Holiday Decorating Tips From Dondolo Vips
LAURA PRICE“Hire Keely from Navy Blooms for help with holiday decor and storage.I learned this tip from Caitlin Wilson last year, I tied thin velvet ribbon bows to my chandelier in my dining room for an extra holiday touch. Add a basket of Christmas books to the kids' room and family room for family storytime. I hole-punch all Christmas cards from previous years and add them to rings to create a book and set out on the coffee table as a fun way to look back at friends and family. I frame Santa pictures from each year and set out a collection of Santa pictures which is fun for the family to look at together. “
RITA RENNER“Over the years and as our family has grown, convenience has become a dominant factor in our holiday decor. One of the best tips that has served me well has been to store my holiday decor in the respective room where it will shine for the holidays. This allows for an easy unveiling when the time comes. I also love a good tradition. Growing up my mother would hand-make an ornament for us to put in our keepsake box to keep for our future home to decorate. Now that I am a mother, I have passed a hybrid of this tradition on to my children. In the spirit of convenience, I’m not making the ornaments, but I am helping each of my kids add a few ornaments to their collection each year that showcase their personalities and interests. Each year we put up a small tree in each of their bedrooms and spend time decorating their trees together. If I had to sum up my holiday decorating tips into one phrase it would be to ‘Embrace YOU’. Whether it’s the funny, the quirky, the homemade, the family, or whatever tradition has been passed down; the ‘YOU’ is what makes it a home!”
BROOKE WARD“I love to decorate our home with live greenery. If you don’t want to mess with the whole tree, bringing in other greenery for your mantle, tabletop decor, staircase, or doorways is another way to incorporate it into your home. I collect different nativities to display throughout our home, to teach our children and remind ourselves of the true meaning of Christmas.I love to display children’s Christmas books in different areas. Seeing the books reminds me to slow down and enjoy the bustling season with our kids, reading stories and spending quality time together.I frame our family Christmas cards from each year in the same acrylic frames to display together on our dining room buffet. Lastly, I cannot forget Christmas lights. A simple way to incorporate lights inside your home is with the mini battery-operated fairy light strands. I weave them through the live greenway, place them in vases filled with mini ornaments to put on coffee tables and chests, lay them through your mantle or tabletop decor, or really anywhere!”
ANASTASYA LEVINA“One of the traditions in my family for Christmas is decorating the tree with our children. I love to let my daughter help with decorating the tree. I make sure the height of the Christmas tree is not too high for my 3-year-old child, so we can decorate it together. Always start by preparing the tree, make sure all the branches are fluffed. Then install the lights, my favorite is the warm white lights because it is more suitable for all ornament colors. After that, I prepare the ornaments with the specified colors. The ornament colors that we must have are gold, silver, and white as they are complementary to other primary colors. We start with the large ornaments first and then move on to the small ones. Apply with sticks, berries, dolls, and ribbons. After everything is done, we take a photo together to make a beautiful memory at Christmas.“
SHAWNA HINCHMAN
“Since our family has only small children, each year I try to focus on how to elegantly include all of our family’s Christmas traditions in my decor. When selecting new pieces, I always try to stick to our Christmas color scheme of evergreen, citrus, French blue, and cream. We love decorating as a family, and each year our small children are able to help more and more. Every year we make a point to go to the grocery together to pick out the best citrus to take home and make our homemade tree ornaments. We slice the citrus into thin slices and dehydrate them in our oven. We also do a Nativity Journey nightly activity with our children leading up to Christmas Day. I arrange a beautiful cherry wood “village” as the centerpiece on our formal dining table, and each night our children get to light a candle and move Mary, Joseph, and the donkey closer to the manger until they “arrive” on Christmas Eve. I try to use real greenery as much as possible for a beautifully authentic look during the season. We take the children out to gather up any greenery we can find in the yard and landscaping (holly, magnolia leaves, pine, etc.) and combine this with some evergreen boughs to make our living Advent wreath together. I spray the greenery occasionally with water and refill the water in the well a couple of times a week to keep everything looking fresh.”
