DECORATING INSTRUCTIONS

The goal is to bring cheer to the Elderly recipients when seeing your decorated brown bags during our deliveries! For illustration inspiration from fellow contributors, click here.  Follow the instructions below:

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DO'S: 

1. Once you've picked up your brown bags and are ready to decorate at home, write "Heart of Dinner" and its Chinese translation "愛心餐" legibly, clearly, with large characters/letters in black/dark ink (refer to illustration.) Please be sure to use a black sharpie marker for this part! ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

2. Please note that volunteers supply their own materials and supplies for the actual decoration. When illustrating and decorating around "Heart of Dinner 愛心餐", please use bright, vivid, cheerful colors. Tip: Some art supplies may not show up as vividly on our kraft brown bags. Below are recommendations from our volunteer community for art supplies that produce bright, vivid, intense, and bold colors on the kraft bags!  

   • For NYC locals, we partnered with Gorillas, a service that deliveries groceries in minutes, where they have made art materials available for ease of purchase in their app that can be delivered to NYC locals on-demand. For bag illustrations, you can order Kraft brown bags that match Heart of Dinner's bag dimensions. If you choose to purchase the brown bags and art supplies via Gorillas, please click here to be brought to the app and use the following codes that they are offering to our community to offset fees:

     • PICKUPSMALL - $5 off total on in-store pick-up orders under $15 (offsets applicable fees). See full list of store addresses below.

     • PICKUPFREE - offsets the delivery fee for in-store warehouse pick-up on orders over $15. See full list of store addresses below. 

     • HOD20 - $20 off your first delivery order over $30+ (cannot be combined with other offers).

   • For those living in/outside of NYC who would like to purchase bright and boldly colored art materials that will stand out on Kraft brown bags, we are often asked which products to purchase on Amazon, so this encouraged us to sign Heart of Dinner up for an Amazon affiliate account. Any purchase you make via the below links, at no additional cost to you, there will be a small 3% commission that will be directed to Heart of Dinner:

     • Best option for bright, bold colors that stand out and glide on easily!

     • Acrylic paint pens that provide very bright colors!

     • Another option for great acrylic paint pens!

     • Acrylic paint set including brush

     • Colored markers that have vibrant and strong colors​

3. Be creative and draw/decorate images that are uplifting and recognizable. Examples: culturally thoughtful references, flowers, food, birds, etc. For exemplary samples of artwork that have deeply touched and moved our Elderly, click here and here and here.

4. A tremendous thank you for your generosity and your time. We deeply appreciate you, and can't wait to see what you'll create!

5. Be sure to drop off your decorated bags during operating hours of the participating location listed below (make sure to check their open hours.) 

6. For mail-in for decorated bags, scroll to the bottom of the page.​

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DON'T's: 

1. Do not use markers or any art materials that do not show up clearly and bright on brown bags. If it is difficult to see the art work on the brown bags, we unfortunately will not be able to use the decorated bags. 

2. Note for businesses, corporations, organizations, affiliations: do NOT add your brand, logo, or tagline on the Heart of Dinner bags. These care packages are not for marketing purposes and should only serve one purpose: carry out Heart of Dinner's mission to counter food insecurity and isolation through our care packages. Bags received with any branding, logos, taglines will NOT be used. 

3. ​NO political messages, messaging, affiliation. Any hint of politics in the decorations and your bags will not be used. ​​​​