To lift your spirits for the holiday season, here are nine quick and easy tricks that offer a lot of payoff for very little effort. They will not only make your house look special, but will also surround your family and visitors with festive scents and sounds.
- As a holiday table centerpiece, set a small vase of flowers inside a carved out pumpkin, or use candles to set a holiday mood. You can even surround a group of candles with small pumpkins and gourds or multicolored peppers and chilies. For a different effect, freeze water in different size cartons, arrange in a dish, and put votive candles of varying sizes in the midst of the ice blocks.
- On the mantle or on the table, use wine glasses of different designs and heights (you can pick them up at flea markets), and put colored votive candles in them. You can add a small wreath or pine cones around the base.
- If you put any candle arrangement on top of a mirror, it will glow even more brightly.
- Most people don't have the money (or storage space) for a different set of dishes for each of the holidays. But you can get the same effect if you buy clear glass dishes and set them on top of paper plates with a holiday design. The l0-inch paper plate fits perfectly under the dinner plate, and the 6-inch paper plates go under the soup bowl and salad plate. Under a lace tablecloth, use a paper cloth, a colored sheet, or an inexpensive piece of fabric for a color-coordinated scheme.
- You can also make (or have the kids make) informal holiday place mats by recycling last year's holiday cards. Cut out the design elements you like, and sandwich them between two pieces of clear contact paper.
- Holiday scents wafting though the house help a festive atmosphere. Spike an orange with cloves and boil with some cider. Or heat some cinnamon in a pan of boiling water, as if you were making tea.
- Bring out holiday CDs and keep the music playing throughout the season to bring happy sounds to every room in the house, even the bathroom: Put a couple of jingle bells in the cylindrical, plastic, toilet paper holder.
- To make an inexpensive and cheerful window display, wrap miniature holiday lights and garlands around a holiday form (wreath, bells, etc.) from the craft store.
- You can even have a go at decorating the windows with inexpensive and fun projects that are perfect for the kids. Clean the windows with a vinegar-based cleaner, then outline holiday designs of your own creation with bar soap. Mix tempera paints with a little dishwashing soap, and you're ready to go. To remove, use a razor blade to scrape off the design. (Don't try and wash it off or you'll have a mess).
