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Christmas

Holiday Guest Comfort Kit + Free Printable

December 11, 2018 No Comments Christmas

I don’t know about you, but I will happily be hosting several guests this holiday season and am searching for ideas to help make them feel more comfortable and welcomed in my home. One fun way to make guests feel loved this holiday season is by creating a DIY Holiday Guest Comfort Kit! Use my free printable below to tie your gift together and make it feel extra special.

This is the eleventh post of my 12 Days of Christmas DIYs for 2018. I’ve committed to sharing 12 posts in December where I share DIY projects, recipes, entertainment, and more, that you can incorporate into your holiday season.

Put together a guest comfort kit

The great thing about these kits is that you can truly mix it up to fit the needs of your guest. I like making sure that my guests have some of the things I know that they’ll need on-hand so that they don’t have to ask or search for them.

Ideas for crafting your guest comfort kit:

Towel and Washcloth
Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Wash
Lotion
Chapstick
Earplugs
Sleep Mask
Water Bottle & Glass
Fuzzy Socks or Slippers
Travel Hairdryer
Tissues
Razor
Sweet Snacks
Savory Snacks
Assortment of Tea
Extra blankets/pillows, etc.
And, the most important in my opinion…the WiFi Password!

For a recent guest I created a small basket filled with:

a pair of fuzzy socks tagged with a tag that reads, “Stay Cozy”
a washcloth and towel tagged with a tag that reads “so fresh & so clean”
tissues
water bottle with a tag that reads, “Stay Hydrated” and a water glass
both sweet snacks and savory snacks with tags that read “Something Sweet” and “Something Savory”
a sign that has our wifi network name and password. The free printable is a fillable printable so that you can type in your information or just print it off and write in the information.

Free Printables for your holiday guest comfort kit

To use the free printable download the Holiday Guest Comfort Kit printable, fill in your WiFi information, and print on white cardstock in full color. Then simply cut out following the crop lines on the rectangle items and around the black outer line on the circles. You can then punch a hole in the circle tags or use tape to attach to your comfort items.

How do you make your guests comfortable when they visit?

Christmas

Holiday Survival Kit Party Favors + Free Printable

December 10, 2018 1 Comment Christmas

There are so many fun options for holiday party favors… ornaments, sugar cookies, chocolates, stocking stuffers, etc. I wanted to do something a tad different for this holiday party. For this party, I wanted to share a holiday survival gift as a party favor! But, then I was stumped… what should I put in a holiday survival kit!?

This is the tenth post of my 12 Days of Christmas DIYs for 2018. Each day for the next twelve days I share DIY projects, recipes, entertainment, and more, that you can incorporate into your holiday season.

Holiday Survival Kit Party Favors from A Well Crafted Party — Party Favors!

I had so much fun researching ideas for a holiday survival kit. Many friends were texted, my husband was quizzed, and Pinterest was searched! I didn’t want it to be stuff like a penny or a piece of tape though, I wanted it to be USEFUL, funny, and… most of all, I wanted it to make sense!

The great thing about creating a holiday survival gift party favor is that you can create your own with any items that you feel would help get your guests through the holiday season. But, because it is helpful to have a guide… here is what I built my kit with:

Everyone needs tape at Christmas, right?

Holiday Survival Kit

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Popcorn box — I gave my favor in cute little popcorn boxes, but simple muslin or cellophane bags would have done the trick just as well!
Tape— “To remind you to stick to your list.” Also, just between you and me, I’m always running out of tape right before finishing my holiday wrapping!
Batteries—”For the energy to get through your 5th ugly sweater party.” Also, because you ALWAYS need batteries over the holidays!
Balance Tea— “To remind you to relax. It is only a season, after all.” Other tea bags that would be great for this is chamomile or a de-stress type tea.
Chocolate— “Because you deserve a treat!” Also… chocolate.
Lotto Ticket— “So that you have hope!”

Other survival kit ideas

Of course… AFTER I created these kits I got a few other fun ideas.

Small donations to a favorite charity to remind your guests the true meaning of the season.
Ear plugs to protect your ears from all of the screaming kids. (Good screaming though, because… Santa!!!)
Mini ice scraper because “sleet happens” (from a super creative friend of mine!)
Fillable gift certificate that can be used in case of emergency gift situations
Mini bottles of alcohol for some “holiday cheer”

Free Printable Tag for your Holiday Survival Kit from A Well Crafted Party

Holiday Survival Kit Free Printable

Because I’m me and I love a good printable I created a fun little tag to put onto my holiday survival kits. I’ve created a fillable PDF so that you can make your own as well!

Directions:

Download the free printable holiday survival kit tags and save to your computer.
Fill in the tags using your favorite PDF software (Adobe Acrobat and Google work for this) using the items you are including in your gift.
Print on white cardstock in full color.
Cut out around the outer lines. Then cut into the white lines that are next to the elf’s arms. Fold on the line. Those two little tabs that are left can be taped or set onto your gift. Don’t need them? Cut them off and hole punch through the elf’s hat to make a tag you can use with a ribbon!

A Well Crafted Party

DIY Holiday Centerpiece from Supermarket Flowers

December 9, 2018 No Comments A Well Crafted Party

I love beautiful floral arrangements as much as the next person. What I don’t love is spending an arm and a leg for them. I absolutely believe there are times where it is SO worth it. The pros are pros for a reason. However, when the budget is a concern and I have the time, I will put together a floral arrangement using budget blooms from my local grocery store or supermarket. Read on for tips on creating your own holiday centerpiece using supermarket flowers.

This is the ninth post of my 12 Days of Christmas DIYs for 2018. Each day for the next twelve days I share DIY projects, recipes, entertainment, and more, that you can incorporate in your holiday season. Most will be super simple!

Tips for creating a beautiful holiday centerpiece with supermarket flowers

Supermarkets generally have really pretty flowers, but not necessarily beautiful arrangements. (I’m sure that some supermarkets will prove me wrong!) Below are some tips to help you create a great holiday centerpiece with supermarket flowers and below are the directions I followed to create my centerpiece!

Grab a few bunches of different flowers: While you can absolutely make a pretty arrangement with a single bloom, for this particular centerpiece I opted to give it a bit more dimension. When choosing your floral bunches consider getting the following: 1 bunch of large bloom, 1 bunch of medium-sized blooms, 1 bunch of filler blooms, and two bunches of greenery.
Incorporate non-floral holiday items to your centerpiece: I used holiday baubles for my arrangement. However, some other ideas include ribbon, favorite ornaments, or candy canes!
Think about structure: Using cellophane tape or floral wire can really go a long way in helping you build the shape you like for your centerpiece.

How to create a red, white, and green holiday centerpiece

This year I mostly used red and white (with pops of green, pink, and teal) in my holiday decor. So, when creating the holiday centerpiece I wanted to stick to a red/white/green color scheme. I used holiday baubles to give it a bit more interest as well. Below I use affiliate links. I receive a portion of a sale made from my affiliate link with no added cost to you my reader. Affiliate links help support this blog.

Step One: Prepare your vase.

For this centerpiece, I chose to use a large round Libby glass bowl.
I filled the bowl with my holiday ornaments and then sat another bowl inside. The second bowl sat on top of the baubles.
I filled the second bowl with a water.
I then taped a grid onto the top of the bowl with clear tape. Floral tape would work okay here as well as long as it adhered to the bowl and didn’t show up too much.

Step Two: Build the base of the floral arrangement.

Starting with the largest blooms (I used big white lilies), place throughout the grid on that you put on the second bowl. The grid will help keep a bit of the structure before you have other stems keeping things in place. I usually go with odd numbers here adding either three or five large blooms.
Add in your medium-sized blooms (I used red roses). Again using an odd number, put your medium-sized blooms throughout the arrangement.

Step Three: Fill in the arrangement

Now, taking your filler blooms (I used some mums) fill in the arrangement making sure to separate any of the large and medium-sized blooms.
Taking your two greens (I used evergreen branches and berry branches) place the greens throughout the arrangement. This step actually helps solidify the structure of your arrangement. Cutting your greenery down to match the shape of the arrangement is really important here. There is no need to put an entire branch in the arrangement.

Leftovers…

I always have leftover blooms when creating a centerpiece. I usually use the leftovers to make smaller complimentary arrangements to use throughout the party space. If one bloom breaks too near the head of the bloom don’t throw it away! Float it in a clear vase filled with water for a simple, modern floral arrangement.