Blog Posts

Holiday Cards & Newsletters

One of the joys of the season is receiving holiday greetings via letters and cards. It’s always exciting to receive happy mail here at Windsong Place Apartments in Williamsville, NY. Today we have tips to help you get your cards and packages in the mail, plus ideas about how to display the cards you receive. Sending Holiday Cards Check over your greeting card list (if you don’t have one, make one) and make updates to it as necessary. It may take some time, but keeping your list current pays off in the long run. Decide whether you are sending cards, letters, or both, and who will get what. Be prepared. Before you sit down to add handwritten notes in each of your cards, gather up everything you’ll need so you don’t have to stop when you’re on a roll to find an address or the roll of stamps. You may also want an extra pen, some fun stickers, and photos if you are planning on including them with your card. Start sooner rather than later. What type of greeting you send is dependent on how much time you have to devote to the task. Individual letters tucked inside cards are wonderful, but it does take time. At the very least, write a note on the card you are sending — it’s a personal touch that lets your recipient know you were truly thinking about them. Another option is to do a newsletter, the same for everyone, with a personal note at the end. Lisa Rabasca Roepe shares how to write a holiday letter that doesn’t make people cringe , which can point you in the right direction for content. If you are writing notes in your cards, here are a few tips to follow: — Make your message unique. Write something that will make your card stand out from all the others. Perhaps bring up something the two of you share, for instance. — Add a compliment. Who doesn’t like a compliment? Take a moment to think of why this person is important to you and tell them! — Speak from the heart. It’s your words that set your card apart from the printed verse, no matter how carefully it was chosen. Your words create emotional connections. Displaying Holiday Cards — Make a holiday card garland. String garland or miniature lights across a wall or mantle and use clips or clothespins to attach cards. — Use magnets to position cards to the refrigerator or any other metal surface in a pleasing pattern. — Put the cards in clear plastic covers in a decorated binder and leave it in a convenient place for people to browse. — Put the cards among the branches of your tree. They can add a festive touch with their holiday colors. — Put your cards in a wicker basket so they are easily accessible for family members to read. Add a cheery holiday bow to the basket for a festive touch. For more ideas, check out these 15 ways to display your Christmas cards . We hope you enjoy all the cards you receive this year, and we want to wish everyone in our apartment community happy holidays! Thanks for reading today’s post.

Decadent Desserts for the Holidays

Nothing says it’s the holidays like the aroma of gingerbread and peppermint coming from the kitchen of your Windsong Place apartment. Today we are sharing some decadent dessert recipes to make and share for the holidays, to go along with your favorites, of course. So head out to your favorite Williamsville, NY grocery store to stock up on any ingredients you may not have on hand and do some dessert making this month. Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting from Creme de la Crumb If you’re not the biggest fan of gingerbread cookies, try these gingerbread cupcakes! The author of the recipe says they come out of oven fluffy and moist, and the sweet cream cheese frosting perfectly complements the festive ginger and nutmeg flavoring of the cupcake. Peppermint Bark from Sally’s Baking Addiction Peppermint is one of the most classic flavors that can grace our homes during this season, but candy canes, while delightful and delicious, don’t always satisfy a craving for a more substantial treat. So incorporate crushed peppermint candy canes onto melted and cooled layers of white and semi-sweet chocolate, let them set, and eat to your heart’s content! Cranberry Christmas Cake from Barefeet in the Kitchen If you like cranberries, sweet, buttery cake; and a cake recipe that doesn’t call for icing, this is a must-try recipe. “This might be the only cake I’ve ever tasted that basically screams holidays to me,” the blogger of this recipe says. Make this for any holiday this season (or even into next year; we won’t judge). You can even make it gluten-free! Jam-Filled Snowball Cookies from My San Francisco Kitchen What better way to celebrate snow than to make a treat that makes you feel like you’re a kid tossing snowballs at your friends again? These snowball cookies can be filled with jam or Nutella, so make them your own. Just don’t forget to coat them in powdered sugar so you can channel the love of snow into a delicious treat that no one will want to throw at anyone. Baking for the holiday is a time-honored tradition! We love these 20 perfect-for-winter dessert recipes . Put a few on some plates and hand them out to your neighbors or loved ones for a winter offering. We hope you enjoy whatever you make!

Ideas for the Long Holiday Weekend

Thanksgiving is coming up soon and for many of us, that means a long weekend. Thursday is accounted for, with a turkey dinner with all the trimmings, but what about the rest of the weekend? Today, the Windsong Place Apartments Blog has ideas about how to fill the time, whether you stay at your apartment here in Williamsville, NY or you’re out of town. Read on for some great ideas. Gaming Did you know that the week of Thanksgiving is National Games and Puzzles Week ? Thanksgiving weekend is all about gathering with family and friends, so what better time than now to pull out some games? Set up your old favorites or try something new ! Day Trips Be a tourist in your own backyard this weekend. Here’s a list of great stores in the area, courtesy of Trip Advisor . Get started with planning a fun adventure here in the Williamsville area today. Service Projects Thanksgiving is all about gratitude, and when we are grateful for what we have, we naturally want to share our good fortune with others. Volunteer Match has a multitude of opportunities to serve in the Williamsville, NY area. Check it out and spend some time volunteering. Black Friday Shopping Black Friday shopping is a popular day for lots of Americans. Before you head out to find the absolute best deals, take a look at this advice from Consumer Reports: Top 10 Black Friday Shopping Tips . And there you have it — ideas for the long holiday weekend! Of course, you can always opt to be a couch potato and simply relax all weekend. That’s not a bad idea either. Whatever you do, enjoy the weekend! Share what you’ll be doing this weekend inside or outside of your Williamsville, NY apartment by leaving a comment below. Thanks for reading today’s post.

#Giving Tuesday

In November, our thoughts turn toward Thanksgiving. We’re not only talking about the Thursday feast, but also about giving thanks for all we are blessed to have. In the spirit of being grateful and sharing the joy, the Windsong Place Apartments Blog is sharing some info about Giving Tuesday with members of our apartment community here in Williamsville, NY. About Giving Tuesday officially began back in 2012 as a movement to support and celebrate the act of giving worldwide. Giving Tuesday is celebrated on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving (in the U.S.), Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. Purpose Giving Tuesday started as an effort to help bring the focus of the holidays back on what they are really about — giving. This initiative is worldwide and seeks to reinstate the habit of giving in a world that has become so focused on receiving and being concerned only about oneself. The seemingly small act of giving has the power to unify and build lasting relationships all over the world. Become Involved There are multiple ways to become involved in Giving Tuesday. One way is to do acts of service throughout the day and post them on social media with #GivingTuesday. Post your #UNselfie for #GivingTuesday on social media to show how you are giving back to the community. You can also visit givingtuesday.org to find local nonprofit businesses near you to volunteer at. You can also donate to one of the many charities associated with the Giving Tuesday movement. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in our apartment community. We hope you find a meaningful way to give. We think your presence in our community is a gift! Thanks for reading today’s post. Next time we’ll have some suggestions for what to do over the long holiday weekend. Do you have a Giving Tuesday experience that you’d like to share? Leave a comment below!

Escape! For Halloween

October is the perfect month to host a game night at Windsong Place Apartments in Williamsville, NY, and we’ve got some games that add the perfect touch: escape room games at home. Did you know that there are a few board games that will turn your apartment into an escape room? In case you didn’t know, escape rooms are one of the latest trends spreading across America. The gist is you’re trapped in a locked room — but it isn’t as eerie as it sounds. An escape room is a physical adventure where people solve different puzzles in order to escape. There are different themed rooms, each with secrets, and they’re usually dressed up to look like different locations — a prison cell, an old attic, or maybe a space station. With only a certain amount of time to escape, players must work together in order to succeed. This video explains it well and specifically refers to an escape room game in Seattle, but the principles apply to all escape room activities. While you could schedule a trip to a local escape room venue , we think it would be just as much fun to play one of these “escape room” themed board games right in your apartment. Unlock! This is a tense escape themed game for 1-6 players, ages 10 and up. Enjoy playing three different scenarios: enter a secret laboratory to obtain a mysterious serum, thwart the plans of a despicable professor, and overcome traps on a dangerous island. “Unlock! is a series of cooperative card-based escape adventures for up to six players. Each Unlock! game consists of sixty cards depicting objects, maps, and puzzles that can be activated, solved, or combined in an effort to access other cards and areas. The free companion app tracks the time allotted to win the game, while also offering hints and unlocking new, and necessary, elements. When the players believe they have figured out the code to escape each adventure, they will input the number into the app and escape the danger, or lose even more time in finding the real sequence.” Escape Room: The Game Consisting of four adventures, Escape Room: The Game turns your apartment into a real life escape room. Once you’ve played one of the adventures, you can’t play it again. Good thing they’re releasing more! “Take the viral social experience of Escape Rooms to the comfort of your own home and for a fraction of the cost that you would pay! Included in this game are 4 unique 60-minute escape room puzzles that will test your cranial skills. Use images, gears, words, keys, shapes, maps and more to solve the three stages within each escape room.” What escape room themed board game are you most excited to play? Thanks for reading today. Happy Halloween!

Maintenance Is King

Windsong Place Apartments in Williamsville, NY does apartment living right! We provide amenities and services designed to make our community the best in WNY. Our maintenance team is a huge part of what makes living at Windsong such a pleasure, and in today’s post we want to highlight September’s Maintenance Appreciation Month. We celebrated last month by providing gifts and prizes, including time off and new swag, to our team. We also made food part of the celebration by providing breakfast, lunch, and snacks for our team. We have an amazing maintenance team. Here are a few things about them to note: — Going above and beyond for our residents is the norm for our team. — They accept same-day work orders. — Our team provides 24/7 emergency maintenance. — Our whole community benefits from the dedication and hard work of our rock-star maintenance team. We wouldn’t be the same without them! We agree with what Peter P. has to say in the following review . Our maintenance team is responsive! “Everytime I needed to connect with the Windsong staff or maintenance team, they were always very responsive and got back to me immediately. The apartments were clean and safe. . . . The location is ideal being so close to Main Street, Transit Rd and proximity to the airport 33 fwy. I liked the two entrances one into the building and one through your apartment door. The AC Heat and fireplace works like a charm and helped us out during the winter months. The internet cable package was phenomenal. . . . Megan and the leasing team were wonderful to work with and it was an easy application process. I highly recommend the Windsong Place Apts in Williamsville. I only moved because I relocated work and wanted to move to downtown Buffalo to be closer to my new job.” What is your favorite thing about living here at Windsong Place Apartments? Please share in the comments. Next time we’ll have ideas about Halloween celebrations to share. Checkout our facebook page for photos of the celebrations !