The Best Holiday & Christmas Decor

I wasn’t sure if I would be hosting Christmas again this year, so I started to shopping anyway for Christmas items. Either way, I am going to get some new holiday decorations so Antonio can help decorate. He really loves decorating these days, so I know he will love helping this year again! Here are some adorable holiday decor items:

 

Collections Etc Christmas Poinsettia Candle Holder Centerpiece

32Ct Christmas Santa Hats Silverware Holders – Xmas Party Dinner Table Dinnerware Decorations  

Christmas Tablecloth Rectangle, Jacquard Table Cloth Spillproof

Artoid Mode Snowman Christmas Birds Trees Table Runner

Artiflr 6 Feet Red Berry Garland Christmas

Quality Craft XL19032 Lantern with Candle Set of 2 Holiday Decoration

Merry Christmas Banner – Vintage Xmas Decorations Indoor 

6 Christmas Table Decorations for Dinner Party Coffee Table 

Efivs Arts Artificial Red Berry,8 Pack Holly Christmas Berries Stems

Susie Liberatore is the owner, and Art Director, of Visions2images Creative Services. She helps established businesses grow their brand awareness by using digital marketing and professional branding techniques. With over a decade of agency and corporate experience, she brings businesses’ visions to life, while watching their return on investment increase.

Susie helps businesses grow their brand presence and connect with their target audience.

The Ultimate Branding Guide to Win New Clients in 7 Days

The Best Nana Gifts

Nana is a different name that Antonio calls his other grandma. I really enjoy keeping a great connection with him and her. I couldn’t help but find some of these cute nana gifts. 

It can be so hard sometimes to find Nana gifts or sayings. I thought these were so adorable and had to share them. 

Nana

Susie Liberatore is the owner, and Art Director, of Visions2images Creative Services. She helps established businesses grow their brand awareness by using digital marketing and professional branding techniques. With over a decade of agency and corporate experience, she brings businesses visions to life, while watching their return on investment increase.
Susie helps businesses grow their brand presence and connect with their target audience.

The Ultimate Branding Guide to Win New Clients in 7 Days 

Best gifts for entrepreneurs

Being an entreprenur I have many other business friends and colleagues. I like to give whenever I can and thought the holidays are the perfect time. Everyone needs a little joy and surprise in their life. 

I put together some of the top favorite entrepreneur gifts that are Amazon rated, affordable, and two day shipping. WHATTT It’s seriously a win-win all around. 

Susie Liberatore is the owner, and Art Director, of Visions2images Creative Services. She helps established businesses grow their brand awareness by using digital marketing and professional branding techniques. With over a decade of agency and corporate experience, she brings businesses visions to life, while watching their return on investment increase.
Susie helps businesses grow their brand presence and connect with their target audience.

The Ultimate Branding Guide to Win New Clients in 7 Days 

Holiday Dinner, Without the Fuss

By: Marla Bautista 

As families grow, seemingly, so does our holiday budget. It’s not enough to cook a regular meal during the holidays. We need an entire Holiday spread, to include (but not limited to), pre meal snacks (for the cook), appetizers, dinner, desserts, and specialty beverages. There are levels to the Holiday meal madness that we often inflict upon ourselves.  The effort that goes into making holiday meals shouldn’t cause you anxiety and exhaust your bank account. Want to prepare a Holiday meal that is not only amazing, but also stress free? In this article, you will learn how to do just that! 

Make a Plan 

Start your holiday meal planning with lists, Yes, Lists with an S. You will need a list of guests. This will help you know exactly how many people you’re expecting for the holiday. Make a list of proposed food items for your menu.  This may be tricky if you are planning on sharing dish obligations with other guests.  Have you heard of Sign Up Genius? This is a great place to create sign ups for any event.   You can also create a sign-up for Holiday Dishes and share it with your guests, so they too can sign up to make a dish! Best part about it, it’s free! 

Find Deals  

There are a lot of grocery stores offering coupons and other discounts on your holiday meal ingredients. If you have a grocery rewards card, you could score some awesome deals! Some stores honor the use of manufacture coupons and store coupons simultaneously. Check out your stores coupon policy to find out the best way to acquire a great deal. During the Holiday Season some stores offer discounts on side dish items when you purchase a turkey or vice versa.  If you don’t eat meat. Check out the local farmers markets and family farms.  Because it’s late in the season, many farms are trying to get rid of produce that may not survive during the winter months. There, you are sure to find deeply discounted veggies. 

Think Outside the Box

You don’t always have to make traditional dishes for the holiday.  Try making a few non traditional, items that will compliment the dishes you already make. Instead of mashed potatoes and gravy, try making a loaded mashed potato casserole or baked potatoes. Instead of making a Traditional Macaroni and Cheese, try another pasta dish filled with cranberries and other sweet and savory holiday flavors. Kid friendly dishes are always a hit when you have picky eaters. Check out www.recipes.com for a few simple, kid friendly holiday dishes.

Don’t Stress

Holiday meal planning is all fun and full of grandeur ideas until you have to shop, prep, and cook 10 dishes with one oven.  Give yourself some time. If there are items you can prep days ahead, do it! Chop your onions, celery, sweet potatoes, and anything else that can be refrigerated, a few days prior to the holiday. Relax, if you’re a planner, make a plan of action for your Holiday cooking times.  If you’re cooking a turkey, that’ll probably take the longest. Prep and cook it early on so that you can have oven space for your other items later in the day.  If you fry your turkey, even better! Less cook time and more oven space. Take breaks. If you have an item that requires a lengthy cooking time, use that time to catch up on your favorite TV show or book. If time allows, take a power nap.

No matter what your holiday plans, you can do it with ease by incorporating few of these tips. Make a plan for your holiday meal, find the best deals and discounts, and don’t sweat the small stuff. The season should be spent making positive memories with your loved ones. Don’t stress, everything will turn out fine, even if it doesn’t go exactly as planned. Be flexible and have fun! Best Wishes!

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Discover Frugal Ways to Save Money for the Holidays

I know the holidays scream money; trust me, I know. Here are some of my tips to save money during the holidays. Pick which ones work best for you and wisely save your money this holiday season. These are some of my tips that I have done first hand and really have helped me to save better.  

  1.  Christmas Cards.  I used to have to send them and create a fun and meaningful theme each year. I sent out more than I received. Each year, I got less and less. So now, I don’t do them. They took a LOT of time to do. Not to mention, they can cost a good amount of money. (Maybe around $50+ including stamps!)  We have actually decided to only send to immediate family members custom kid art work; they seem to appreciate that more.
  2. Holiday Dinner.  Potlucks or buffets are much less expensive than the traditional sit-down dinner. There is nothing worse than being the cook and not being able to interact with guests. The bigger thing though is saving money if you have ever hosted any holiday dinner you know how quick it all adds up. This cookbook has so many great ideas for a potluck so when people ask you what to bring, you can provide a great answer.
  3. Stick to cash.  I know how easy it is to bring out the plastic this time of the year. Figure out how much you spend each year, and start a dedicated Christmas savings account in CASH! (Remember those?) You will be happy; something about cash makes it easier to manage and budget cash flow. This is a great way to hold onto that cash!
  4. Family Fun.  I know you want to do many different activities (all of which cost money). Find one or two with expenses that you want to go to, and attend. Forget about the other items and have movie night from Netflix or Amazon.
  5. Have a cookie swap.  Each guest brings a favorite Christmas cookie, and you swap with others. This way you don’t have to bake all these cookies and do all the work, and of course spend all the money. You even have a variety to choose from now, so you can enjoy something different.

There are many other ways to save money this holiday season, but these are my five favorite practices that we do each year. Don’t forget to budget for gifts and stick to it. Happy Shopping!

frugalholiday

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Gifts For Him Under $50

I have a hard time always shopping for my husband; he is also expensive. I managed to find some great, practical gifts, for under $50.

Here are the best Gifts For Him Under $50

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Ladies Holiday Dresses For Under $50

I love to dress up for the holidays, it is one of my favorite time of the year! What a better way to celebrate, than to look good. Am I right? Seriously these dresses are super affordable and you will get FREE shipping. You can dress them up with some leggings, tights, just about anything.

Here are my top holiday ladies dresses for under $50.

#SOPHIEANDTREY Tag your photos for a chance to be entered to win $100 shopping spree!

holidayfashion

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Holiday Books For Kids under $20

I really love practical gifts and purchasing items that we can use later… I can’t tell you how many times we have gotten gifts and never use them. Sigh, it’s true. That is why I love books, we can use books forever. They are practical and we really enjoy having them.

  • Llama Llama Jingle Bells  With short and simple rhyming text, the Llama Llama board books introduce Llama Llama to babies and toddlers before they’re ready for longer full-length stories. And their small size and durable pages are perfect for little hands.

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  • Llama Llama Gives Thanks  In Llama Llama Gives Thanks, it’s Thanksgiving time for Llama Llama and his family! That means yummy foods and autumn leaves and being thankful for everything from pumpkin pies to blue skies. Thanksgiving may only come once year, but in Llama’s family, giving thanks is always here!

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  • Christmas Toddler Coloring Book: Christmas Coloring Book for Children, Ages 1-3, Ages 2-4,  Cute Christmas Coloring Book for Toddler Boys and Girls! Help your little ones celebrate the holidays with this big coloring book that is perfect for little hands. Easy to color designs help to build fine-motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Adorable designs including snowmen, elves, Christmas trees, Santa Claus, angels, presents, toys, stockings, and more! Features: Large 8 1/2 x 11 inch pages Printed on high-quality, pure white paper Printed single-side for no bleed through, easy-to-remove pages Simple yet holiday cute designs for kids to color

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Christmas Color by Number for Kids: Christmas Coloring Activity Book for Kids: A Childrens Holiday Coloring Book with Large Pages  Help reinforce your young child’s learning by challenging them to color-by-number. This activity book combines the fun of coloring with the exciting challenge of coloring in the right spaces. It may be difficult at first, but by the end, your child will be much more adept with coloring!

How to Catch an Elf  “With delightful rhymes, How to Catch an Elf slots itself into place along such classics as “The Night Before Christmas.”―Foreword Reviews You’ve been waiting all year long, and now it’s finally Christmas Eve! Is this the year you’ll finally catch an elf? Start a new Christmas tradition with this hilarious children’s book from the creators of the New York Times best-seller How to Catch a Leprechaun!

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Elfie the Elf Granny has a bedtime story that her grandkids will never forget. When a little girl befriends an Elf in the north pole, the two learn about friendship, standing up for each other, and achieving your dreams. With a cast of characters including reindeer, elves, and Santa himself, Granny’s story seems larger than life. But is it?

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Sesame Street Elmo Holiday Board Book Set For Kids Toddlers  Set of 3 Sesame Street Elmo Christmas board books for kids and toddlers. Featuring Elmo in “Snowy Day”, “Elmo’s Night Before Christmas” and “C Is For Celebrate.”

 

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The Best Holidays Tips For Traveling

Can you believe that the holidays are coming? They seem to arrive too quick each year! We always try to plan before the trip when it comes to the holidays so that we don’t get so overwhelmed.

Here are the top 7 tips for traveling during the holidays.

  1. Don’t Travel on Peak Days

Peak travel days are the worst! Traveling the day before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after will greatly increase your chance of travel woes. Consider adjusting your dates by just one day.

  1. Leave Lots of Extra Time

Ample time is always important. It doesn’t matter how you are traveling; you need to make sure that you allow extra time. Things do come up; traffic happens all the time, flights change, etc. So, plan as much as you can. Relax and read or listen to music while you wait for your plane.

  1. Pack Lightly

I know this is the hardest for me to do. It can be difficult if you are traveling from hot to cold places or vice versa. However, you do not need more than two pairs of shoes. You can pack lightly, I promise. If you have kids to pack for, they are the more important ones. Also make sure your luggage is functional.  Sorry, but true.

  1. Have a Backup Plan

You can’t predict travel problems. If you’re driving, know alternative routes so you can adjust if traffic is bad; GPS is handy for finding different ways. If you’re flying, be aware of the alternative flights and connecting cities.

  1. Have Fun

It’s the holiday season, after all; don’t feel so rushed. Remember to take snacks, games, books, magazines, ipads, etc. to pass the time regardless of how you are traveling.

  1. Use Your Phone

You can track your flights and even track your travel with a GPS. You can see a lot of what’s happening right from these two simple elements. Use your smartphone to your advantage! Keeping up with changes and alerts are why it is so important to make sure your phone is fully charged and holds all the numbers you might need.

  1. Holiday Gifts

Get small presents and try to ship large packages to the final destination beforehand. If you do take gifts along, keep them little and packable.

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Traveling for the holidays can be a fun time, as long as you know the basics and prepare ahead of time. Try to plan as much as you can and adjust accordingly.

 

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Christmas Decor For A Great Price!

Christmas is a fun time of year to dress your house in style. I love being able to take down some of my other decor in the house and put up new holiday decor for the holiday season. I love how there are so many options for Christmas decor for all the different rooms: bathroom, kitchen, living room, etc. 

My favorite part is being able to decorate the table with napkins, and holders, towels, etc. It is the best and I love being able to have guests over and let them appreciate the holiday decorations. My husband isnt usually a fan of this, but it is only for a short time that it looks cute and is so functional.

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  • http://amzn.to/2gqwQcu Lighted Gift Box Decor (Natural)
  • http://amzn.to/2xtlLBZ CellElection Santa Suit Christmas Silverware Holder Pockets Red, 6PCS
  • http://amzn.to/2y8wSxc Lighted Berry-Beaded Holiday Garland by Collections Etc
  • http://amzn.to/2xtUpvi Red and Gold 3 Tray Ornament Storage Box with Dividers and snowflake pattern. Store up to 72 3 inch Ornaments
  • http://amzn.to/2xtUGyk Dress My Cupcake DMC41X-816 12-Pack Santa Claus Face Ring Decorative Cake Topper, Christmas, Red/White
  • http://amzn.to/2xvhaKy Dress My Cupcake DMC41X-816 12-Pack Santa Claus Face Ring Decorative Cake Topper, Christmas, Red/White
  • http://amzn.to/2xtVxz2 Holiday Time Christmas Decor 36″ Marquee Battery Operated Snowman with 15 Warm White LED Lights
  • http://amzn.to/2xtwOeo NUOLUX Merry Christmas Jute Burlap Banners,Christmas Banner,Christmas Decoration
  • http://amzn.to/2y6e9SR Table Mat,Homecube Christmas Snowmen and Elk Table Mats Placemats Napkins Decor Cover for Kitchen Holiday Party Home,Pack of 4
  • http://amzn.to/2xtawJU KI Store 24ct Christmas Ball Ornaments Shatterproof Christmas Decorations Tree Balls Small for Holiday Wedding Party Decoration, Tree Ornaments Hooks included 1.57” (40mm Gold)
  • http://amzn.to/2yCkWXE DII Cotton Christmas Holiday Dish Towels, 18×28″ Set of 3, Decorative Oversized Embroidered Kitchen Towels, Perfect Home and Kitchen Gift-Cabin Christmas

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