I’ve had some really fun ideas and decided that this would be a great place to share them.

I’m starting with one I really love – how to bring your seashells home safely and cheaply.

How to Bring Seashells Home Safely

Beautiful Seashell Christmas Tree Ornaments or Gift Tie-on

Dollar Tree Halloween Decoration Ideas: Birds and Beads

Dollar Tree Halloween Decoration Ideas: Masked Skull, Bats and Beads Chandelier 

A really cute, unusual Easter Decoration: Easter Centerpieces with Carrots and Radishes

Fun Entertaining Ideas

Do you love entertaining?

We love  having people over – even spur-of-the-moment parties, with the challenge of making food for a crowd out of whatever we have on hand.  We’re pretty informal and  just want people to feel comfortable, well-fed and relaxed!

International Christmas:

One of my favorites is a tradition with my extended family. We always gathered at my Mom’s house for Christmas Eve, to spend the day together.  With 5 kids, their spouses , 7 grandchildren and other friends and family, it was always a wonderful, happy, noisy event and Mom was in the thick of it – right in her element.

At first Mom cooked everything, but in time it became more of a potluck.  To make it more interesting, one year we decided to start choosing a country as our food theme. We’d all find recipes and drinks from the chosen country and any interesting holiday traditions.

With Mom gone, my brother Ron and his wife Lisa have taken over hosting, but our tradition of international Christmas potluck has continued on.

We have had some humdingers: Mexican and Brazilian were especially good, but we’ve done German, English-Scottish-Irish, Indian, Chinese and many more. It’s a fun way to try new foods, keep the celebration fresh and honor the memory of our Mom, who really loved Christmas and loved having everyone home for Christmas.

For our family Christmas this year, my sister-in-law Lisa came up with a fantastic theme:  foodtrucks and street food!  It was the best food we’ve ever had with street tacos, Carne Asada, Chili, Beef Bulgogi, fresh steamed bao with pork, home-made egg-rolls, Mexican Elote (Corn on the cob) Brazilian Brigadeiro (chocolate balls) and more.  It was definitely a Meat-apalooza, but so, so delicious!