Sunday walking the floor of the National Stationery Show at the Javits Convention Center, I was about to say to my friend C that I was getting tired of all the greeting card booths carrying sunny, chirpy messages of joy and happiness. After miles of sugar, I wanted a little vinegar: a card that said something like "J*erk off, you j*erkoff."
Before I could say anything C started laughing and pointed to a booth, featuring a photo of a young couple and their baby. But on closer inspection both parents looked glassy-eyed and dazed; mom was slinging the baby on her lap like it was a baguette, and the bottle in its mouth was a fifth of Jack Daniels. Dad was holding a prescription pill bottle in his lap the size of the Chrysler Building, and his look of dazed happiness was courtesy of a pharmaceutical company's R&D department and not from an hour of yoga.
Welcome to Twisted Tidings Greeting Cards. Their cards are snarky, evil, risque, and more. The above card is one of the few I feel comfortable posting without deleting words and phrases. The front message says: A special birthday milestone. Inside is the kicker: You've finally become that creepy older guy in the club. Happy Birthday!
What really made us laugh was the show giveaway, an ecologically correct shopping bag with a particular advertisement I've often thought was the real message. After all, we may be carrying reusable bags to help save the environment, but there's another agenda being pursued as well.
Look for Twisted Tidings cards in your local stationery store, or email them for retailers in your area. You can also follow them on Twitter, @TwistedTidings.
Thanks for that look at a snobmeister's eco-bag. Then there's the whole poseurs' arsenal of body language. How about the meditative stroking of the bewhiskered chin by someone you're sure doesn't have a clue, or wants to hit you up for a favor, or just wants you out of his hair?
ReplyDelete"Congratulations . . . on becoming the middle-aged man you used to make fun of as a kid!" I've never received a card like that, but the epigram is worth (for me) a dry chuckle.
Thanks for this look at the NSS.
Jack/Youngstown
Love it!
ReplyDeleteLol, Jack! In your next life you're going to write tags for greeting cards, unless you do that now? *snerk*
ReplyDeleteZuzu, I loved seeing that bag amidst all the sugar-n-spice. There were a few other snarky booths, and I got some great card samples to share down the line.
Thanks for the nice write-up! Hope enjoyed the NSS!
ReplyDeleteAnd...
"Congratulations . . . on becoming the middle-aged man you used to make fun of as a kid!"
Uh Jack... can I use that?
'Twisted Tidings
Way to go Jack! That would be so great to see, you line on a TT card. :)
ReplyDelete