christmas

The Christmas Trap: A Fun Family Tradition

I’m so excited to introduce you all today to Kara of ChristmasTrap.com. She’s a mom of two and here today to tell us about her family’s fun, Christmas morning tradition, which has been going on for more than three generations. I know you’ll enjoy her story…

It was Christmas morning, and I was doing an army crawl into my Aunt’s bedroom. It may have been soft, plush carpet, but I felt as if I were skulking through an enemy infested jungle. To you it might appear that I was making my way across the floor silently. But to me, the rustle of my PJs on the 1970’s shag carpet was screaming in my ears.

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I could barely breathe for fear of making too much noise. How on earth was I going to wake my cousin who was sleeping on the floor AND keep him quiet? I am not sure the boy had ever spent a moment of his waking life quiet. I had never been more nervous about a Christmas morning in my short 11 years on this planet.

“Chris… Chris… Christopher!” I said in a whisper that was only audible a few inches from my mouth.

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Make a Glowing Holiday Photo Booth

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World Market asked me to create a Holiday Photo Booth, and I was inspired by their fun green globe lights to create a glowing setup that makes for some magical photos! For all the details on how to put together a festive photo booth of your own, check out this quick video that shows the process. For all the details and to download our free printable holiday photo signs, check out my post over at World Market’s blog.

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Mod Christmas Tree Centerpieces

Free Printables to create this adorable Mod Tree Centerpiece or Table Runner for your holiday party via @PagingSupermom

We recently celebrated the holidays at a lunch with some of our local blogging buddies. Everything turned out so cute that we wanted to share photos and a few tips for how to host a stress-free get together with friends over the holidays.

Free Printables to create this adorable Mod Tree Centerpiece or Table Runner for your holiday party via @PagingSupermom

For a low-key gathering we highly recommend meeting up at a favorite restaurant. Eating out means no one has to clean house or prepare any food… all the hard work is done and you can just focus on adding a few decorative touches to make things more festive. There is already so much to do this time of year that it’s easy to get stressed out, and this approach ensures a fun holiday party that you can actually enjoy!

Free Printables to create this adorable Mod Tree Centerpiece or Table Runner for your holiday party via @PagingSupermom

The Supermom Secret for hosting a party at a restaurant is to add some of your own decor. If we have a particular theme or look in mind we pick a restaurant that will mesh well with that concept. Although sometimes you’ll know exactly where you want to eat — we had already chosen to meet up at a local pizza place that sets their tables with classic red-and-white-check tablecloths. We also had already worked with Shutterfly to create these adorable “Super Mom” Ornaments for everyone (win one below!). So we came up with this Mod Christmas theme that married the two.

Supermom Ornaments made with @Shutterfly via @PagingSupermom #ShutterflyHoliday

It doesn’t take much to make a restaurant table feel festive. We have done this type of party several times, and our formula is simple:

Have a party favor to set at each person’s spot +
Create some kind of table runner or centerpiece =
Just enough to make your party feel thoughtful and special!

For our party favor we had black-and-white striped bags containing these official “Super Mom” ornaments. We were so excited about how our glass ornaments from Shutterfly turned out, and they have so many great templates that you can customize to suit your own party.

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