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Posts Tagged ‘Savvy Entertaining’

Snowflakes

Posted in Christmas, Entertaining at Home, Holidays, tagged , , on December 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »

If you are on an extremely tight holiday budget but want to add some festive cheer to your home, get some white paper, sharp scissors and go to town cutting out snowflakes.  Hang on a string of beads, or even a length of raffia roping for an easy garland. Carry the snowflake theme into decorations for your tree, attach them to mirrors and windows, or use for placements.

Cutting them out is an activity the entire family can join in.

For some ideas on how to cut a snowflake, check out the following:

Cut Out Snowflake

Snowflake Patterns

She Who Should Cut a Few Snowflakes for Fun

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Holiday Memories

Posted in Entertaining at Home, tagged , , , , on December 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »

We just got back from a visit with my Mom and Dad, my brothers and their  families. Being with them this time of year sure brought back a wealth of memories.

The photo above was taken at my aunt and uncle’s home as we gathered with our large extended family for Christmas circa sometime in the early 80s. You can barely see the face of my niece Karla to the left. Mom is sitting next to me on the couch, then my sister with my adorable nephew Matt in the purple shirt. My niece Amanda is the tiny little head in the photo. Be sure to laugh at my ridiculously large plastic barrette. I think I had no less than four pairs in various shapes. Good grief.

Anyway, the holidays were always a time when my parents would gather with their siblings and their children. It always meant a day filled with lots of warm hugs, oodles of good things to eat and presents (not that I got excited about that part, at all).

We knew when a holiday rolled around we would either be hosting or attending a large gathering that could exceed more than 50 people for lunch, quite often with several lingering long past the dark of evening would settle in.

Going to bed happy and exhausted was just all a part of the celebration of the day.

What family traditions to you have? How do you celebrate the day?

She Who Misses those Big Gatherings

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Easy Centerpieces

Posted in Christmas, Entertaining Ideas, Holidays, tagged , , , on December 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »

If you are looking for a stunning centerpiece and are short on time or money, sometimes simple really is best.

Try one single beautiful poinsettia plant surrounded by white tea lights. Go for a plant that looks healthy with lots of flowers. If you are feeling adventurous, choose one of the funky new colors rather than traditional red.

Use a wicker basket and fill of pincones. Tie a tartan plaid bow on the handle of the basket and this says “country christmas” loud and clear.

Fill a pretty footed glass bowl with Christmas balls. Choose silver and gold for an elegant statement or go with colors that tie into your decorating theme like red and white or silver and blue.

If you have two or three cake pedestals of varying heights, stack them together and put either a selection of edible treats on them or place a nice candle on top and wrap holly garland around the other sections.

Wrap three to five boxes of various sizes and pile them casually in the center of the table. Again, stick to silver or gold for elegant, plaid for traditional or go with something that ties in to your decorating scheme.

Whatever you do, have fun with it and remember to focus on your guests a enjoy your time together!

She Who Loves Holiday Parties

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Christmas Tree Decorating Tips

Posted in Christmas, Entertaining at Home, tagged , , , on December 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Here are some quick and easy tips for streamlining your tree decorating process!

If you have an artificial tree, pull on a pair of gloves before you ever pick up an artificial branch. If you are like me, those branches can be really rough on your hands. Mine usually end up looking like I’ve wrestled with a wild cat by the time I get done. I used my rose-pruning gloves and they worked like a charm.

For live trees, put down a plastic tablecloth before you bring in the tree. This will keep any spills, drips or leaks from soaking into your floor. It also provides a convenient way to trap the loose needles and get them outside the house.

Make sure you have plenty of lights for the tree. Instead of winding strands of lights around the tree, weave them back and froth in branches going from the base to the tips. This creates a whole new level of depth to your tree as the lights shine from within and without. Instead of taking light strands around the tree, I take them around back, then loop back toward the front. When you are ready to remove it goes a lot faster and easier.

Hang small, fragile, light-weight ornaments at the top with mid-size ornaments in the middle and the heavy ornaments toward the bottom. If you have little ones or pets that can’t stay out of the tree, make sure your ornaments around the bottom are the non-breakable variety.

Use a big enough tree stand for live trees. If you don’t, you could be subject to the nightmare of your tree tipping over. Believe me when I say the sound of glass balls shattering in the middle of the night is not one to give you visions of sugarplums.

Keep live trees watered so they stay fresh as long as possible. Check the water level every few days.

My last piece of wisdom is to have fun with your decorating. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look perfect – let the kids enjoy their time decorating.

She Who Loves the Scent of Fresh Cut Trees

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