Holiday Decorating Tips
Christmas: Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa you can bring the spirit of the season throughout your home. Change the colors to suit your preference. Christmas isn't just red and green, but can be done in all golds and silvers, or even a rainbow palette for those collectibles. Hanukkah is brilliant in silver and blues. Kwanzaa tends toward a tribal inspired motif with lots of yellows, rusty oranges, and black. Here are some quick tips and a handy guide to dressing up your home for the holidays. Further inspiration is always available at your local retailer, or favorite catalogue source (listing here.) Whether you us real or faux greenery is your choice, certainly the real smells like the season, but must be misted and watered periodically to make it last, it will still leave a mess eventually. But faux greenery must be stored year to year and can take up a lot of room. You can also mix!
§ Wreaths . . . . Wreaths can be used in all manner of places, on both sides of doors, on windows, typically
the exterior, over mantels, and even hung in miniature over the backs of chairs. They can be made with shimmery ornaments, themed picks, small gift packages, bows and ribbons, bells and bears. The only limit is your imagination. Be sure to use proper hangers on doors, clear is best to avoid noticing it. Wreaths can also be lit with battery powered light strings!
§ Garlanding . . . . Whether gracing a balustrade on a stairwell, swagged across a mantel, or framing a
doorway or window, garlanding is an easy way to festoon your home for the holidays. Garlands can have bows added, ribbon woven in, and even ornaments hung from it, or it can be left simply as a green symbol of the season.
§ Mantel Dressing . . . . A favorite here beyond of course the stocking hangars perched with care, is a loose
arrangement of ornaments, heaped across the mantel, with the occasional large cylinder candle to add glint and glimmer when lit. Using a runner beneath these is a good idea for adding stability and to have a decorative edge over the mantel of fabric and tassels.
§ Table Draping . . . . This is the perfect time to bring out all your favorite table dressings, layer them for
greatest effect. There is little prettier than a long skirt to the floor with and wonderful squared topper with deep fringe or beading (you can use scarves or shawls in many instances). If you prefer a cleaner, simpler look, just use the topper without a skirt, and make it a simple linen or cotton, you can dress it up with greenery, ornaments, candles and more. Chair Pads and Jackets . . . If you are going to have extra family or company in, you'll want to consider fun ways to dress up the folding chairs. There are so many great chair pads, even with small skirts now on the market; you have no excuse for bare plastic. You won't want to forget adding some soft oversized bow jackets to the backs of the chairs or even making your own with a fabric slipcover. It doesn't all have to match, mixing it up makes it more interesting and personal.
§ Centerpieces . . . . Mix up your shapes and keep it loose and flexible. I like to use both glass ornaments
mixed with three dimensional Moravian stars in a variety of sizes, and of course I include a wealth of candles on stands above it all. The stars on wire can easily be casually wound around your arrangement for
added sparkle. You can always include mini trees, there are so many on the market perfect for just this reason. Keep your taller pieces toward the middle and if a buffet have this back against one side of the table unless the room is large enough for a two sided spread. If you prefer a sit down, be sure your arrangement is not so tall that folks can't enjoy conversation across the table!
§ Garden Options . . . . This is one of the few legitimate times of year you can overdo it, camp it up, and
verge tackiness. I have to confess to a serious fondness for outdoor Christmas trees, even lining a walkway, and the large blow up Santas! (I think it is because we didn't have these growing up.) I like to think that folks shouldn't need my address to find the party at the holidays, just look for the festive landmarks!
§ Holiday Lights . . . If you stick with all white, even overdoing it can still look almost elegant. Mix your
light styles, icicles with snowflakes on gutter eaves and outdoor banisters. Larger white bulb lights look great pushed well into the Cyprus . Should you desire a herd on the lawn, nodding deer can be a fun statement. Remember this season brings out the kid in all of us! You can even get candy cane lights to line the driveway or walkway to the house. Do what works for you; enjoy what your friends and neighbors will put together. Tacky depends on which side of the door you live on.
Party Ideas:
Ornament Party Bored with the same old ornaments, is the season feeling lackluster? Just moved in and you've never really done a tree before?? Or perhaps you've moved to a bigger home and have multiple trees. A quick and easy fix is to invite friends and neighbors to each bring an ornament to hang on the tree. You can certainly theme it if you desire, or leave the choice wide open. Be sure to provide festive refreshments, and munchies. A great way to start the season and you'll wind up with a fun and personal cache or ornaments to use in future years. Trim the Tree Party I always get overwhelmed when I think of stringing the lights and unpacking all of the ornament boxes. So I've learned to make it a party. Invite some friends in, especially those that will not be doing their own decorating for the holidays (you know they go home or to their inlaws!). Elicit their help in getting the tree wrapped in lights, and well dressed in ornaments. Just remember you don't get to be in charge of where each one is placed, roll with it. Cookie Swap These are popular and a great way to get some baked goodies in for holiday snacking. The variety of cookies and brownies depends on the number of folks invited. Each person bakes a dozen for each guest and everyone swaps when they get there! Including the recipes is always an added bonus, and it can be a great chance to show off your talent in creative packaging. With so many mini tins, plastic containers, jars and much more, that becomes a gift in itself.
White Elephant Party So truly, when you get down to it, most of us don't need another thing! But we are sure to have some questionable treasures from years past, that we'd prefer to pass on. To each guest brings a well wrapped White Elephant gift and places it under the tree. There is a drawing to see who goes first, and that individual selects the present they desire, and opens it. The next person has a choice about either taking that gift from them or getting a new gift. If they take the gift, then the first person to open gets to choose another gift. This continues around the room till all gifts are open and everyone is stuck with a new White Elephant. Usually someone brings a good bottle of wine or a nice coffee table book and those get swapped around the room all night, as no one wants to wind up with the fart machine, real estate text book, or lime green porcelain cachepot. It can be a lot of laughs.
Favorite Catalogue Resources:
Grandinrod Frontgate Sincerely Yours Horchow Crate and Barrel Metropolitan Museum of Art Chicago Art Institute Signals
Favorite Retailers:
Pier I Imports Cost Plus World Market Bed Bath and Beyond Linens and Things Z Gallerie
Favorite Art and Craft Resources:
Michael's Hobby Lobby Star Wholesale