 It’s that time of year again: the annual CafePress canned food drive for the Second Harvest Food Bank, where the food and donations are used to feed hungry people in our community. Last year Second Harvest provided 39.1 million pounds of food to those in need, through their network of 316 nonprofit agencies at 834 distribution sites.
We wanted to help ignite a friendly competition so the company was divided into 3 teams based on geography to see which team can out-donate in can food or cash. And to make things even more fun (not to mention more cash in the pot), CafePress hosted a Food Sculpture & Secret Food contest where the winning teams could win a $500 donation bonus. Check out the sculptures created out of can foods (and other stuff).
Team East Bay - Secret Food Winner (photo 1) | Team San Francisco – Food Sculpture Winner (photo 2)
  
To donate to Second Harvest Food Bank, please visit the 2009 Virtual Food Drive site.
 In this week’s installment of “shirts that make you go hmm…”
Hmm. Well… here’s one scenario:
Wendy is an aspiring writer who’s noticed that Hollywood is going literary – literally. With the runaway successes of “Harry Potter” and “Twilight,” Wendy comes up with a plan: write a series of children’s books that will be so darn unique and successful that no studio executive can resist optioning her work.
Feeling that the teenage market is just a bit saturated and noting the crazy success of Pixar films, Wendy decides to go younger. Problem: magicians, vampires and zombies are done, and kinda scary. Monsters, well, that’s a broader area, and “Where the Wild Things Are” may be indicative of a new monster craze. Problem 2: monsters are also scary, and frightening small children most likely won’t lead to a particularly lucrative film deal.
Wendy decides that her Monster will be cute, and taking a cue from “The Lion King” and other animated smash hits about esoteric animals, she decides to make him a wildebeest. Then, to take the edge off his beastly monster-ness, she makes him plaid and humanizes her protagonist monster by arming him with a spork, rather than fangs or laser beams or a fleet of vicious pirhana.
As it turns out, Plaid Spork-Wielding Wildebeest is a really cute little anti-hero, even when he’s flinging sporks around. After all, everyone wants to throw a spork now and again, especially at the DMV. (Stay tuned for “Plaid Spork-Wielding Wildebeest Goes to the DMV,” available as soon as it’s written and illustrated.)
Or, maybe this design is an actual warning sign in Australia, land of groovy poisonous creatures and crocodiles bigger than a shark.
Hmm.
 There’s a common consensus among dog owners (or “guardians,” if you wish) that dogs are better people than we are most the time. This holiday season, though, you can live up to that higher standard by showing mad love for your pet and helping homeless animals, all at the same time.
“Gifts that Give Back” is a program wherein CafePress will donate 10% of all Pet T’s, bowls and select (human) pet-related merchandise to the ASPCA. The program runs through the end of the year, so if you want to wait until after Christmas to outfit your best friend (human or animal) in a T-shirt, no worries – you have time.
And don’t worry, cats can of course wear T-shirts too. (If you’re brave enough to wrangle a cat into one, that is…)
UPDATE: Folks, please note that some of the designs that you’re finding as “still there” are simply thumbnails that haven’t yet churned out of our Marketplace. If you click on them, you’ll most likely find that the products themselves are no longer available. The thumbnails themselves will also disappear shortly thereafter.
Please understand that, given our size and the sheer number of people adding content to our site on a daily basis, you may run across a design that has been only recently pended. If you refresh your browser and take a breather, in short order you’ll find that that design has been yanked by our team.
Thanks!
–
This morning we made the decision to remove all Psalms 109:8 designs from CafePress.
The public debate started with questioning if the design was simply intended to be criticism of the President or something much worse. The discourse was surprisingly civil online, given the heated nature of the topic. Given that, and the positions of groups like the ACLU and the Anti-Defamation League, we decided to let the dialogue play out publicly before making a final decision.
Last night we posted a poll on our blog, read through the emails we’ve received and weighed the nature of the calls we’ve received on the topic. In the process we also learned that many of the original designers of the Psalm 109:8 designs had already decided to remove them on their own.
General consensus has proven that the design does point to a broader interpretation of the Psalm and thus has been deemed inappropriate for sale at CafePress.
We try to create an atmosphere of self-expression. Many of the things we encounter are not black and white, but grey. When the dialogue is civil, we want to let the larger community work things out rather than making an uninformed ruling. The dialogue has played out and common sentiment has reached agreement – this merchandise is not appropriate.
Thank you all for your input.
TWI-HARD TRIVIA TREASURE HUNT CONTEST OFFICIAL RULES
HOW TO ENTER: This Contest begins at 9:30 AM PST on November 13, 2009 and ends at 10:00 PM PST on November 13, 2009 (“Contest Period”). To enter, you must have a Twitter.com account and be following @twilightees on Twitter.com and be able to access the CafePress.com marketplace (http://shop.cafepress.com/). No purchase necessary.
1. HOW TO WIN:
Access the first trivia question at www.twitter.com/twilightees on or after 9:30 AM PST November 13, 2009. Type in the answer to the first trivia question into the search box on www.cafepress.com. If your answer is correct you will be presented with a search result, which will contain the next trivia question. Type the answer to the second trivia question followed by into the CafePress.com search box. For further instructions please see the detailed instructions set forth at http://blog.cafepress.com/2009/11/12/twi-hard-trivia-treasure-hunt-instructions/. There are a total of eleven (11) trivia questions, if you answer each one correctly and enter your answers into CafePress.com search box you will proceed to the final product. Once you have the URL for the final product you need to:
a. Tweet the link to the final product to @twilightees with #treasurehunt in the tweet; AND
b. Email the product link to Product Question 11 to twilightees@cafepress.com
All trivia questions and answers are only in the CafePress.com Marketplace, not in individual CafePress.com shops. The first eligible contestant to complete the contest in accordance with these official rules and the instructions at http://blog.cafepress.com/2009/11/12/twi-hard-trivia-treasure-hunt-instructions/, shall be eligible to win the First Prize, the second shall be eligible to win the Second Prize and the third shall be eligible to win the Third Prize.
THE FOLLOWING ACTIVITY WILL AUTOMATICALLY DISQUALIFY YOU FROM THE CONTEST:
- You tweet, post or otherwise share any contest question product links, other than the final link, publicly
- You tweet, post or otherwise share the final link with anyone other than @twilightees
- You get the product question links from someone else
2. ELIGIBILITY: Open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 years or older at time of entry. Void where prohibited by law. Employees of CafePress, its parents, affiliates and subsidiaries, participating advertising and promotion agencies and prize suppliers (and members of their immediate family and/or those living in the same household of each) are not eligible
.
3. PRIZES:
First Prize: 5 hoodies, 5 T-shirts, 5 SIGG bottles, 5 stickers, and 5 minibuttons, all from the CafePress.com Marketplace, excludes fulfillment products. (Approx value $503. USD)
Second Prize: 1 hoodie, 1 T-shirt, 1 SIGG bottle, and 5 minibuttons, all from the CafePress.com Marketplace, excludes fulfillment products. (Approx value $106. USD)
Third Prize: 1 hoodie and 5 minibuttons, all from the CafePress.com Marketplace, excludes fulfillment products. (Approx value $48. USD)
4. CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION: No transfer, assignment or substitution of a prize permitted, except that CafePress reserves the right to substitute a prize for an item of equal or greater value if the offered prize is unavailable, in CafePress’s sole and absolute discretion. The prize is awarded without warranty of any kind from CafePress, express or implied, without limitation. All federal, state and local laws and regulations apply. All taxes are the sole responsibility of the prize winner. Entrants agree to be bound by the terms of these official rules, the CafePress Terms of Service, the CafePress Privacy Policy and by the decisions of CafePress, which are final and binding on all matters pertaining to this Contest. CafePress is not responsible if the prize cannot be awarded due to delays, technical problems or interruptions due to acts of God, acts of war, natural disasters, weather or acts of terrorism. Potential winners may be required to sign and return an Affidavit of Eligibility, and Release of Liability, and where legally acceptable, Publicity Release within three (3) days following attempted notification. Failure to comply within this time period may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate winner. By accepting a prize, winner agrees to hold CafePress, its respective directors, officers, employees and assigns harmless for any injury or damage caused or claimed to be caused by participation in the Contest and/or acceptance of any prize. CafePress is not responsible for any typographical, printing, technical, human or other error in the printing of the offer, administration of the Contest or in the announcement of the prize.
5. INTERNET:CafePress, its affiliates, partners and promotion and advertising agencies are not responsible for technical, hardware, software, telephone or other communications malfunctions, errors or failures of any kind, lost or unavailable network connections, website, Internet, or ISP availability, unauthorized human intervention, traffic congestion, incomplete or inaccurate capture of entry information (regardless of cause) or failed, incomplete, garbled, jumbled or delayed computer transmissions which may limit one’s ability to enter the Contest, including any injury or damage to entrant’s or any other person’s computer relating to or resulting from participating in this Contest or downloading any materials in this Contest. If for any reason the Internet portion of the program is not capable of running as planned, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other causes which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of this Contest, CafePress reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest. In such event, CafePress reserves the right to select winners from eligible entries received as of the termination date.
6. USE OF DATA: CafePress will be collecting personal data about entrants online, in accordance with its Privacy Policy, unless otherwise set forth in these Official Rules. By participating in the Contest, entrants hereby agree to CafePress’s collection and use of their personal information and acknowledge that they have read and accepted CafePress’ Privacy Policy.
7. ADDITIONAL TERMS: Any potential winner may be requested to provide CafePress with proof that such winner is a United States resident and was at least 18 years old at the time of entry. Any automatic, programmed, robotic or similar means of entry are prohibited. CafePress reserves the right at its sole and absolute discretion (i) to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest; and/or (ii) CafePress reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to disqualify any individual it finds, in its sole and absolute discretion, to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Contest or website. CafePress may prohibit an entrant from participating in the Contest or winning a prize if, in its sole and absolute discretion, it determines that said entrant is attempting to undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest by cheating, hacking, deception, or other unfair playing practices (including the use of automated quick entry programs) or intending to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other entrants, CafePress or users of the CafePress Service. Any attempt by an entrant to deliberately damage any website or undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest is a violation of criminal and civil laws and should such an attempt be made, CafePress reserves the right to seek damages from any such entrant to the fullest extent of the law.
*Twitter, Inc. is not affiliated with nor a sponsor of this Contest.
…………………………………………………..
 OK, Twi-hards. The time is now. Overview:
- The Trivia Hunt will consist of ELEVEN QUESTIONS.
- These questions will test your knowledge of both “Twilight” and “New Moon.”
- The eleven questions are posed, individually, on products in the CafePress Marketplace.
- When you know the answer to the question posed on the Product, you will type the answer into the search box.
- If you type in the correct answer, you will get a search result (click to see how that works). The next clue will be on another product in those search results.
- It’s your job to find the next question, figure out the answer like you did the first time, and type it into the search box.
- Continue on in this manner until you and your Twilight brilliance bring you to the TREASURE T-shirt. This will be marked with an X, as all good treasures are.
- Click on the product to obtain the product link
Your winning entry consists of 2 parts:
- Tweet the link (URL) of the final product to @twilightees with #treasurehunt in the tweet. EXAMPLE: @twilightees http://www.cafepress.com/+robot_evolution_yellow_dark_tshirt,137986484 #treasurehunt
- Email the product link to Product Question 11 to twilightees@cafepress.com.
Other useful info:
- The clues look very much like the sample clue above at left. They are all on CafePress Marketplace products. They are not all on white hoodies. Be forewarned.
- The contest will start when @twilightees tweets the link to the first clue. This’ll be around 9:30AM.
- The contest ends when three people submit winning entries or at 10PM PST, whichever comes first.
- A winning entry consists of BOTH a tweet to @twilightees with a link to the final product (which has instruction to remind you of its import), as well as an email to twilightees@cafepress.com with a link to Product Question 11.
- If you want to say something like “Woo I’m the winner!” in your tweet, we recommend you use bit.ly or another link shortener. Otherwise, the entire product link + the #treasurehunt should fit within 140 characters.
- DO NOT TWEET A LINK TO ANY PRODUCT QUESTION OTHER THAN THE FINAL ONE. This will disqualify you, and it will annoy everyone else. Please, don’t be That Guy.
- Also, don’t tweet a link to any Product Question to anyone other than @twilightees. This, too, will disqualify you and relegate you to being known as That Guy.
The Official Rules are here. Please read them.
—
For those who want more detailed instruction, @twilightees brings you… More Detailed Instruction:
Above, as noted, is a sample product question. Click on it, and it will take you to a CafePress Marketplace result. (I tagged it with thunderchickenlegs just to make sure I could find it. I don’t know why I used such a random term, but let’s forget about that for now.)
 Note that, in the search result, if you mouse over the product (don’t click) you will see an enlarged image. A screen shot of that is also to the right. If you click the product, it you will go to a product detail page that will then allow you to zoom in on the image, making it much larger. This may be helpful for some clues.
The search box, called out at right, is where you’ll type your answer.
 The screen shot here at left is what it’ll look like when you correctly type in the answer to a question. (You can click it to hit a larger image.)
Once you type in the answer, you will be taken to a search result. (Click on that search result link if you want to see what a search result looks like.)
If your answer is correct, within that search result will be the next Product Question. It may be the only product that surfaces on the result, or it may be among a few others.
Continue answering questions in this manner until you get to the last T-shirt, at which point you’ve found the treasure and it’s time to…
Come on, you know this!
- Tweet the link of the final product to @twilightees with #treasurehunt in the tweet.
- Email the product link to Product Question 11 to twilightees@cafepress.com.
The time of your tweet will be considered before the time of your Product Question 11 email, so we recommend that you send it first.
That’s it. Best of luck, everybody. Now re-read these instructions, twice.
What are you waiting for? Seriously, it can’t hurt to re-read them, can it?
 OK, now the fun stuff – PRIZES! All prizes are chosen by the winners from the CafePress Marketplace. We will be awarding prizes for first, second and third place.
First Prize:
PARTY PACK OF FREAKING AWESOME FOR 5
- 5 Twilight hoodies
- 5 Twilight t-shirts
- 5 1.0 Liter Twilight SIGG bottles
- 5 Twilight stickers
- 25 Twilight minibuttons (5 for each of you, or you can hog them all)
Second Prize:
JUST FOR YOU PACK OF AWESOME
- 1 Twilight hoodie
- 1 Twilight T-shirt
- 1 Twilight SIGG bottle
- 5 minibuttons
Third Prize:
BUNDLE AND FLAIR UP DUO OF AWESOME
- 1 Twilight hoodie
- 5 Twilight minibuttons
 It’s Veterans Day today, a day when we pause to honor the military servicefolk who have risked (and ended) their lives to protect our country.
And so we at CafePress take a moment to day to honor our veterans – and, it may be noted, we have a whole lot of designers who have done the same thing via the almighty T-shirt. The same goes for troop support, which is a popular theme among our community.
For those of you who are interested in supporting troops currently deployed, check out Operation Gratitude – they have a great program helping out the future veterans of America, including an online shop.
Now ask yourself if you’ve hugged a veteran today, and if you haven’t – get on with it. (We recommend of course that you hug a veteran that you actually know, in order to prevent the likelihood of a socially awkward moment and/or arrest.)
Happy Veterans Day, everyone.
 CafePress celebrated Halloween with lots of baked goodies and a slew of fun festivities for both CafePressers and their kids. Competitions help keep things interesting… and this party was no exception! Check out the photos below for the winners and other fun photos.
Bake-off: All the treats were spooktacular but the prize (special stein trophy) goes to Joe for the best tasting treat - pumpkin bars. Yum! Unfortunately the pumpkin bars were gone (they were that good!) before we got a chance to take a photo. Other fun treats include a CafePress Rice Krispy Pumpkin and a Weepy Ghost Cake (ghouls included).
   
Trick or Treat competition: CafePressers brought candy to hand out to the kids with the kids selecting the winner for the best candy. And the winner is Karen (pictured below) – she gave out mini cauldrons of candy and treats.
 
Costume competition: What’s a Halloween party without a costume competition? The costumes were creative and funny – we’ll let the pictures do the talking…
For the winners: Best group costume goes to the ladies of the Team Cullen baseball team (for all you Twihards out there). Allison the robot took the prize for best individual costume as it was a big hit with the kids.
 
Costumes worth mentioing: the CafePress 10th birthday design, bits of bytes, ear of corn, Alan from The Hangover, and sumo wrestler.
 
 
 This month, CafePress turns 10. Woo-hoo! What started as a garage-based start-up in San Leandro, California has grown into a global corporation with locations in San Mateo, California, Louisville, Kentucky and has international websites in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. (After all, unleashing the power of human expression can only go so far in a garage.)
A few words from Fred, our CEO and Co-founder:
“Ten years ago we launched CafePress, and while our most-popular designs may change from day-to-day (depending on the latest talk around water coolers), one thing remains the same: CafePress is a where people come to express their unique personalities. I can’t begin to thank everyone enough for making CafePress such a fun destination for self-expression.”
How about a few fun stats to put it all in perspective?
- We’ve amassed over nine million registered users who make and sell unique T-shirts, bumper stickers, buttons, mugs and more – as a matter of fact they created an online catalog of over 250 million different products.
- On average, the CafePress community adds over 250,000 new products to CafePress everyday. That’s over 10,000 an hour, almost 200 a minute – three new products every second! That’s a whole lot of self-expression!
- Next stop, Paris? If you were to line up all of the T-shirts CafePress has sold, they would stretch from San Francisco to London.
- Wow, talk about sticker shock! With all the bumper stickers CafePress has sold, you could wallpaper the Washington Monument. Six times.
- No laundry until Friday? If you bought one of each available CafePress kid’s garments, you’d have four outfits for every 10-year old in America.
How did we celebrate here in the office? In our own way of course!
We celebrated ’round these parts with a choice of three fun activities: baking class, Go Kart racing, and sailing. All smiles and in our special 10 birthday T-shirts, we boarded our respective buses to take us to our destinations where we spent a few hours enjoying our event. The we all came back together at the Steelhead Brewery for lunch, games, and more fun.
Check out the photos below.
Kitchen on Fire baking class:
“Drinking champagne for breakfast is not generally a workplace activity, but what better way to ring in 10 years with fellow CP’ers? Baking focaccia with the CFO calls for bubbles – especially when she brings the bubbles.” Leslie, CafePress Blogger – 6 years
 
   
Go Kart racing:
“We work fast and we play fast but unlike the track, in the office I don’t have co-workers slamming me into the wall. Well not unless it’s bagel day. Can’t wait to see what the next 10 laps brings here at CafePress.” Randy, Customer Service Director – 3 1/2 years
 
   
Sailing on the Bay:
“Our morning sailing adventure started off on a foggy note, and we were stuck at the dock for an hour waiting for the morning fog to clear. But once we left, we were treated to a great trip on the bay. Looking out over San Francisco, it was fun to think about how far we’ve come and all the opportunity ahead of us. It continues to be a great journey.” Maheesh, founder – 10 years, since the beginning!
 
   
Celebrating 10 years – the CafePress team!
Thanks so much to the CafePress Community that’s made it all possible! Happy Anniversary to you, too.
 When you run a company that’s been unleashing the power of human expression for 10 years, you expect the occasionally offbeat letter. Sometimes we get suggestions for creative merchandise – everything from rubber bracelets to Jesus track pants (the latter being what you think they are – track pants emblazoned with Jesus on them, the concept pitch accompanied by a handmade illustration). Sometimes we get returns that have been… tampered with. Sometimes we get plain old love letters, and sometimes we get edible yummies. But never before have we received a troll. Until now…
A CafePress fan from Norway sent us one of the most intriguing boxes we’ve ever received. In it was: a letter thanking us for our reliability and customer service, a silver Viking ship, multiple Norwegian calendars (including a troll one most awesomely titled “TROLLKALENDER,” which I of course promptly “borrowed” until 1/1/11), and a groovy little troll. That groovy little troll is seen here at left.
The package was regrettably addressed to our CFO, making it very difficult for this blogger to make any quality troll recipient jokes without serious fear of reprisal.
In any case, we’re all really enjoying our wee but mighty troll. According to the accompanying letter, “According to tradition here in Norway these trolls are supposed to [be] living in the deepest and darkest forest. The T-shirts I ordered him didn’t fit so I sent him over to be measured!”
Thank you, funny Norwegian fan. Your little troll has emerged from the dark woods of Norway to sunnier, milder California climates and is currently enjoying the company of a potted plant (we don’t want him to miss the woods), a Rubik’s cube (we don’t want him to get bored), and a stuffed platypus (we don’t want him to be lonely).
And don’t worry – we have 30,000 Troll T-shirts to make him feel relevant and appreciated. Takket være!
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