The holidays seem to come around faster every year and sometimes with life and all of its happenings, it can get quite difficult to get into the “holiday spirit”, if you will. It’s EXTRA hard for those people in warmer climates because it starts to just feel like Summer with holiday music everywhere. Here are 7 ways to help you get you in the holiday mood if you haven’t already.
Holiday Movies
I mean, this one is kind of a given; not feeling in the mood? Put on some holiday visuals to get things moving. Here are my personal faves that always make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. (Some are available on Netflix and some you’ll need to rent)
-Home Alone (1 & 2)
-Christmas Vacation
-Elf
-A Christmas Story
-The Nightmare Before Christmas
-Love Actually
-The Holiday
-The Santa Claus
Holiday Scents
(Image via Where Your Treasure Is)
Whether you DIY it or light up some scented candles, there’s nothing quite like the warm scent of cinnamon, ginger or any other holiday-like smells throughout your home. There are a lot of DIY methods such as boiling ingredients to make your house smell lovely, or make your own cinnamon scented pine cones (above). Either way you get the same effect and it’s oh, so cozy.
Cookie Parties
(Image via Bon Appetit)
I have yet to have a cookie party but every year I put it on my to-do list. What is a cookie party? A fun little get together where everyone brings different cookies that they baked (or you can cheat and buy them) and have an exchange. You can have your cookie party buffet style, with all the different cookies out to nibble on with drinks and good conversation. You can also pack individual bags of the cookies you made to hand out to everyone, OR you can do a white elephant kind of game with all the cookies everyone brought. No matter how you do it, it’s an excuse to get together with your favorite people and eat yummy cookies (who doesn’t want to do that?). Bon Appetit has some awesome recipes if you don’t have any on hand.
Bring Out Your Holiday Colors
Nothing says the holidays like colored denim! You always feel a little more festive if you look the part, am I right?
Holiday Drinks
A themed cocktail (or virgin cocktail) is always a good idea and it’s fun when you can incorporate festive recipes into your weekly activities, or when you’re on your couch watching those holiday movies. A year or so ago I did a blog post on my personal blog about a Mulled Wine night with my blogger bff (above) along with a recipe for the drink (below) and it was lovely. Other festive drinks to try? Hot Toddys, Cranberry Martinis, Hot Chocolate with Peppermint Schnapps.
Ingredients (8 servings)
- 4 cups apple cider
- 1 (750-ml) bottle red wine, such as Thorny Rose Wines Red Blend
- 1/4 cup honey (I totally forgot about this when I made itoops!)
- Mulled spices (they usually come in a packet which is cheaper and easier but you can also buy the individual spices listed here)
- 4 oranges, peeled, for garnish
Directions
Combine the cider, wine, honey, Mulling spices (or if you bought them separate: cinnamon sticks, zest, juice, cloves and star anise) in a large saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Pour into mugs, add an orange peel to each and serve.
Christmas Playlist
Here in LA we have a local station that plays ALL CHRISTMAS MUSIC 24/7 and I keep that girl on until December ends. If you aren’t so lucky you have a couple of options. 1, you can create your own playlist on Spotify. 2, Pick an artist or song on Pandora to have them create a playlist for you, 3, Songza. Songza is a music app where you can pick the mood your in, what kind of playlist you like and it will do all the work for you. Perfect for get togethers or family occasions.
Donate and Volunteer
Donating and giving back always seems to get everyone in the holiday spirit and is something we should try to continue throughout the year. There are tons of ways to give back whether it’s volunteering at your local shelter, sponsoring a family or my personal fave this year, donating an organic, locally grown food box to a family in need. Farm Fresh to You is giving people the option to donate a box of local produce to a local food bank of your choice. The price ranges from $26-$58 so it’s pretty reasonable and something that people can definitely use. There might be other companies near you offering the same service so check with your local vendors.
Happy Holidays from the DB Fam! xo