Holiday

I love to send Christmas cards each year. I always try to have them done by the end of October or beginning of November, but sometimes, life definitely gets in the way. I love creating cards with Shutterfly, as it is always on my timeline. I can steal a few moments to create the perfect holiday greeting, customized with family photos and wishes to send out to friends and neighbors. I can create them just as I like, with options for luxe paper, envelope inserts, preprinted envelopes and more. Everything is so easy to create on their website, which is perfect for those who don’t have a lot of time to waste! Once I have decided on what I want my design to be, I proof it and send it off to the printers to be mailed to me as soon as it is done. Once I receive them, I know they look great and I look forward to sending my holiday greetings to everyone. It’s actually a really fun project I look forward to doing each year. I highly recommend Shutterfly for your Christmas cards and other specialty photo gifts.

I like to add special touches on my Christmas cards when I mail them. That could be festive stickers on the back or unique labels. This year, I found the perfect stamp to address my cards. Etsy shop, PaperStreetStampShop, creates custom, handcrafted stamps that are stunning! I was able to customize my own return address label in a beautiful font. I will be able to use this stamp for so many occasions and I know I definitely will. These are perfect for your own Christmas cards, or for a gift. I absolutely adore their products and can’t rave about them enough to you!

I love to put together neighbor gifts and take them around each year. It’s a great way to spread some holiday cheer and surprise someone. The thing with neighbor gifts is if you have a lot, you don’t want to spend a fortune. Just a small, sweet token to let them know you are thinking of them is great. One amazing option is to customize some lovely scented holiday candles. I love these personalized 4 oz candles handcrafted by Etsy shop TheDancingWick. They arrive perfectly ready to gift and smell incredible!

To accompany those adorable candles, why not pair them with these festive Christmas red and green matchsticks from Etsy shop SkylarVaile? I love the cute glass vials filled with colorful matches with a Christmas tree striker on the outside and topped with a cork. Such a great gift idea!

I know a common holiday tradition is to get new pajamas on Christmas eve. It’s a tradition we have always had and thoroughly enjoyed. A big trend is matching pajamas, which is also fun. The Children’s Place has a great selection of pajamas to coordinate for every member of the family (parents included) and your dog, too! Choose from a wide variety of patterns and sizes and if you haven’t done it before, start a new, fun, family Christmas tradition!

Speaking of traditions, every year we love to find a Christmas ornament that represents something we did that year, or something meaningful. Each kid gets their own unique ornament and whether it’s an inside joke, an accomplishment, or a favorite hobby, we try to find something to represent that. It can be hard to find just the right thing. I recently found a New Jersey based Etsy shop, SilkRoadBazaarShop, that has a very eclectic collection of handcrafted felt ornaments created by artisans of Kyrgyzstan. I think they are super fun and unique! They are very well made and very creative and you can choose from hundreds of designs.

More handcrafted and completely unique ornaments can be found at Suzaluna, a fantastic Etsy retailer. She creates completely custom ornaments. Have a favorite pet you want to create an ornament for? She’s perfect for the job! Show her a pic of your pooch and she will handpaint the sweetest ornament ever! It turns out perfectly! I also love her ceramic sugar skulls, absolutely amazing! The quality of her products are exceptional, as is this talented artist’s customer service. She also makes the cutest personalized cookies for Santa plate that you will want to pick up for yourself or for a fantastic family gift.

We also love to collect ornaments from the places we have traveled to over the year. Sometimes, that is nearly impossible to find. Whenever I can’t find a specific ornament I like of the place we visited, I like to take a photo of something we did while we are there and then turn it into an ornament. You can do that perfectly at Collage.com. Upload photos, design the background, and select your shape and material and before you know it, you will have a very affordable, personal memento to hang on your tree.

Not sure what to give someone, but definitely want to let them know you are thinking of them? Luz Flora is an absolutely stunning way to let them know you are thinking of them. Whether it is for the holidays, for special occasions, or just to brighten someone’s day, these gorgeous bouquets are simply elegant and lovely. This service delivers not only premium flowers in the latest fashion of floral trends, but also books filled with thematic poetry to compliment the absolutely breathtaking floral arrangements. When opening these gifts, every little detail of the French hand-tied arrangements will strike the receiver as sheer perfection. You can’t go wrong with Luz Flora!

When it comes to anything Christmas related, you have to check out Christkindl.Live. This virtual treasure trove of gifts has everything you need to deck the halls. A great resource for gifting and decor, you will definitely want to check it out. They have a large assortment of Swedish gnomes, which is all the rage this year. You can pick up a real German nutcracker or intricate handmade Cuckoo Clock, and collectible German mugs, too! So many unique and fun gifts to find to help celebrate your holiday festivities!

A great gift for the holidays for anyone on your list is something personalized. Whether it’s your children or your children’s 2nd grade teacher, compiling a collection of memories in a completely customized book is always sure to make a superb gift. We love Mixbook for this reason. You can easily access your creativity (or if that is an area you feel you are lacking, no worries, there are great templates that make it easy!) and come up with a very special and meaningful gift. I love creating a book for my kids to remember special trips we have taken. It’s a great way to put all those photos on your phone and computer to great use. You will look over these books for years to come, which is more than you can say about what’s on your devices.

The ease of creating one of these special books is especially appealing to me. I don’t like to have to spend a huge amount of time devoted to one activity, and I was able to complete a fantastic looking book in less than half an hour. The finished product is hardbound with just the perfect finishes on it. You are completely in charge! I highly recommend creating your own projects through Mixbook for those hard-to-buy-for people on your list, for creating memory books for your spouse, kids, and family. The possibilities are endless and you will love the finished product! Check them out now!