Everyday Celebrating

Christmas: The Debrief!

Well, it's over.  Just like that.  Like any other holiday or event, you plan and plan and then it seems to be over in a split second.

Today's Creative Blog featured this fabulous site which give 5 easy tips to debrief and prepare for next Christmas.

I know what you're thinking... NEXT Christmas??  Well, now is the perfect time to write down your thoughts.  What worked and what didn't.  Maybe something you tried this year and ended up being a fabulous addition to your celebration or a recipe that was awful and you want to make sure doesn't appear on your table next year.  Maybe include decor that you want to replace next year or a special trick that was needed to get that tree stand to work.  

This site has a downloadable debriefing page where it asks questions about your holiday and has space for you to give your thoughts.  It also has downloadable planner pages to begin getting ready for next year's holiday.  

I know.. I know... you're thinking I'm nuts.  As a professional event planner, debriefing is one of our biggest tools, especially for successful annual events.  We include things like did we have enough food?  What food was left over - meaning, what food did our guests not care for.  What comments did we receive from guests - something they especially liked for instance maybe the time of the gathering or how early they received their invitation so they could plan their calendar or a drink or dish they particularly loved.  Lots of these things are applicable for Christmas.  

And sure, there will be many of you that fly by the seat of your pants and think I'm anal OCD. LOL  Then there are the rest of us that love the planning and attention to detail and knowing we get to do it all again next year!

 

Last minute gifts!

So Christmas is THIS WEEK!  Have you heard?  As with every year, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seems to roll like a runaway train and before you know it, you're smack dab in the middle of Christmas week and may have forgotten a gift or two.

And who doesn't like to receive something fabulous delivered right to their door?

Recently, I was sent some fabulous gifts by the lovely team over at 1-800-Flowers and I want to share with you that these gifts are not your everyday fruitcake.  These are amazing gifts that not only make an impression... they are amazing in taste as well!

First up, Cheryl's cookies.  Yes, they are a box of cookies, BUT... they come beautifully wrapped and taste wonderful.

I opened the box to find the cookies presented in this.  Beautiful, right?  A sparkly box.  I guarantee you will want to keep the box, even.  It's THAT beautiful up close.

Open up the box... each cookie is wrapped individually!    Buttercream frosted! yum!

Cheryl's cookies are a perfect and affordable gift.  And, Cheryl's has a cookie club!  Send someone the gift of cookies all year!

The next item I received was the sleigh gift basket.  I wanted to show you how this arrives because don't you always wonder when you order a gift, how it's presented and if they take enough care in packaging it?  

The sleigh basket is rather large.  And the above picture is what it looked like when I received it.  It came in a large box and inside the box, the basket was braced with dividers. This basket wasn't going anywhere!  (Just how you want it!)  The basket itself was shrink wrapped and draped with a beautiful gold and red bow.  It literally looked JUST like the photo on the website:

The sleigh is beautiful and can be reused as hoilday decor for years to come. It would make a great serving piece!  Drap a beautiful napkin inside and serve holiday rolls or Christmas morning cinnamon rolls out of?   Or reuse it for a wonderful holiday centerpiece!

If you're stumped over what to buy someone, feel like you're running out of time but want something special and beautiful?  Just hop over to 1-800-Flowers or 1-800-Baskets.  They will be shipping even on December 23 to get them to your loved ones on for the holiday.  Below are the order deadlines.  Make it easy on yourself and order NOW and know that something beautiful will be delivered straight to their door!

And guess what?  MyDaily.com is offering 25% off code that can be used before December 31. Just use the code "Daily25deal" for 25% off your order.

1-800-BASKETS.COM (Christmas delivery on orders placed by 1 p.m. EST Dec. 23)

 

Fannie May Fine Chocolates (Christmas delivery on orders placed by 11 a.m. EST Dec. 23)

 

Cheryl’s Baked Goods (Christmas delivery on orders placed by 3 p.m. EST Dec. 23)

 

The Popcorn Factory (Christmas delivery on orders placed by 3 p.m. EST Dec. 23)

 

DIY: Ribbon Wall

This year, in one room of my house, I constructed a ribbon wall to use as a backdrop for Candy Cane Christmas.

The frame was built out of 1/2 inch pvc.  After measuring the area I wanted to cover, I ended up with 4  10 ft pvc pieces.  I cut them to roughly 6 ft.  And made a square by using the coordinating T joints. 

From there, just hot glue strips of ribbon onto the top pole.

I'll warn you, you're going to go through quite a bit of ribbon, especially for a 6 ft wall like this was.  I stockpiled ribbon for some time to use for this project - finding ribbon on sale and even scoring big rolls of red velvet ribbon at Goodwill.  Tip:  if you're making one last minute for Christmas or you want to make one for next year, Michaels has their hoilday ribbon 60% off right now!  Plus a 20% off coupon here.

The ribbon lays flat.  Unfortunately, in taking these photos, the heat was blowing and the ribbon is moving. 

Make sure to trim the bottom of the ribbon to the length you need. You want the ribbon to lay flat and straight and not buckle at the bottom.

This ribbon wall concept would work great for other occasions as well, backdrops for birthday parties, showers and weddings.  They would be beautiful outside with the ribbons blowing in the breeze!  This red and white one would even be great for Valentine's Day!

Ribbon walls create a great dimension and texture to a focal point!  Try one!

 

3 easy ideas from BHG

I love these easy ideas from Better Homes and Gardens. Easy and still doable in the final days before Christmas!

1.  Hanging holiday tree

2.  Holiday art.  For this, they suggest canvas but you know what else would work?  Just cover the lids of shirt boxes.

3.  Giftbox decor/centerpiece.  These are so easy to make!

I made something similar to use as a centerpiece for a baby shower. In this case, just stack up the boxes and hot glue together.

Live Chat on all things Christmas!

Want to chat about all things holidays?  Cards, plans, decorating, food and gifts!

Join me for a LIVE chat TONIGHT Wednesday, December 15 at 8pm EST in the Blog Frog Seasonal Community!

Anything goes!  We have a wonderful group of community leaders with extraordinary talents!  Come meet other bloggers that love planning for the holidays as much as you do!  It's a great way to get your network your blog as well!

Get ready for holiday cards: A giveaway!

First, the winners of the Scotch tape giveaway have been notified via email.  If you have been notified, please respond with your mailing address.  Thank you to everyone for entering!   I have another fabulous giveaway....

_____________________________________________________________

It's almost time!  Time to send out holiday cards and Purple Lemon Designs is here to jazz up your presentation!

Kelly of Purple Lemon Designs creates beautiful stamps, cards and personalized stationary!  Her return address stamps are unique and she offers many designs from traditional to modern to funky.  I'm especially fond of this grinch style Christmas tree stamp.

I love this beautiful flourish tree as well!

Also, Kelly's stamps make a great holiday gift! Her stamps come adorably wrapped and ready for gift giving.  Below is the stamp I received from Kelly.  (Don't be alarmed..I blurred out my home address. LOL)

To learn more about Purple Lemon Designs, upcoming specials and new designs, like her Facebook page.

Kelly is helping us kick off holiday card season by giving away a holiday stamp (of the winner's choice) to one of my readers!  Entries will be accepted through Wednesday, November 24 at Midnight EST.

To enter:

1. Leave a comment below

2. Extra entries for liking the Everyday Celebrating Facebook page.  Let me know you liked the page with your username in the comments section.

Good luck!  :)

DIY: Creating easy table skirts & Tape giveaway!

 
Thanks to Scotch(R) Double Sided Tape for sponsoring my writing about crafts. Add your comment below to be entered for a chance to win free sample rolls to help with your upcoming holiday needs.

I thought I'd show you a super easy way to create a quick table skirt.  All you need is a light piece of fabric and this... 

Let's get started!

I have this buffet and I use it as a focal point of holiday decor in one room.  There is a Christmas tree next to it and I usually work with one theme.  This year's theme is candy canes.  So, I want to create a consistent color palette which means covering up the cherry wood.  

I use double sided tape to temporarily wrap the table in fabric for a fitted table skirt.  Now, before you get anxious, yes, I do place the tape on the wood but don't worry... it comes off easily.  That being said, I don't guarantee that the tape will hold for a long time so this tutorial is meant for a quick, one evening table skirt.

The first thing you want to do is measure your fabric.  You do not want excess fabric.  The heavier the fabric, the more it pulls on the tape which means tension on the fabric.  

For the bottom of the fabric, the part that goes to the floor, if you don't sew, cut the fabric a bit longer than needed and tuck under.  Always better to cut longer than shorter.

Also, before you start on the table, make sure your fabric is ironed.  You'll see why I say that later. LOL

Then we're ready to attach!

I start on the side and press the fabric into the tape smoothly and evenly.

When you get to a corner, you fold the fabric like you're wrapping the corner of a present.

Here's the other corner...

Here's what it looks like in the end.  See that lovely crease in the fabric?  Definitely iron your fabric!
I've talked about it before and I'll say it again, a wrinkled tablecloth can ruin any table decor.  Your eye automatically goes straight to the crease. (Believe me, I'll fix this.)  LOL

After the taping is done, Then you can cover the top with a runner or another piece of bunched up fabric for depth.  I placed a candy cane striped fabric on top just to show you.  Next.. start adding your decorative pieces!

Easy, temporary table skirt!  

Please learn more about Scotch(R) Double Sided Tape and other Scotch(R) Products and join the conversation on the Scotch(R) Brand Facebook Page and via Twitter. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

 

WIN A ROLL!!!

EDITED: Thanks to 3M, 10 Everyday Celebrating readers will win 1 roll of Scotch Tape!  Perfect for upcoming holiday crafts or wrapping those presents!

How to Enter:
1. Leave me a comment telling me approximately how many rolls of Scotch tape you go through during the holiday season. 

Extra Entries:
2. Like Everyday Celebrating on Facebook.  Leave me a comment letting me know you became a fan and leave your username.

This giveaway will end on Saturday, November 20th, 2010 at 11:59  PM EST. Winners will be announced on the blog and on Facebook

Here we go... Holiday 2010

Well, folks, it's time!

Yes, I know.  The turkey hasn't been carved yet.  But when you go to the trouble of putting a few trees up and hand crafting decor, you want to take your time, have fun with the process and enjoy the finished work.  So we're starting now.  With this 6.5 ft white beauty I recently purchased from my friends at Goodwill.   It was a STEAL and I was thrilled to get it because I wanted a white tree for this year's theme... Keaton's Candy Cane Christmas!

Stay tuned.. I'll be sharing how I make the decor including many re-purposed Goodwill finds as well as showing you how to create a ribbon wall, a table skirt, large faux candy canes, bunting, and fun (and surprisingly beautiful) decor out of coffee filters... and more!

It's beginning to look a LOT like Christmas!

 

Review & Win! NEW Hershey's Chocolate DROPS

Who doesn't love Hershey's, right?  Well, Hershey's just expanded on their offerings and I want to tell you about them AND.. give away 30 bags!  Yep. THIRTY BAGS!  One bag for 30 of my readers!

I met Kristen of the Hershey's PR Team back at BlogHer in NYC.  What a great team they have and when she shared with me their new product and asked if I'd like to try them before they hit stores, well.. umm.. YES!

Next thing I know, these 2 bags of chocolatey goodness were on my doorstep. 

Introducing chocolate DROPS! Oh.. and a very pretty cat catching some sun on the floor. :)

These are bite sized drops of chocolate WITHOUT the crunchy shell you would expect.  They have a light, shiny covering that protects the drops - edible, of course. (It feels slippery almost but a good texture. I might add that these do NOT melt in your hands.)

I had 2 different drops to test. One was the tried and true Hershey's Milk Chocolate.  Fabulous!  I am a huge lover of a simple chocolate bar so these drops were right up my alley.  They taste just like a square of a Hershey's bar but in a drop form.  Glorious!   My only wish and I'm hoping they come out with these.. adding almonds.  One of my FAVE candy bars is Hershey's with almonds.

I also was given the Cookies and Cream drops to try.  Since I'm not a fan of Cookies and Cream in general, I passed those along to my husband to try and he actually preferred them over the milk chocolate.  Goes to show that there's something for everyone!

These drops would be GREAT in holiday candy dishes!  The protective coating keeps them fresh and they won't melt!   These are also good for family movie nights or something to add to popcorn or granola.  They would also make a great item to add to a college student care package... finals are coming up!

Hershey's would like to celebrate the launch of their new product by sharing drops with my readers!  I'm giving out THIRTY bags of drops.  One to 30 lucky readers! 

What YOU do....

COMMENTS ARE CLOSED.  Thank you for entering!

 

DIY: Ornaments

Isn't this ornament beautiful?  Can you believe it's EASY to make?

This ornament is just another fabulous project shared by Cathe Holden at Just Something I Made.  If you don't already follow her site, you should add it to your reader immediately.  Such talent and inspiration. I met Cathe at a blog conference back in February and about one sentence into the conversation, I said, "omg, YOU'RE Cathe Holden! I loved this project and that project and... "   And she was so fun to talk to and so genuine.

Anyway.... Cathe made this ornament using Pluffy clay, a stamp and spray paint. 

Mental note:  Must buy some Pluffy!

Wouldn't these make great gifts?  Especially for an ornament exchange!  Or make for a child's first Christmas?  Or would make great favors for a small holiday party!