I love planners. Not as much as I love Christmas though. Hence I thought of doing the obvious. Create Christmas themed daily and weekly planners. And considering this is the season of sharing, I would like to share these planners with all of you.
You can download these planners for free. You do not need to provide any email address or do anything else. Just download and use them as you like.
Why I love Planners?
Apart from the usual reasons that planners help me stay organized, know what’s coming up and not miss out on anything important due to getting side-tracked, there is another important reason what I love planners.
I actually like to leave messages for myself in my planners. These are not necessarily messages related to the task to be completed. I write motivational messages. Sometimes I write quotes that have moved me. I know it sounds weird but I use planners to talk to myself sometimes.
Overall I feel planners help me stay happy. They let me focus on what’s important and see the bigger picture with all the messages and quotes I leave for myself and sometimes for my family.
Thanks to my absolute love for Christmas, these particular planners bring even more joy to my life. Just viewing the planner with the Christmas delight just makes my day.
About These Christmas Themed Printable Planners
1) There are three planners in total for you to download as of now. Two daily planners and one weekly planner.
2) I have not marked or written down the “Day” of the week. This is so that you can use them the way you like and add your own day. You can start the week at any date you want. This makes these planners quite versatile and can be used on any day you wish for.
3) The planners are in printable PDF format. You can print them using any printer and on paper of various sizes. The recommended size is A4.
4) You can preview the planners below before downloading.
5) Download link and instructions are given below.
Whether you are thinking back to your childhood or are simply reflecting on the latest holiday season, there is no denying that Christmas lights can produce some truly magical effects. In addition to being a great way to bring friends, families, and communities together, these lights draw on our natural attraction to intense illuminations and create an aesthetic experience that is almost impossible to replicate in any other setting.
Unsurprisingly, countless parks, zoos, municipalities, and businesses spend more than $6 billion on lights per year, according to some recent estimates. By 2024, this market is expected to experience about 20 percent more growth and will reach an impressive $7.6 billion in annual sales.
Clearly, commercial Christmas lights are a very big deal. If you are someone who is planning on purchasing a significant amount of lights before the next holiday season arrives, you will certainly benefit from trying to reduce the cost of commercial lights to the greatest extent you possibly can.
Fortunately, there are quite a few things that seemingly any organization can do to effectively lower the total amount they are spending on commercial LED Christmas lights and other important holiday decorations. In this article, we will discuss eight time-tested strategies that have helped organizations of all varieties reduce their annual costs. By taking the time to be cost-effective with your major illuminating purchases, you can purchase even a greater quantity of lights without needing to break the bank.
1. Invest in LED Christmas Lights
When determining which Christmas lights will be best for your bottom line, it is important to take a holistic approach and account for every cost involved. If you simply purchase the cheapest set of lights you can find, you’ll likely end up purchasing lights that break or go out in a very short amount of time. Once this happens, you’ll need to end up purchasing new lights and your entire savings will have been for naught.
Though they will cost a bit more upfront, LED Christmas Lights are overwhelmingly the most cost-effective option for people who plan on creating long-term holiday displays. These lights can be up to 80 percent more energy-efficient, which can really begin to add up, especially when you are working with millions of lights at once. Furthermore, these lights have a bulb life that is five times longer than traditional incandescent lights, meaning they will not need to be replaced nearly as often.
2. Buy in Bulk
As you will find when making most purchases, buying Christmas lights in bulk is one of the easiest ways to reduce the amount you are paying on a “per bulb” basis. Rather than buying a few thousand lights here and a few thousand lights there, take the time to calculate how many lights you are likely to need and make your purchase all at once. If you are unsure how many lights you think you’ll need for your display, consult your supplier prior to purchasing.
3. Purchase Backup Bulbs
Once you have a comprehensive understanding of how many bulbs you’ll need for your display, consider purchasing an adequate “backup” supply of bulbs and cords as well. When operating at higher volumes, the probability of a bulb—or even an entire string of lights–breaking will increase. As a good rule of thumb, you should purchase about 2 percent more bulbs than you actually need. However, this can vary, depending on the dynamics of your specific display.
4. Purchase Christmas Lights During the Offseason
As you might expect, most major commercial Christmas light suppliers experience an increased volume of sales towards the end of the year. In order to offset their uneven cash flows, many of these companies will offer dramatic discounts during other seasons.
Purchasing Christmas lights many months before December can help you save 20 percent on your total purchase, or even more. Additionally, the “offseason” is a great time to purchase lights for other holidays, such as the Fourth of July or Halloween. After all, the magic of these lights can last throughout the entire year.
5. Use an Online Commercial Christmas Light Supplier
Generally speaking, online commercial light suppliers will be more affordable than the lighting specialists operating out of a brick and mortar storefront. These suppliers will usually keep their lights in a centralized warehouse, effectively reducing their total overhead costs and passing the savings on to you. While you may want to explore multiple options before making any final purchases, beginning your search online will usually be your best bet.
6. Create Specialty Displays by Hand
With the so-called “LED Revolution”, the variety of seasonal decorations available has considerably expanded. LED silhouettes and character displays, for example, have become especially popular. If you are looking to save some money, you may want to consider creating these displays by hand, rather than purchasing them pre-constructed. As long as you are willing to put in the time and effort required to make them look professional, viewers are unlikely to notice.
7. Take Actions to Extend the Life of Each Bulb
To reduce the amount you are spending on Christmas lights each year, you should proactively try to extend the life of each bulb to the greatest extent you possibly can. This can be done by always making sure the bulbs are turned off at night, minimizing exposure to extreme weather conditions, and—in some cases—lowering the wattage being used to illuminate each bulb.
8. Look for Special Discounts
Lastly, the best way to save on Christmas lights is to be an active shopper that is consistently looking for discounts. If a company has a surplus supply of a specific string of lights, for example, they will very likely offer temporary discounts until the apparent surplus is eliminated. To remain up to date on the best deals for Christmas lights, consider subscribing to your favorite supplier’s newsletter.
Conclusion
Christmas lights are undeniably fun but, if you’re not careful, the costs of creating a truly impressive commercial display can really begin to add up. Fortunately, saving on Christmas lights is likely much easier than you might think. With these strategies in mind, you can lower your total bill without needing to sacrifice the overall quality of your display.
Each year as the Christmas decorations go up, I try and help my children focus on the Savior of the World, Jesus Christ: his life, his death, his love for each of us. I compiled this listing of my family’s favorite media—free music to download, videos and devotionals to watch, pictures to color and cards to send—and hope that you and your family will enjoy it, too. Please share!
Dozens of instrumental hymns and children’s songs available for free download HERE
It’s late. You’ve got a movie on. Or Pandora. And you’re frantically happily wrapping gifts and stashing them away for Christmas.
And then you reach the end of the roll.
And if you’re using cheapie wrapping paper like me, that means you’re face to face with not a solid cardboard tube, but a 12”-18” roll of heavy paper that doubles as a tube.
Who cares, right?
Wrap the dang present and toss the faux-tube, right?
Wait! Don’t toss that!
I’ve got SEVEN reasons to hang onto to that wrapping paper center.
And to make all of them easier, do yourself a favor and reroll that paper width-wise instead of length-wise—it’s much easier to store. While you’re at it, roll several together to keep all of it in one, neat spot.
#1 – Get Your VonTrapp On
Neighbor gifts, presents or any of your “favorite things” look snazzy with minimal effort or cost.
#2 – Paper Crafts
The natural color and subtle texture are great for cards and art projects without the premium craft store price.
#3 – Make stencils and patterns for craft projects
This paper’s heavier than regular craft paper and holds it’s shape better. Sewing patterns hold up better and stencils have less bleed through from paint or marker.
#4 – Wrap Shipping Boxes
This heavy weight holds up like a champ in the mail and post office types adore it.
#5 – Protect Your Work Spaces
Painting, coloring and gluing projects just got a whole lot neater. And unlike newspaper, there’s not risk of paint soaking through.
#6 – Protect Breakables
Skip the flimsy paper towels and cut squares to layer in between holiday plates and serving platters. This paper is both pliable and thick enough to protect dishes from scratching and moving when stacked.
How many of you grew up with Christmas advent calendars?
I did. This was mine.
My mom made this when I was little and it is such a special part of my Christmas memories. After 30+ years it’s starting to show it’s age, though, so my sister has started extensive felt renovations. 🙂 When my kids saw the pictures of her progress, my kids immediately wanted one of their own. Sewing something like this isn’t hard—in fact my dear friend Becky just made the cutest one for her kiddos here.
But I’m waist deep in other sewing projects … and I already had the Silhouette out … and I just happened to have some scrap vinyl laying around … so we compromised.
It only took a few minutes to cut out a mix of designs from the Silhouette store and tracings from my mom’s calendar.
(I love that my Silhouette can trace any shape! And no, this isn’t a sponsored post.)
And then my kids went nuts putting up “stickers” all over the frig marking out the way to Bethlehem.
All the shapes were applied straight to the frig, but I wanted Mary and Joseph to be moveable.
I ended up cutting two different shapes: one for the journey and one for the manger.
I applied them to some white craft foam, but cardstock would work fine, too.
Add some dollar store magnetic strips and voila! …
… Mary, Joseph and the donkey to move along the path each day …
… and the holy family for the manger.
No Silhouette machine?
No problem!
You could easily make something like this using contact paper, cardstock, whatever. Just add some magnets and go to town. Rock what ya got!
So …
Give it a shot – you’re kids will love this!
And if you make one, I’d love to see it! Shoot me an email, leave a comment below, tag me on Facebook or share it on twitter.
We’re off to move our Mary & Joseph out of Nazareth and on the road to Bethlehem … good night!
I feel very honored to be asked because Thrive is one of my favorite blogs. I love seeing Nike continually rock what she’s got in such a creative and classy way. I feel a special kinship to her because I, too, get a thrill of satisfaction from making something awesome from nothing, and I, too, have my own dirty half dozen. I know how difficult it is to fit blogging into an already over-full family life, so she amazes me even more!
Gushing introductions aside–I want to tell you a sad story that you may be able to relate to.
Every Christmas, I start out gift wrapping with a happy heart and put all my love into each carefully tied bow and crisply folded corner. HOWever, about halfway through wrapping my family’s gifts, with other holiday demands starting to heat up, my evil inner martyr mother comes out. The wrapping gets uglier along with my mood, and I have a Scarlett O’Hara-like moment where I say, “I will never be stuck spending hours wrapping Christmas presents again.”
My husband’s solution to this problem (in addition to helping me wrap a few as long as I stop verbally abusing him long enough to pass him the scotch tape 🙂 ) is to suggest that we just stick the presents under the tree in the shopping bags and shipping boxes they came in. He reasons that the kids will still have something to undo, and we won’t have to do a thing. Problem solved.
Except, that it would look ugly.
Really,really, ugly.
And I am just shallow/proud/perfectionistic enough that I mind putting super ugly presents under the tree like I’ve given up all pretense of a beautiful
holiday.
Luckily, there is a third option beyond becoming a wrapping paper martyr, and giving up on life. My very talented mother-in-law often gives gifts in personalized fabric gift bags. Also, a dear friend of mine wraps all her family’s gifts in fabric gift bags that an environmentally-conscious neighbor gave her as a gift many years ago.
Hmmm. I think re-useable, pretty, fabric gift bags are a good thing. And now finally, after years of meaning to make them, I have done it.
And, I am willing to give you all the benefit of my experience and wisdom with lots of lazy shortcuts and tips (you’re welcome 🙂 ).
To make your very own bags, you will need:
•a fabric stash to pilfer (oh, come on–you know you have one, too)
•and/or other fabric, such as pillowcases you don’t need, pillow covers, old sweaters, etc.
•ribbons, cords, old (clean!) shoelaces, etc.
•a sewing machine with thread
•scissors
•pins
That’s it. Probably all stuff you have lying around.
Now, I am not one to re-invent the wheel. There are some great tutorials for making a drawstring bag here and here and probably lots of other places on the web as well. If you don’t already know how to make one, I suggest brushing up on the basics.
Then, using those tutorials (or your own awesome innate drawstring bag wisdom) as a basis, here are the shortcuts I’ve devised for making your bags more quickly and simply:
Lazy Shortcut #1: Use pinking shears so you don’t have to zig-zag. These aren’t going to be used every day, so you don’t need to finish them perfectly, but you still don’t want your hard work to fray into un-useability.
Lazy Shortcut #2: Instead of making the casing for the bag and then feeding the ribbon or cording through, pin it into the casing when you fold the casing over (see above–my pins are holding both my ribbon and casing in place). Then sew your casing seam, taking care to keep a safe distance from your cording or ribbon. Then all you have to do is take out your pins, and Voila! You are ready to go!
Lazy Shortcut #3: Unless you really want a drawstring bag that has handles on either side, you can just leave the casing open on only one side of your bag and then tie it in a bow. It saves time and ribbon.
Lazy Shortcut #4: Another option is to make a buttonhole towards the top of your bag before you fold your casing over. Feed the ends of your ribbon through the buttonhole, then pin the rest into your casing. Sew the casing seam and unpin everything. You can close it by pulling on the ends of the
ribbon and tying it into a bow, or put the ribbon ends through a toggle or large bead–then you can just cinch it up.
Lazy Shortcut #5: You don’t have to make a casing at all. Just make your bag with an open top (like a pillowcase) and tack some ribbon near the top. Then all you have to do is bring the ends around to the front and tie it in a bow. Just like this one below with the double-ribbon tie. Easy peasy.
If you don’t have a fabric stash (and if that is true, I pity you 🙂 ), I’ll bet you still have access to other free/cheap sources of fabric.
For example,I made a gift bag out of a thrift-store throw pillow cover I wasn’t using anymore.
I unzipped the zipper on the side and removed the pillow to add a gift …
… then I just used a zig-zag stitch to tack the ribbon on one side of the pillow cover, put the present in,
zipped up the side zipper and tied the bow.
So simple!
I made this one out of an old pillowcase. It was cute and soft, but it had shrunk, and just ended up
looking skimpy on the pillow.
However, with a cute black grosgrain ribbon tacked to the back and tied into a jaunty bow on the front, Santa couldn’t do any better :).
You probably have some unused pillowcases in your linen closet, but if not, most thrift stores in my area sell them for about $1. That’s less than a new throw-away gift bag.
Some other options I didn’t try yet, but that would work really well:
An old/shrunk crewneck sweater.Cut off the arms (which could probably be used to make small, thin gift bags, by the way), turn it inside out. Sew straight across the top from shoulder to shoulder, and up each side from the waistband to the seam you just created (closing up the arm holes). Trim to a 1/
2″ seam allowance on each seam and zig-zag to prevent fraying. Turn right-side out and add a ribbon. That would be so cute, especially if you used a holiday-themed sweater.
Made cut-offs last summer? Use the bottom part of the jeans/pants that you cut off! You end up with kind of a tube when you make cut-offs, so you could just turn this tube upside down, and sew a seam where the knee used to be. Turn right-side out and add a ribbon and you’re in business.
Really, the sky’s the limit in terms of places you can find fabric for this project.
Good luck, and may adorable fabric stash gift bags keep your evil martyr mother at bay this holiday season!
Thank you so much Erin! I’ve made my first bag for my family, too, and am sooooo excited at the thought of NOT being up at 1 am on Christmas morning swearing complaining about wrapping presents.
Erin is another amazing e-friend that I’ve been lucky to find in blogland. We have living in Utah and Washington in common besides chasing around six kids – it makes you close. 🙂
I love reading Erin’s blog because she’s awesome at pretty much everything:
Having several yards of brand new, adorable, FREE fabric was so much fun to play with, but reality has set back in and we’re in full Rock-What-Ya-Got mode again. And since I’ve been doing a lot of sewing, I was hoping to find some existing outfits to just tweak a bit for the holidays.
Guess what I had to work with?
Yup.
Hand-me-down EASTER dresses.
Welcome to Pastel City. Population: 2
But if the picked-over isles at Walmart can teach us anything, it’s that every color is a Christmas color.
And that meanswith a little work,every solid colored dress can pull double duty as a Christmas special.
What?!
Even those pastel numbers?
Especially those pastel numbers. See?
And all I had to work with was ric-rac and a bunch of old poinsettia blooms. But it was enough. Those of you with more stash stuff and Christmas decorations could really go nuts.
I started on Kid #3’s pink dress and twisted some red and white ric-rac together to make my own Candy Cane trim.
You can twist any colors together to make lots of fun looks. Make sure your iron it really well after you twist it together to help it lay flat.
And I went the total cheaters route and simply hot glued my candy cane ric-rac right along the bottom hem. If you wanted a temporary fix, just stitch in place with clear thread.
(And yes, you can totally wash clothing with hot glued trim in cold water on the delicate cycle with a cool dryer. Works fine.)
To dress up the collar I removed the bow and glued my trim over the existing pink stuff, then pinned on a single poinsettia using a few safety pins.
Five minutes later I had a completely different look.
Done and done.
Kid #6’s dress was even easier to dress up … as in I spent three minutes on hers instead of five.
The worn out bow came off with a quick snip …
… and the flower I pulled off the fake poinsettia plant got safety pinned in place.
Add some sparkle shoes, another bloom for the hair and an already-in-the-closet sweater and voila!
Baby Girl just decked the halls.
So take a look in your girls’ closet.
And pull out those boxed-up spring and summer clothes.
Go dig through your ornaments, ribbons and bows.
Bet you have the makings of a little Christmas outfit magic, too.
You asked and now it’s here – Christmas subway art submitted with words chosen by you awesome THRIVE readers!
Several of you who emailed me about the Thanksgiving design were disappointed when it sold out so quickly. I’m not a professional vinyl lady and am limited by the amount of time and materials I can cut. So when I got emails asking for a Christmas design, I asked my awesome neighbor Heidi to handle the cutting and shipping for me. That way I can work on more no-cost holiday projects to share with all of you – deal?
Here’s what we came up with using the suggestions submitted on THRIVE’s facebook page.
I love it! You guys picked the best, most fitting words to describe the season!
The picture above is vinyl on red painted canvas, but you can apply it to a board or wall. And to accommodate the reader requests for different sizes/colors, here’s what’s available: 8”x10” – $8.00, 12” x 14” – $10.00, 16”x20” – $14.00. You can pick the color when ordering HERE.
And as always, I’m all about the freebies and rockin-what-ya-got, too.
You can download a free printable 5”x7” of either version below.
Red background with white text HERE –or- White with red letters HERE
So there you go!
Have fun picking the perfect vinyl design color for your home or enjoying the awesome free version in a frame.
I hope this helps bring a little bit of the magic of the season to your home!
The Christmas wreath came down a week ago, but I’m not quite ready to bring out the Valentine’s day stuff just yet. I want a week or two to enjoy the rush of energy and promise that this time of year brings. And since anything New Years-ish will have a short showing on the door, I’m looking for quick and easy.
My solution?
Raid the Christmas decorations before putting them away.
A few dollar store snowflakes, some fabric scraps, a left over cardboard box and voila—Happy 2011 in winter white in 15 minutes flat.
Want to make your own?
Couldn’t be easier.
As always, I hope you Rock What Ya Got to adapt this project so that there’s no out-of-pocket cost.
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Arrange three large snowflakes end to end and hot glue together.
To make the banner, you can freehand your own design (which I’m terrible at) or use this great image from Graphics Fairy.
After I printed it out, I wasn’t crazy about the shape with the snowflake, so I cut it in half …
… flipped the two halves and taped the new shape together. Template done.
Trace template onto a cardboard box flap and cut out.
Trace template onto burlap and cut around the lines, leaving an extra 1/4” all the around so that the fabric is slightly larger than the cardboard backing. Hot glue in place.
Cut numbers out of left-over felt and attach with hot glue.
The banner ends get a quick dress-up with rosettes made from 1” strips of burlap.
A quick dollop of hot glue holds them in place.
Glue banner the center snowflake with hot glue.
Done and Done.
To hang, I dressed up a cheap magnetic clip from the frig with a quick rosette and more hot glue.
But if you’d rather skip the rosette clip for a look more like this …
… hot glue a magnet to the back tips of the top and bottom snow flakes.
And the fun part about this project is the you can change the whole feel with different banners.
How about a little silver sparkle?
(Sorry … silver is crazy reflective and tough to capture)
Swap out the burlap for a left-over Christmas gift bag and salt!
Trace the banner template on a gift bag and trace around the edges, leaving 1/4” extra just like with the burlap.
Attach to the cardboard base with hot glue.
For a flocked look, line the outer edge of the banner with regular school glue and sprinkle with table salt or glitter.
To fill the numbers, mark outline with a pen … trace and fill numbers with glue … cover with salt or glitter …
1. Can you use cardstock instead of fabric or gift bags?
Yes … if it stays inside.
2. Do you need to paint your cardboard backing before covering with fabric/paper?
I tried both ways and it doesn’t matter (so long as your porch is covered!) I tried spray coating, painting and mod podging with tissue paper to see if there was any noticeable advantage and there wasn’t. It just added a lot of time and was a pain. Happy to report this is step you can skip.
3. Can you use regular glue to attach the fabric or paper to the cardboard base?
I wouldn’t. With the silver gift bag, I used Elmer’s glue and it warped the paper slightly (which you can kind of see in the pictures). I made a second one just to try and the hot glue worked great—no warping at all.
4. If I don’t have extra felt snowflakes lying around …?
You can cut snowflakes out of cardstock on a Silhouette/Cricut or you can make 3-D puffy snowflakes out of regular paper using the technique I showed here on Ucreate with Kids.
5. If you have a Silhouette or Cricut, you can make cutting numbers out of felt easier by cutting out the numbers in vinyl first, sticking them to the felt and then cutting around. Easier than trying to trace on felt.
