The holidays are quickly approaching. It seems that the quicker they come, the more overwhelming they can be. With shopping and demanding family members it can be tempting to just throw up your hands and set out some paper plates for the hoard to dish up a'la counter buffet.
Before you give in to following the path of least resistance, consider taking a moment and looking around for items you already have. That is exactly what I did for todays Plan Like a Pro segment for our local Channel 2, The Morning Edition.
After setting out my holiday decorations, I had half a box of broken ornaments, random pine cones, some extra fake snow, and some little broken figurines from my Christmas village. And of course, a bunch of those cheap little trees that had gotten smashed in their year of hibernation.
At first all I saw was a box of junk that I was going to throw away - but then I had another thought! I could make snow globes. And that is what I did. Corralled together on a platter with some fake snow and candles, I had a cheap and easy Christmas centerpiece.
And it is adorable!
Do-It-Yourself Snow Globes
Fill an empty jar with water (I used a canning jar) + glitter + a couple of drops of glycerin.
[ TIP: Don't worry if you don't have any glycerin. It isn't necessary, but it does keep the glitter floating around a tad longer.]
Glue random, but adorable objects onto the underside of the jar lid. *See my additional tip below
Screw on the lid.
Shake! Shake! Shake!
And if you are super lucky, you bribe your crafty friends to come over while your kids are screaming in the background for a stressful morning of coffee and hot glue guns. Which is exactly what I did.... And they actually came.
This was the best snow globe of the bunch, made by my dear friend Richard. Mine were all terrible.
One thing that Richard noticed right away - that I didn't notice, and no other instructions I found anywhere had described this issue either.
But a lot of jars have a lip or the lid is a bit thick. If you glue your cuteness right to the bottom of the lid, then it sits to low, and you can't really see the items. We glued a bunch of beads, extra fake snow, and miscellaneous junk to create a little mini 1" hill for the items to sit on. That put the trees above the jar's lip line.
UPDATE: after publishing this post, I had a reader respond that she makes snow globes, she uses half water and half light karo syrup, instead of using glycerin. I found that the glycerin seemed to make the glitter clump up. According to the reader, the karo syrup caused the glitter and fake snow to really swirl around and not settle immediately.
Hope to hear from you guys on what works best for you!
THE DETAILS
Channel 2 "Plan Like a Pro" Segment hosted by Rebecca Kopperud
I hope I inspired you for easy Christmas entertaining. Like what you see? Feel free to send us a comment, I always try to respond directly.
Until my next blog post, here's to making your next event YOUR BEST BASH YET! To book me fill out our CONTACT form to get started.
xoxo - Rebecca
MEET REBECCA
Hey there! I am Rebecca Kopperud, a born and bred Alaskan, as well as the owner and chief designer behind
La Boum Events.
I began my career in event planning organizing conferences and meetings. In 2012 I had the opportunity to strike out on my own and start my own company. I choose the name La Boum Events because it is slang for "the party!" I was looking for a name that reflected my love of french culture, my bubbly personality and above all, my love for entertaining. La Boum Events was born and we absolutely took off planning Alaska's best weddings and celebrations.
Since then I have invited other super organizers and decorators to collaborate with me to offer spectacular event planning services throughout Alaska. Meet our team on our ABOUT page.
To book La Boum Events for your event, fill out our CONTACT form to get started.