Holiday Crafts and Fun
Easter Nest Cookies: Recipe for a Hoppy Easter Treat!
Tender cookie "nests" are an Easter favorite in the Ewer house! Use egg-shaped chocolate-covered almonds to decorate these pretty Easter cookies.
Categories: Holiday Crafts and Fun
Make A Jiffy Pop® Popcorn Topper for St. Patrick's Day
Bring a tasty touch to the Wearin' O' The Green: a St. Patrick's Day Jiffy Pop Popcorn Topper!
Add our free printable template to a package of Jiffy Pop® brand pop-in-pan popcorn for an inexpensive "popcorn topper" craft gift. Your wee leprechaun will pop for joy!
How To Make Jiffy Pop® Popcorn Toppers
St. Patrick's Day Popcorn Topper Template
Categories: Holiday Crafts and Fun
Celebrate Time Change Sunday with a Home Safety Checklist
Time to Spring Forward as Daylight Saving Time brings an extra hour of evening sunlight. This weekend, we'll set our clocks forward one hour as most of the U.S. adopts Daylight Saving Time.
Celebrate the seasonal change with a household safety checklist from sister site Organized Home. With links to safety resources and free printables, it'll see your household into the summer months, safely:
Safety Checklist for Time Change Sunday
Categories: Holiday Crafts and Fun
Leprechaun Poop: St. Patricks Day Gag Gift
By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: How to Live Clean, Green and Organized at Home
Faith and begorrah! What's the greenest gag gift for St.Patrick's Day? Leprechaun Poop!
Inexpensive and easy to make, Leprechaun Poop is a great gift for workplace friends, neighbors or youth groups.
To make Leprechaun Poop, place a handful of Lucky Charms brand cereal, green jelly beans or candy mints in a small zipper food storage bag.
Seal the bag and label it with the following poem, or attach our free printable Leprechaun Poop gift tag:
I spied a little leprechaun
Outside upon the lawn.
I hurried out to catch him
for I knew he'd soon be gone.
I tiptoed very quietly
Sprang toward him with a swoop.
He shook his fist and disappeared,
All but this pile of poop!
Categories: Holiday Crafts and Fun
February Rudolph Club Meeting - Begin a Holiday Letter!
By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: How to Live Clean, Green and Organized at Home
Welcome to the Rudolph Club: your once-a-month meeting to simplify your holidays and get organized for Christmas!
At Organized Christmas, we know that the holiday season can be fast and furious. Solution? Take a day once each month throughout the year to plan and prepare for a more-organized holiday season.
On the 25th of each month, we'll bring simple assignments and easy tips to try now for a simpler, more joyous holiday season. Over the year, you'll tackle planning and preparations to make the season lighter, brighter and less stressful come December.
Categories: Holiday Crafts and Fun
Make A Jiffy Pop® Popcorn Topper for Valentine's Day
Who needs flowers or chocolates when there's ... popcorn?
Create a Valentine of a different kind with our Valentine's Day Jiffy Pop® Popcorn Topper. Based on the fun-to-make kid's treat, our popping-good Valentine features a free printable label template to create this gift in a jiffy!
New to Popcorn Toppers? Learn how to create these easy craft gifts with this photo tutorial:
How To Make Jiffy Pop® Popcorn Toppers
Print a free Valentine's Day popcorn topper template:
Valentine's Day Popcorn Topper Template
Categories: Holiday Crafts and Fun
Cupid Poop: Valentines Day Gag Gift
By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: How to Live Clean, Green and Organized at Home
Valentine tricksters, take note ... it's Cupid Poop! Surprise your Valentine with this easy gag gift.
Place a handful of candy hearts or red jelly beans in a small zipper food storage bag.
Seal and label with the following poem, or print our free printable gift tag.
I couldn't send you flowers
And candy wouldn't do.
Romantic cards just didn't say
The things I wanted to.
I got you something special
And here's the inside scoop.
It's very rare and magical:
A bag of Cupid Poop!
Categories: Holiday Crafts and Fun
January Rudolph Club Meeting - Ghost of Christmas Past!
By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: How to Live Clean, Green and Organized at Home
Welcome to the Rudolph Club: your once-a-month meeting for an organized Christmas!
At Organized Christmas, we know that the holiday season can be fast and furious. Solution? Take a day once each month throughout the year to plan and prepare for a more-organized holiday season.
On the 25th of each month, we'll bring simple assignments and easy tips to try now for a simpler, more joyous holiday season. Over the year, you'll tackle planning and preparations to make the season lighter, brighter and less stressful come December.
Categories: Holiday Crafts and Fun
Winter Warmer Jiffy Pop® Popcorn Topper
By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, OrganizedChristmas.com
Author, Houseworks: How to Live Clean, Green and Organized at Home
It's a cheery gift for a dreary day: a Winter Warmer Jiffy Pop® Popcorn Topper!
Add our free printable template to a package of Jiffy Pop® brand pop-in-pan popcorn for an inexpensive "popcorn topper" craft gift.
Paired with Snowman Soup, you'll bring warmth and fun to a wintry day!
How To Make Jiffy Pop® Popcorn Toppers
Winter Warmer Popcorn Topper Template
Categories: Holiday Crafts and Fun
Top Tips: Storing Christmas Decorations
With the season now firmly into the New Year, it's time to remove and store holiday decorations. Somehow, "putting away" isn't nearly so much fun as "getting out"; too often, decorations are bundled away quickly, but not well.
For an easier Christmas next year, try these time-saving storage tips from the Common Sense Community. One we like:
For a super timesaver, keep your artificial tree intact. Only remove delicate ornaments, leaving the lights and garland on so it's ready to go next year. Use a light paint cloth to cover your tree to protect it from dust and debris.
Shedding Light on Holiday Decorations
Categories: Holiday Crafts and Fun
Get Organized for the New Year: Post-Christmas Clean-Up!
Ready to start the New Year from a clean and clutter-free home? Try these post-Christmas clean-up tips from sister site, Organized Home.
These simple, do-it-now strategies can reduce clutter and conquer Christmas chaos. We like this one:
Sort Before You Stow
Once the New Year arrives, most families take down holiday decorations and store them for the following year--but too often, there's a sense of "sling it in there and worry about it later" when it comes to putting away Christmas ornaments, holiday linens and outdoor lighting.
This year, pay it forward: sort and declutter holiday decorations, linens and specialty cooking items as you store them. Cut the non-working, the tattered, and the tired from the herd as you put away holiday decorations. Has-been decor items can be recycled or donated; stained linens can be repurposed as cleaning cloths.
Streamline holiday decorating next year: sort before you stow!
Categories: Holiday Crafts and Fun
New Year, New You: Keeping New Years' Resolutions
By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: How to Live Clean, Green and Organized at Home
New Year's Eve ... a festive beginning to a new year. For most of us, it's a time to take stock and decide to move toward a happier, more organized, thinner New Year. But what looks so easy as the minute hand approaches midnight falls away in the cold light of January days.
For most of us, New Year's resolutions die a slow and quiet death. They're tossed aside, along with the party hats and noisemakers. As January winds down, so does motivation, energy and desire for change.
Too often, resolutions wither along with the Christmas poinsettias because they lack strong roots in real life. It's not the resolution that's at fault--it's the follow-through. New Year's resolutions are easy to make, but much harder to make real in the noisy bustle of everyday chores and concerns.
Stop! Don't let those resolutions slip away so quickly! Each one represents a longing of the heart, a reach toward better health, happiness, knowledge or wisdom. Try these concepts to revive and strengthen your New Year's resolutions:
Categories: Holiday Crafts and Fun
Five Tips to Get Organized For Next Christmas
By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: How to Live Clean, Green and Organized at Home
It's the day after Christmas, and every year at this time, the e-mails tell the story: "I wish I'd found this site earlier!"
Faced with the reality of Christmas chaos, many folks are looking for a better way. Stumbling over our site, they see that it's possible to be organized--and joyous--during the holidays.
The secret to a stress-free season? Plan ahead!
Then try these five tips to get ready for next Christmas:
1. Debrief
With memories of the holidays fresh in our minds, there's no better time to create a simple record of what worked--and what didn't--this holiday season. Answering a few simple questions in writing preserves the actual state of your household's holiday--and gives you the information you need to craft a better plan for next year.
Print a copy of our debriefing worksheet, and take a few minutes to answer the questions it poses. Next year when you begin planning for the holidays, you'll be able to avoid the seasonal potholes and repeat the year's successes.
Categories: Holiday Crafts and Fun
Where's Santa? Follow Him with NORAD's Santa Tracker!
It's Christmas Eve, and Santa's on his way ... but where is he now?
Track his progress around the world with NORAD's Santa Tracker!
With live-action radar and video links, follow Santa's progress around the world. When will he reach your home?
And don't miss the real-time Santa snacks counter! How many cookies will Santa eat this year?
Categories: Holiday Crafts and Fun
Ready for Thank-You Notes? Free Printable Gift List
It's every mother's Christmas morning list: a record of gifts received, to be used for the next day's thank-you note session.
In the excitement of the big day, it's easy to forget--so on Christmas morning, track who-gave-what with a "gifts received" list like this one.
If you're a Microsoft Word user (Word 97 or later), check out this free printable from Microsoft.com:
Free Printable Gifts Received Tracker Form
Categories: Holiday Crafts and Fun
Printable Gift Certificates for Christmas Gifts
Looking for last-minute gift ideas? Try these free printable gift coupon templates from Microsoft.com!
You'll need a copy of Word 97 or later to print gift coupons; the collection includes several nice holiday designs:
Printable Gift Coupon Templates
Categories: Holiday Crafts and Fun
Free Printable Fun: Send A Letter To Santa!
Are the little ones eager to send the year's wish list to Santa? Create a memorable Santa letter--and print it, too--with this online Santa letter generator from Scott products.
Choose from one of three colorful templates, then personalize the letter with your child's name, age and favorite reindeer. If you're comfortable sharing an e-mail address, Santa will send a message back to your child!
Categories: Holiday Crafts and Fun
Christmas is Coming: Last Minute Stocking Stuffers!
The big day is coming; are you ready for Christmas?
If you're looking for last-minute stocking stuffers, Secret Santa or workplace gifts, check out our collection of easy printable gifts. Some are for the naughty and some are for the nice, but all are inexpensive and easy to make. Bring a smile to neighbors, co-workers, grandkids and friends.
Use them for quick stocking stuffers or a last-minute gag gift. We make it easy with free printable gift tags!
For nice little boys and girls:
- Snowman Soup
- Magic Reindeer Food
- Candy Cane Soup (Hot Chocolate Mix in a Cone)
- Candy Cane Reindeer
- We Whisk You A Merry Kissmas
But if they're naughty:
Simple snack mixes to make and share:
Categories: Holiday Crafts and Fun
Peaches and Cream Bath Salts In A Jar
By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: How to Live Clean, Green and Organized at Home
Looking for an easy (and inexpensive) holiday gift? Try Peaches & Cream Bath Salts in a Jar!
Pretty layered bath salts make a perfect gift for teens, co-workers or teachers. This inexpensive gift-in-a-jar offers the fresh scent of peaches and soothing salts in a pretty pastel package.
This recipe makes 12 gift jars at a cost approximately $1.50 per jar.
To make it easy to create a pretty gift, we've Included free printable print gift tags! Sized to fit beneath a standard canning jar lid, our printable Bath Salts in a Jar tags can also be used as a hang tag.
Categories: Holiday Crafts and Fun
How To Organize Your Holiday Gift List
Psst! Somebody we know has been featured at WomansDay.com!
Ready to get organized for gifts and giving? Check these tips from Organized Christmas editor Cynthia Ewer:
How To Organize Your Holiday Gift List
And for good measure, cross these last-minute items off your list for an organized Christmas:
Categories: Holiday Crafts and Fun
