Q. This is the first Christmas my husband and I are having together and I haven't decorated for Christmas for as long as I can remember. My family never really decorated after my parents got divorced and I never helped before then because I was too young.
My husband and I are decorating this year though, and other than the tree and lights, I really can't think of any other good ideas. I know he will have a few, but I want as many ideas as I can get.
Also what are some good ideas for things to put in stockings, because I want to do that this year too and I've never had one before. It's just me and my husband and our cat. No children.
Any ideas you have would be helpful. Thanks.
My husband and I are decorating this year though, and other than the tree and lights, I really can't think of any other good ideas. I know he will have a few, but I want as many ideas as I can get.
Also what are some good ideas for things to put in stockings, because I want to do that this year too and I've never had one before. It's just me and my husband and our cat. No children.
Any ideas you have would be helpful. Thanks.
A. Depends on your budget...
We're having our first family Christmas since my father died (August), so we're thinking about having Christmas at my house instead of my mother's.
For us, the real memories come with the traditions and the handmade things...I've embroidered stockings for everyone in the family, my mother made the tree skirts we use...we still put up the little silver aluminum tree my grandmother bought for $1.98 in the early 1960's...and every "after Christmas" we go to the Hallmark store and buy 1 ornament for each of the kids (I usually get one or two for myself).
The best part is for you and hubby and kitty to go shopping together (try a pet store that allows pets to come in!). Think outside the box - how about one of those cool cat climbing/nesting things that are tall - you could hide kitty treats in it and new kitty toys...and decorate the climber with garland and unbreakable Christmas balls (kitty will love playing with them!).
Whatever you want in your stockings - you could be risque and go to an adult store and get all sorts of interesting things...or you could hint to hubby that you want lots of sparkly things, like earrings and so forth, in yours....cologne, aftershave, soaps...or be a kid, and buy silly stuff, like a slinky, silly putty, yoyos, whoopie cushions, wind up toys or race cars, kalidescopes, tops, jacks....gift certificates to a day spa....cheesy little pocket books that they display on the checkout counter of the bookstores at Christmastime...candy, fruit, nuts....mice (for the kitty)...basically, anything you run across that will fit in the stocking!
Other decorations than tree and lights....
Well, one year, my aunt did a tree for each room in her house, with a different theme...another year she did the whole house in teddy bears...
there's the requisite wreath for the front door (back door optional), a seasons greetings welcome mat, some jingle bells for the doorknobs....
Outdoor decorations - just go to WalMart and look! Animated reindeer, spiral light trees, nativity scenes, giant blow up snow globes and santas and grinches and snowmen
indoors, fix the guest bath up with seasonal towels, soap and lotion dispensers, tissue boxes, and Christmas scented air fresheners or candles
for the formal dining table - mix crystal and silver pieces with fresh cut or silk greenery and use lots of candles and throw in some pretty ribbons and bows
Get a copy of Martha Stewart Living for December for some great ideas...even previous year's issues....or go online to marthastewart.com
Try some of the other home decorating and women's magazines as well, like Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies Home Journal, Real Simple, Architectural Digest
Another great place to shop for Christmas items - your local pool and patio store - for Christmas, they usually restock the entire shop in indoor and outdoor decorations!
And don't forget the Advent Calendar!!!
Have a very Merry Christmas and I hope you have many, many more!!
We're having our first family Christmas since my father died (August), so we're thinking about having Christmas at my house instead of my mother's.
For us, the real memories come with the traditions and the handmade things...I've embroidered stockings for everyone in the family, my mother made the tree skirts we use...we still put up the little silver aluminum tree my grandmother bought for $1.98 in the early 1960's...and every "after Christmas" we go to the Hallmark store and buy 1 ornament for each of the kids (I usually get one or two for myself).
The best part is for you and hubby and kitty to go shopping together (try a pet store that allows pets to come in!). Think outside the box - how about one of those cool cat climbing/nesting things that are tall - you could hide kitty treats in it and new kitty toys...and decorate the climber with garland and unbreakable Christmas balls (kitty will love playing with them!).
Whatever you want in your stockings - you could be risque and go to an adult store and get all sorts of interesting things...or you could hint to hubby that you want lots of sparkly things, like earrings and so forth, in yours....cologne, aftershave, soaps...or be a kid, and buy silly stuff, like a slinky, silly putty, yoyos, whoopie cushions, wind up toys or race cars, kalidescopes, tops, jacks....gift certificates to a day spa....cheesy little pocket books that they display on the checkout counter of the bookstores at Christmastime...candy, fruit, nuts....mice (for the kitty)...basically, anything you run across that will fit in the stocking!
Other decorations than tree and lights....
Well, one year, my aunt did a tree for each room in her house, with a different theme...another year she did the whole house in teddy bears...
there's the requisite wreath for the front door (back door optional), a seasons greetings welcome mat, some jingle bells for the doorknobs....
Outdoor decorations - just go to WalMart and look! Animated reindeer, spiral light trees, nativity scenes, giant blow up snow globes and santas and grinches and snowmen
indoors, fix the guest bath up with seasonal towels, soap and lotion dispensers, tissue boxes, and Christmas scented air fresheners or candles
for the formal dining table - mix crystal and silver pieces with fresh cut or silk greenery and use lots of candles and throw in some pretty ribbons and bows
Get a copy of Martha Stewart Living for December for some great ideas...even previous year's issues....or go online to marthastewart.com
Try some of the other home decorating and women's magazines as well, like Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies Home Journal, Real Simple, Architectural Digest
Another great place to shop for Christmas items - your local pool and patio store - for Christmas, they usually restock the entire shop in indoor and outdoor decorations!
And don't forget the Advent Calendar!!!
Have a very Merry Christmas and I hope you have many, many more!!
What is a cheap way to get bouquets with real flowers for my wedding?
Q. I want real bouquets but do not want to pay for expensive ones from a florist at a private shop. Has anyone made their's from pre-made bunches or bouquets at their local grocery store? or have any suggestions?
A. You could totally make the bouquets yourself. Simple wrapped bouquets are very "in" right now. You can wrap the stems with ribbon or raffia. I saw beautiful bouquets made by a bridal party on a wedding show once, just daisy wrapped in raffia. Pretty, yet somewhow elegant. My bouquets (which were done by a florist had ribbon braided down the handle. This would be more complicated, but certainly doable. Here is a link to my bouquet pics if you want to get an idea of they would look like. . http://www.flickr.com/photos/30669105@N02/
One thing you should bear in mind is the more complicated design you pick, the longer it will take to get them together and that is the last thing you want to be worrying about the night before our weddiing. Unless you do silks. Many grocery stores floral departments are actually doing wedding flowers now. You should check them to see if they are considerably cheaper. If you have a Costco around they have gorgeous huge bouquets for $15. You could always make your centerpieces and bouonieres out of silks, but get your bouquets done in real. My bouquet was $80 and my MOH & bridesmaids were $45 (I only needed 4). I thought that was very reasonable, but it was the centerpieces and ceremony arrangements that really bumped up the bill.
If you decide to go it alone, check the craft stores for instructional books and magazines. There are tutorials online (check Martha Stewart's site) and I'm pretty sure Michael's has flower arrangement classes. My MOH and I took jewelry making classes and together we made the wedding jewelry for all the girls and gave it to them as one of thier gifts. Maybe instead of a bachlorette night, you could get all the girls together with a bottle of wine and make your bouquets. Could be fun!
One thing you should bear in mind is the more complicated design you pick, the longer it will take to get them together and that is the last thing you want to be worrying about the night before our weddiing. Unless you do silks. Many grocery stores floral departments are actually doing wedding flowers now. You should check them to see if they are considerably cheaper. If you have a Costco around they have gorgeous huge bouquets for $15. You could always make your centerpieces and bouonieres out of silks, but get your bouquets done in real. My bouquet was $80 and my MOH & bridesmaids were $45 (I only needed 4). I thought that was very reasonable, but it was the centerpieces and ceremony arrangements that really bumped up the bill.
If you decide to go it alone, check the craft stores for instructional books and magazines. There are tutorials online (check Martha Stewart's site) and I'm pretty sure Michael's has flower arrangement classes. My MOH and I took jewelry making classes and together we made the wedding jewelry for all the girls and gave it to them as one of thier gifts. Maybe instead of a bachlorette night, you could get all the girls together with a bottle of wine and make your bouquets. Could be fun!
Can you give me some ideas on a surprise 50th bday party?
Q. i am throwing my dad a surprise birthday party. he will be 50 this year. i was just looking for some fun decorating ideas or themes. Maybe some links to some websites that will help make his party fun and memorable. Thanks.
A. Golden Age Hollywood.
1) FRED ASTAIRE-THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT
2) JUDY GARLAND-SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW
3) GENE KELLY-SINGING IN THE RAIN
4) HOWARD KEEL-ANYTHING YOU CAN DO
5) MARILYN MONROE-DIAMONDS ARE A GIRLS BEST FRIEND
6) NAT KING COLE-UNFORGETTABLE
and others like this: http://www.rhino.com/store/productdetail...
Our appetizer experience:
We ordered a fruit tray, cheese tray, veggie tray, taco dip and chips and silver dollar sandwich rolls.
No one touchede the veggie tray. The cheese tray was 1/3 eaten. The taco tip went over great and had to be restocked twice, the fruit tray went over great, and the silver dollar rolls went over great. They were ham, turkey and beef. These are hand size and perfect and I saw the rolls for this at the grocery store.
Anyway, so if I were you I would make a small cheese tray, make a double batch or taco dip, and have a good fruit tray and make the silver dollar rolls.
These are all simple to put together.
Taco Dip:
2 softened cream cheese.
1 16oz sour cream
1 packet taco seasoning.
Mix with mixer. Put in bottom of a cookie sheet. Top with shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes and green onions. Use the cheese but you can altered the rest to your taste, maybe add black olives. Make 2 of these. Serve with tostitos scoops.
Fruit bowl,.
Whole pineppple into chunks. Slice strawberries. Add whole table grapes no seeds, add chunks of watermelon, and cut oranges in slices cut into triangles. This is best made the night before so that the juices can all run together and stir before serving.
Silver dollar rolls:
http://www.heb.com/yourhebstore/sd-deli-...
It is just shaved deli meat and cheese triangles. You dont have to put lettuce on them, ours did not have it. t. The ones that we had catered just had real butter on them and they had mayo and mustard packets on ice on the side. You can make all this yourself the day before easily and our caterer delivered them to the hall the nigtht before our party and it was fine.
For decorations to start off you have to have a sign in board. This is good for everyone to look back at. A board your friends sign as they arrive. We bought trifold presentation board from Walgreens or you can get one at any office supply place.: We left the center white. The outer 2 folds we covered with red gift wrap from the dollar store. We put a red scalloped border around the outer 2 folds we got at the dollar store( the ones the teachers use on bulletin boards. Around the center we put film strip border from party cheap. We bought silver glitter letters from the craft and spelled out SIGN IN centered at thet top of the center of the board in the white section. We attached them with double sided tape dots from the craft store. We bought 2 Hollywood Jolee scrapbook pages and put the pictures at the bottom of the outer folds and randomly around the board: These included the Hollywood sign, movie cameras, film reels, etc. So the middle is left blank for pple to sign and the outer folds that are red get covered with a collage of pictures of the birthday person. We also bought a scrap book page with palm trees \
\
Our colors were gold, black and silver.
We had large round tables, 8 of them. We bought black tablecloths from the dollar store but bought beautiful gold overlays from efavormart cheap. For centerpieces we used the movie cascade ones from partycheap. We also had on the table a balloon weightfrom party cheap. We attached black, gold and silver latex balloons helium filled and one mylar hollywood balloon from party cheap. I also bought black and gold cut out foil stars palm and hand size and placed these randomly on the table for a punch of color . You can also hang these from the ceiling for an extra effect. Also on the table we made tent cards for flash cameras: You can use any word processor. I inserted a movie camera clip art. I put Nicoles sweet 16 and then worded the card like the ones they show on handykane.com. You can change this for your 50th. We got the cameras at Aldi food store for 2.99 a piece. We bought a total of 60 balloons, gold, black and silver. We had 8 tables and made the arrangements as I said above. We made the same arrangements ands put 2 around the opening of the hall, 2 on the cake table, 2 around the DJ table and a few others randomly. We bought these 30 inch large clapboard balloons to put around the dance from party cheap or bulk balloons. floor:http://www.partycheap.com/hollywood_cla.... Not sure if you are having a big party or at home party.
We bought move star standups, marilyn monroe and you could get humphrey bogart. Get them on Ebay new for 23 a piece instead of the usual 45 at most sites.
We bought these huge hollywood signs: http://www.andersonsprom.com/p-18782-mov... . They are 56x35. You cant really see how it is. It is actually like an A frame. It comes with another black cardboard backing and these rods that you are supposeed to hot glue together so it is like an A-frame or like a tent to stand up. You have to assemble this. All 3 pictures come on 1 long roll or poster. You have to cut it in 3 and then they give you an exact knife to cut around the edges. It was not that hard and this tape that sticks it on. Well we found that you dont need to make the a-frame because you can bend them ever so slightly in the center and they stand up fine. They give you the sparkly foil stars to glue on (not hot glue) .4 for each picture, 4 lg and 4 small. So we decided not to make the A frame so we had 3 extra large pieces of black cardboard, the same sizes these pictures are on. So we went to Target and bought 3 more posters, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, and James Dean. We used the rest of the tape we had and put them on there and we put 2 lg and 2 small stars on all six of these. They all stand up just fine so by doing these we got 6 huge decoration pieces for only 90 bucks. We go so many compliments on them.
In the middle of the dance floorwe put one of those hollywood walk of fame sgtars from party cheap with my daughters name on it. We also bought hollywood decocrations to put randomly around the room from party cheap. We got move cutouts, hollywood street signs, walk of fame door fringe, etc.
For favors We bought organza favor bags in black and gold from efavormar, the same place we got the table overalys in black and gold: We got clipboard keychains, movie buttermints, black and gold mardi gras beads (which we handed to guests as they arrived) and personalized star trophies that we put a friend quote on at oriental trading really cheap. We bought sweet 16 lollipop mold and used pink chocolate from craft store You could make some with a 50 instead. . The bags are 1.99 for 100 with ties (you can use these as favor bags as well). It was 1.50 for 3 bags of chocolate and we made 27 lollipops. Dont forget to buy sticks.
This red carpet from party cheap was fine but check the length and it has a stick tape and bring mild adhesive remover with your as it leaves a sticky line where the tape is.
We made our own personalized favor tags with the business card maker section on MIcrosoft. We inserted a hollywood sign picture from google images, a walk of fame star with my daughters name on that we got off a myspace page and then we put Nicole's Sweet 16 on it in cool font in Red. We used a paper punch to cut a hole and the organza bags have ties already.
You could ask people to dress like a movie stars or if formal to dress from that era, but you dont have to do that.,
You could also decorate with Lucy Ball, Bob Hope, etc. Most parents love that time period.
1) FRED ASTAIRE-THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT
2) JUDY GARLAND-SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW
3) GENE KELLY-SINGING IN THE RAIN
4) HOWARD KEEL-ANYTHING YOU CAN DO
5) MARILYN MONROE-DIAMONDS ARE A GIRLS BEST FRIEND
6) NAT KING COLE-UNFORGETTABLE
and others like this: http://www.rhino.com/store/productdetail...
Our appetizer experience:
We ordered a fruit tray, cheese tray, veggie tray, taco dip and chips and silver dollar sandwich rolls.
No one touchede the veggie tray. The cheese tray was 1/3 eaten. The taco tip went over great and had to be restocked twice, the fruit tray went over great, and the silver dollar rolls went over great. They were ham, turkey and beef. These are hand size and perfect and I saw the rolls for this at the grocery store.
Anyway, so if I were you I would make a small cheese tray, make a double batch or taco dip, and have a good fruit tray and make the silver dollar rolls.
These are all simple to put together.
Taco Dip:
2 softened cream cheese.
1 16oz sour cream
1 packet taco seasoning.
Mix with mixer. Put in bottom of a cookie sheet. Top with shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes and green onions. Use the cheese but you can altered the rest to your taste, maybe add black olives. Make 2 of these. Serve with tostitos scoops.
Fruit bowl,.
Whole pineppple into chunks. Slice strawberries. Add whole table grapes no seeds, add chunks of watermelon, and cut oranges in slices cut into triangles. This is best made the night before so that the juices can all run together and stir before serving.
Silver dollar rolls:
http://www.heb.com/yourhebstore/sd-deli-...
It is just shaved deli meat and cheese triangles. You dont have to put lettuce on them, ours did not have it. t. The ones that we had catered just had real butter on them and they had mayo and mustard packets on ice on the side. You can make all this yourself the day before easily and our caterer delivered them to the hall the nigtht before our party and it was fine.
For decorations to start off you have to have a sign in board. This is good for everyone to look back at. A board your friends sign as they arrive. We bought trifold presentation board from Walgreens or you can get one at any office supply place.: We left the center white. The outer 2 folds we covered with red gift wrap from the dollar store. We put a red scalloped border around the outer 2 folds we got at the dollar store( the ones the teachers use on bulletin boards. Around the center we put film strip border from party cheap. We bought silver glitter letters from the craft and spelled out SIGN IN centered at thet top of the center of the board in the white section. We attached them with double sided tape dots from the craft store. We bought 2 Hollywood Jolee scrapbook pages and put the pictures at the bottom of the outer folds and randomly around the board: These included the Hollywood sign, movie cameras, film reels, etc. So the middle is left blank for pple to sign and the outer folds that are red get covered with a collage of pictures of the birthday person. We also bought a scrap book page with palm trees \
\
Our colors were gold, black and silver.
We had large round tables, 8 of them. We bought black tablecloths from the dollar store but bought beautiful gold overlays from efavormart cheap. For centerpieces we used the movie cascade ones from partycheap. We also had on the table a balloon weightfrom party cheap. We attached black, gold and silver latex balloons helium filled and one mylar hollywood balloon from party cheap. I also bought black and gold cut out foil stars palm and hand size and placed these randomly on the table for a punch of color . You can also hang these from the ceiling for an extra effect. Also on the table we made tent cards for flash cameras: You can use any word processor. I inserted a movie camera clip art. I put Nicoles sweet 16 and then worded the card like the ones they show on handykane.com. You can change this for your 50th. We got the cameras at Aldi food store for 2.99 a piece. We bought a total of 60 balloons, gold, black and silver. We had 8 tables and made the arrangements as I said above. We made the same arrangements ands put 2 around the opening of the hall, 2 on the cake table, 2 around the DJ table and a few others randomly. We bought these 30 inch large clapboard balloons to put around the dance from party cheap or bulk balloons. floor:http://www.partycheap.com/hollywood_cla.... Not sure if you are having a big party or at home party.
We bought move star standups, marilyn monroe and you could get humphrey bogart. Get them on Ebay new for 23 a piece instead of the usual 45 at most sites.
We bought these huge hollywood signs: http://www.andersonsprom.com/p-18782-mov... . They are 56x35. You cant really see how it is. It is actually like an A frame. It comes with another black cardboard backing and these rods that you are supposeed to hot glue together so it is like an A-frame or like a tent to stand up. You have to assemble this. All 3 pictures come on 1 long roll or poster. You have to cut it in 3 and then they give you an exact knife to cut around the edges. It was not that hard and this tape that sticks it on. Well we found that you dont need to make the a-frame because you can bend them ever so slightly in the center and they stand up fine. They give you the sparkly foil stars to glue on (not hot glue) .4 for each picture, 4 lg and 4 small. So we decided not to make the A frame so we had 3 extra large pieces of black cardboard, the same sizes these pictures are on. So we went to Target and bought 3 more posters, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, and James Dean. We used the rest of the tape we had and put them on there and we put 2 lg and 2 small stars on all six of these. They all stand up just fine so by doing these we got 6 huge decoration pieces for only 90 bucks. We go so many compliments on them.
In the middle of the dance floorwe put one of those hollywood walk of fame sgtars from party cheap with my daughters name on it. We also bought hollywood decocrations to put randomly around the room from party cheap. We got move cutouts, hollywood street signs, walk of fame door fringe, etc.
For favors We bought organza favor bags in black and gold from efavormar, the same place we got the table overalys in black and gold: We got clipboard keychains, movie buttermints, black and gold mardi gras beads (which we handed to guests as they arrived) and personalized star trophies that we put a friend quote on at oriental trading really cheap. We bought sweet 16 lollipop mold and used pink chocolate from craft store You could make some with a 50 instead. . The bags are 1.99 for 100 with ties (you can use these as favor bags as well). It was 1.50 for 3 bags of chocolate and we made 27 lollipops. Dont forget to buy sticks.
This red carpet from party cheap was fine but check the length and it has a stick tape and bring mild adhesive remover with your as it leaves a sticky line where the tape is.
We made our own personalized favor tags with the business card maker section on MIcrosoft. We inserted a hollywood sign picture from google images, a walk of fame star with my daughters name on that we got off a myspace page and then we put Nicole's Sweet 16 on it in cool font in Red. We used a paper punch to cut a hole and the organza bags have ties already.
You could ask people to dress like a movie stars or if formal to dress from that era, but you dont have to do that.,
You could also decorate with Lucy Ball, Bob Hope, etc. Most parents love that time period.
What should I get my girlfriend for graduation?
Q. I need ideas of something things not too expensive (less than $75 total preferably) to get my girlfriend for her high school graduation. We've been dating for about 3.5 months and I really like her.
Ideas?
Ideas?
A. That depends on the kind of girl she is, but I will go with the standard. Girls like gifts that make them feel special. They like things that are representative of how much someone cares about them, not something useful (never give a girl a drill unless she does a lot of woodwork).
At 3.5 months you don't want to be too personal. This will be seen as clingy. $75 can be well spent on something meaningful that will not make you seem too clingy.
Jewelry is always a good start. If she is a classy girl, Go to a REAL jeweler (not wal-mart) and describe to him your situation and how much you have to spend. Make sure to tell him how long you have been dating. I would suggest a locket, but don't put a picture in it. Hand write a small note to fit in there saying something like "Everytime I think of you it brings a smile to my face." or something sweet.
If she is more of an alternative kind of girl, it is okay to go to wal-mart. I really like some of their stuff with real 4-leaf clovers in it. Of course, I'm Irish, so I have an affinity to these anyway.
If she is a nerdy kind of girl, you can buy newer electronics cheap at a pawnshop. You can find 4GB iPods for around $50 or less.
Consider simple things like flowers (don't buy roses, look for something unique). Don't buy flowers from the grocery store, go to a real florist.
At 3.5 months you don't want to be too personal. This will be seen as clingy. $75 can be well spent on something meaningful that will not make you seem too clingy.
Jewelry is always a good start. If she is a classy girl, Go to a REAL jeweler (not wal-mart) and describe to him your situation and how much you have to spend. Make sure to tell him how long you have been dating. I would suggest a locket, but don't put a picture in it. Hand write a small note to fit in there saying something like "Everytime I think of you it brings a smile to my face." or something sweet.
If she is more of an alternative kind of girl, it is okay to go to wal-mart. I really like some of their stuff with real 4-leaf clovers in it. Of course, I'm Irish, so I have an affinity to these anyway.
If she is a nerdy kind of girl, you can buy newer electronics cheap at a pawnshop. You can find 4GB iPods for around $50 or less.
Consider simple things like flowers (don't buy roses, look for something unique). Don't buy flowers from the grocery store, go to a real florist.
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Title Post: What are some good ideas for stocking stuffers and Christmas decorations?
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Rating: 96% based on 976 ratings. 4,8 user reviews.
Author: Unknown
Thanks For Coming To My Blog
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