From all of us here at Office 365, we’d like to wish you a very Merry Christmas! This will be the last blog from me to you, until next year, but what a year we’ve had this year! After re-launching our site, we’ve been dedicated to giving each and everyone one of our products their own little write up so that our customers have all the information they need at their finger tips. Of course this is an exceptionally long task and it is not yet complete, however you will already be enjoying the new easier to navigate site and as ever would love to hear your feedback.

Today is your absolute last chance to order from us for delivery before Christmas, however we absolutely must stress that for all important, urgent orders, please call our team on 0870 766 1624 to check stock availability; we absolutely hate to disappoint our customers! If you’re a first time buyer at Office 365, we’re offering you a very festive 10% of your order, plus for all our customers, if your order comes to more than £40, we’ll give you free, super fast, delivery!

Hurry, while stocks last, we’re giving you tonnes of tasty treats! Until December 30^th we’re giving away these chocolatey treats free, on all orders over £60! They’d make perfect festive treats around the office, or alternatively, take them home to fill your children’s stockings! This is just our way of saying thank you for sticking with us, through site re-launch and all!

Speaking of Christmas, we have so many great stocking filler ideas here! From calculators to pencil sharpeners, staplers and hole punches, you can even find a fantastic assortment of artist & graphic supplies! Is the recipient and organised stationery fiend or maybe they’re the arts and crafts type? We have chocolate and sweets, Christmassy biscuits and more so that you can give those tasty festive treats, these are also popular for boosting morale to those working in the office over the Christmas period! Fill their stockings with erasers and correction fluid, tapes, pens and pencils; when one door opens so do many more! Within pens you’ll find those fancy types in chrome, metal and gold, highlighters in wallets and desk sets, fineliners  for kids and more! Our snazzy gel pens are great for kids who want to accessorise their pencil cases with the coolest stationery, but there’s so many more, just come along and see for yourselves!

So a very Merry Christmas from us all here and a Happy New Year, when our site will be complete with an abundance of information on all of your favourite products! Remember to call for urgent requirements and remember to tell us what your little ones thought of their Santa treats!

We have just 10 days to go before Christmas, don’t you think it’s time you get into action! Those ideas you’ve been planning, now’s the time to put them into motion. Many people use Office 365 are their go to for Christmas presents; as the cheapest online office and stationary retailer (backed up with our price match guarantee), we have a huge assortment of different products which are not just aimed at offices.

We have a great selection of surprising items such as artists supplies; pastels, watercolours, organisers, headphones, DAB radios, tins of biscuits, special chocolates and more. Many come to us to create their own Christmas hampers.

Here at Office 365 we have all the tools you could need to make a stylish, exciting and fun Christmas hamper for just about anyone! Simply follow the steps below.

1)      Choose your box – We have so many different boxes to choose from here, in various strengths and sizes. All you have to do is pick the most appropriate size and strength for your Christmas hamper.

2)      Case sealing tape – Now that you have your box, you must seal the bottom for protection. You may be packing some heavy items into your box, so make sure you apply appropriate tape to add strength and durability.

3)      Find your protective foam filling – Choosing a loose filling such as this one means that the recipient can rummage around in the box, easily retrieving whatever gifts lye hidden inside! You know that your purchases are safe and well hidden too!

4)      Choose your gifts! – Now for the fun part, you can have your own bit of fun, sifting through our site choosing yourself some colourful little treats and surprises for the recipient.

Popular hamper choices include mechanical pencils, electric pencil sharpeners, chocolate biscuits, good tea, correction fluid, highlighter pens and felt tipped pens, diaries, calendars, staplers, chocolates, printer cartridges and so much more! Take a look through our site; you may well be pleasantly surprised at our staggering selection of everyday items and fabulous gifts!

Remember, right now for first time customers, we’re offering a generous 10% off their orders! And then to add that further little treat, we’d also like to throw in some freebies. Until the 30^th December, we’re giving away free chocolates for all orders over £60!

It started out as a small pot of fluid, white and thick in consistency, with the excellent ability to ‘block out’ whatever it was applied over. Complete with an applicator brush cleverly combined with the screw lid, these little bottles were often found in pencil cases, drawers, pencil pots and offices. We call it correction fluid – however with great restraint! It takes great effort to remember before speaking to call this fluid by its correct term and not by the brand that so cleverly develop the fluid today – Tipp-ex!

We are no longer able to group the product under ‘correction fluid’, as the market has expanded and now develops a great range of correction products to include rollers, dots and even pens! Tipp-ex has become so popular that in British and Irish English, it has become a trademark; we no longer say “can I borrow the correction fluid”, we now say, “pass the tippex”!

It was in 1951 that the first correct fluid was invented, but do you know who invented it?

Bette Nesmith Graham (the mother of Mike Nesmith, guitarist/singer in the popular 1960s pop band The Monkees) invented the first correction fluid in her kitchen. She worked as a typist and so of course was irritated by making mistakes which meant she would need to start her piece all over again! So, starting on a basis of tempera paint she mixed with a common kitchen blender and called the fluid ‘Mistake Out’. She then started to provide her co-workers with small green bottles on with the brand’s name was displayed.

She sold the product from her house for 17 years and the name was changed to Liquid Paper shortly after. By 1968, the product was profitable, and in 1979 the Liquid Paper Corporation was sold to the Gillette Corporation for $47.5 million with royalties! Later in 2000, Liquid Paper was acquired by Newell Rubbermaid, however in some regions of the world, Liquid Paper is endorsed by Papermate.

Thankfully we no longer need to lean on the old brush/pot design as in time correction fluid would become gloopy, around the lid would collect old fluid which would flake whenever the lid was unscrewed and the applicator brush although precise, was not quite small enough to cover mistakes discreetly. These days many of us have moved onto either correction rollers which apply a strip of instantly dry, flat ‘cover up’ which looks very neat and tidy, or correction pens which release the white fluid when the small ball tip is applied to paper. These pens allow for precision correction over individual lettering.

Here at Office 365 we have a huge assortment of different correctors and erasers so that you are able to make the choice which best suits your individual needs. However, what we believe makes us so unique is our tiny prices and consistent special offers, plus our speedy delivery and friendly customer service. Why not try ordering your correction fluid from us today and see how we can save you money, stress and time!

I ordered 49 bottles of Tipp-ex today….BIG mistake!

Not long now until the new school term starts and it’s not just the kids who need to get organised! As a teacher, professor or lecturer, you’ll need to make sure you have all the right supplies to perform your job well. This will mean checking current stock levels and checking the condition of the supplies you currently have. Do you have enough flip chart pads? Are you in need of whiteboard cleaner to refresh your boards for the new term? Have your whiteboard markers run dry? Maybe you need to replenish your OHP film stock or could you be ‘old school’ and require chalk? Whatever it is you need to get September off to a flying to start, you’ll find it here at Office 365!

Take our Whiteboard Markers for example; we have a whole range of different brands available such as Bic, Paper Mate, Sharpie and Staedtler, however the widest choice comes from our Bic brand with an assortment of colours such as black, green, blue, red and assorted packs. You will also find bullet and chisel tips, as well as retractable and low odour options. All of our whiteboard supplies are available at the cheapest UK prices on the net, we’re so confident of this in fact that we back this up with our price match guarantee!

Not only do we boast the widest choice and the smallest prices, but we can assure you that all orders placed before 4:30pm will be despatched for next day UK delivery! Please note that for urgent orders we recommend you phone to check stock! Now accepting Pay Pal for your added security, Office 365 are offering all our new customers and added 10% off their first orders with us, plus any orders placed between the 27^th August 2012 and the 4^th September 2012, that exceed £60 are illegible for a free gift! Please see our home page for more information!

Remember, Office 365 are also the favourite for stocking up on all your children’s stationery supplies too. So when the time comes and your child is moving up into top school, make sure they have all the essential stationery to get them off to a good start. Check list includes:

• Calculator
• Colouring supplies
• Pen (and spares!)
• Eraser & correction fluid
• Pencils
• Sharpener
• Ruler
• Geometry set
• Compass
• Binder (and pockets)
• Lined & plain paper
• Highlighters
• Stapler (not essential)

Feeling creative?  Let your imagination soar off into the clouds and build your own hot air balloon!

Using products available from Office 365 why not try your hand at these?

For the balloon, cut strong paper, with 5 Star Scissors or use soft card and cut using a Stanley Cutting Knife, making hexagonal shapes of equal size.  Using a choice of Sellotape, staples, or labels, join the hexagonal shapes together to form your balloon shape. If you’re using paper you could even cover it with Tipp Ex to give it more strength. To make the basket at the bottom of your hot air balloon, you can take a Robinson Young Insulated Vending Cup, make two holes in each side and insert a long strong length of Smartbox Pro Medium Polypropylene Twine, in each side, making sure to tie a knot  so that the string stays in place. Make two holes in the balloon and attach the opposite end of string into the balloon to join the balloon to the basket. You now have your basic hot air balloon and the fun can begin!

You can now decorate your balloon with the many choices available here with Office 365; let your imagination go wild! Decorate your hot air balloon with Avery Packet of Labels, or use Lakeland Colourthin Colouring Pencils or Derwent Academy Oil Pastels to make your balloon really take off! Once finished you can hang your hot air balloon and admire, and use the paper cup as storage for pens or any other office stationary of your choice.

For a different take on this idea, substitute the paper balloon for a small refuse bag, take outside and drop from a height and watch it catch the wind and float gently down. What a great way to pass the time at home! Alternatively, if you get bored in the office between phone calls, you could stand on your chair and drop your refuse bag balloon and watch it as it falls gracefully to the ground. Please note, if you get in trouble with the boss, it wasn’t our idea! Please we really shouldn’t be recommending standing on chairs, so do go careful!

After all this excitement, you may then want to go for a lie down….but on the other hand, you may want to try hot air ballooning for real?! If so, why not head on over to Adventure Balloons where you can enjoy the real thing for as little as £89 per person!

Tipp-ex has become so popular that it is now an English generalised trademark! We say to Tipp-ex or Tipp-ex out mistakes when sometimes the product we’re using isn’t even made by Tipp-ex! There really is no point however is choosing any other product than Tipp-ex, the quality just isn’t the same. With new products on the market like correction tape and rollers, it’s even easier than ever before to neatly erase those mistakes. Take a look at this brilliantly creative ad campaign by Tipp-Ex that in fact, illustrates how to Tipp-ex away actions even and also how the correction tape works! :)

I ordered seven bottles of Tipp-ex today, BIG mistake!

Did You Know?

• Tipp-Ex is the leading European correction products brand
• Tipp-Ex is the tenth most recognised German brand name in the world
• Tipp-Ex has been part of the BIC group, and a trademark for correction products since 1997

Take a look at the Tipp-ex Correction Tape featured to your right, one of the most advanced correction methods available from the brand.

• Second generation correction tape
• Superior tape quality giving better coverage
• Easy to use
• Instant rewrite
• 6mm wide
• 24% off!

Although Tipp-ex is a Bic brand, it was not invented by them. In fact Bette Nesmith Graham, the Mother of Michael Nesmith from the band ‘The Monkees’ was the inventor and originally called the product Mistake Out.

The Green Bit

As part of the Bic group, Tipp-Ex has always been committed to responsible business practices. Today, Bic are aware of the rising importance of sustainable development as an opportunity to reaffirm that commitment and the values that are the foundation of their identity. That’s why since 2003, Bic have been involved a complete sustainable development program.

BIC produces approximately 90 percent of its products in its own factories. The Group has 24 factories, 18 of which are in developed countries (IDH indicator). The BIC Group “Environment, Health and Safety” policy contains a simple, but far-reaching commitment to “Operate and maintain our facilities to prevent, or at least minimize, risks to the health and safety of our employees, subcontractors and surrounding communities”. Their ongoing efforts to fulfill this commitment guide their daily business.

Tipp-ex, one of the greatest wonders of the stationery world! Without it, our letters would be scruffy, our school work scribbled and those little pin marks in our paint work would be visible! But where did it come from and who on earth discovered it? Well it may surprise you to know that a woman named Bette Nesmith Graham who is the Mother of Michael Nesmith from the band ‘The Monkees’ was the inventor of our beloved Tipp-ex.

One afternoon in 1956, aware of her son’s talents and of his success to come, Ms Nesmith Graham decided that she’d quite like a bit of the lime light herself. Using her kitchen blender, she concocted her secret ingredients to create a product which would change our lives forever. Bette Nesmith Graham created a product which she named ‘Mistake Out’ and from there started up her own home business producing and selling the stuff. She later changed the products name to ‘Liquid Paper’. This invention helped Ms Nesmith Graham cover typing mistakes that she made as a secretary, and no doubt helped her son to cover his lyrical and musical mistakes too!

Well today the invention has progressed further into the fantastic and innovative concept we call correction tape, or correction tape rollers.  Feast your eyes on the Tipp-ex Pocket Mouse featured to your right.

• Disposable correction roller
• Fits comfortably in the palm of the hand
• Instantly dry tape
• 4.2mm width
• Tape length: 9 metres
• Packed 10

Free pack of pens features;

• Hexagonal transparent barrel for controlled, smooth and smudge-free writing
• Brass tip with tungsten carbide ball
• New finger comfort grip for extra comfort
• 1.0mm tip gives a line width of 0.4mm
• Offer available from Oct-Dec 2010

All available for just £23.73! That’s a generous 28% off the RRP!

The Green Bit

As part of the Bic group, Tipp-Ex has always been committed to responsible business practices. Today, Bic are aware of the rising importance of sustainable development as an opportunity to reaffirm that commitment and the values that are the foundation of their identity. That’s why since 2003, Bic have been involved a complete sustainable development program.

BIC produces approximately 90 percent of its products in its own factories. The Group has 24 factories, 18 of which are in developed countries (IDH indicator). The BIC Group “Environment, Health and Safety” policy contains a simple, but far-reaching commitment to “Operate and maintain our facilities to prevent, or at least minimize, risks to the health and safety of our employees, subcontractors and surrounding communities”. Their ongoing efforts to fulfil this commitment guide their daily business.

For 2006, the BIC Group quantified the direct emissions of greenhouse gases from its manufacturing plants. These emissions are Carbon Dioxide (CO2) resulting from the combustion of fossil fuels, primarily natural gas and fuel oil, by the manufacturing plants. These fuels are mainly used to heat buildings. The total amount of direct greenhouse gas emissions was estimated at 13 thousand tons of CO2 equivalent. The BIC Group has directed all BIC factories to establish an Environmental management System compliant with an internal Group standard. Individual factories are free to exceed this Group standard, where appropriate, as long as they maintain a focus on continuous improvement of environmental performance. ISO 14001 certification is not implemented in the whole Group but only for selected factories that have chosen this way of making progress. However, they do not promote nor forbid the usage of this certification.

All in all, reductions in hazardous waste, CO2 emissions, raw material usage, energy usage, water usage, non-hazardous waste, plus noise and odour have decreased to a minimum and will continue to do so for the life of the company.