juice
  • 1 measure gin
  • Lots of ice
  • Plenty of laughter
  • A bit of love
  • Prosecco
  1. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.  Pour in the elderflower cordial, lemon juice and gin, and shake.
  2. Add some laughter and love and shake some more.
  3. Strain into a tall glass, and top with Prosecco.
  4. Serve with a spring of mint if you’re being posh.

Pimm’s

The quintessential Wimbledon drink. Apparently the recipe is a closely guarded secret, with only a handful of people knowing it.  But do you know how to serve it?

  • Pimm’s
  • Lots of ice
  • Strawberries
  • Cucumber
  • Orange
  • Mint leaves
  • Pimm’s
  • Lemonade
  1. Slice the strawberries, cucumber and orange
  2. Fill a glass or jug with ice
  3. Pour in 1 part Pimm’s and add 3 parts lemonade.
  4. Chuck in the fruit and serve.

Gin Raspberry BeretSummer Cocktails

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A twist on the traditional French Martini and an ode to Prince all in one.

  • 1 part raspberry cordial
  • 1 part gin
  • Tonic water
  • Lots of ice
  • Slice of lemon
  1. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice
  2. Add the gin and raspberry cordial
  3. Strain into a glass
  4. Top up with tonic water and add a slice of lemon
  5. ( you can of course just sling everything into a glass if you don’t have a cocktail shaker)

The Never-Ending One

And finally, our favourite of all the summer cocktails.  If someone asks you if you’d like a game of tennis, tell them, when you’ve finished your drink.

  • Champagne flute (or wine glass, highball, tumbler, mug)
  • Prosecco
  • Orange juice
  • Lemonade
  • Mint
  1. Fill the glass with prosecco.  Take a sip. Chuck the mint away.
  2. Refill the glass.
  3. Take glug.
  4. Refill it.
  5. Take another sip.
  6. Refill.
  7. Continue.
  8. Save the orange juice and lemonade for the next morning.

Happy drinking.  If you can still knock a ball over the net after all those, you’re not doing it right!

Remember to drink responsibly, don’t be stupid, be safe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Jun
2016

A Short History of Saucy Postcards

Categories: Uncategorized

Fancy a piece of rock, cock?

Saucy postcards were all the rage back in the mid 20th Century.  They might have gone out of fashion, but we’re carrying on the tradition!

Here at DYP we like to think we’re original.  But we’re not the first to produce risqué cards.  Some of them were pretty awful.  But we admire the stand they took against uptight politicians.

Saucy Postcards

Postcards first became popular at the end of the Nineteenth Century.  The Post Office gave permission for them to be sent through the post.  And it wasn’t long before they started getting a bit racy.  By the 1930s saucy postcards at the seaside became all the rage.  Cartoons featuring stereotyped characters – the fat vicar, the drunk, the “henpecked” husband – were mixed with a liberal smattering of bawdy innuendo.

The suggestive captions never quite spelt out sex.  But it was usually implied.  And the cruder they were, the more popular.  During the 1930s they sold at a rate of knots.  16 million cards were sold a year.

Various companies produced them, with numerous cartoonist working on them.  But the biggest name was Donald McGill.  His postcards were the most popular.  And they remain the most popular as collectors’ items too.

Donald McGill

Donald McGill was born into a straight-laced “respectable” Victorian family.  At 32 years of age, he gave up a secure job to start his career as saucy postcard artist.  He continued to work til his death at 87 years.  Throughout his career, he had to fight of not only the disapproval of his family, but the law.

Saucy postcards

During the 50s the newly elected Conservative government made a stand.  They believed that these cards were so outrageous, they were undermining the moral fibre of the country.  They were determined to stamp out such obscenity.  The 1857 Obscenity Act was called upon.  Shops were raided and closed down.  Artists were arrested and tried.  They almost broke the postcard industry.  In 1954 McGill was subjected to a show trial and sentenced with a huge fine.

In 1960s government relaxed a little bit, and the postcard industry recovered.  But through the 70s and 80s, the quality of art work deteriorated.  Changing attitudes meant that people weren’t so keen on the stereotypes and sexism.  The cards saw a decline in popularity.  McGill never made a lot of money from his art.  Perhaps because he kept getting fined?

Its funny to look back on those cards and think they caused such outrage.  We’re sure we’d be up in court too if we went back to the 50s.  Society seems to realise that morals aren’t undermined by a bit of cheeky.  And aren’t we glad of that!

 


Jun
2016

Summer Sale Now On With 30% Off

Categories: Uncategorized

Summer Sale Now on With 30% Off.

Summer Sale

We’ve got a summer sale on now with 30% off until the 1st August.

Oh boy oh boy, has it been busy round here.  You guys loved our Fathers’ Day cards so much, we’ve barely slept this month!   Just enough time to raise our noses from the grindstone, and suddenly it’s summer.  Time to kick off the flip flops (wellies).  Time to pour the gin and tonics.  Relax by the pool (well, puddle).  And … time for our big bonanza summer sale.

Use the code SUMMER16 at checkout to get 30% off til 1st August.

Summer SaleYes, it’s summer sale time and we’re feeling generous.  We’ve had our extra large G & Ts, and it’s a whole 30%.

‘Scuse us while we get back to the sun lounger.  Ahem…well, maybe not today.  And maybe not actually outdoors.  Summer is officially here though, so we’re told.  Hurry hurry, and stock up on cards.


Jun
2016

Who Knew Theres A Science of Swearing?

Categories: Uncategorized

The science of swearing

Who knew there’s a science of swearing?  The main thing we all know about swearing is it’s a bit naughty.  But it seems there’s a whole lot more to it.

Just about every language and culture in the world has it’s swear words.  And they are all related to either, God and religion, or bodily functions, or sex.  Think about it.  In whatever language you prefer.  God, sex and poo!

Linguistically speaking, they’re all just a set of syllables or sounds: words.  And for most of them we use other words that aren’t taboo. (I just used one,  did you spot it?)   So if it’s not the idea behind them, why are they so taboo?

Well, Michelle Drews(1) says that taboos are formed in childhood.  That’s when we learn what’s bad, whats frowned up, what will get us into trouble.  And that message gets hard wired into our brains.  So it starts as a societal thing, and becomes a brain thing.  Words that we’ve learnt are taboo bring out an emotional response.  They trigger the fight or flight instinct.  Or at the very least, they make us feel a bit naughty.

The Neurology

There’s a bit of the brain that deals with those dangerous words.  It’s called the amygdala, and it’s linked to both fear and pleasure.  It processes all the stuff that’s taboo.  As you know, sometimes strokes affect speech.  But sometimes they can still swear.  That’s because the swear words are processed in that different bit of brain.  It’s also why some people (not all) with Tourettes swear.  The condition stimulates the amygdala more than normal.

The Psychology

Timothy Jay and Kristin Jaraschewitz (2) looked into swearing from a psychological viewpoint.  Is it bad or dangerous?  After studying swearing amongst children they concluded the words in themselves aren’t harmful.  They are just words after all.  And again, we use words that mean the same thing (fuck/make love, shit/poo, hell/heck).  But because of the taboo, they are seen as dangerous.  And so they can be used as weapons, to intimidate or harass. And that’s not a good thing.  Obvs.  Then they really become dangerous.

But there’s also a lot of positive things about cussing.  Swear words enrich a language.  They help us express ourselves.  We know that there’s times when only a swear word will do.  They can be used to get a laugh.  And they can help to indicate a relaxed atmosphere.  Swearing can help bind groups of people.  Help them feel like they belong in a group.

Oh and one last thing.  People who swear when they hurt themselves have a higher pain threshold than those who don’t.  So there you go – swearing is the new asprin!

We’re guessing since you’re here with us, you like to indulge in the odd swear word.  We’ve got a great selection of especially sweary cards for you.  But if you’re not quite sure about it, there’s stuff for you too.

Dad You’re Bloody Marvellous - Father's Day at DYP Remember_what_you_are_1024x1024 IMG_8616 IMG_8486

  • Michelle Drews, The Science of Swearing, Harvard Science Review 23.01.2014
  • Timothy Jay and Kristin Jaraschewitz, The Science of Swearing, www.psychologiccalscience.org