December the season of joy, festivities and good times is upon us and sacred family traditions are honoured as family members get together from near and far to spend quality time with each other. The SPark family brings to you various ways to add on to the festive celebrations with creative ideas and a lot more!
decor
An important ritual for every household is the decoration of the house and its surroundings! Tinsel, holly wreaths, candy cones, stockings and the exquisite mistletoe adorn the walls and Christmas trees are covered with thin beaded garlands, trinkets, acorns, stars, Santa and angel dolls; covering every inch of the house with the holiday spirit. Christmas is also the time to get the creative one out of you, and the following easy-to-make holiday Christmas crafts will add a personal touch to the décor and brighten the home for the season.
Pine cone tree
Welcome guests with a pine-cone Christmas tree that’ll add to the rustic charm of your home décor.
Piano sheet tree
Fashion your home with a forest of decorative Christmas trees using old sheet music!
Holly Balloon sticks
An easy last-minute DIY, they can be used as cool props for holiday photos, as table centrepieces or even as give-aways at Christmas parties!
Christmas balloon lights
Giant Christmas lights made from green and red balloons and BAM! you’ve got yourself some impressive Christmas decorations.
Mason jar crafts
Add warmth and light to your house with these creative crafty lamps, that are real fun to make!
food
Vegan Stuffing – Butternut roast –Vegan Greek style roast
Move over the century old stuffing with roast turkey and ham. With more and more people turning vegan or opting for more health conscious diets, Mediterranean style roasts ensure tummies full of delicious and healthy food. Make these flavourful meatless roasts the centrepieces of your holiday table and watch as your meat-lover friends get amazed by its vegan composition! Holiday dinners don’t get any healthier than this.
Christmas tree vegetable platter
A broccoli and tomato tree with a pretzel trunk and cauliflower snow make for some delicious dippers for a cool and creamy dip. Kids won’t say no to vegetables after this for sure!
Sausage wrap wreaths
Want to impress your connoisseur friends at your party with your plating and food arrangement or simply jazz up them mundane sausage puffs? Well this gourmet holly wreath sure fits the bill.
Strawberry Santas
This Santa Claus will even have the adults smiling! These three ingredient Santas sure fit the bill for the easiest cooking during the busiest time of the year and are an absolute relish to eat!
Snowman Cookies
Adorable melted snowman cookies having the delightful combination of marshmallows and cookies. Need we say any more?
music
Ah, Christmas music! Well Christmas and music go hand in hand. One can’t imagine Christmas without the rhapsodic and keyed up Carols. Christmas music comprehends a blend of assorted genres of music.
Some classics like ‘The 12 days of Christmas’ , ‘O Christmas tree’, ‘God rest ye Merry gentlemen’ written way back in the 16th century will never cease to imbibe the Christmas spirit in our hearts. Over time pop music found its way with the very celebrated and renowned carols like ‘Santa Claus is comin’ to town’, ‘Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer’, ‘Deck the Halls’, ‘Little drummer boy’, ‘Feliz Navidad’ which enchants everyone to its foot tapping music. A few other melodies to hook you up to your stereo would be the all-time favorites like ‘The First Noel’, ’Carol of the Bells’, ‘Sweet Chiming Bells’, ’We three Kings’, ’O little town of Bethlehem’. So go ahead, find your pick and indulge into the festive rock and roll!
games
Christmas charades
Having a Christmas party this year? Be sure to include charades in your games list, complete with the festive spin. A fun set of charade ideas could include classic songs or winter activities. Watch as the crowds, regardless of age come together and enjoy this game!
Christmas beer pong
Good old beer pong with Christmas ornaments being used instead of ping pong balls.
Two spoons
A spin on the traditional relay race, guests will have to carefully race with a spoon and an ornament instead. Make sure you aren’t the first team to drop the ornament!
12 days of Christmas sing-a-long
All you need are the lyrics for the song and a large group of people. Perfect for office parties. Divide the crowd into groups of twelve and give each of them a verse to sing; as everybody knows, the song repeats itself with every new verse. The groups not only have to sing it but act it out as well!
Pin the red nose on Rudolf
A festive take on the popular game, watch as the smaller crowd (and bigger crowd too!) have fun trying to pin Rudolf’s nose in its right place.
giveaways
Another very exciting part about Christmas is exchanging gifts with our family and friends. While spending on giveaways could cost us a fortune, we’ve listed down a few DIYs you could try.
Santa Belt Jars
All you need to is to wrap a belt around a Mason jar and fill it with treats and there you go with an adorable yet affordable gift.
Fairy Lights
If you’re looking for something aesthetic this should do the trick! Grab an old wine bottle or a Mason jar and paint the bottle with a Christmas themed design (or with any of your friend’s favorite fandom) and fill up the jar with fairy lights. You could also use a tea light candle instead.
Cards
Somethings just don’t fade away and exchanging cards is certainly one of them! All you need to do is paint a Christmas tree (or any other pattern of your choice) onto your card using Mod Podge and coat the pattern with some glitter and you’re good to go. You could also resort to using a cut out of a pattern of your choice and simply stick it to your card.
Amidst all of this festive energy let’s not forget to spread the love among the needy for it is blessed to give than to receive!
Christmas these days is highly commercialized and somewhere among all of these festivities we’ve lost the true essence of it. It’s not just about a baby born in a manger, but it’s a perfect portrayal of how love came down and restored humanity. So this Christmas feel the love and spread the joy!
Merry Christmas everyone!
Article by Wonder Woman and Payson Keeler