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Does anyone know of someone who will come to your domestic
domicile and decorate the interior and exterior of the house
with Decorations for Christmas? |
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-I can see where this is going Cath !
Do I spot a volunteer ?....that is paid volunteer ? ; )
NZed -do you really need someone to do it for you? most of the fun is in actually
doing it. though if you physically can't then I guess it's nice to not miss
out on the look. I doubt there's much of a market, so get some local kids
to do it for you. Just don't end up like Micael Jackson. -I was curious to know how much he is willing to spend as I am an
'expert' at buying Christmas decorations and know just how expensive
it can be.
When we lived in the upstairs apartment in California, we used to
decorate the stairways and landings with coloured light strands [they
had something like 8 different lighting schemes], hang a lighted
Father Christmas and several reindeer from the guttering, string
lights down the side of the building and across the garage.
Then, there was the US$100 for the revolving christmas tree stand; we
gave up buying live trees [US$70 a pop] for an artificial. So that
was another 100 odd but certainly well worth it; then the lights, the
tree topper, the decorations, the skirt, the train, etc etc etc. I
love teddy bears and used to have many little bears on the tree.
I had an old tree skirt but found some material and made a new one.
You can get some beautiful skirts but they cost high dlr. Unless
you can score one in a garage sale.
I have several ornaments where you hang the ornament from the tree and
pop a bulb from the tree light into the top of it. The tree turns
to the left and the ornaments rotate to the right. Not cheap!
Believe me with a revolving christmas tree, you have to decorate the
whole tree! More decorations to buy!
I used to hit the day after christmas clearance sales for bits and
pieces - one year I picked up a Mickey Mouse tree topper - MM as
Father Christmas with a sack on his back, climbing up and down a
ladder. So that was made into a dec using a block of sytrofoam,
christmas picks and ribbon. I have done many decs this way.
I started off buying the motion Father & Mother Christmas dolls but
got tired of having to replace the batteries so replaced those with
larger electrical models and added a few more to the collection.
I also collect teddy bears, sleighs and nutcrackers. The unpainted
sleighs I paint up and again, use picks, styrofoam and/or teddies and
bits and pieces. I have a very large cane and wrought iron sleigh
that takes a lot to decorate! The nutcrackers most of which are 12
or more inches high, go where ever they fit!
There there are the table decorations for coffee tables, dining table
etc. We didn't have an internal staircase or mantlepiece so no $
spent there! You know you can even buy Christmas finials for your
lamps?
I know how quick it is to run up a bill buying bits and pieces! It
was nothing for me in the beginning after I arrived here, to put 200-300 dollars worth on laybuy at once. But since the growth of
99cent stores, you can also pick up bits and pieces there.
Last year, we bought from a shopping channel, a set of IIRC 24 glass
ornaments which came complete in their velveteen lined wooden storage
case. I think we paid about US$40 for these. That is cheap
compared to some of the Christopher Radko ornaments which sell from $20 up to $80 a piece.
The nice shiny round globes are relatively cheap - well here anyway
however once you start getting into the decorated ones, the price gets
considerably higher. I bought a box of 4 birds with tails this
year - they are kind of similar to the ones my Mum had when we were
very young.
Then there are the little towns that you can add to every year - the
oh likes these but we haven't started collecting them yet.
The one thing I could have sold a dozen times over whilst in NZ was
christmas decorations. People wanted them and were prepared to pay
outrageous $ to get them! One woman bought over NZ$300 worth of bits
and pieces.
I save all the christmas pages from the many brochures which come in
our Sunday's paper. From that, you can get ideas and can do a many
a dec yourself for far less than retail. Also visit a forest and
gather old bits of wood and pinecones.
I scout garage sales and flea markets for those big artificial pine
wreaths and garlands or bits thereof and anything else! Even old
christmas decorations that may have a bit or two worth salvaging -
haggle time! Surprising what you can find in these places that you
can turn around and create something from or add to a work of art in
progress.
We bought one each: an angel, a deer and a santa in a sleigh in white
plastic coated ? whatever metal is underneath in a garage sale for 5
bucks a piece. Each piece stands about 3 ft high. The lights were
stuffed so we have cut those off and all we need do is rewire them.
Now we are in TX, we don't have the room for a thing :-( so everything
is in storage. However I confess to having gone out and bought
a fiber optic Father Christmas and a very large [stuffed] snowman that
we may find room to display.
This year, there seems to be more outdoor inflatable items on the
market ie:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/catalog.gsp?cat=123001&path=0%3A4044%3...
Some other links if anyone is interested:
www.michaels.com and click on Christmas - ideas and projects for
making stuff.
http://www.lowes.com/lkn?action=categorySelect&category=Holiday%20Liv... - check out Creating a designer holiday tree
and links to other decorating tips
www.hgtv.com and click on Carol's Holiday Workshop - I haven't checked
it out yet but usually there are instructions for various projects
http://www.newcelebritystudios.com/poohsrainforest/PoohXmasCrafts.html
www.target.com and click on shop the holiday store in the green
banner.
There are literally hundreds of outdoor decorations you can chose
from.
One of the cheapest and one I love but would I would be extremely
careful of doing in NZ is to take a paper lunch bag, open then fold
the top to the outside to approx 3 inches down; add sand to the bottom
and insert a tuna can with sand in which a little votive candle has
been placed - luminaras.
There is one I would like - it's a projector that screens simulated
snow falling on your house.....
I am very tempted to go out and buy the singing Father Christmas they
have at the local Walmart. It stands just over 5 ft tall and whenever
someone passes by, he jiggles and starts singing christmas songs
Come to think of it, I do have a smaller singing christmas tree
somewhere that does the same.
Of course, then you can get started into the cushions, throws,
tablecloths & accessories; dinnerware & accessories, tabletop decs
etc etc etc.
Biiiiiiiiiiiig business and even biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiger $$.
And oh, we must not forget the traditional poinsettias!
The actual 'expert' in our family for decorating is my daughter!
She always decorated the tree. |
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