December 2021 - Blog - Marleylilly Blog

Christmas is ALMOST here, but oh no! You just can't decide on a gift for your niece, work bestie, or friend. No worries — everyone loves a good gift card! However, gift certificates aren't always the most exciting gift. So to help, we've made a list of creative ways to present your gift cards.

First, you need to pick the right gift card (We suggest a Marleylilly gift card 😉 You can purchase gift certificates ranging from $10 to $250 here). After purchase, you will automatically receive an email with the gift code and a cute PDF you can print to physically give the recipient. Once you print your gift card, the fun part can begin!

1. Make a DIY Card Holder Ornament

We love this guide from Heart Filled Spaces! If you have some felt fabric laying around, these are a must! Just insert the printed gift card into your handmade ornament and place it on the tree. Super cute idea and it's a two-for-one deal – who wouldn't love that?!

DIY Ornament Holder for Gift Card Giving

Photo: Heart Filled Spaces

2. Gift It As A Stocking Stuffer

Don't have time or materials for a DIY project? No problem, add your gift card as a stocking stuffer along with small things they love like candy, chapstick, scrunchies, ect...

3. Get Creative by Brand

Depending on the gift card, you can gift your card as a branded gift. Place a Chick-Fil-A gift card in a (clean) Chicken Mini box; Fill a Dunkin Donuts cold cup with confetti paper and your gift card; Insert a Starbucks gift card inside a coffee sleeve. The more creative, the better!

Photo: Sew Many Ways

4. Make a 'Fake' Gift

Instead of handing an envelope to the recipient, play a joke! Tape the gift card to the bottom of a huge box and wrap it. Place the gift card in a book or movie that is associated with a funny memory. The options here are endless!

5. Get Sentimental

If you have young kids and are gifting to a close family member, get the kids involved! Pick a holiday-themed craft your kids can participate in to give alongside the gift card. Some all-time favorites include Cinnamon Cookie Cutter Ornaments, Salt Dough Fingerprint Ornaments, and Snow Globe Ornaments. Add the year to the back so family members can look back over the years!

Sentimental Gift Giving Ideas for Gift Cards

Photo: Pillsbury

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We hope this list will give you an idea of how to take your gift card giving to the next level! However you decide to present your gift cards, make sure it is catered to the recipient's personality. We hope you all have a great holiday season filled with joy — Happy Holidays!

Monday, December 20, 2021 2 comments

This past fall I was given an incredible opportunity to join the Marleylilly family as their Marketing and Social Media Intern. As an intern, I worked alongside our marketing and creative teams, assisting with daily tasks and photo requests. Some tasks included writing and scheduling social media posts and creating and uploading original content for Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Pinterest, and our blog. Additionally, I attended photoshoots, filmed try-on sessions for new arrivals, and went on adventures to capture user-generated photos to be used for ad campaigns. This experience was nothing of an ordinary internship, it was extraordinary! Now, after 18 impactful weeks, I leave here knowing more than I ever imagined learning when I arrived. But, before I say goodbye, I'd like to share with you my favorite memories at Marleylilly Headquarters.

From the moment my internship started, I knew it was going to be an incredible semester based on how welcoming and friendly everyone was. Marleylilly does a great job at incorporating social and work events into their calendar, which helped me form real and meaningful relationships during my short time here. My favorite memories include doing a 'Dirty Santa' white elephant gift exchange over the holidays and getting to pitch our idea of an Intern Training Handbook to the executive team with my fellow intern, Cati Beth. I have learned so much over the past 18 weeks that I'll utilize in the future whether it be for marketing, social media, or general life!

It's been said that the people make a place, and I can genuinely say that it's the Marleylilly family who makes this such a thriving workplace. There's a reason it's called the 'Marleylilly family'. During my time working here, our staff became more of a family than a group of coworkers to me. Thank you all for giving me an encouraging and loving, professional home. I've thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each and every one of you and will forever cherish my time being a part of this team!

Another highlight of this internship was getting to do product photoshoots. Setting up OOTD flat lays was always satisfying and I learned a lot from our photographer, Clifford, about how to manipulate clothing to bring life to it and achieve your desired image. When I first heard of the term "shoefie" I was very confused, but quickly began to appreciate this shoe selfie art the importance of setting the product scene. My absolute favorite product photography was when I was able to accompany the creative team to their shoot and assist them in their lifestyle photo requests. I even got to model some of the clothing which was also really fun! There was nothing cooler than seeing the final images of a product shoot, specifically jewelry because I was always so impressed with how even the smallest details were beautifully captured!

Content creation was something I was most excited to do after interviewing for this position, but I never imagined I would have as much fun as I did doing it! Some of my favorite tasks included getting to curate my own blog posts, designing creative product slides highlighting new arrivals, best sellers, and promotional deals for our Instagram and Facebook stories, filming trendy TikToks, and uploading new arrival Try-on Sessions.

Something Cati Beth and I are most proud of achieving during the duration of our internship includes increasing Marleylilly's followers on TikTok by 70%! I'm also very proud of the success of our overall TikToks! One that I had created became the second-highest liked Marleylilly TikTok with over 23,800 likes. Another featuring both me and Cati Beth directed by our photographer Clifford became the highest performing TikTok to date! 'Count em' has over 886,800 views, 35,200 likes, and over 2,595 shares! It is such a great feeling seeing something you've put a lot of effort into performing well or going viral.

No matter what it was that we did, there was never a dull moment when we pulled out the tripod! I'm going to miss all the goofy moments and shared laughs but most importantly, the day I squeezed into 14 shirts and tried to maneuver around the building while being shaped like a marshmallow.

Little excursions to Hobby Lobby, Target, Publix, tree farms, and pumpkin patches for photo requests with our videographer Lina will be something I truly am going to miss! This makes my list of highlights because it encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and get comfortable in front of crowds and cameras while channeling my 'inner influencer'. Despite some odd looks here and there, these trips were always full of fun, and laughter!

Even though our secret missions have come to an end, there's a lot that I am proud of! With the creative team's guidance and Emily A's Facebook magic, we've had great success with these posts with two reaching over 1 million people on Facebook and over 40,000 post engagements on each! Additionally, one post reached almost 400,000 people organically in less than 24 hours with over 3,000 product link clicks! Life's too short to take yourself too seriously and these humorous trips helped me realize that.

As I leave today, I am overflowing with gratitude. These past five months have been better than I ever could have imagined and I am so thankful for the people who made this workplace more than just a job. Like any great team, they encouraged me, assisted me, and made me better at whatever I was doing. Working with Marleylilly has truly been a privilege. While today is my last day here, instead of saying goodbye, I'll say until we meet again.

And that's my cue to sign off! For one last final time...

With love and Celsius,

Brooke Kopittke | Marketing + Social Media Intern

Friday, December 17, 2021 2 comments

It’s unbelievable that 10 years ago, I was religiously browsing the Marleylilly website for the latest flash deals. From monogrammed jewelry, rain jackets, and pocket tees, it’s safe to say that I did my share of contributing to the overall success of the company. I remember my favorite purchase was a navy, short sleeve t-shirt with a red and white chevron, monogrammed pocket. I bought it with my own money and remember thinking I found such a great deal on it (can't pass up a Marleylilly flash sale!). Those were the days when my only worry in the world was what style monogram to choose.

Fast forward to today, and I’m accomplishing my 12-year-old self’s biggest dream. Working at Marleylilly these past 18 weeks has been nothing shy of a dream. I have met some of the most wonderful people and gained valuable, real-world experience along the way. With that being said, I wanted to share with y'all some of my tasks as a Marketing and Social Media Intern, along with some tips and tricks that I learned throughout the semester.

A Day in the Life of a Marleylilly Intern

One of our main tasks at Marleylilly was creating Instagram stories. On the marketing team, you are typically scheduled to do this 3-5 times a week. This required us to choose 4-6 products that were on sale, check inventory, and design slides to post. This was one of my favorite tasks because I enjoyed playing around in Canva. In my free time, I would create slide templates for anyone to use. It was satisfying to see others use my slides, too.

Here are 3 of my favorite templates. As you can see, I enjoyed working with Christmas themes. Prior to this position, I didn't have any experience working with Canva. It's safe to say, that now I'm extremely comfortable when working with Canva and even bought my own subscription.

Another one of our tasks was filming try-on sessions each week. This was another task that I hadn't done prior to working at Marleylilly. Each week, we were assigned 4 products that we had to film ourselves talking about in 20-30 seconds. In the beginning, this task was difficult because we weren't comfortable with the names of the products, materials, or terminology. It took about 2 hours to film 2 minutes worth of video. Towards the end of our internship, we were much better at this task. We even upgraded our setup. We got a fancy ring light, spruced up our background, and got creative with our slides in Canva. We definitely channeled our inner "influencer."

Each week, we were required to post 28 tweets and 28 pins on Pinterest. This included adding product spotlights, memes, quotes, and retweeting mentions. For Pinterest, we mostly focused on photography and new arrivals.

On the creative team, we assisted with product photography and attended photoshoots. Before photoshoots, a lot of prep goes into preparing the clothes. On the shoot, we made sure the next outfit was ready and that the monogram was always showing. In the studio, we assisted with lifestyles, selfies, and shoefies. These were just pictures taken of us holding bags or wearing the shoes, along with pictures we took ourselves of the shoes or accessories.

TikToks are a huge part of our duties at Marleylilly. On the creative team, you have to post at least 2 TikToks a week. We actually set the record for the most viewed, liked, and shared Marleylilly TikTok. Our TikTok got 874.5K views, 34.7K likes, and 2.3K shares. Check it out here! During the duration of our internship, we increased Marleylilly's followers on TikTok by 70%.

Tips and Tricks Learned During Internship

At Marleylilly, they truly want you to be successful. I shared with y'all 6 tips and tricks that I learned throughout my time at Marleylilly. The great thing about internships is that you get to gain real-world experience. The most important aspect I learned is to arrive at work every day with an open heart, mind, and a willingness to learn. Your day-to-day tasks may vary, and some are easier than others. Remind yourself that you play a vital role and everyone wants to see you succeed. Not only will I apply these tips to my future career, but to my life in general. I will carry the lessons learned with me forever.

The most impactful aspect of this internship would be the nature of the environment. Everyone is so uplifting and truly wants you to be successful during your time at Marleylilly. I loved how Marleylilly sets time aside for work and social events to allow you to build meaningful, long-term relationships. Overall, Marleylilly does a wonderful job with their intern program. They go out of their way to make you feel special and a critical part of the team.

Looking back on my internship with Marleylilly, it was the most impactful five months. Coming from a previous internship that treated me like an inconvenience, Marleylilly went above and beyond making me feel loved, empowered, special, and a crucial aspect of the company. Sometimes you don’t realize how special something is until it’s gone. My time with Marleylilly will be something I cherish forever and an experience that taught me so much. Marleylilly, you have exceeded every expectation I had for this internship! All I can say is that wherever my career takes me, they have some big shoes to fill.

xoxo, Cati Beth Ridgeway

Marketing + Social Media Intern

Fall 2021

Friday, December 17, 2021 No comments

Please even the pickiest of teenage girls with these 15 gift ideas this holiday season! We get it, shopping for teens can be hard, but hopefully not as hard with the help of the Marleylilly Team. We searched our list of crowd favorites and new arrivals to put together a guide that will be sure to make you the "cool parent" in the neighborhood.

1. // Monogrammed Fuzzy Slippers

Has a girl ever turned down fuzzy slippers? Keep your teen's feet comfortable, warm, and looking great all season long. Pair them with a matching fleece robe and you've got the perfect recipe for a relaxing day spent inside and out of the cold.

2. // Monogrammed Water Bottle

Every girl needs a good water bottle - might as well make it monogrammed and covered in glitter! Is your teen loving the confetti look this year? Check out our entire confetti collection for accessories and more.

3. // Monogrammed Trunk Organizer

If your teen is at driving age, there's a good chance they are traveling with a lot of junk in the trunk. Help them get organized this year with a Monogrammed Trunk Organizer! Need something for inside the car as well? Check out our Monogrammed Car Organizer to keep everything right in its place.

4. // Monogrammed Weekend Bag

Teen girls are almost always on the move; whether it's spending the night at friends or heading off to sports camp, get them a bag that will look good and do the job! Her friends will want one too when they see it, but have no worries about a mix-up - it's monogrammed of course!

5. // Monogrammed Pom Pom Beanie

Double the poms, double the fun! This cozy and comfortable beanie is just the right amount of cute for any girl to wear. Not a two-pom kind of gal? No problem, we've got single Monogrammed Beanies as well!

6. // Monogrammed Duck Boots

Our long-time best seller is the PERFECT gift for your teen this year! Our quality Monogrammed Duck Boots will keep her feet warm and dry no matter the weather. We also have super-cute duck boot accessories so you can add your faves, such as our duck boot socks, duck boot shoelace sets, and pompom laces!

7. // Monogrammed Laptop Sleeve

Dress up their tech with this adorable personalized laptop sleeve! This laptop sleeve is made complete with its zipper closure and a front pocket perfect for storing notes. It measures 15.5" x 11.5" and can hold up to a 15" laptop! Made of 100% Polyester, trim made of 100% Genuine Leather.

8. // Monogrammed Necklace

The perfect gift for the sunshine in your life! Tell them how you really feel this year with this adorable monogrammed necklace. Check out the rest of the necklaces guaranteed to make them happy even when skies are gray!

9. // Personalized Cooler

Our best-selling Personalized Cooler is bound to be the hit of the holidays! Give them the gift that keeps on giving keeping food and drinks cold or warm no matter where they go. Pair it with a monogrammed slim can koolie for the perfect on-the-go setup.

10. // Monogrammed Phone Ring

Is your girl a selfie queen? These personalized phone rings will give her the best grip and rotate 360 degrees to also be used as a phone stand. Available in Rose Gold, Gold, Silver, and Multicolor to match any phone case!

11. // Monogrammed Retractable Charging Cord

This charging cord is the PERFECT gift for any tech lover! Perfect to keep in the car or at work, this retractable cord expands up to 39" long with an auto-lock feature. Compatible with Lightning phones to provide fast charging!

12. // Monogrammed Travel Jewelry Organizer

Girls tend to have a lot of jewelry, and why should they let traveling limit their selection? Gift your teen a jewelry organizer this season so she can always have her faves with her for every occasion! Pair it with other items from our travel collection for the full look.

13. // Monogrammed Pajama Set

Pajama Sets are a traditional holiday gift that never gets old - no matter how old your kids get. Take this year up a notch by making it monogrammed! No matter what her taste is, there are looks for every style.

14. // Monogrammed Yoga Mat

Get something special for the yoga-loving teen in your life with this Monogrammed Yoga Mat! Marleylilly is your go-to destination for fun, trendy and thoughtful yoga accessories; pair it with a gym bag for on-the-go girls!

15. // Monogrammed Backpack Purse

Does your teen like to carry tons of different things around but still like to have her hands free? Then our backpack purse would be the PERFECT accessory! Available in two colors for whatever her style is.

*****

We want to Know! What Are you gifting to your teen this year?

Thursday, December 16, 2021 No comments

Holiday Gift Guide: 15 Best Gifts Under $25

The holiday season is here, and finding the perfect gifts doesn't have to break the bank! Check everyone off your shopping list with these 15 gifts under $25 that are sure to delight. From trendy accessories to thoughtful essentials, these best gifts under $25 will make your loved ones feel special without stretching your budget.

1. // Monogrammed Umbrella

Make rainy days brighter with a monogrammed umbrella! Available in an array of colors, this compact accessory fits perfectly in any tote bag or purse, making it a practical gift for anyone!

2. // Gloves

Keep your loved ones warm with super soft knit gloves! Available in different colors, these tech gloves let you navigate touch screens without sacrificing warmth. Complete the look with matching socks and a beanie!

3. // Monogrammed Water Bottle Belt Bag

Every girl has a motivational bottle in her life! Grab one of our Monogrammed Water Bottle Belt Bags for your sister, or BFF, or treat yourself! This mini bag conveniently wraps around your tumbler, making it easy to carry all your small essentials!

4. // Monogrammed Suede Bracelet

These cute monogrammed suede bracelets are perfect for bulk gifting and make delightful stocking stuffers. Available in a variety of colors, they feature an adjustable design to fit most writs and they feature a charming engraved plate.

5. // Monogrammed Baseball Hat

Gift the athleisure lover in your life a trendy monogrammed baseball hat. With different colors to choose from, you'll find the perfect match for any style! If you're unsure of their full monogram, you can always order it blank or personalize it with their initial.

6. // Monogrammed Packable Cosmetic Bags

The ultimate gift for makeup enthusiasts, this set of makeup bags is both chic and functional. Featuring multiple bags in a set, you will be able to hold all your essentials all while adding a touch of elegance to any vanity.

7. // Monogrammed Keychain Wallet

Our adorable keychain wallet is a must-have gift! It's super compact and practical, so it makes a great gift under $25. It features a main zippered compartment for your money, and also has 3 exterior card slots!

8. // Fuzzy Socks

Who doesn't love cuddling up in fuzzy socks?! We have so many cute options to choose from – our Duck Boot Socks, Butter Soft Chenille Socks, and Leopard Socks are our customer favorites! All pair perfectly with our Monogrammed Duck Boots!

9. // Monogrammed Bracelet Key Ring

This monogrammed bracelet key ring is a functional and stylish gift for anyone on your list. Available in multiple colors, it doubles as a bracelet, making it easy to grab and go while keeping keys secure.

10. // Monogrammed Phone Ring

For the selfie enthusiast, our monogrammed phone ring is a favorite! It provides a secure grip and rotates 360 degrees, making it a handy phone stand. Available in various metallic finishes to match any phone case.

11. // Monogrammed Small Acrylic Tray

Elevate any space with our monogrammed small acrylic tray! This stylish and versatile accessory is perfect for organizing essentials on a vanity. With a chic design and customizable monogram, it's a thoughtful gift that adds a personal touch to any home decor. Ideal for anyone who loves to keep things stylish and tidy!

12. // Monogrammed Tote Organizer

Everyone loves to be organized, right?! Our tote organizer features 11 interior pockets and 2 exterior pockets that hold so many items including pens, keys, hairbrush, wallet, iPad, and more! Designed to fit inside any tote bag.

13. // Monogrammed Pillow Sham

Add a touch of personalized comfort to any bedroom with our monogrammed pillow sham! This charming accessory not only enhances the decor but also provides a cozy place to rest your head. Available in different colors, it makes a thoughtful gift for friends and family looking to refresh their space. Perfect for anyone who loves a stylish and cozy atmosphere!

14. // Monogrammed Huggie Hoop Earrings

Elevate your outfit with our monogrammed huggie hoop earrings! These stylish earrings are a perfect blend of elegance and personalization. They can be customized with initials for a unique touch. Ideal for anyone who loves to make a statement, these earrings are a thoughtful gift that adds a chic flair to everyday wear!

15. // Monogrammed Hair Towel Wrap

Treat yourself or a loved one to our monogrammed hair towel wrap! This stylish and functional accessory is perfect for drying hair quickly and comfortably after a shower. Made from soft, absorbent fabric, it features a customizable monogram for a personal touch. Ideal for anyone who loves a practical yet chich gift!

Friday, December 03, 2021 7 comments

Holiday Gift Guide: 15 Best Gifts Under $25

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