Whether you’re celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Diwali, or any other winter holiday, North Star News is here to help relieve the stress the holiday season may bring. Here are 10 easy tips to make the holidays more organized, relaxing, and fun!
1. Holiday Cookies
Too lazy to make and bake cookies, but want to impress your loved ones at a holiday dinner? No problem! Buy premade cookie mix or cookie tins, food coloring markers, icing and/or sprinkles, all available at most grocery stores. With less stress from baking the cookies, you can have more time making them look totally awesome by drawing penguins, santas, fir trees, menorahs, snowmen, dreidels, and more! If you are under an even bigger time crunch, a lot can still be done with icing and sprinkles, just be sure to leave the outermost edge of the cookies icing-less so that people don’t get sticky hands. Good luck cookie making!
2. Newspaper Bows
These gift wrap bows look like they fell out of a fancy Pinterest post, but they don’t require as much time and work. They also look fabulous with any gift wrap you may choose.
You will need a newspaper or a magazine, a stapler, tape, and scissors.
Choose one page out of a magazine or newspaper. Cut 4 inch-wide strips. The longer in length, the bigger the bow will be, so try to make the bows proportionate to the gift. Once you have 4 strips, fold the first’s ends into the middle of the strip. Place your finger over the strip to hold in place and fold a second strip’s ends into the middle of the first strip’s. This will make an “x”. Staple in the middle and repeat for the second set of strips. Tape the two sets of strips together in the middle, overlapping them so that there is no space between the two x’s. Then cut a strip about an 1 1/2 inch in length, make a loop, and tape in the center.
3. Last minute holiday shopping
Believe it or not, it’s possible to get your holiday shopping done at a 7-11 or drug store and still walk away with a decent gift under $20! Some ideas for gift combinations that can be bought at any stop-and-shop store are:
- Hat, gloves, and/or scarf paired with a chocolate bar
- Popcorn, soda, and a DVD
- Hot chocolate mix, marshmallows, and a travel mug
- Coloring book, crayons,
- Notebook, pencil, classical music CD
4. Gift Wrap Sealer
Tired of those pesky wrapping rolls rolling out by themselves? Cut a toilet paper roll down the middle and put the wrapping paper roll inside.
5. Handmade Dreidels
These dreidels will give a modern twist to your Hanukkah celebrations. You will need toothpicks, thin strips of colored paper, and glue.
Cut a 8 24-inch-long strips of paper. Roll the first strip upwards and secure with glue. Repeat until dreidel is at desired size.
6. Penguin Snowglobes
These cute snowy wonderlands are super quick and easy to make. You will need a mason jar, water, glitter flakes (available at Michaels or Blick), a glue gun, glycerin (available at drugstores), ribbon (optional), and a penguin figurine.
Unscrew the cap of mason jar. Hot glue the penguin figurine to the middle of the inside of the cap. Let dry. Optional: Glue ribbon around the rim of the mason jar cap and let dry.
Fill inside of the mason jar a little more than halfway with water. Add a few shakes of glitter flakes. Add glycerin. Twist the cap on very tightly and enjoy!
7. Making use of the rest of the wrapping paper roll
Running out of wrapping paper is very stressful, but it isn’t the end of the world. You can still wrap your last gift using the cardboard wrapping paper roll, and then take a sharpie to it. This way, your gift is wrapped and it’s even cooler because you put thought into it by making your very own personal doodles!
Another way to use the cardboard roll is to use it to make gift tags instead of spending extra money on adhesive tags or fancy ribbon ones. Use a picture of a gift tag for reference, and then trace the shape and draw a clever little string at the end.
8. Board Game Extravanganza
If you’re stuck inside due to frigid temperatures or just need a fun activity to do with family members, try out a few new board games! Some games I suggest are Cranium, Whoonu, Pictionary, and Machi Koro.
9. Pancake rolls
This an easy and delicious snack to make if you’re about to hit the road for a long car ride or need to snack on the way to the airport. You can make microwave pancakes or heat up ones you made the day before, put toppings inside, such as peanut butter, jelly, banana slices, butter, cinammon, nutella, or apples slices, roll them up, and put them in a ziploc! Spice this snack up by using crepes or waffles instead of pancakes. These snacks are very filling and are sure to hold you over until your holiday dinner.
10. Resources for holidays
It’s very important to learn about the many holidays that are celebrated during this season, especially since we live in a very culturally diverse community. Here are some links to resources in which you can learn about holidays around the world!
Winter Holidays Around The World
From Christmas to Diwali: Winter Holidays Around the World
The Best Places to Learn About Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa
Happy holidays, Vikings!
