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.
Have you been recycling old shirts, chopping up boxes and turning cake pans into stars? Have you found awesome deals on line and scored some great deals? I hope so.
But if you’re like me and still have a few items on your shopping list (plus the never ending need for more of those staples), make a conscious effort to save money AND support your local businesses.
Why?
Because I’m an official in my city and can tell you how much local businesses drive our economy. I’ve seen first hand how money spent in local stores impacts our communities several times more than online sales. You want more money for roads-schools-police in your neighborhood? Shop local. You want lower property taxes and bond costs? Shop local. When Main Street shops get overlooked, the recovery for all of us is slower.
And stop – before you go there – I’m here to myth-bust about local being more expensive. Shopping local isn’t just a noble idea, but a savvy way to save. You really can get awesome deals. Really.
Yes, they’ve got amazing deals on up-scale catalog furniture—they’re famous for that and their selection rocks.
But I’ve got four – FOUR – great reasons to swing by THIS WEEK and in 2013 even if you’re on a shoe string budget like me and not in the market for a new couch:
1. CLOTHES
DownEast has the cutest, comfiest, most affordable stand-up-in-the-wash-like-a-champ clothing staples like camis and layering tees that everyone needs.
Finding affordable clothes that are actually modest and cute is getting harder and harder. That’s why I’ve fallen in LOVE their in-house DownEast Basics line.
I have two daughters who are crazy tall with wicked cases of plumbers butt. Since I have yet to make camis and tees successfully out of cardboard, these were at the top of my list. Plus it buys me a little more time with those shirts that are getting a little too short. See?
Baby girls was ticked when I told her it was time to retire her favorite black tee. Add a DownEast lace cami and problem solved.
Ah, way better.
This lace one was under $5 and layering tees are 2/$15 right now. Yeah, I’m stocking up. Mr. Thrive loves the price and everyone at church and school appreciates that my girls are no longer mooning them.
DownEast also has designer denim and accessories for 60-80% off what your kids want you to fork out at the mall. And when those cute jeans that you or your daughter want are high two figures (or even three), slashing that price by way more than half gets your attention very quickly. It’s all name brand stuff, but the prices are so low that I’m seriously not allowed to say them out loud … or in print … or even show you pics. I’ve been in their stores several times over the last few weeks and can tell you I checked it all out … and saw the prices … and maybe drooled a little bit since we’re Rock What Ya Got at our house and I’m not used to having “cool” stuff be in my price range – ever.
So don’t worry about the mysterious hey-I-can’t-tell-you-the-brand-names-thing. Let’s just think of it as the designer blinged-out denim Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. Or the designer blinged-out denim brands that I could tell you about, but then I’d have to …. well, you get the idea.
2. DESIGNER from-the-huge-catalog-companies LINENS, HOME DÉCOR, and KIDS STUFF
(wait … that’s probably #2, 3 and 4. 🙂
DownEast gets the overstocks, seconds and discontinued items from some of the biggest catalog and department stores. Monogramed 300 thread count sheets with the wrong letter or kids backpacks with the wrong name. No biggie. Five minutes with a seam ripper and you’ve got sheets-curtains-bedding-backpacks-suitcases-lunch boxes-pillows-you-name it for half of what you’d spend on the cheapy generics at the box stores. Yeah, half. At least. And the quality kicks butt.
I’ve been on the look out for new sheets for my girls’ room after kid #6 went all Edward Scissorhands on us, but I have completely struck out at thrift stores and online. Again, cardboard is not an option so I’m looking for cheap. Yup … found a complete set (flat, fitted, shams) at DownEast for thrift store prices. Perfect color, too.
3. HOLIDAY DECOR
Do you need stockings still? Or are you thinking that you’ll need to replace them next year if you can find a good sale after Christmas? They’re 50% right now. That means stockings like these are $2.50 – $5 each. They’re thick and heavy and will last for years to come. My favorite is the red and white striped wool number.
But confession: no one in my house is named Jean-Luc.
These were $30 in the catalog and I snagged the 100% wool yummieness for way less that I could have found the fabric even with a coupon (under $5!). Since I don’t have any old wool sweaters or friendly sheep around, this worked out handy. And kid #4 who has a thing for snowmen? Snagged that one for him for $2.50.
I also found this ridiculously cute Santa sack for under $5.
And confession … it’s not the right name (although you may just find yours!)
But … you got it. It’s a cinch to cover or remove and I know the kids are going to freak out when they see that Santa left his sack at our house.
4. AWESOME CLEARANCE & WEEKLY SALES
I’m a THRIVE-r so I went straight for the clearance and sales racks.
Holy cow. Can I just show you my score?
Kid #3’s backpack was a $10 clearance find from Wallys. It was made out of paper (apparently) and lasted us all of four months. I found this extra-thick-padding-and-reinforced-seams backpack AND matching lunch box with the easy-washable-so-you-don’t-get-the-funky-sour-milk-smell liner that she’ll love. Catalog price for the backpack alone was $40. DownEast had it for $11.99. Catch one of their awesome sales and you’ll pick it up for 30-50% off that like I did. And the lunch box? Picked that up for $3.
But kid #3’s name isn’t Gaby. Or Sophi. Big whoop. My seam ripper took care of both in just a few minutes. I could even just cover over the stitching with a cute applique or name tag. Such an easy fix.
Or how about this crazy-cute sleeping-bag-blanket-roll? I’ve seen these in popular children’s catalog and they’re $80+.
Yup … a mere $80. Kid #6 really, really wants one of these for Christmas. Thanks to DownEast’s low prices + great sales, I got the whole furry puppy head, sleeping bag and paws for less than a Pillow Pet. Of course no, my daughter isn’t a Paiyton. I’m going to turn on White Christmas after the kids go to bed and take care of that. I’ll have that name off before anyone gets their life saved by Phil Davis. Easy peasy.
I even did something for myself that I haven’t done in months … I bought a new shirt. I had big, big plans to hack apart a sheet and refashion the heck out of it, but I’m running short on time and wanted something special to wear to church for our Christmas program. I figured I’d grab a cheap-o shirt at the thrift store … or Wallys … or Tar-jay. Instead I found this $10 number that looks awesome even when I’ve been caring kid #6 around all day.
I may have worn it three days in a row over the last week already. I get compliments all the time which is a really big deal for me. Not because I’m vain, but because I usually am so focused on making sure the kids are covered that I never take care of me. Any other moms out there guilty, too? And while I’m so proud of how my kids look at Christmas or Easter, I usually sit next to them in something worn out and frumpy. This year I realized how important it is to treat myself with the same kindness and respect that I give my family. If it was important for my family to look nice for the holidays, it should be nice for me to as well. Finding a shirt for myself that didn’t make me feel like I was “taking away” from my family’s needs made me float. Turns out stick-to-the-basics pricing can still be cute, too.
So skip the traffic at the malls and box stores.
Skip the expense of rush of shipping online.
Check out DownEast for those Christmas items still on your list and save yourself some of that well earned money.
*Disclaimer: I received a gift card to shop at DownEast, but all opinions, stories about my daughter’s plumber’s butt, plans to watch White Christmas, hygiene-pushing “hey-I-really-love-this-shirt-and-seriously-live-in-it” confessions and civic-geek passion for shopping local are 100% mine.
Fold over and hem raw edges. You could totally cheat and just whip out the hot glue gun, too. Leave the edges plain or go nuts adding ribbon, buttons, etc.
Sew a gathering stitch along the top edge and gather in nice and tight. Stitch in place.
This little skirt had a flat front with no extra fabric so my skirt doesn’t quite meet in the back.
No big woop. Our tree is up against a wall and you can’t even tell.
See?
Fuller skirts like these would have enough fabric for a traditional skirt fit.
So go dig out those outgrown dresses and dress up that tree.
As I mentioned in my last post, me and my kiddos are excited to share what we’re going to BAKE, MAKE, DECORATE and also SHOP this holiday season. This week we’re in DECORATE Land and, true to my word, I’m letting the kids call the shots.
And I gotta admit … it’s tough.
Why?
Is it because I’ve got some awesome ideas on my Pinterest boards?
Sure.
And because I’m pretty crafty and I’ve been planning for months to make stuff?
Yup.
But when I’m really honest I’ll tell you that I want my house to look awesome-wonderful-color coordinated-festive-wow-she’s-amazing-even-though-they’re poor when my friends come over because it helps my self esteem. Letting go of that part of my vanity in favor of letting my kids find their own magic was harder than I thought.
But this ‘kids in charge’ thing has been awesome.
I drug out the Christmas bins over Thanksgiving weekend and sat the kids down to make a plan.
Plan? What’s a plan, mom?
They just wanted to go nuts and start throwing things up. And I almost ruined the whole dang thing by insisting on them planning their spontaneous holiday decorating. When I finally got out of the way and let them welcome Christmas on their own terms, I had the funnest night in a long time.
And so the kids claimed my for-the-entry-way-only mini trees and hauled them down to their rooms. And decorated the heck out of them. And added gobbs and gobbs of extra colored lights. And they were so stinkin’ proud of how they turned out.
See?
And they insisted on using every ornament – every.single.one —on the tree in the living room. I think some potted poinsettias, candy cane pens, a glitter tree headband and wooden power lines from my son’s model railroad also made it on there, too.
Even the old-metal-hanger-tinsel-star that Mr. Thrive and I made after we got back from our honeymoon wound up on the tree, too.
Haven’t seen that thing in forever. Does seem oddly appropriate, though.
And after a solid hour of Christmas music, the kids were in the mood for something a little more upbeat from mom’s playlist. Done. And man did these kids have a blast rocking out and decorating away to 2012’s newest holiday anthem: Gangnam Style.
When they were all done, our Christmas tree looked like this:
A department store “Holiday Dream Tree” this is not.
And my kids’ lovely décor will never, ever make the rounds on Pinterest. As a blogger, that should be a big no-no.
But six kiddos giggled and laughed and rode air horses late into the night while this happy momma snapped pics and finally let go again of that reoccurring feeling of sadness for what I can’t give them. What we can create together as a family is more than enough and I’ve got the pictures and video to remind me when I forget again.
There’s been lots of glue gun action and sewing over the weekend as my kids had fun bossing mom around.
We’ve even got a new holiday playlist on iTunes that we’ve been rocking out to … more Gangnam Style, The Piano Guys, Justin Bieber, the Gummy Bear song and even some Jingle Bell Rock. The rest of this week I’ll be posting the fun projects that we made together to decorate our entryway, faux mantel, tree and walls. Bring on the cardboard, hangers, and repurposed old t-shirt goodness … Gangnam style, of course.
Hey everyone! The Christmas season officially starts in t-minus 48 hours. Christmas is only a few weeks away.
Holy cow. Time to get chopping.
I’m sharing the quick and dirty version our Christmas game plan below for everyone who’s making the most of their holiday budgets this year.
I’m also excited to announce that the THRIVE shop is now open for those of you looking for holiday vinyl, including last year’s Christmas subway art that was crazy popular.
(Christmas subway art is on pg. 2 of the shop listings)
Shipping is F-R-E-E on everything!
If you order by Monday, November 26th, your order should arrive by December 1st.
To celebrate, I’m giving away THREE ITEMS from the THRIVE shop!
Check out the shop and leave a comment below with what you’d like. That’s it. Drawing closes Monday, November 26th at 8 pm MST.
