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Ways to Decorate Your Staircase for Christmas

by Trish

Your staircase can easily be the centerpiece of your holiday décor. After all, few things are more traditional than the well-decorated holiday staircase. If you’re a bit lost when it comes to the right ideas, though, these tips can help.

Start with Evergreen Swag

The traditional holiday staircase starts with a beautiful evergreen garland, and in some cases, it stops right there. Whether you go with a fresh garland or you choose one that will look great year after year, this is the most basic way to make your staircase look simply amazing. Most garlands are sold in 9 foot lengths, and those that come with lights have end-to-end lights that will allow you to connect one strand to another. If you need something longer, you’ll want to move ahead with garlands that fall into the commercial category.

Add the Unexpected

While pine cones on the bannisters are fairly traditional, there are many other things you could do to spice up those garlands. Poinsettias, in red or white, make a beautiful touch. Just put the stems in some water to make them last through the season. Ribbon is also a fairly traditional accent. Just make sure it complements the other items you add into the garland. You can either work it in throughout the garland or simply make it into beautiful bows to hang at the top, middle, and bottom. Citrus is becoming more and more popular. Go with orange, pineapple, or another color that works well with your home’s current décor. Christmas ornaments you love are a great touch, too. Glittery snowflakes look pretty, as does white branches tied in. Throw in a pair of antique ice skates around the bottom bannister for a gorgeous, classic touch to the stairs. Stockings, whether they’re your primary stockings or not, are another great choice to lead people up your stairs. Just make certain the colors work with your garland. One final option you may want to think about is adding wreaths to your stairway. You can go with a traditional green, but thanks to the background color in the garland, you may want to go with something bolder like red.

Other Options

Not sure you like the idea of starting with evergreen garland? There are several other great options, too. A bay leaf garland also makes a wonderful touch, and it makes your home smell wonderful as well. Pine garlands will give your staircase a primitive touch. Ribbons or beaded garlands are an additional good touch you may want to consider. Another great choice is to attach greenery bunches to the posts of railing. You could use birch branches as the backbone, then tie in other branches with a bit of greenery or berries. Tied together with some bright ribbon, you have a package that will look enjoyable throughout the season.

Don’t Forget the Stairs

Whether you go with garland or not, don’t forget that you can decorate the actual stairs as well. Place small, beautifully wrapped gifts on the stairs, or potted plants. You could even add a bucket of ornamental greens.

Attached Images:
  •  License: Creative Commons image source

Pinkchic18 is a writer who loves to focus on events and holidays. She regularly contributes to the Holiday Gifts & Baskets Blog, where you can find fun holiday gift baskets for all ages.

Filed Under: Home Decor, Home Improvement Tagged With: bannisters, beads, berries, christmas, christmas ornaments, decorate, evergreen swag, garland, pine cones, railing, ribbons, staircase, stairs

How to Fill a Gender Neutral Gift Basket

by Trish

Filling a gender neutral Christmas hamper can be a daunting task. It can be difficult to know exactly what to put in a gift basket which could go to a girl or a boy. Finding presents for a girl or a boy is easy but finding a present which would suit both can be a challenge. Finding enough presents to fill a basket can seem impossible. However you don’t have to worry there are plenty of things you can put in a Christmas hamper which will delight both boys and girls. These days’ toys are not as gender specific as you may think.

 One great idea for gender neutral Christmas hampers is stationary. Both boys and girls need pencils, pens, markers and paper and both boys and girls enjoy drawing and colouring in. Plus you will also make their parents happy because it saves them a trip to the shops before the school term starts again. If possible it is always a good idea to try and make your gifts practical as well as enjoyable.

Depending on the age of the children that your basket will go to, stuffed toys and teddy bears can also be a great gender neutral gift. Children under the age of eight generally enjoyed playing with stuffed toys no matter what their gender. Just make sure you avoid overly girly colours like pink and purple and you’ll be fine.

Books are a great present which can be given a child of any gender. Books like the Narnia Chronicles, Harry Potter and the Hobbit can be given to children of any age even if they can’t read. These books are not gender specific and will delight both boys and girls. The parents will also be delighted because your gift will encourage their children to read.

DVDs and music can also be great non-gender specific gifts. There are many mix CDs available which feature a wide variety of songs which will appeal to just about any child or teenager so you don’t need to worry about the music not matching their tastes. There are also a wide variety of gender neutral movies released each year which can be enjoyed by both males and females. Including one of these DVDs in your hamper is a great idea.

Vouchers are another great thing you can put into a gender neutral Christmas hampers. This way no matter whom your Christmas basket is given to, they can go and buy what they really want. However consider being more specific with your voucher as opposed to just giving them a generic shopping mall gift card. Movie tickets are a great gift for anyone especially children because it allows them to go and see whichever movie they really want to. Vouchers for music and games for a child’s phone is also a great thing to include because it allows them to customise their phone in whatever way they want.

Finally one great thing a friend of mine suggested when I was assembling a gender neutral Christmas hamper was blowing bubbles. These provide hours of fun for young children and are suitable for both boys and girls. Silly toys like these which are simple but that children get great enjoyment out of are a great thing to include in a gender neutral Christmas hamper.

Attached Images:
  •  License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/results.aspx?qu=gift%20basket&ex=2

About Author

Sam has written this article on behalf of Gift Basket Company,Australia’s premier Gift Basket and Christmas Hampers network with distributors across Australia.

Filed Under: Shopping Tagged With: books, boy, christmas, dvds, gender neutral, gift basket, gift vouchers, gifts, girl, movie tickets, Music, occasions, Parents, stuffed toys

Extreme Home Decorating Ideas for This Holiday Season

by Trish

Ah, the joys of driving through your neighborhood around the holidays “oooh”ing and “ahhh”ing over the lights and joyous decorations that you see as you pass by each house. It’s a beautiful sight to see – so joyous and warm and inviting – it really is the epitome of the holiday spirit.

But there’s always an inner battle between your household and your neighbors between who can have the best holiday decorations each year, and it’s a battle that you just might win if you take some of these extreme home decorating ideas for this holiday season.

A Walk-In Gingerbread House

At Halloween, there are haunted houses. During the holidays, why not set up a walk-through gingerbread house in your yard?

Your house will be the attraction of the neighborhood, especially among the kids, if you set up a house that’s decorated from top to bottom in twinkling lights and fresh green wreaths. Inside, set up a display similar to those you see in malls when Santa visits – put in a big throne and have someone manning the Santa station at all times so kids can come visit and sit on his lap to tell him what they want for Christmas.

Make sure you decorate with lots of over-sized decorations. Think about a regular gingerbread house with all of the candy canes and gumdrops and pretty decor and replicate those same decorations on a much larger scale for a wildly successful walk-in holiday gingerbread house!

Santa and Sleigh on the Roof

No holiday house is complete until it’s decorated with a life size Santa sitting in a huge sleigh atop the roof of the house. And don’t forget the reindeer, too! Nine giant reindeer, including Rudolph, of course, make for a complete Santa scene that looks as real as can be.

For added effect, rig up some heavy-duty wiring into a nearby tree next to your house. Install the first few reindeer in the pack so that they look like they are lifting off up and away into the sky by securing them to the anchored wire. The neighborhood kids will love the illusion, and you’ll revel in knowing that no one else in your neighborhood thought of the idea before you!

A Singing Choir of Angels

Fortunately for you, this scene is fairly easy to pull of thanks to modern technology. All you really have to do is buy a few huge lit choir angels and place them in your yard. You can even buy ones that are attached to motors so that they move, or you can always install your own motors to customize the movement of your angels.

Then, all of you have to do is play some music around the display that goes with the movement of your angels, and you have yourself a giant singing choir of angels. Choose songs that are more hymnal than the classic holiday jingles, but be sure to mix those in here and there, too.

A Huge Christmas Tree

Nothing says the holidays like a giant Christmas tree in your yard that’s decked out in lights, ribbons and garland galore.

Choose the largest tree in your yard, or even bring in one from another location (we’re talking huge Christmas trees, like along the lines of the Rockefeller Plaza tree) and bring in the fire department with their huge ladders to help you get the lights strung all the way to the top of the tree. Don’t forget a large lit-up star on top of the tree to complete your holiday yard, and be sure to add the little details, too, like the ribbons and garland!

Your yard will be sure to be a hit with these extreme holiday decoration ideas – but remember to be creative, be original and don’t be afraid to go over the top!

Attached Images:
  •  License: Creative Commons image source

Ann Michaels is a freelance writer who loves preparing for Christmas. Her favorite day of the year is when she gets to bring out her life size Santa displays and start setting up her yard for the holidays!

Filed Under: Home and family Tagged With: attraction, battle, christmas, Christmas tree, decorations, extreme, holiday, holidays, home decorating, house, household, ideas, lights, neighborhood, roof, season, set up, tree, wreaths

My Labrador grew Antlers!

by The Diva



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My poor dog. I bought Christmas antlers this year just so I could take pictures of her wearing them.

I don’t know why I did it. I just wanted to see her in them. Hey – she looks good in red doesn’t she?

Actually she really didn’t mind wearing the antlers at all, as long as they were behind her ears she actually seemed to enjoy wearing them. She didn’t try to take them off and walked around the house proudly with them on for over an hour.

Have you put antlers or a Santa hat or some kind of costume on your dog?

Filed Under: Entertainment, Home and family, Humor, Pets Tagged With: antlers, christmas, costume, cute, dog, dress up, dressed up, funny

Just a little bit more Christmas shopping to do

by The Diva

I’m planning to go shopping this weekend for the last of the Christmas gifts that I need to buy.

I didn’t buy too many gifts this year. We don’t have any extra money, but of course we still have to get a few gifts for the kids in the family at least. I was thinking that one of my nephews might like an iPod. I already checked and he doesn’t have one yet, so it would be the perfect gift. I spent some time earlier today reading an ipod shuffle review and I’m pretty sure that I’ll get him an iPod Shuffle.

Now that I think of it the iPod and maybe just a few DVD’s or Video games and I should be finished all my shopping. If I’m lucky perhaps my shopping trip this weekend will only take an hour or so.

Filed Under: Entertainment, Home and family, Items to Try, Kids and Teens, Music, Shopping Tagged With: christmas, dvd, ipod, nephew, Shopping, vidoe

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