There are a lot of things that go into planning your Christmas party. Check out the following list and make sure you have thought about everything.

1. Make your guest list. Make sure you invite them all.
2. Make your food list. Make sure you have accurate recipes for all of them.
3. Make sure all of your decorations are up
4. Make sure you house is clean and smells good (candles are a wonderful touch)
5. Make sure the kids have something to do. They want to have fun, too.
6. Make sure you have garbage bags. Plan for your Garbage Day. I know that some Areas only pick up what fits in your cans.
7. Plan for your pets. Make sure that none is allergic. If someone is, plan to lock them up then clean the rest of the house thoroughly.
8. Provide some kind of party favor that everyone can take home. You can find some great homemade decorations that are cheap to make and are easy to personalize.
9. Prepare for parking issues. Park your cars down the street at a friends house so your guests can park in your driveway.

If you have not done this already, you should seriously start thinking about getting you Christmas cards mailed off this week. If you don’t, you will run the risk of your cards not arriving to your family and friends before Christmas.

There are several ways you can send your Christmas cards.

1. Picture Cards: Find a recent photo of your family. If you don’t have one, take one today. Upload it to your local photolab. I find that Walmart and Walgreens have great turn around. You can choose the card you want the picture on and have them printed at the store closest to your house. When you get them, label them (hand write them if you can. It is so much more personal) and mail them.
2. Bulk Cards: You can buy the Christmas cards that come in packages of 25, 50, 100 or more. Write a short personal note to each person/family on your list and mail them out.
3. The Christmas Letter: Type a page long letter that highlights what has happened in you family over the past year. Feel free to add Christmas clip art and pretty fonts. It is ok to be cliché. Hand sign them and Mail them out. This option is great for people you don’t keep up with very often. It allows them to remember you during the Christmas season.

This will actually vary on the gift. I am going to explain wrapping a box. (I will get pictures up later this week.

Step One: Unroll a length of wrapping paper. Make sure that there is enough to go all the way around the box with a little overlap on the top. Make sure there is plenty of paper sticking out on either side of the box as well.

Step Two: Cut the length you just eyeballed from the roll of paper.

Step Three: Fold the overlapped edge about a half inch. This will give you a nice seam. Then pull it tightly around the gift and place a small strip of tape to hold the seam to the paper beneath it.

Step Four: Cut any excess paper from the sides of the package, leaving enough to fold in to completely cover the sides.

Step Five: Fold the top of one side down against the side of the package. Make creases where the paper fall flush against the box.

Step Six: Fold both sides in flush against the side of the box. Make creases where necessary.

Step Seven: Fold the edge of the bottom side in about a half inch to give another nice crease. Then fold it up flush against the side of the box. Place another small strip of tape to hold the new seam against the rest of the wrapping paper. This side should now be done.

Step Eight: Complete steps Five, Six & Seven to the other side of the box.

Now you are done. Slap on a bow and a name tag and stick it under the tree.

This is a very important subject. People have a lot of trouble with finding gifts for the friends and family. It is especially hard when the people that you are trying to buy for seem to have everything.

For these kinds of people, gift cards may seem to be the way to go… and who knows… they might actually want a gift card. Honestly though… don’t you thing a gift card is rather impersonal? Sure I like them every now and then, but for Christmas… I think it is important to put some thought into the gifts.

If you can’t think of something that they would want or need, try a service that they can’t ever have enough of. For you mom or sister, get a manicure or day at the spa. For your dad, how about football tickets to see his favorite team. You brother might want that subscription to gamefly.com where he can rent as many games as he want to in a month.

Think about the person. What are their interests. Think of something that would suit them. Something that you know that they would definitely use.

The number one rule is: Don’t buy something that you like, buy something you know that they would like.

This is Just Crazy

There are so many other homemade decorations that you can make from home. I am going to try to list some of them here.

1. Tin Can Luminaries
2. Snowdomes
3. Punchenello Wreaths
4. LED Light Up Bottle
5. Teapot Stand
6. Dried Flowers & Decorated Candles
7. Safety Pin Jewelry
8. Christmas Sock Monkeys
9. Paperback Christmas Tree

There are a whole mess of decorations that kids can make for the Christmas Tree. Here are a few of them:

1. Origami Ornament
2. Popcorn Garland: Everyone should have done this one in elementary school. Take a needle and nylon thread and string unbuttered, unsalted popcorn until you have a long string of popcorn garland. This is great for one year. It sometimes doesn’t make it to the end of the season, especially if you own pets.
3. Loop Through Loop Garland: With construction paper, cut massive numbers of strips (about 1 inch wide and 4 inches long). With a glue stick make one loop. Link another loop by sliding another strip through the loop you just made then glue it together making two loops linked together. Keep adding loops ‘til you run out of paper strips. This makes great decorations. I would not keep it more than the current season. It gets trashed in storage.
4. How to Make a Christmas Snow Globe Craft
5. Pinecone Christmas Trees
6. Christmas Tree Balloons

I will add more as I have time.