Although Christmas is a time to spend with family and be happy and full of joy, sometimes it's nice to pull a prank here and there, especially since many will not be expecting them.
Whether you choose to hang an authentic or artificial pine Christmas wreath on your door — or an entirely different type, like ones made of paper waste or even food — chances are you've spent a year or two struggling with how to keep your decor hanging. With one easy to apply, quick to remove trick, you can skip the shiny wreath holder and any further damage to your front door.
Though the holiday season is just wrapping up, don't throw away your torn leftover gift wrap paper just yet. Whether for next year's holiday season or for year-round use, leftover gift wrap can be reused for a variety of creative and practical uses.
You don't have to be a professional artist to make sweet crafty gifts out of the humble Sharpie pen. On a budget, you can easily make personalized yet visually pleasing gifts for your favorite people out of Sharpies and a blank canvas in the form of ceramic mugs, T-shirt, tote bags, canvas shoes, ornament balls, lampshades, and more.
Every year I wait until the last minute to wrap Christmas presents. I always tell myself I'm going to get it done ahead of time, but it never happens. And the worst thing that can happen when you put it off is running out of Scotch tape.
Somehow, we end up with a pile of leftover candy canes at the end of every December. Yet just because the enthusiastic holiday commercials are gone and the Christmas cards are on discount doesn't mean you have to let the minty sweets go to waste.
The concept and structure of Christmas hasn't changed much since its inception. In its infancy, Christians recruited Roman pagans by associating Christmas with the Saturnalia, an ancient Roman festival in honor of the deity Saturn (also held in December). The pagans had long worshiped trees (as did other historical cultures) and would bring them into their homes and decorate them, something that influenced our modern holiday decorations.
LEGOs are more than just a toy for young children— it's an emerging art form combining photography, stop-motion (i.e., brickfilms), and imitative models that portray today's pop culture as it is. It's something visual culture analysts are sure to be studying over the next decade, and Chris McVeigh, from Halifax, Nova Scotia, is sure to be studied for his LEGO mastery.
Everyone knows how to make paper snowflakes, but the kind you learned to cut in kindergarten can get a little boring. However, they are free DIY holiday decorations, and they don't have to be a generic snowflake design. They can be anything you want, from nerdy math kirigami to all the Star Wars characters you can think of!
In an ideal world, the art of gift-exchanging is a joyous, wonderful thing that makes both parties feel equally good. But as many of us already know, gift-giving is also an emotionally charged social minefield that can leave many of us feeling... awkward.
So it is Christmas Eve and you are just getting started on your Christmas gift shopping. Thankfully, even for the last-minute Christmas gift shopper, you have a good variety of options to choose from within driving distance or on the internet without worrying about shipping costs or waiting in ridiculously long lines at the mall.
Are you expecting a lot of guests for an upcoming holiday party? To make your home smell like the holiday season, simmer orange peels, cinnamon sticks, cranberries, and cloves with water on a stovetop for several hours to make your indoor space smell really good.
One of the more enjoyable parts of Christmas (other than opening gifts of course) is going out to find the perfect tree, struggle bringing it into the house, and decorating it. As the years went by, I realized that our tree looked exactly like every other tree in the neighborhood: the same lights, the same angel at the top, and the same red, green and white ornaments.
If the idea of baking perfectly-shaped sugar cookies in time for Christmas is an intimidating prospect for you, you can make your own no-bake holiday treats simply using a microwave and a few simple ingredients.
Decorating your Christmas tree does not have to be an expensive ordeal. You can easily make personalized, unique ornaments for your tree by using things lying around your home, like toilet paper tubes, paper towels, wine corks, old newspapers, CDs (remember those?), plastic water bottles, and even dry pasta.
The most annoying thing about Christmas lights is when one bulb blows, the whole string stops working. There's no easy way to tell which one is out when it's a huge strand, so it can take forever to fix.
Broken glass Christmas ornaments? Evergreen wreath falling apart? Before you throw away or donate Christmas decorations you no longer need, see if you can reuse or recycle them for better use year-round or for next year's holiday season.
Got a box full of Christmas lights but don't exactly have a picturesque rooftop to hang the lights from? Or, have too many Christmas lights and too little space to decorate with?
When you can't quite figure out what to get someone for Christmas, turn to your inner creativity for a more personal, homemade holiday gift. To help give you some ideas, here are some DIY presents that never fail.
If you're tired of using the same old ornaments on your Christmas tree year after year, then it's time to experiment with borax snowflakes. It's not only a fun decoration to make, it's a great science project to try out with family and friends. All you need for to make DIY crystal snowflakes at home are pipe cleaners, borax, a wide-mouth jar, string, a pencil, and boiling water.
You've heard the old saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Well, the same goes true for snow. When Mother Nature dumps loads of the white stuff onto your neighborhood, then make the most of it with treats like maple snow candy, snow ice cream, and snow cocktails.
One of the most annoying things about the holiday season is that it's almost impossible to make it through without at least one ornament falling off the tree and shattering. Even if you give the cat its own "special room" for the whole month, something is bound to happen.
Want to wrap your Christmas gifts in a memorable way? Give your gift recipient a DIY super-secret book safe, and while you are at it, hide a small gift inside the the secret safe. Or, if you plan on giving a gift card, create a snow globe out of a mason jar and water and glitter, and insert the gift card at the bottom of the jar so that it is held upright by superglue.
Christmas is only a few days away with New Year's right around the corner. If you're like me, you count down the days until Christmas for family and presents like a little kid, and then count down the days until New Year's like an adult that can't wait to have their first cocktail.
There's nothing better than gulping down an ice cold beer to calm the senses and ease the mind. The holiday season can be very stressful as people scramble around trying to find the best gifts for friends and family. And we all know that gifts can be very hit or miss, but it's pretty hard to go wrong giving someone a nice bottle of whiskey or a nice selection of beers.
As the holidays draw closer and closer, stores are getting more and more crowded, and of course, many have put off their Christmas shopping until the very last minute. Why not avoid the mall rush this holiday season and make a personalized do-it-yourself snow globe to gift to those closest to you? This is also a perfect opportunity to put of those cell phone photos that you've been snapping to use!
Gift-giving to your loved ones shouldn't be too time-consuming or strain your savings. Immortalize your special Instagram moments with family and friends by turning them into refrigerator magnets.
This holiday season, get yourself a bunch of mason jars. With a little crafty effort and inexpensive supplies, you can transform an empty glass jar into an endless possibility of DIY gifts catered to your gift recipient's personality and interests.
Every Christmas tree needs a topper, but most of them are boring and generic. If you want something a little more unique, making it yourself is a great way to go, and a DIY Weeping Angel topper is a good twist on a classic, but not everyone is a Dr. Who fan.
If getting Christmas presents ready ahead of time has never been your forte, be assured that it has never than easier than before to assemble together a last-minute Christmas gift for all your loved ones and favorite people (and maybe not-so-favorite people you are obligated to buy gifts for) on Christmas eve.
The holiday season wouldn't be the same without decorations. Ornaments and fancy lighting brightens up a neighborhood and helps spread the holiday cheer. While decorations and Christmas lights are fantastic, why not get a little more creative and some fun in the process?
One good thing about having friends who are constantly on their phones and tablets is it's easy to figure out what to get them for Christmas. Everyone hates getting gifts that just sit around, so it's always nice to get something that improves an item you use on a daily basis.
Sick of the same boring, holiday-printed, gift wrapping paper for packaging your presents? Using spare cardboard, make a pyramid-shaped gift box for your unusually-shaped item. Or, transform your spare empty cereal boxes into fancy custom-made gift boxes.
There are very few times (if any) the word poo and delicious belong in the same sentence, but any fan of South Park (or chocolate) will appreciate this awesome Mr. Hankey, The Christmas Poo treat, created by Degroof.
Though making hot chocolate out of instant mix is pretty easy, there is no comparison when it comes to making your own homemade hot chocolate out of quality dark chocolate bars, whole milk, brown sugar, and your own favorite fresh spices.
Winter weather always looks so pretty on postcards. A blanket of fluffy white snow, icicles hanging from the trees, little woodland creatures scampering about...it's like a picture straight out of a storybook. But in the real world, after a day or two it usually looks more like this:
Last year, I wrote a post on "10 Thrifty DIY Christmas Gift Ideas" for people looking to get crafty during the gift-giving season. It seemed only right to do a followup this year with 10 more ideas!
Last year and the year before that, I gave some suggestions on DIY holiday gifts that you could make for family and friends, and this year, I wanted to follow up with even more Christmas gift ideas.
Edible decorations are the best kind of decorations—not only do they look good, they also serve a purpose. An edible centerpiece is a great way to entertain your guests and gives them something to tide them over while you're cooking if you're serving food.
When it comes to the holidays, there's definitely no shortage of ways to geekify your experience. You can make your own nerdy ornaments with a Weeping Angel tree topper, or go with traditional decorations that are mathematically perfect.
Perhaps the most important decoration of the holiday season is the Christmas tree. It's where all of the magic happens. If you're not into real Christmas trees, there's always some festive alternatives, but for those of us who can't live without a natural Christmas tree, choosing the right one for the right price can be an impossible task.
So you've chosen the ideal Christmas tree for your place and decorated it so that it's mathematically perfect, but something's missing. It's not quite complete without a topper, but all of the traditional ones are soooo boring. What's a geek to do?
The holiday season is here, and most people have already started counting down. Advent calendars are a very traditional way to keep track of how many days are left, but most of the ones you see are either boring, made for little kids, or just plain ugly.
The holiday season is creeping up fast, and if you're shopping for a Steampunk, it could be almost impossible to find anything for them unless you know exactly where to look. Luckily for you, some of us have done all of the work you'll need.
