I’m not a Christmas baby, but I have a sister, a nephew, friends and a cousin who have birthdays the day before and the days after. They’re not crazy about their birthdate and with good reason.It’s important to make Christmas birthdays special, especially if they are for friends and family! It’s commonly heard that if your birthday lands on any of these critical days, then more than likely a.) you’ll get one gift that counts for Christmas and your birthday, b.) you’ll get a birthday gift wrapped in Christmas paper, c.) your friends are busy spending the holidays with family, d.) your family temporarily forgets it’s your birthday, and the list goes on. Just as we get one day of the year that’s all about us, they deserve one as well.
Category Archives: Christmas Decorating
Last Minute Christmas Stocking Treats
This is gong to be the second to last weekend we all have to get our Christmas shopping done. Are you ready? I need to check off a good amount of my list this weekend and I’m trying not to get too overwhelmed. Continue reading
Christmas Potluck Appetizer Cocktail Party
Our office hosted the building Christmas party tonight and it was a success. The theme this year, and the past 3 years (what? why fix what isn’t broken?) has been a wine potluck appetizer sprinkled with desserts. What type of company or building holiday parties do you guys host/attend? Please feel free to share! Continue reading
How To Host An Ornament Exchange Party
My friend was hosting a Dexter/Homeland night on Sunday (anyone else keep up? These shows are outstanding!!) and we were ooh-ing and ahh-ing over her freshly trimmed tree. She was telling us about her ornament-buying experience and about how her husband wanted to be included. Of course she didn’t allow him to interfere with her color scheme. She allowed him to select one ornament: a gold 3-CPO from the acclaimed Star Wars. When he tried to throw in a Darth Vader, she forbade it and let him know that perhaps he could get it next year if it went with the color scheme. She brought up a good point. We like to change up the color scheme on the Christmas tree decor every year, just to spice things up. Ornaments and tree decorations can get pretty pricey though. Continue reading
Winter Holiday Volunteer Ideas
I can’t believe the holidays are here! Thanksgiving has come and gone, and we hope all of our My Paper Shop.com-ers had a great holiday feast with lots of love, food and family. Christmas is officially less than a month away. Kudos to those that got a head start on their shopping lists during Black Friday or Cyber Monday. As for the rest of you, we need to get a move on! This winter season, I was really interested in volunteering for a charity or soup kitchen, just to help our family really get in the spirit of giving. I’ve done it before and I truly recommend it. Not only that, but because of our unhealthy economy, our time is something we are able to donate. Continue reading
Holiday Christmas Party
A girlfriend of mine recently hosted a makeup party featuring “Smashbox Cosmetics” and it was so much fun…for us girls, of course. Her sister-in-law is friends with a vendor and is able to sell the popular products at a discounted price. Naturally, we go crazy. I’m not sure if it’s because we love the line so much, or if it’s because each item comes with the promise of making one of our complexes disappear temporarily. She also invited a couple friends that are sisters to set up a small table with some of the beautiful jewelry they sell. You can only imagine what makeup, jewelry, wine and appetizers will do to a group of girls on a Friday night.
I was visiting the Smashbox saleswoman not too long ago and she proposed that I host a makeup party in the next few months. I thought it would be a great idea to host it in early January, so long as she invited a few of her friends that are purse and jewelry vendors. She agreed. It’s the perfect post-holiday stress reliever and any of you could plan a similar gathering using this cosmetic line or any other favorite you and friends might have. You could even make it solely purses, shoes or jewelry, obviously depending on the like interests your guests have.
As far as appetizers go, I suggest easy foods like cheese and crackers, chicken salad with tortilla chips, veggies and dip, or tiny burgers. For drinks, you can do wine or margaritas. It’s simple and entertaining with the right group of friends.
Use disposable tableware (such as any of our Floral Party Collections) to avoid a pile of dishes at the end of the night. You might also want to use Acrylic Wine Glasses and Wine Holder Plates to avoid any broken glasses that could disrupt the evening.
Shop, drink, and enjoy.
Happy Holidays, ladies!
Christmas Gift Exchange
Secret Santa, White Elephant Parties, or any tip of gift exchange is always huge during the holiday season when it comes to large companies and/or families. Getting the perfect gift is always such a headache, especially if you don’t know the recipient well enough to read his/her mind. White Elephant Parties are obviously a little bit different, but in any case still stressful because no one wants to be that person that brought the horrible “unwanted” gift.
I grew up in a pretty large family. Once you knew Santa wasn’t real, you joined the Secret Santa crowd. Now that we’re all older, we continue doing our annual gift exchange to keep up with tradition. We make dinner, eat together and unwrap gifts at the end of the night. It’s great family time and it’s always fun to see what your Secret Santa selected as the perfect gift for you.
Like I said before, though, these gift exchanges don’t always take place with family so it’s always nice to have some general ideas that would be fit for a male or a female. One of my all time favorites is a “Movie Night Gift Basket,” hand-made of course. Grab a few classic movies-romance, comedy, action, thriller-some popcorn, chocolate bars, malt balls, gummy bears (or worms) and a bottle of wine (if it is age appropriate) or soft drinks. If you feel really crazy, you can throw in a couple gift certificates for a trip to the movie theater. Pick up a basket at your local arts and crafts store (they’re fairly inexpensive) and arrange everything neatly, maybe decorate the bottom with streamers in seasonal colors. Complete the package with a basket cello bag and tie it with a nice ribbon.
If you know the recipient’s favorite cinematic adventures, you can tailor it to their taste, of course. Maybe make it a whole theme and throw in the copy of the book (if there is one) and a few odds and ends. You can rarely go wrong with this package. Try it this holiday season!
Hot Chocolate Cocktails
The Christmas season tends to host some pretty chilly nights that aren’t always so inviting as far as cold cocktails go.
Recently, my close friend was up in San Francisco visiting with friends at a sports bar. The bay area isn’t the warmest place, especially right now during the rainy, fall season. Her and her significant other were enjoying Sunday football at a local sports bar. It was freezing outside and she wasn’t up for a cold beer so she asked the bartender to recommend a few drinks,
He recommended hot chocolate-scratch that, “special” hot chocolate:
Ingredients
1 Ounce Bailey’s Irish Cream
1 Nestle Hot Chocolate instant packet
Directions
Pour the Bailey’s into a mug and fill the rest of it with the prepared hot chocolate. Mix and enjoy!
Try our Christmas Themed Paper Beverage Cups! (They’re hot/cold drink friendly).
My friend claims this drink is the best thing that happened to her holiday season. Let’s hope it’s as magical as she claims.
Feast of the Epiphany
The Feast of the Epiphany is celebrated in the catholic church on January 6. It’s traditionally the day commemorated as the day on which the three wise men visited baby Jesus.This religious holiday is regarded as part of the Christmas festivities and it is celebrated largely in the Latin culture.
Brioche of the Magi (King cake), with fruits confits, from Toulon; this kind is kings’ cake is more common in the southeast than the northern-kind galette (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Parties are usually planned around 6th of January or the weekend closest to the actual day. The main entree is “King’s Cake,” a round cake decorated with fruits, and sweets for decorations. Some people keep the tradition of inserting a random baby doll, symbolizing baby Jesus, in the cake somewhere. Whoever “finds” or gets the doll in their slice of cake is required to throw a party for those present at the party.This day is also the day on which many children get their actual Christmas presents, as it is the same day on which Jesus received his gifts from the three magi. Children leave one of their shoes out the night before with hay and carrots, for their animals and the following morning they awake to find their gifts.The epiphany holiday is one celebrated with joy and much anticipation.So, gather around because the Christmas season isn’t over yet!
Serve the tasty treats (which, you can find at your local bakery right around this time) on our colorful plastic plates and plastic serving trays.
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Food/Toy Drive – Tis’ The Season
The Christmas season is about giving and helping one another, and more specifically the less fortunate. Although Thanksgiving was almost a month ago, it’s important that we be grateful for all of our blessings, every day.
This year, grab a few close friends or acquaintances from your local church and organize a toy or food drive for the needy. I remember my father’s union organized an amazing toy drive every year and the daughters of the board members always dressed up like elves to make the event more memorable for the children. A small gift could make one child’s entire holiday season and a can of food you may never even eat could make or break another family’s Christmas dinner.
Make the event memorable, although I’m sure the looks on the children’s faces will be more than enough of a memory. Pin each of your helps with a special “Helper” Button and bask in the joy of giving.