etiquette, events, parties, manners It's Simply Lindsay

12/2/19

Easy DIY painted ornaments

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While I’m not a particularly artistic or crafty person, a few of my girlfriends and I have started to get together for little craft nights, and let me tell you, it is SO. MUCH. FUN. Seriously. Last year, we worked on some DIY painted ornaments, and while we all used different colors and have different aesthetics, they all came out adorable. Plus we had a blast.

We used wooden disks that were pre-drilled to make it simple for hanging, but you could also paint directly on glass or plastic ball ornaments too.

How do you normally decorate your tree? Is it the same each year? Do you change it up? Do you decorate with specific color schemes? The past two years we’ve gravitated more towards pinks and pastels, so those are the colors I used.

11/14/19

How to decorate a Christmas tree

Growing up, decorating the Christmas tree was one of my favorite traditions – we’d put on Perry Como Christmas music, eat gingerbread cookies, and help my mom sort through our hundreds of ornaments. My parents always get an enormous tree, and the time, care, and decorating skills my mom puts into her tree is enough to rival the Rockerfeller Center’s tree!

Even though my mom has hundreds of ornaments, each one has a special meaning or memory – the nostalgia surrounding the holidays is so powerful, isn’t it?

While I can never come close to my mom’s tree, I do have some skills up my sleeve that I’d love to share with you. There are a few key elements that most people often overlook, so just follow my simple steps to add some “wow” factor to your tree.

While we only used about half of the ornaments we have, and we only put a couple of our most special delicate ones out (2 kids, 1 baby, 2 kittens…), you can still make a great impact with non-breakables!

Check out: DIY gift wrap | DIY painted ornaments | Gift guide for kids and toddlers

11/5/19

Gift guide for kids and toddlers

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This year, my family is making a big push away from flashy, one-trick-pony toys – you know, the ones on commercials and in catalogs that every kid has to have because it’s so wildly publicized and commercialized. These are usually toys with batteries and these are the toys that pretty much do the work for you. There really isn’t a need for imagination, and there’s only one way to use the toy.

We spent last week purging our toy room away from these toys and donated them to a local up and coming daycare center. Now, we’re purposefully keeping items that are multi-use, spark imagination, and can be used over and over again for years to come.

Check out my top picks for toddler and children gifts this year, and let me know what’s on your kids’ wish lists!