Will your holiday decor work all year round?
You’ve put a lot of work into decorating for the holidays and before you know it, you’ll have to take it down. Or will you?
The last thing you want is more work to do. Stretching out the enjoyment of the holidays helps make a smooth transition into the new year, plus gives you the most joy for your time spent decorating. This way, you have more time for your friends and family and experiences you really want to encounter.
Here are some holiday decorating tips — for what works all year round.
1. Use any neutral and white colored decorations throughout winter.
2. If you use metallic decorations, you can keep some of these in place, particularly ones that are multi-functional, for example, a round mirror can be a serving tray or platter to group objects. Glittery things work well for winter entertaining. Same thing with lights, if they are neutral, white, etc., hang them in a back room or patio to keep that “winter wonderland” spirit. Heck, you may just want to leave these up all year round, depending on your decorating style.
3. Clear vases or lanterns that once held ornaments and Christmas greens can be filled with lights or lemons to add sunny color or even dried beans and then place a candle inside.
4. Separate and remove any red items but keep the white and even green. Using white candles with greenery is always attractive. As you take down your tree (see below), you can cut up the branches and use these to cover the top of your garden beds as mulch. This also helps to keep those pesky squirrels away from digging up your spring bulbs. Add some branches to your fireplace, if you have one, so that the next time you have a fire, the holidays scents will be fresh in the air.
5. But what about all those burnt out lights? Don’t through them away! Here’s a creative and clever way to “repurpose” some of your holiday decor. Create a burst-of-winter-into-spring wreathe with burnt-out holiday bulbs. Assemble in non-Christmas colors. You can even do an ombré effect and pair it with a wallcovering backdrop.
Unfortunately, as the new year approaches, you’ll want to take down your Christmas tree so you can start 2018 with a fresh slate. Having the tree up too long can just make you feel weighted down and you may want to get a jump on those new year resolutions by doing things earlier rather than procrastinating. One way to achieve this is to have a take-down- the-ornament cocktail party or another suggestion is to call it a Finish the 1/3rd Party. You can kill many birds with this concept — clear out your liquor bottles with just 1/3 left, put those ornaments away with some friendly help and get a jump on clearing your space before the New Year is in full swing. Be sure to take down the most treasured ones first and wrap them at the start of the party rather than at the end. 😉
Cheers & Happy New Year!
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