Hot Christmas Ideas Posts

How To: Geek Up Your Holidays with These 10 Nerdy DIY Christmas Tree Ornaments

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.

How To: Make a Christmas tree from sheets of rolled newspaper

This video demonstrates how to make a christmas tree out of newspaper. The author suggests that you start with 3 full sheets of newspaper and have scissors and scotch tape ready to use. Begin the tree making process by rolling the newspaper tightly and then using the scissors to create multiple cuts on one end of the roll. After doing so the newspaper roll should achieve a frayed look on one end. Pull on the frayed side to elongate the other newspaper that was rolled inside previously and the...

How To: Fix Broken Christmas Lights Faster with a Lighter

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.

How To: Make a Cheap Desk Christmas Tree!

Here's your chance to get creative during the holidays, especially if you're a "DIY" person. Why buy a small Christmas Tree for your desk when you can make your own for a fraction of the price and have fun as well. For further instructions refer to the video tutorial. Merry Christmas!!!

How To: 10 Last-Minute DIY Christmas Decorations for the Cheap & Lazy

Some people put up their holiday decorations as soon as Thanksgiving is over. Some wait until Christmas Eve. Right now, the only thing in my whole apartment that would tip you off is a tiny little fake tree on the counter. I've been planning on decorating all month, but I haven't quite gotten around to it yet.

How To: Make lovely Christmas tree ornaments out of wire

Decorate your Christmas tree with wire this year! You don't need much - just some 16 gauge wire, a little 26 gauge wire, various pliers (like needle nose and round nose), colored beads and a good surface to hammer your wire on.

How To: Make USB Christmas lights

This video covers the steps for creating USB Christmas lights. Take battery powered Christmas lights and convert them to USB powered to decorate your office. Take apart the battery casing. You have to rewire this. You also need to cut open a USB cord and do some soldering.

How To: Make a Cheap Snowflake Christmas Tree Topper Out of Toilet Paper Tubes

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.

How To: Build Star Wars Christmas Tree Ornaments Out of LEGOs

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.

How To: 60+ Free Paper Snowflake Templates—Star Wars Style!

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!

How To: Fill in Ugly Bare Spots on Your Christmas Tree

You've found the perfect tree — or so you think. As hard as we try to display an ideal tree each year, both plastic and pine can disappoint, especially when you're shopping on the cheap.

How To: 5 Weird & Easy Ways to Water Your Christmas Tree

Christmas trees, once decorated and brightly lit, are the penultimate holiday decoration, but authentic pines lose their brilliance fast without any nourishment. Plus, they are major fire hazards without regular hydration. But watering one requires a lot of sliding around on the floor, and it can be hard to tell how much water is in the bowl beneath the dark, prickly branches. These five hacks can help!

How To: Replicate the Famous Hidden Orange Christmas Pudding by Heston

No, not Charlton Heston. The only pudding he ever made was steak and kidney. I'm talking about Heston Blumenthal, world famous chef and pudding lover, and the man behind the "Heston"— a plum pudding with an orange hidden within, brought to you by Waitrose (see video below).

How To: Make a DIY Santa Figure from a Gourd

Gourds are great for all sorts of crafts, most notably perhaps making the shekere. You can also use them to make cute fat Santa figures for Christmas! This video will teach you how to turn a gourd and some paint into a holiday masterpiece.

How To: Make a Snowman & Christmas Tree with Sugar Paste

It's time for the holidays, and you're full of Christmas cheer, all ready to make some homemade decorations. Well, get out your modeling sugar and check out these two video tutorials on how to make a snowman and Christmas tree with modeling sugar paste.

How To: Make Holiday Decorating Easier with a Glue Gun

You've probably tried just about every method of hanging your holiday decorations: nails, thumbtacks, sticky hooks, and, in desperation, even tape. Each method can leave a host of complications when removed, though, from chipping paint to visible holes.

How To: Create Polish Star Christmas Ornaments Out of Paper

To be honest, these Christmas ornaments look more like sea urchins than stars to us. Either way, these festive ornaments are beautiful and cheap alternatives to purchasing standard ornaments at the store. Give each ornament character by using a different color or pattern paper.

How To: Forget Hallmark—Save Money by Making These Awesome Popup Pixel Christmas Cards

Greeting cards. Everyone hates buying them, they're way overpriced, and the majority of them go right in the trash after they're opened. So why do we still buy them?

How To: Make the Best "Ugly Christmas Sweater" Ever, Complete with Animated Burning Fireplace

Christmas sweaters are one of those anomalies that everyone complains about, yet so many are sold every year that someone has to like them (kind of like fruitcake). Whether you're keeping tradition for tradition's sake, or secretly you actually enjoy ugly sweaters (we won't tell anyone), why not at least make this year one to remember?

How To: Make Your Decorated Christmas Tree Mathematically Perfect

Christmas is just a few weeks away and the decorating has already begun. The centerpiece for most home during the holiday is, of course, the Christmas tree. But let's face it—that tree can be a big pain in the ass to decorate. You'll run out of tinsel, your lights will be too short, and a missing bulb with throw the whole thing off balance.

How To: Spruce Up a Boring Christmas Tree with This Cheap, One-Ingredient Flocking (AKA Fake Snow)

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: If you want the beauty of freshly fallen snow without dealing with any grey slush or shoveling, artificial snow (aka flocking) is the way to go—especially when it comes to decorating your tree. You can always buy...

How To: 5 Awesome DIY Christmas Gift Ideas for Beer Lovers

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.

How To: Make Christmas ornaments from soda cans

Diet Coke can be festive! After you drink all the Diet Coke, you can turn the empty cans into Christmas tree ornaments. Make sure you rinse all the cans and take the tabs off, and you'll also need a very sharp knife. Make soda cans into something cool!

How To: Make a tomato cage Christmas tree

Decorating for the holidays can be a lot of fun, but it can also be a lot of work if you let it get out of hand. Keep it simple and try and use as many things as you have around the garden, like tomato cages.

How To: Make a Deliciously Accurate Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo Holiday Snack

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.

How To: Don't Like Traditional Christmas Trees? Try Out One of These 7 Festive DIY Alternatives

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. While certain things such as gifts and ornaments have b...

How To: Track Santa Right Now with the NORAD Santa Tracker & Google Maps / Earth

Tonight is the night. Christmas Eve. The night where Santa Claus and his trusty reindeer soar across the skies to deliver presents to all the good little boys and girls around the world. But tell me— do you know where Santa Claus is right now?

How To: Fluff fake Christmas garlands, wreaths, and sprays to make them look real

If you prefer plastic Christmas greenery over real, we totally understand. While PVC isn't exactly renewable, it is eco-friendly in the sense that you don't need to unnecessarily chop down young evergreen trees and sprigs each year, only to throw them away after a week of use.

How To: Wire your Christmas lights to flash in time to music

Want to replicate that cool effect when you can watch Christmas lights flash in time to music? It's easy! You'll need a set of speakers, an outlet adapter, excess power cord, a solid state relay and, of course, Christmas lights! Once you've gotten all your project pieces assembled, follow this tutorial so you can wire them up to your music.

News: Watch This $15 Conductive Marker Create a Magical Circuit Board Christmas Village

This year, there's no need to waste time and energy stringing colorful Christmas lights all over your home and yard. All you need is the Circuit Marker from AgIC, a Japanese technology company, and you're ready to deck the halls.

How To: Easy DIY Sparkle Ball Decorations for the Holiday Season

With the new year just around the corner, it's a time we all reminisce about the year that was. In the midst of families fighting over white elephant presents and the financial stress that comes with holiday gifting, you may also be dealing with the stress of hosting parties and get-togethers as well as the decorating that goes with it.

How To: Booby Trap a Christmas Gift

Although Christmas is not a time for pranks and booby traps, but rather quality time with the family, why not have a little fun at the expense of your loved ones? Here's a simple yet effective way to booby trap a Christmas gift. You'll need the help of a balloon, but the end result will be hilarious. Just wait until Christmas morning and everyone is eager to open their presents. That's when the fun begins. Merry Christmas!!!!

How To: Make a Spinning Optical Illusion Decoration for Christmas

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?

How To: No More Tape? Use These Tapeless Gift-Wrap Hacks on Last-Minute Christmas Presents

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.

How To: Make Christmas Flower - Poinsettia

Here can see how to make a Christmas flower in macrame style. You can add this Christmas Flower to your holiday decor, for example in Christmas wreath. Flower arrangement ideas from Macrame.

How To: Craft a 3D Finnish star Christmas paper ornament

Finally purchased a tree from the tree lot but in serious lack of pretty ornaments? Not a problem. You can make a bundle of these Finish 8-pointed star ornaments quickly, and they look quite impressive.

How To: Craft a simple folded paper flower ornament for Christmas

Have your Christmas tree up finally but have very little time to adorn it? Not a problem. Instead of resorting to those cheap shatterproof ornaments you can get at any drugstore, put a more homespun - and beautiful - touch on your tree this year by crafting your own ornaments. Check out this video to learn how to make paper flower ornaments.

How To: Turn a plain white tablecloth into a festive Christmas tablecloth

This is a great Christmas DIY tutorial that shows you how to take a plain white tablecloth and use a star stencil, gold gel pen, glitter paint, felt scraps and a hot glue gun to add a festive holiday border.

How To: Make the Christmas pudding made famous by Heston (Waitrose Hidden Orange)

This recipe almost exactly replicates Heston Blumenthal's famous English recipe. Even if you can't find a candied orange, this tutorial shows you how to make one yourself. You will need, apart from the candied orange, a grated carrot, a grated green apple, three eggs, mixed dried fruit and beer or cider.

How To: Pipe Christmas tree and holly leaf decorations onto cupcakes

Christmas is The holiday of the year for many bakers, as the festive occasion offers more than enough excuses to bring out their best cookies, cakes, cupcakes, and yummy desserts. All red and green and Christmas-themed, of course. Christmas allows those creative juices to flow, but offers up very specific icons to work with.