Hanukkah begins at sundown on Friday 12/11 this year. The eight-night celebration goes through December 19th and is marked by customs including the nightly lighting of the menorah, playing Dreidel and the eating of traditional fried foods.

If you are hosting a Hanukkah celebration and/or feast this year then you are likely organizing your menu and making final arrangements for Friday.

Hanukkah menus

One delicious tradition of the Hanukkah holiday is the food. Foods including latkes, fried donuts and brisket are popular choices.

Kids’ crafts

A fun way to keep kids entertained during Hanukkah celebrations is to have craft projects on hand. Printing out Hanukkah coloring pages from online templates is an easy and fun activity and is suitable for all ages.

Dreidel crafts

Playing Dreidel is a tried-and-true Hanukkah tradition. Find Dreidel craft projects online, gather necessary materials and you’ll keep the kids busy for a while.

Hanukkah decorations

An inspired idea is to decorate your home with a combination of store-bought and home-made Hanukkah decorations. Use the kids’ craft projects to decorate your home–if you’re feeling crafty then try your hand at making this cool candlelit branch decoration or this home-made Menorah.

Also, Hanukkah plates, garlands, napkins and signs are available at most party stores.

Hanukkah flowers

Hanukkah flowers are one of the prettiest–and easiest–ways to perk up your home for a get-together. Find Hanukkah flower centerpieces with candles, pretty Hanukkah bouquets in shades of blue and white,  and festive blooming plants like this blue iris stack to decorate your home with.

Happy Hanukkah!

Holidays can stress us out so much that we sometimes lose sight about what they are really about–blessings, joy, cheer and spending time with family and friends. However, there’s just so much that needs to get done that it’s easy to come close to crashing and burning.

Don’t burn out–relax and enjoy the season. I’ve put together a few time-savers that might enable you to have a little more time to do just that.

Shopping

Every year you tell yourself the same thing–that you’ll start shopping months ahead of time instead of waiting until the last minute again. While this is a great idea in theory, a lot of times it just isn’t that practical.

However, there are some time savers and organizational tips you can employ which will allow you more time to relax instead of scrambling!

• Organize and prioritize–Start of by making your list. If you already know the exact item that the person wants, then mark those with a star or stick those at the top of the list. For those folks that you aren’t sure about, just jot a few ideas down to start with. Take a look at your list now and start figuring out how to group these gifts. Are there several gifts you can purchase at the same place? Are there obscure items which you may need to order way ahead of time? For the unknowns, can you get them a dressed-up gift card? Group everything together to plan your route accordingly, and then try and do all of your shopping at one time. More time to relax!

• Shop online–Most of us love the convenience of shopping online. To be able to sit on your couch in your pajamas and do your holiday shopping is pretty great. But, the shipping costs aren’t so great. However, did you know that many retailers offer special shipping offers? This site outlines a few stores offering sweet shipping deals this year.

• Gift Cards–Sending a gift card is always a safe bet and an easy way out. But, they tend not to be very personal. To give gift cards a personalized and more festive touch, attach them to a small gift or package.  Or, give a tin of homemade baked goods with the gift card attached.

• Send flowers–Order holiday flower arrangements, evergreen wreaths and festive centerpieces online. It only takes a few minutes to order online and will serve as an unexpected, beautiful holiday present which will beautify their home for holiday guests.

Sending Holiday Cards

Every year it’s the same–hunting around for names and addresses you need in order to send your holiday cards. Some might be scribbled on scrap paper, some might be in various old address books, some might be contacts in your email contact list.

This year, why not take a few minutes organizing all of your contacts online. This will save you time and keep you organized every year! You can even purchase stickers/address labels and print them out. What a time-saver!

Wrapping Presents

You might dread it, but wrapping can be fun! You can get creative with containers, paper, bags and more. And, if you know where to shop it can be fairly inexpensive!

• Dollar store savings–Did you know you can pick up extremely inexpensive wrapping supplies at the dollar store? From ribbon to paper to gift bags, you can save a ton of money here! Stock up on all your supplies here.

• Home-made paper–Making your own personalized wrapping paper is a piece of cake. Use brown packaging paper and personalize with paint, holiday stamps, glitter–whatever floats your boat! Decorate with a pretty ribbon and you’re good to go.

• Re-use and recycle–Even though you may have always scoffed at your mom when she asked to save wrapping paper and bows every year, we could take a lesson from that. Save money next year by re-using paper and bows. Ribbon and bows especially lend themselves perfectly to recycling!

Hosting Holiday Parties

If you’re hosting a holiday party, regardless of whether it’s a dinner or cocktail party, you might be stressed about making sure you are prepared and everything goes smoothly. Use some of the ideas to cut down on the preparation time.

• Preparations–Order and make as many preparations as you can before time so you aren’t running around too much as the date draws closer. Purchase beer, wine and spirits far in advance so you’re ready for the party. Plan your outfit ahead of time so you aren’t rummaging around in your closet for a suitable outfit the evening of the party.

• Food–Along the same lines, so as much as you can ahead of time. If you’re cooking yourself, take advantage of any advance preparation you can. A great way to cut down on cooking time is to utilize recipes which integrate ready-made ingredients.

• Decorating–Stay with the advance preparation theme here. Decorate as much as you can ahead of time, then order in holiday centerpieces and holiday flower arrangements. They’ll arrive straight to your door and will really add festive touches throughout your home.  Mix it up by placing smaller flower arrangements throughout your home in guest rooms and foyers and more elaborate centerpieces on dining room tables and coffee tables.

Relax!

Most importantly, be sure to relax and enjoy the season. Instead of anxiously scrambling, take your time and cherish holiday tasks like decorating, wrapping, sending cards and more. Don’ t think of them as a chore–see them as shining points of the season! Sit down with a holiday beverage like hot cocoa, eggnog or cider and have fun!

Happy Holidays!

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, if you are hosting a family get-together this year you might be starting to get your menu together.

While gathering recipes for the turkey, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes and Grandma’s apple pie, one important thing may be escaping your attention: the table.

If you don’t usually set the table with much other than silverware and napkins, you may want to read on for some cool ideas to try this year to make your table beautiful, festive and welcoming.

Also, stop back by for more decoration ideas and crafts–including mantel decorations and wreaths!

Thanksgiving Centerpieces

Although it’s easy to stick a storebought cardboard turkey in the middle of the table, why not spend just as much time and effort on featuring a more welcoming–and beautiful–Thanksgiving centerpiece on your table this year.

Thanksgiving centerpieces come in a wide variety of options. Thanksgiving flower centerpieces are a beautiful choice. Look for centerpieces featuring a variety of Autumn colors–like orange and yellow. Seasonal flowers like mums are common in these centerpieces. Many of these arrangements are displayed in festive vases or containers, like faux pumpkins, adding to the overall seasonal feel of the flowers.

You can also find Thanksgiving cornucopia centerpieces. These offer an even more festive feel to add to the table.

When choosing your centerpiece, keep in mind the size of your dining room table, the amount of dishes you are serving and the number of guests. This will help you pick the best size centerpiece for your get-together. If you are hosting a larger get-together, you most likely will want to feature more than one centerpiece.

Name Cards

Name cards make a practical–and elegant–addition to your holiday table. They make your guests feel special and add a festive touch to the table. Use festive fall colors–like yellows, oranges and browns–to construct these cards. Have fun making them, and possibly enlist the rest of the family to participate in this craft.

Name cards can be as simple as cutting shapes out of colored paper with the guest’s names on it, or a little more elaborate with designs, popout shapes and glitter. Use cardstock instead of flimsy construction paper to make the cards more durable.

Look for clip art, templates and stencils to use in this project. You can add a little sparkle to your cards with glitter.

Another cool place card idea is to use in-season fruit–like pears or apples–with a cute tag specifying the guest’s name as the card. Embellish the tag with glitter and a pretty font, and tie them to the fruit-stem with ribbon or more natural looking twine.

Thanksgiving Napkins

Instead of the usual white cloth napkins, consider using more seasonal linens. This can be as simple as finding napkins in colors such as beige and tan–or festive prints–or, you can make Thanksgiving napkins yourself by embellishing plain napkins with shapes such as leaves. Find a pattern or template, or draw free-hand, and use fabric paint to fashion leaf shapes on the napkins. You can use these linens year after year!

Use festive napkin rings or simply use natural raffia as napkin rings.

Thanksgiving Tablecloths

For Thanksgiving, you might want to use a more seasonal tablecloth than Grandma’s white lace tablecloth.

You can find ready made Thanksgiving tablecloths–or, you can make your own. Just use a plain tablecloth and draw or stencil shapes like leaves straight on the tablecloth using fabric markers or paint. You can create a simple look by doing this around the edge of the tablecloth, or you can mimic the look of falling leaves by making a random pattern of leaves on the tablecloth.

Thanksgiving Table Decorations

In addition to centerpieces and place cards, consider making your own small decorations to scatter on the table. This can be a family craft which is fun for kids.

Find a website with tabletop paper craft ideas, or get the kids to help you create simple bowl decorations with fruit, pinecones and gourds.

Use your imagination and have fun making these decorations.

Thanksgiving Placemats

For Thanksgiving placemats, you can buy placemats in festive colors or prints, or you can make your own.

Use craft paint and leaf stencils to embellish plain napkins, or use fall leaves sandwiched in between clear contact paper. You can get creative here.

Thanksgiving Candles

Another great idea is to integrate Thanksgiving-themed candles on your dining room table.

One option is to go ahead and choose a Thanksgiving flower centerpiece with candles.

You can also find candles with leaf designs already on them, or you can use plain candles in festive candle-holders.Here is a cool candle-holder craft using corn-husks.

Kids’ Tables

At the kids’ tables, you can really have fun getting the kids involved making decorations.

Let your kids get creative and make decorations like centerpieces, placemats, and place cards. Do some research on the web to find projects, or just let your kids use their own imaginations. Have them gather leaves, pinecones and acorns from the yard. Set out craft supplies like pipe cleaners, crayons, construction paper, ribbon, stamps, feathers, glue and crayons, and let them have fun creating decorations. Let them know that there are no rules–just have fun with it.

We hope we have given you some inspiration for beautifying your holiday table. Have fun creating festive touches to use year after year on your Thanksgiving table! Be sure to stop back by over the next few days and week to get more great Thanksgiving decoration ideas!

Halloween is the perfect occasion to get together with friends and neighbors to celebrate the fall season. Whether you wish to host an all-out fright fest, a harvest-themed dinner party or a kid-friendly Halloween hoedown, party planning for Halloween isn’t as scary as is may seem. From sharing ghost stories to bobbing for apples to making frightfully delicious confections and cocktails, there are endless activities to choose from to keep guests of all ages entertained.

Before visitors arrive, a memorable Halloween bash starts with the right decorations. Along with vibrant autumn leaves, festive décor, including seasonal flowers, wreaths and pumpkins, provide welcoming bursts of color. Inside, fun Halloween centerpieces will add softening touches to the cobwebs, ghosts, spiders and other spooky stuff lurking around.

Kids Halloween Party Tips

For kids, Halloween is all about candy. To balance out that sugar high and engage young guests, a successful party ought to include plenty of activities.

Games are always a smart way to kick things off, and bobbing for apples is a classic Halloween contest. In fact, unmarried men and women used to bob for apples, and the first person to bite one was supposed to be the next person to get married. Kids might enjoy a nighttime scavenger hunt with flashlights, as well as hide-and-seek games such as ghosts in the graveyard, blind man’s bluff and zombie tag.

If the weather’s too chilly for outdoor games, crafts are another option. Instead of kids arriving in costume, they can make their own personalized masks for a masquerade party. Pick up some plain canvas bags and fabric paint, and children can decorate their own trick-or-treat totes. Or, make Halloween-themed maracas to scare away any ghouls or ghosts kids may encounter while they beg for candy.

Of course, no Halloween kids’ party is complete without treats. But instead of just handing out candy, kids can have fun in the kitchen making their own. Caramel apples, for instance, are simple for even younger guests to manage. For a salty snack, popcorn balls should please tots and teens alike. There are also all sorts of creepy Halloween recipes for terrifyingly tasty eyeballs, witches’ hats, ghosts and vampire fangs that kids will love.

Adult Halloween Party Tips

Adults can also get in on the Halloween merriment with something as simple as a pumpkin carving get-together or themed cocktail party. And if you don’t have the time or budget to transform your home into a haunted house, never fear. You can rely on creative food and presentation to set the appropriate Halloween scene.

A dinner party or potluck offers plenty of room to incorporate seasonal foods without having to incorporate a “scary” element to all of the dishes. Pumpkin soup, apple pie and roasted butternut squash are just a sampling of popular fall comfort foods. Devil’s food cake, red velvet cake or even pecan caramel spiders can provide an extra dash of Halloween spirit.

Speaking of spirits, Halloween cocktails will add some otherworldly ambiance to the affair. Fill hollowed out pumpkin shells with ice to keep beers and beverages chilled for guests. You could also pick up a decorative cauldron and serve apple cider as “witches brew.” Fans of black and tans will enjoy black velvets, which are half-and-half mixtures of Guinness and champagne. For livelier aperitifs, blood orange margaritas, piña ghouladas and bloody marys are also crowd pleasers.

Perhaps more than anything else, a festive Halloween party depends on the host. Whether entertaining a group of children or sharing an evening with friends, put on a costume and embrace the true heart of the holiday. Enjoy the opportunity to have a little spooky fun, and guests will get into the Halloween spirit as well.

Fall is here, and so are the wonderful outdoor activities it brings with it–like hiking, camping and biking. But as the weather cools off and the days get shorter, getting out of bed is getting that much harder. The urge to snuggle up on the couch with a good book or movie is starting to get more appealing than going out on the town. Don’t fight the urge–get comfy! Read on for some inspiration.

Warm up with yummy Fall recipes

The summer days of frozen margaritas and ice cream are slowly but surely transitioning to hot cider and apple pie. If you’re a gardener, you may be harvesting your tomatoes and peppers now. Why not use some of the fruits of your labor–or of the grocery store–and try one of the comfort-food recipes below tonight?

1. Chili

There are as many variations of chili as there are tastes. The basic, core ingredients are pretty much standard though: tomatoes, peppers, onions, chili powder and beans. Of course, many of us choose to include meat–usually ground beef or turkey–but there are many flavorful meatless versions. You’ll find a quick and easy chili recipe here; for you more advanced chefs here is a recipe with more exotic ingredients, including chocolate! Do you have a chili recipe you swear by? Post it in the comments to share!

2. Chicken soup

With Fall marking the start of the cold and flu season, it’s always good to get your daily dose of vitamin C. But, if you do happen to fall sick then nothing is better that some homemade chicken soup–although it’s delicious even if you aren’t sick! Be sure to load yours with tons of nutritious vegetables!

3. Pot roast

This pot roast recipe is cooked in a slow-cooker, so it simmers all day and you come home to a delicious meal that sticks to your ribs! Serve with bread for a delicious and quick weeknight meal.

4. Apple pie

The ultimate in comfort-food deserts! Although there are a ton of more unique–and time consuming– versions out there, here is a tried-and-true old fashioned apple pie recipe. Serve it over ice cream for a real treat!

5. Hot chocolate

Sure–instant hot cocoa is always yummy and convenient, but nothing beats homemade hot chocolate! Pair with some classic sugar cookies–either from scratch or a mix–yum!

Curl Up on the Couch with a Good Book

Snuggling up on the couch with a good book is always comforting. Although it’s always nice to enjoy a good movie, we sometimes forget about books. Learn something new, read an interesting biography, a suspenseful mystery or a page-turning novel. Get some inspiration from the New York Times Bestseller List or Amazon. And don’t forget about your local library! It’s a wonderful–and free!–source for books, music and movies.

Learn to Knit or Crochet

Did you know that knitting is cool now? Well, it is! Knitting books with cool patterns and easy-to-follow instructions and knitting ‘parties’ have sparked a resurgence in this pastime. Try it–it’s fun! I won’t lie; it’s not as easy as it looks. But the payoff is great! And it’s very calming to sit on the couch and knit up a cozy creation. Start with a basic scarf–take it from me and my beginning disasters!

Fun & Games

Take out that dusty old Scrabble and Monopoly and enjoy a fun night with friends or family.

Movie Marathon

On a rainy–or just lazy–day, there’s nothing better than watching movies on the couch. So, put your chores off for once (the dishes will just get dirty again and the leaves will just keep falling!), clear your day, grab someone you’d like to snuggle up with, and have a movie marathon! Don’t forget the popcorn.

We hope we’ve inspired you to slow down, relax and get comfy!

Sunday–September 13th–is Grandparents’ Day. Show your love and appreciation this year by surprising them with flowers or a gift basket and really make their day.

A few best sellers:

Grandparents' Day Flowers-Teacup Bouquet

Grandparents' Day Flowers: Songbird Bouquet

Grandparents' Day Fruit and Plant Basket

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It’s a magical time of year–fireworks, BBQs, pool parties and fun on the beach. It’s a time for getting together with your friends and family to laugh, eat and celebrate our independence. Read on for some great ideas for entertaining your 4th of July guests.

Crank up the Grill

Two words come to mind for 4th of July: Fireworks and BBQ, and not necessarily in that order! In addition to the summer staples–hamburgers and hot dogs–why not try something new this year? Try this Ultimate Barbecued Chicken and be sure to impress. Molasses and brown sugar set this recipe apart from the rest. For a delicious and unique main dish give this Sweet Cola Ribs Recipe a try. For a quick, easy and nutritious side dish, just slice up some eggplant and zucchini, coat in olive oil, season with salt and pepper and throw it on the grill. Yum!

Entertaining

What’s a 4th of July get-together without all your favorite family and friends? If you’re entertaining this year, try out these creative party ideas. Instead of just serving boring beer to your adult guests give these Fun 4th of July Cocktails a try. And don’t forget the music–make a patriotic themed playlist with songs like ‘Born in the USA’ and ‘Bye Bye American Pie’.

Setting the Scene

Why not have fun with your 4th of July party this year? String up some red, white or blue holiday lights in your backyard for a festive touch. Miniature American flags scattered along backyard paths is a nice touch. For centerpieces, pick a beautiful and festive flower arrangement to set the mood. Surround with boxes of sparklers for an extra fun touch!

American Spirit Flower Bouquet

Happy 4th of July!

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