For more ideas, check out the official Elf on the Shelf Ideas page, or browse the #ElfontheShelf hashtag on Instagram.

Elf’s Christmas Movie Night Kit

Ready to take in some Christmas flicks with the kids? Put together a little Christmas Movie Night kit the night before and place it in the living room for them to find in the morning. The official Elf on the Shelf website has a tutorial for creating a cute little scene featuring a snack caddy or bento box, movie snacks, and an Elf Pets Reindeer.

Pool Party Elf

A little blue tissue paper and some Elf-sized pool floats and palm trees can create a tropical pool party in your sink. You can find all these Elf-sized accessories and more on the official Elf on the Shelf shop.

Special Delivery Elf

The kids will run around the house looking for the Elf, only to finally discover that they’ve got a special delivery waiting at the mail slot (or out in the mailbox). If you aren’t aware, Etsy is a great source of handmade Elf on the Shelf accessories, like these personalized felt envelope costumes by Damiline. You can even have them embroidered with your kids’ names to make them a little more special. In a rush to pull it off? Try painting or drawing your own version on some paper.

Paper Bag Toy Race Elf

Gather up some of your kids’ favorite toys, tuck them into paper bags, and viola! You’ve got an imaginative new way to present your Elf on the Shelf one day this December. This idea from Stacy Molter is quick and simple, but kids will really get a kick out of it.

Instagram Elf

Your Elf is ready for an Instagram moment with this simple idea from Elf on the Shelf. All you need to do to recreate it is print out the Instagram photo frame from the Elf on the Shelf website, pose your Elf, and tape the frame to their hands.

Campfire Elf

This handmade accessory kit by TheImaginativeHealer on Etsy will help you create a cozy campfire scene complete with a miniature fire, two roasted marshmallows on sticks, four s’mores, four marshmallows in a bag, a little tartan blanket, and a plate.

Nutcracker Elf

Save this idea for those nights when you’re tired and need the simplest possible scene to put together in less than a minute. If you already have some Nutcracker figurines on hand (or other similarly-sized festive figures), just pose the Elf to “blend in” with them.

Elf on the Shelf Santa Cam

Instagram user Ashley Chung showed off this cute idea made from simple objects found at the Dollar Tree and Hobby Lobby. Her “Santa Cam” features a camera picture frame, kids’ magnifying glass, wired lights, silver stud ribbon, craft paper, and sticker letters, but you could create something similar with whatever you find.

Mermaid Elf

Did you know you can buy Elf on the Shelf products on Amazon, too? This cute little “Merry Mermaid” costume is among them, ready to be posed on your Elf. Try creating a winter pool scene with a piece of blue paper, some white paint, and faux snow.

Soccer Goal Elf

Another item available on the Elf on the Shelf Amazon store is the North Pole Goal and Gear accessory kit. Dress your Elf figure up in a tiny soccer uniform and place it next to this folded paper goal.

Ball Pit Elf

A bag of red and green M&Ms, a sieve, and a tiny sign establish that this mini ball pit is for Elves only. This idea came from Ashley Byron of Stage.Organize.Sell, and it takes just a few minutes to put together.

Elf’s Toilet Paper Snowflakes

Uh-oh – this Elf took a clue from their much larger friend, Buddy the Elf, and perhaps went a little too far in their attempt to spread some Christmas cheer. Not even the toilet paper is safe. All you need to recreate this idea from Chloe Boyle is a pair of scissors and some sacrificial TP.

Tangled Up Elf

Okay, so maybe Elves don’t quite know what to do with floss. That makes this little scene from Elf on the Shelf a real learning opportunity, featuring nothing more than some dental floss and a little sign.

Totally Tubular Elf

An inflatable tube plus a matching scarf and ear muffs are all you need to create an adventurous tubing scene for your Elf. Get creative with some faux snow or even just some draped white fabric to act as the snowy hill.

The post All the Creative Elf on the Shelf Ideas You Need for the Rest of 2022 first appeared on Dornob.

The listing reads: “Mister Grinch, here. As we are all painfully aware, the most miserable time of the year approaches. Caroling, candy canes, and, of course, that constant, contagious Christmas cheer. Yuck. I myself, unlike every other Who, am getting out of town this year — far away from all the holiday hoopla with its fanatical, fantastical fa la la la la, la la la la-ing. Am I stealing Christmas again? Maybe. Am I visiting my Florida beach home? Don’t worry about it. “

“Either way, good news for you. While I’m gone, you can stay in my cave. That’s right, the legendary rocky residence of the world’s most famous Who-villain can be your very own holiday hideaway. The halls of my entire cave are decked with all my favorite things — and Max’s, too, of course. Vacasa will take care of everything (because I have no interest or time for that).”

Requirements: absolutely don’t put on the Grinch’s Turkish custom-tailored green fur pants, or his fur shoes, or anything else for that matter. And if you’re the sort of person who likes the company of others, or, even worse, likes to host holiday gatherings (ugh), be prepared to bring the food you’ll need, because this location is very remote. So remote, in fact, that you can’t get here in any ordinary vehicle. You’ll need “at least a Crossover” to manage the rocky road. P.S., there’s no cable or internet in the cave.

There is, however, a paltry selection of questionable pantry goods like roast beast, Who-pudding, Who-hash, and Whamble-Bramble Crunch cereal, along with a coffee maker. You’ll be terribly tempted to put on the Grinch’s robe and settle into the library, at the table where the Grinch usually plays chess with his dog or at the telescope to spy on Whoville residents and watch for trespassers creeping up the mountain. The pipe organ, with its chaotic profusion of brass, and Max’s drum set will also be alluring.

Gaze at the Grinch’s villainous plans laid out on a drafting table, and perhaps try on his Santa hat disguise. When it’s time to go to sleep, a spacious bed is waiting for you beside a glass wall gazing out at the stars. There’s an additional bedroom and two fully functional bathrooms as well (because, as the Grinch explains, “I’m not an animal, you know.”)

Alas, the grotto is fully booked for this holiday season, but all those who aren’t able to travel there in person can still get a feel for the dramatic, festive space with an online 3D tour. Costing just $19.57 per night (in honor of the Seuss book’s release date in 1957), the spots fully sold out as soon as booking opened on December 3rd, and guests stayed there from December 17th through December 23rd.

The post The Grinch’s Rocky Lair Opens to Guests in Utah for Christmas first appeared on Dornob.

“Gifts from the Heart,” as explained by the White House website, is “inspired by the small acts of kindness and experiences that lifted our spirits this year and throughout the pandemic.” Rooms throughout the White House are decorated to reflect themes like gratitude, service, friendship, family, nature, peace, unity, the arts, community, learning, and faith. In total, there are 41 Christmas trees, 6,000 feet of ribbon, more than 300 candles, and more than 10,000 ornaments used in the displays, all put up by 100 volunteers.

This year’s decor is significantly scaled back compared to the 2017 to 2020 Christmas displays. While Melania Trump preferred to fill every space with lights, fake snow, branches, and other decor, Jill Biden’s tastes appear to be more low-key, perhaps out of respect to the effects of the continuing pandemic and the fact that tours of the White House are still canceled. The Christmas trees are smaller, the decor a little more spread out. Also notably missing are the dozens of life-size “snow people” first installed in the garden by Michelle Obama in 2015 and moved inside in 2016, which President Obama memorably called “creepy,” saying “There’s a whole kind of Chucky element to them.”

In the Blue Room, the official White House Christmas tree is adorned with peace doves holding white ribbons bearing the name of each state. Celebrating “the gift of peace and unity,” the display is the centerpiece of all the holiday decor and features the tallest tree, an 18.5-foot Fraser fir from North Carolina. The room’s chandelier even had to be removed to accommodate it.

Other elements of the decor include purple and fuchsia orchids woven into the mantel in the Green room, trees made of shimmering purple ornaments looking out onto the Washington Monument, and a Gold Star Tree honoring lost members of the military in the East Colonnade. Stacks of books, along with butterflies and birds made of recycled newspapers, decorate the Library in reference to the “gift of learning,” and in the East Room, the “gift of gratitude” is symbolized by handwritten notes full of grateful reflection.

The official 2021 gingerbread house celebrates a theme of gratitude for front-line workers, and features a gingerbread hospital, fire station, schoolhouse, gas station, police station, grocery store, post office, and warehouse outside an edible replica of the White House. Five people worked on the 350-pound gingerbread village for several weeks. Jill Biden, herself a schoolteacher, placed the final element on the scene: a gingerbread schoolteacher holding an English book and a bag full of apples with the label “#1 teacher.”

The Bidens added some personal touches, as well. In the State Dining Room, the “gift of family” is expressed with a row of family stockings embroidered with the names of the Biden grandchildren, and two large trees trimmed with framed photos of the Bidens and other first families. Some of those photos include a snapshot of the Bidens’ German shepherd dogs Champ and Major, as well as a family photo taken before Beau Biden’s death from brain cancer in 2015.

Since so few people will see the decorations in person, the White House has released interactive and augmented reality features on its digital platforms and social media. That includes a virtual tour on the official White House website.

The post How Does Jill Biden’s Christmas Decor Measure Up to Melania’s? first appeared on Dornob.

Today’s gingerbread houses go way beyond the simple creations many of us attempted in school. We’ve scoured the internet to find some of this year’s best, and there’s festive holiday inspo to draw from every single one. Who knows? You may even feel moved to create a modern gingerbread marvel of your own.

Classic Christmas Cottage

Who needs a gingerbread house when you can have a full-blown gingerbread cottage? This one from @ellagracebakes is both festive and fanciful, creating a lovely holiday scene. Bonus points for the brickwork detail and edible patchwork entryway.

The Devil’s in the Details

Is it still a classic gingerbread house if it’s not entirely edible? If it looks as good as this stunning house from @mygingertable, the answer is a resounding yes. While the house itself is all gingerbread, the other details are painstakingly recreated using a variety of other materials. No matter how you look at it, the result is a gorgeous and impressive edible delight.

Simple Yet Elegant

Many of today’s best gingerbread houses are eschewing the kitschy (and sometimes gaudy), colorful candies of yore and instead focusing on the elaborate construction of the structure itself, and this is certainly true of this creation from @bakerloocakes. Intricate icing deliciously highlights the details, while the height and design of the gingerbread is imposing without being overwhelming. A perfect pairing!

It Takes a Village

What’s better than one gingerbread house? An entire gingerbread village, of course! This one from @sanna_hederstedt is the real deal, complete with adorable detailed interiors. Look closely and you’ll see tables in the café, miniature baked goods, and even a tiny gum ball machine. This super-impressive offering definitely proves that it’s what inside that counts, even in the world of gingerbread.

Life Imitates Art

Sometimes gingerbread houses are inspired by real-life architectural marvels, and these are some of the best.

The Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco is lovingly recreated in edible splendor in this model by @grownasswomenwithdinosaurs.

Check out this uber-impressive St. Louis Arch made out of gingerbread by @justinwirick88.

This gingerbread version of the Omni William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh is epic, and we’re glad @tajulian25ca decided to share it with the rest of us!

These famous D.C. sights rendered in gingerbread give all new meaning to the phrase “White Christmas.” Photos courtesy of @princessintraining_colleen.

Whether you’re a gingerbread house traditionalist or have an affinity for more avant garde creations, these tasty treats are guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Grab some graham crackers and get building to create your own edible holiday masterpiece.

The post ‘Tis the Season for Instagram’s Epic Gingerbread Houses first appeared on Dornob.

Wayfair

No matter how picky you might be about your artificial Christmas tree, Wayfair probably has something right up your alley given their massive selection. Shop thousands (seriously… thousands) of options in a wide range of prices ranging from just $30 for tabletop trees to $650 (down from $1300) for ultra-realistic ten-footers. This five-foot-tall green spruce is just $41.99.

Kohl’s

Cyber deals are ongoing at Kohl’s, where you can often stack promo codes and other offers for mega savings. Their holiday decor section currently includes items up to 50 percent off, like the entire St. Nicholas Square kitchen and dining line. Check out these adorable gingerbread salt and pepper shakers for just $7.99.

Macy’s

If you’re the type who likes to go all out for holiday decor, including seasonal bedding like the Martha Stewart collection pictured here, Macy’s has you covered. Nutcracker figurines, tartan pillows, holiday dishwater from Lenox, miniature Christmas villages, and more are currently available for truly great prices in the holiday Sale & Clearance section.

Balsam Hill

Cyber Monday deals can still be found at Balsam Hill, and you’ll get free shipping, too. This is where you want to check for truly unique, high-quality items that’ll last for generations, like handmade tree toppers, ornaments, and tree skirts. This one is the 72-inch Elizabeth Beaded Tree Skirt in silver for $139 (down from $179).

Target

Target will be continuously updating its Holiday Best Deals section throughout the season. Some of the items you’ll find include wreaths, string lights, artificial Christmas trees, outdoor holiday decor, and flickering faux candles. Best of all, this seven-foot pre-lit white Alberta Spruce Christmas tree is 30 percent off at $192.50.

Walmart

Walmart is offering hundreds of Christmas decor deals, including some pretty serious savings. You’ll find things like flannel stockings adorned with gnomes, inflatable lawn decor, tree skirts, the Elf on the Shelf, and decorative signs by The Pioneer Woman.

Amazon

Items in Amazon’s holiday decor clearance section include everything from sets of Christmas throw pillow covers as low as $10 to limited-time deals for life-size snowmen to place in the front yard. The deals change frequently, though, so be sure to check back often.

Grandin Road

Looking for a holiday wreath or garland that’s both reusable and highly realistic? Grandin Road is offering a huge selection of them, with many items marked down as much as 30 percent. This six-foot cascading evergreen garland is a mix of Fraser and Balsam fir tips wrapped with 70 mini bright lights for just $69.95.

Big Lots

Big Lots is secretly the place to go for basics like LED light strings, wrapping paper, and decor storage bins at incredible prices. But they also have an ever-changing selection of great decor, from full-sized faux Christmas trees to pop-up snowmen and reindeer for the front lawn. Currently, lots of their items are on sale, like this two-piece decor set.

The post Ho-Ho-Holiday Decor Deals to Score Now at 9 Major Retailers first appeared on Dornob.

With coronavirus cases surging and ICUs filling up in many parts of the country, another holiday may have to be celebrated without the physical company of friends and family. That doesn’t mean Christmas 2020 is fated to be a lonely, dismal affair, though. With the help of today’s technology, you can still connect with your loved ones and keep them virtually close during the most wonderful time of the year.

The Tech

Social Video Platforms

Your first order of business is to confer with your loved ones about which platform to use. While we all might be a bit Zoomed out, the popular video-conferencing app is free, easy-to-use, and fairly reliable. Typically calls on personal accounts have a 40-minute time limit, but there’s always the chance that Zoom will be generous again like it was at Thanksgiving and allow unlimited chats during Christmas and the few days around it.

There are also lots of other platforms to choose from: Google Meet, Facetime for Apple users, Google Duo, and Amazon Echo Show can all be used for video conferencing. The key is to pick something available to everyone involved and easy enough for even the oldest adults in the group to use.

Plugging in to a Bigger Screen

If you plan to be video-yakking with your friends and family for more than a few minutes this Christmas, you can increase your yuletide comfort by connecting to your TV. Many households have AppleTV or Chromecast streaming boxes that already support screen sharing, but even if you don’t have one of these devices, you can always plug your laptop or phone directly into your TV. This will probably require an HDMI or USB cable, and in some cases, you may also need an adapter for your iPhone or other gadgets. Once you’re hooked up, just make sure the phone or camera is close enough to capture your face but far enough away that it won’t cause feedback with the TV.

Accessories

Your digital date with family can go even smoother with the aid of a couple other technological accessories. For instance, if you plan on being alone for your calls, wearing a good pair of headphones with a built-in microphone will easily solve the problem of cut-off phrases and extra feedback. On the other hand, if you’re going to be doing an activity that requires lots of moving around, you might want to have a tripod handy so you don’t have to take the phone with you everywhere (or worse, make your viewers dizzy!).

Tech-Assisted Holiday Activities

Now let’s get down to the fun. Try these festive activities with your loved ones to make this Noel feel a little more connected.

Opening Presents Together

The excitement of Christmas morning can still be an inclusive experience. Grab that tripod and allow your family to see the wonder and gratitude on your face as you open their gifts.

Cooking a Meal Together

For many people, the holidays mean being together in the kitchen for all the tasty food prep. This year, you could simply shoot the breeze while you each prepare your own dishes, or you could coordinate to make the same food at the same time. If you really want to feel connected, you could even order and cook the same meal prep box from places like Blue Apron or Home Chef.

Eating Together

Sharing a meal together is also a big part of holiday memories. Whether you’re eating the same food or not, pick a time and set up a video chat so that you’re all sitting around your tables at once. To keep the conversation moving from just “how are you?” and “what’s the weather like?,” you could prepare questions to ask each other like “what is one of your favorite childhood Christmas traditions?” or “What’s your favorite Christmas song and why?”

Playing Virtual Games

There are plenty of ways to enjoy those traditional games over video this year. You could try Pictionary Air, a new version of the old classic where players write in the air and their doodles show up on screen. Charades also translates easily over Zoom, as even patchy audio won’t slow you down.

Online Gaming

For more serious gamers, there are a plethora of options to help you connect to your loved ones online. Besides the trendy social games like Among Us, your family could all log on to sites like Roblox or Animal Crossing to role-play or build together. Netgames.io gives players access to party games like Codenames, One Night Werewolf, and Avalon. Sites like Kahoot.com allow users anywhere to link up and compete at quizzes together. If you like old school games, you can also play Uno on play.unofreak.com or Monopoly on webolpoly.org.

Watching Movies Together

If your holiday jam is curling up with your loved ones for a good Christmas movie, check out Teleparty, an app that lets groups watch a single screen together with a side chat function. It works with Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, and Hulu. The program Airtime works for YouTube videos.

Even if it involves more screens than we’d prefer, this Christmas can still be one surrounded by the faces and laughter of friends and family — so long as we’re armed with the right tech and some cracker-jack holiday activity ideas, of course!

The post Smart Tech Tips for Fun-Filled Virtual Christmas Celebrations first appeared on Dornob.

We’ve scoured the internet to find the zaniest, best ways to lighten up your 2020 quarantine Christmas:

Discoball Tree

Who couldn’t use a party this year, right? Get the groove flowing with this DIY discoball tree. From across the room, it appears to be a collection of normal ornament balls. Then you move up close and see those reflecting light rays calling you out to do the hustle.

Dress-Up Animal Ornaments

A bottle brush pug disguised in bunny ears? Yes, please. Even better, from now through December 30th, 2020, West Elm will donate 50 percent of the purchase price directly to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Award-Winning Tree

2020 is definitely a record-breaking year. Maybe you could commemorate all the firsts (and hopefully lasts) of this pandemic with a garland of award ribbons on your Christmas tree. You could even dig up and use all your old sports and school ribbons to remind you of happier days!

Santa Cam Ornament

In case you haven’t had enough of computer cameras over the past 10 months, this deceptive ornament from Etsy might be even better at scaring your kids into good behavior than an Elf-on-the-Shelf.

Window View Christmas Card

Some of your friends and family may truly have forgotten what your kids look like after this year of sheltering-in-place. This holiday greeting card from PaperCulture on recycled materials will bring a smile (and perhaps a chuckle) to your loved ones this season. Something else to make you grin: the environmentally conscious company plants a tree with every order.

Capri Blue Stacking Snowman Candles

Even if there’s no snow on the ground, you can still build a snowman inside with these stackable candles from Anthropologie. The bottom two balls are filled with Volcano-scented wax while the lidded top tier is left empty to hold your matches.

Butter Ornament

Was there more baking going on at your house this year? It certainly helped more than a few of us put on the “Quarantine 15.” Commemorate all the homemade sweets that got you through with a stick of butter hung among your tinsel and lights. The ornament collection from Food52 also includes a slab of bacon, a black and white cookie, and a bottle of beer, among other delights for every appetite.

Wooden Dowel Christmas Tree

Don’t want to venture outside to buy a tree this year? How about this festive fir on Etsy made from wooden dowels? It may be unexpected, but it makes ornament-hanging easy and helps you avoid the subsequent pine needle mess on the floor.

Fanciful Bottle Brush Trees

Giving some extra color to a traditional bottle brush tree could up your cheer factor. This tutorial will teach you how to bleach the originals and swap in your favorite vibrant hues.

Feathered Garland

This statement-making garland brings in some whimsy with bright green and red feathers attached to an old-school pine bough to help your holiday dreams take flight this season.

Washi Tape Christmas Trees

This inexpensive wall decor is a fresh and contemporary take on the old Tannenbaum. With a string of lights, it becomes playful eye-candy at night as well.

Holiday Gnomes

These funny Scandinavian-style gnomes bring in the hygge with their soft, wool hats and flowing beards. Tradition has it that they’re the bearers of gifts and good fortune, and who couldn’t use a little more of that this year?

Toilet Paper Christmas Wreath

Last but not least, nothing says 2020 better than a holiday wreath made of — what else? — toilet paper rolls. Attach a few glittering jingle bells and you’ve got a door that will brighten the day of any passersby. Make it yourself here with these step-by-step instructions.

While we all wish we could have a little more company this Christmas, hopefully we can still manage to bring in some comedy and coziness with this imaginative, festive decor.

The post Quirky Quarantine Christmas Decor We Love first appeared on Dornob.

In particular, these nine items are guaranteed to bring in some winter cheer:

Ombre Felt Letter Ornaments

These individual letter ornaments can make for great personalized gifts or just spell out some season’s greetings around the home. Handmade by craftspeople in Nepal in a Fair Trade-certified facility, the felted wool letters are on sale right now for only $0.99 each.

Ceramic Tea Light Houses

This trio of tea light homes is a modern take on the classic miniature Christmas village. In simple white and terra cotta, the houses (starting at $20 for the smallest) make a sweet gingerbread-esque display on their own, but they can also be paired with West Elm’s Ceramic Christmas Trees to create an entire yuletide scene.

Light-Up Mercury Glass Globes

These eye-catching globes would look great on your tabletop or windowsill this holiday season. When illuminated by flameless candles or LED lights, these orbs transform from speckled silver to glowing amber. And at just $12 for a set of two, their cozy radiance is sure to set the right mood for any festivities you might have planned.

Shiny-Brite Tree Topper and Ornament Set

This collection-within-a-collection ($58) includes a set of 20 colorful glass bulbs with painted pastel stripes and a stacked-glass tree topper. Created exclusively for West Elm, these tree decorations are reminiscent of the signature Shiny-Brite originals dating back to World War II. The packaging is just as satisfying to look at, with each ball wrapped in printed tissue paper and nestled into its own chocolate box-like compartment.

Leaf Kraft and Glitter Garland

This 72-inch jute string of golden, shimmering leaves will up the holiday wow factor in any room you put it in. Mantels, doorways, and trees can all get an instant pick-me-up with this piece of sparkly foliage.

Geo-Embroidered Stockings

These stockings elevate traditional hanging socks into works of art, with embroidered gold rectangles inventively placed on their creamy cotton fronts. Measuring 20 inches long and fabricated in India, each stocking sells for $40.

Glass Menorah

This might be the most sophisticated way to light each night of Hanukkah. Constructed of crystal glass, the lines of this menorah ($60) are sleek and allow for light to pass through from every angle.

Luxe Lines Runner

This table runner, selling for $39, is an extremely versatile piece perfect for all every holiday from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. With its delicate slashes of gold on an ivory cotton base, this 90-inch runner helps dress up every meal.

Quince Wreath

Any door decked out with this wreath is destined to be a conversation piece. Made of quince slices, tallow berries, juniper, spruce cones, and other freshly cut plants and herbs, it measures 22 inches in diameter and sells for $120. Best of all, the ring’s eucalyptus leaves and cinnamon sticks provide a welcoming aroma to all who approach.

Even if the holidays look a little different this year due to COVID-19, dressing up your home in these festive accessories can help it feel a little more like a normal and cheery season.

The post 9 West Elm Holiday Decor Pieces You Don’t Want to Miss first appeared on Dornob.

The Spirit of Blue

Pantone’s tranquil color of the year feels even more appropriate in the aftermath of the U.S. election. Navy deepens up the tone for a winter vibe, and it pairs beautifully with so many other colors, including 2020’s other trending shades. Plus, it’s always perfect for Hanukkah. Bring it into the mix in the form of ribbons, stockings, table linens, and other accents (image via Love Property).

Recycled and Found Materials

In the spirit of keeping things budget-friendly, you should always try to incorporate recycled and found materials into your decor. Go outdoors and look for appropriate natural accents like evergreen boughs, pine cones, sprigs of holly, or beautifully shaped branches you can arrange in a vase accented with ribbon, incorporate into a wreath, or lay on the mantel (image via Fresh Exchange).

Gleaming Metallics

A soft tone falling somewhere between silver and gold, platinum is definitively this year’s metallic shade of choice, but anything shiny will serve to boost the glam factor of your holiday decor. Rose gold is another hot shade that perfectly complements the greenery of Christmas trees, other metallics, neutrals, and navy. For the greatest impact, use metallics sparingly as a way to highlight certain vignettes and areas of the home (image: CB2’s rose gold ball garland, $24.95).

Handmade Touches

Who cares if they aren’t perfect? Handmade holiday ornaments and decorations, no matter how amateurishly-crafted, are sweet and charming, and they offer a great way to add a personal touch. Display your kids’ creations with pride, try your hand at one of House Beautiful’s many tutorials, or pick your favorite artisan-crafted objects at Etsy (image via presswest).

Farmhouse Style

The biggest interior design trend of the year lends itself beautifully to Christmas decor. That means lots of neutrals, classic looks, and rustic textures. As you might expect, Magnolia by Chip and Joanna Gaines has plenty of on-trend items to choose from, including Christmas tree skirts, ornaments, garlands, candles, faux potted trees, soft blankets, signs, and more. Target also has its own line of winter farmhouse holiday decor, and it’s adorable (image by Rennai Hoefer).

Baking Fever

Everybody’s been baking their way through the stress of the coronavirus. This winter, take it up a notch by developing (or flexing) your gingerbread skills. Creating edible architecture can be a challenge, but the results are well worth the effort. If you don’t consider yourself particularly crafty, you can always find gingerbread kits that are easy to assemble and make for great centerpieces for the dining table. Alternatively, you can try experimenting with structures outside the archetypal gingerbread house, like barns, vehicles, and bird houses. Country Living has a range of tutorials for all skill levels (image via My Name is Yeh).

Changing Up Your Ornaments

Just how crazy you want to go with holiday decorations is a matter of personal taste, but it’s fun to switch things up by shopping from your own collection of decorative items. Choosing ornaments and other objects that fit a particular theme or color scheme can present a well-curated effect that gives you a different look from last year without buying anything new (image via West Elm).

The post 7 Tips for Getting the Jump on the Perfect Christmas Decor first appeared on Dornob.

Today, as creativity and social commentary continue to push the boundaries across almost all genres, people’s interpretations of the event has become much more inventive, although many still prefer the classical interpretation of yore.

Here are a few of our favorite examples:

Barbie Nativity

In an effort to highlight the gaudy sense of consumerism that’s tainted the Christmas season over the years, Argentine artists Marianela Perelli and Emiliano Paolini created this Mattel-toy driven nativity scene called “Barbie, The Plastic Religion.” Ken and Barbie hog the scene in various costumes; the baby is the only original player.

Pork Lover’s Nativity

Back in 2010, one artistic Flickr user shared their bizarre take on the famous stable scene by making bacon and sausage the stars. The straw is made from sauerkraut, but the people and animals are 100-percent pork.

Vacuum Cleaner Nativity

If the spirit’s right, a nativity scene can be created from anything. A Brit with an appliance store in the UK’s Westcliff-on-Sea teamed up with his son to build this unique scene out of the line of Henry vacuum cleaners he sells to customers.

The Three Wise Aliens

Instead of bemoaning the commercialization of Christmas, artist Matt Henderson rewrote the nativity story altogether when he recreated the scene in a former church located in Portland, Oregon. Besides throwing an extra wise man into the mix (can’t have too much wisdom), he also invited Santa Claus to the party. The characters were hardly recognizable in the end, with the magi being portrayed by space aliens and Santa decked out as a shaman with antlers on his head.

Cats in the Cradle

Sisters Annette and Sue Amendola spent over a decade carefully building a traditional nativity scene on their lawn in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Then they added food to the display, and the local stray cats quickly spread the word, edging Baby Jesus off his perch for their own enjoyment of that cozy hay.

Hipster Nativity

When Casey Wright designed “The Modern Nativity Hipster Nativity Set,” he was thinking about how religions would be much more diverse if their hallowed texts and characters reflected today’s world. His details mirror his vision: Joseph has a man-bun, wears a denim shirt, and snaps a selfie with Mary, who’s holding a cup of coffee from a trendy shop. The Wise Men sport shades and cruise in on Segways with presents from Amazon. The event is shared on Instagram, and all the gadgets are powered by solar panels on the roof of the manger.

The post 6 Nativity Scenes You Probably Won’t See Around The Neighborhood first appeared on Dornob.

The holiday season is upon us, and people everywhere are heading out in droves to enjoy the sights and sounds of Christmas. From caroling to festive fun and frolicking, there’s certainly no shortage of spirit right now, and one of the most recent trends to emerge at this time of year is that of intricate lighting displays. Whether it’s individual homes coming alive with projections of angels, snowflakes, and Christmas scenes, or plazas, squares, and boulevards decked out with ornaments, decorations, and strings of fairy lights, you’re bound to find fun Christmas lights pretty much anywhere you go. It’s also a great opportunity to go out and be a tourist in your own town.

In honor of all that, we thought we’d check out some of our favorite Christmas light displays from around the globe.

Tokyo, Japan

Japan’s capital is known for its bustling intersections, loud audiovisual spectacles, and quirky character, and this really comes to the fore at Christmas time. Various neighborhoods across the city enter into something of a competition to see who can produce the best winter light installation, giving tourists visiting the city around the holiday season the treat of glittering arrangements in lots of different districts. One of the most popular winter illuminations is located in Midtown, where visitors can see a carpet of blue lights laid out on the ground. The “Starlight Garden” area here also features a whopping 190,000 LED lights.

Las Vegas, Nevada

“America’s Playground” is undoubtedly one of the most extravagant places in the world all year round, but it really outdoes itself when it comes to Christmas lights. The Las Vegas Motor Speedway is a race track that’s turned into a neon tunnel every holiday season, where visitors can venture beyond the famous Strip and ride down the two-and-a-half-mile “Glittering Lights” circuit. All in all, 500 displays appear in the LED setup, so you’re sure to be entertained while you wait for your turn.

Dublin, Ireland

The Irish capital is a great place to visit at any time of year, but lovers of the winter holidays will find that Dublin has a couple extra-twinkly treats in store for Christmas. The city’s famous Christmas lights are switched on every November, but this year the city’s most prominent buildings, including Trinity College, Central Bank, and the Customs House, are used as canvases for projections of Christmassy displays that make for a great walking route for anyone new to the city and looking to explore.

Austin, Texas

The cultural capital of Texas is no stranger to top-notch light shows, as it’s been hosting its “Trail of Lights” event for some 50 years now. Visitors can follow a 2.1-mile-long trail that takes them through the city’s Zilker Park, where an incredible 800 trees are lit up. An additional 50 light displays round out this amazing spectacle, cumulatively taking over 500 volunteers to set up each year. Austin is also home to the Zilker Tree, the self-proclaimed “World’s Tallest Manmade Christmas Tree” that towers 155 feet above the ground.

The post Stunning Christmas Light Displays From Around the World first appeared on Dornob.

Some of it was the standard Christmas decor you’d expect based on decades of White House traditions, but other elements were more than a little controversial, like a hallway of silvery branches casting creepy shadows onto the ceiling. The internet drew pop culture comparisons ranging from The Chronicles of Narnia to Silent Hill, with one observer even saying “Why do the White House Christmas decorations look like Voldemort is about to come back?”

2018 wasn’t much better, with blood-red Christmas trees lining that very same hallway striking many as something out of The Handmaid’s Tale.

This year, the White House is looking a little less macabre. The infamous corridor known as the East Colonnade has gone in an entirely different direction with transparent towers displaying a timeline of greatness in American architecture and design.

Designed by Melania herself, the decorations throughout the White House are a little lusher and greener than usual, aiming to celebrate patriotism above all else. Other corridors are filled with tall flocked trees, golden accents, fake snow, and red and blue ornaments referencing Melania’s “Be Best” initiative.

One tree is dedicated to Gold Star military families and etchings of 60 innovative structures around the country, like New York City’s Woolworth Building and Seattle’s Space Needle. The official White House tree, which stands alone in the Blue Room, is an 18-foot Douglas fir harvested from Mahantongo Valley Farms in Pitman, Pennsylvania and adorned in 50 paper replicas of state flowers.

Other features include gingerbread models of the White House and Mount Rushmore, dangling silver stars, and giant golden eagle tree toppers. 800 feet of garlands, 15,000 bows, and 2,500 strands of lights went into the decor, which has been in the works since July.

The official White House website reads: “The First Family is celebrating their third Christmas in the White House. This year’s theme, ‘The Spirit of America,’ is a tribute to the traditions, customs, and history that make our Nation great. Designed by First Lady Melania Trump, the White House decorations celebrate the courageous individuals who have shaped our country and kept the American spirit alive.”

“This Christmas season, I want to honor those who have shaped our country and made it the place we call home,” says Mrs. Trump. “When I travel the country, I am inspired by the hard working people and families that I meet. No matter which state they call home, many Americans share a strong set of values and deep appreciation for the traditions and history of our great nation. Thank you to all of the staff and volunteers who worked to make sure the People’s House was ready for Christmas.”

Where’s the weirdness? What happened to the vague sense of unease, and the easy targets for ridicule? Alas, there are next to none in 2019. We’ll see what we end up with next year, though!

The post Christmas at the White House 2019: The Spirit of America first appeared on Dornob.

The post Silver and Gold? More Like Cardboard and Wood first appeared on Dornob.

It’s always fun to have a visual aid that helps you count the days until something really exciting happens. Remember crossing off days on the calendar until summer vacation or an exciting holiday? Designer Anne Lehmann created the Christmas Candle as a kind of grown-up version of that.

The idea is to light the candle at the beginning of December and let it burn from one horizontal black line to the next each day. In this way, you slowly mark the passing days until Christmas Eve on December 24th.

It might not be as tasty as the traditional chocolate-filled advent calendar, but watching those days burn down has got to be a satisfying nightly ritual. Lehmann designed the candle for Normann Copenhagen, which will begin selling the candles on November 1st, 2014.

The post Burning Anticipation: Designer Christmas Countdown Candle first appeared on Dornob.

Nearly 2 million Christmas trees are discarded each holiday season in London, but one designer has tapped into this waiting source of pine wood to construct a creative natural series of unique recycled benches, tables, stools and storage furniture designs.

Their creator, Fabien Cappello, claims that the driving force behind these designs, however, is not sustainability – it is the abundance of a local easy-to-use material. With so much wood available he determined that he could employ extremely simple tools to craft the trunks into tops, branches into legs and pine needles into surfaces.

The concept for these furniture designs was in part inspired by the antique tradition of lashing available logs together to form rafts that would float for months at a time, becoming their own subcultural communities on the water during times when lumber was plentiful. Likewise, with Christmas pine trees simply sitting by the side of the road after the holiday season, there is an opportunity to take what is around and free to craft something creative and new.

“There is around 1.8 million Christmas trees in the street of London every January. I took advantage of this huge amount of wood which is shipped every year to the city. I investigated the finite economy of Christmas trees drawing on this local resource to create furniture from the discarded wood.”

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