Secret Santa Gifts

So you know how if you work at an office or go to school you get to do fun and festive things around the holidays like parties and gift exchanges? Well, working at home by yourself as a blogger could be rather lonely.

So, Stefanie of Brooklyn Limestone decided to invite a few bloggers to do a Secret Santa with her this year — and I am participating because I thought it would be a lot of fun! I haven’t done a Secret Santa for years!

For our Secret Santa, the gifts can be store bought or handmade, and there was no dollar limit. We are just having fun with this! And for added fun, we are going to let you all see some of the gifts via our blogs and maybe you can help us guess who our Secret Santas are, OK? Plus I bet you’ll get a few great gift ideas along the way too.

Here is how it works, we are each going to get and send two gifts in the mail!

I received my first gift in the mail this weekend and I think it is such a cute gift idea!

A mason jar full of super cute decorative tapes, ribbons and gift tags? LOVE THEM! YES! Now I’m ready to wrap!

Genius, and adorable. Any idea who might have sent it?

Here are the options of who my Secret Santa might be!

Brooklyn Limestone
4 men 1 lady
bryn alexandra
emily a clark
house of smiths
isabella and max rooms
la dolce vita
lovely little details
making it lovely
mustard seed interiors
pure style home
save the date 4 cupcakes
ten june
thrifty decor chick
you stir me
young house love

So who do you think might be my Secret Santa? Any clues?

PS. The Christmas Home Tours begin Monday at 6PM PST….see you then!!

Peppermint Rimmed Hot Chocolate?

Yes, please! This festive and tasty idea from How Does She! would be so fun for Christmas parties!

It is the little things that make events memorable, don’t you think?

Peppermint Rimmed Hot Chocolate would make a great winter tradition for your family, too! Your kids will never forget family treats like this.

Hey Gorgeous

I thought this similarly festive idea for decorating a beverage glass from Hey Gorgeous was super neat too! My girls are always adding sprinkles to things, so I know they will love this.

Can you imagine how great this would be to dress up ice cream after dinner or milk glasses at the kids’ holiday table?

I found some cute straws at Garnish so you might want to have them on hand for the holidays (they are not an affiliate, although I do love their products)!

Too cute not to share! Happy weekend!

Creative Christmas Memories & Decorating Idea

One of my readers, Dana @ Cooking at Cafe D (who is doing a 31 Day series on 31 Minutes to a More Organized Life!) left me this sweet comment:

I’m really enjoying this series.  it goes to show that it doesn’t take a large effort – just a little effort and a little thought – to make something special.

Yes. Thank you. True words. That is my goal.

So, in thinking about the topic of being inspired for the season ahead, I stumbled across a delightful idea over at Canadian House & Home.

Simple cloth bags with numbers of them, a use-what-you-already-have ornament tucked inside. Each day of December, children get to open a bag and another ornament goes on the tree.

Amen.

Simple creativity and meaningful holiday decor. It just takes a little thought, a little effort.

Sometimes we get overwhelmed, thinking holidays have to be complicated ordeals. Or that having a beautiful holiday home requires amazing design sense, money, lots of time, or showcasing all the latest trendy stuff. And we miss the whole point.

We can start now with a goal to choose a few simple ideas for creative yet memorable decor, a few easy fun treats to enjoy and share, a few simple-to-make comforting holiday meals. Then decide which meaningful traditions we want to keep this year.

And then we can let go of the excessive expectations that will stress us out, zero in on a few special ideas we really want to do, and we’ll actually have time and energy to make them happen and ENJOY them.

We don’t have to jump ahead to Christmas yet, we can and should still savor Autumn. Just start your list of simple holiday ideas and traditions so you can start gathering what you need and begin weeding out the rest.

Want to catch up on the first six days?

Day 2: Plush Pumpkin Fall Giveaway!

Day 3: Why I Love this Season

Day 4: Ideas for Decorating Naturally

Day 5: Simple Fall Decorating Around The House

Day 6: Your Style: Get in the Holiday Groove

And here is where to find the list of other creative and inspiring bloggers involved in this 31 Day series!