Quick Holiday Decorations – At Home and For Your Party

It’s that time of year to deck the halls and get your home into the spirit of the season. When I was a kid, it was a great time to get out all of the familiar tree ornaments, decorative wreaths and greenery, sparkly lights, and the plastic Santa that stood proudly in our yard. It was magical, and I certainly wanted to be involved in decorating.

If you are looking for quick and easy ways to decorate your home and include your kids, check out the list below:

• Snowflakes: Add a touch of winter to your party by attaching snowflakes to the walls and ceiling of the party area.
• Use any holiday decorations that you own to decorate the room. Involve the kids in getting them out and placing them around the house.
• Hang twinkle lights to the front entrance of your home.
• Kids can string cranberries and popcorn for an eco-friendly tree garland.
• Paper chains can be made with all different colors. Use them to decorate your mantle, doorway, or tree.
• Make cookie ornaments! Follow the directions for a simple sugar cookie recipe, but make sure when you roll the dough, and after you use the cookie cutters, that you punch out a hole large enough for a ribbon to pass through so you can hang the ornaments on your tree.
• Once you have your wreaths out, ask your kids to help spruce them up by adding twinkle lights, small teddy bears, holly berries, etc.

Quick holiday decorating ideas for your holiday party:

• Table Decorations: Cover tables with a red, green, or ice blue plastic tablecloth, scatter some confetti, and add some festive candies and metallic gossamer down the center of the table.
• When kids arrive, face paint the kids’ noses red, just like Rudolph!
• Create a sea of snow by blowing up many white glossy balloons and having them all over the party room. (The kids can use these balloons to have a mock snowball fight later on during the party!)
• Hang candy canes around the party area and lighting fixtures.
• Place festive holiday cards around the party room. The kids can look them over, and create their own as an activity. They can also decorate a doorway with a basket full of cards.
• Using a large, colorful piece of butcher paper, roll it out and have markers and crayons on hand. Together, the group can write a letter to Santa. Each child signs his name and then hang it up in the party room.
• Hand out felt stockings, and have glitter glue on hand. The kids can decorate and hang their stockings to dry. This is a great take-home favor!
• Decorate a few mini-trees with mini-ornaments and mini garlands.
• Make Marshmallow Snowmen as an edible decoration. Using a graham cracker, a flat piece of chocolate, and a large marshmallow, build your snowman. Use small pretzel sticks for the arms, chocolate chips for the eyes, and small string of licorice for the mouth. Really cute, and yummy!