For us, Super Bowl Sunday is all about the food: Kicking off with towers of sloppy nachos, huddling around messy, sticky chicken wings, tossing chips in sour cream, hiking up our sleeves to better reach the last potato chip... At the end of the fourth quarter, there’s one heck of a kitchen cleanup.
This year, we’re making it easier on ourselves and using paper – but not just any disposable cups, plates or napkins. We’re using ones that actually look good, because even though we’re busy yelling at the television and at our kids to wipe the bean dip off the couch, we still think food tastes better when it’s presented well.
And here at Mouth, we’re suckers for a good story of a little team that could. And few beat the humble way the now global stationery and party ware brand Meri Meri kicked off.
Looking for something to do while raising her family, Meredithe Stuart-Smith (Meri Meri was her childhood nickname) started making cards at her kitchen table in L.A. in 1985 with nothing but scissors, pens and a pot of glitter. When stationery stores in the area bought them all up, Meredithe enlisted the help of some other moms. They set to work at their own kitchen tables, and in 1987, she presented a small range of handmade cards at the National Stationery Show in New York. When heavy-hitting stores like Bergdorf Goodman came calling, the brand took off and grew to accommodate the incredible demand! Now Meredithe oversees a studio of more than twenty designers and artists in the United States and the United Kingdom (where she moved in 1997).
Her paper products are sensible yet stylish, with just the right touch of fancy (like her scallop-edged Kraft Paper Cocktail Napkins and Plates, Gold Dipped Wooden Utensils and Paper Cups, for example).
And it’s surely no accident that nothing is overly gender-specific or holiday-specific, so you can stock up on cups, napkins and Paper Placemats and use them year-round. In fact, it’s the type of party ware that brings on the party just by setting it out.
Is it just us, or did the idea of Super Bowl Sunday cleanup just become a whole lot easier to handle?
Score!