Christmas Lights Advice

Is it March already?

Flowers are blooming, Spring is definitely in the air so it must be time for St Patrick’s day – and it is!!

Since I’m three quarters Irish on my Father’s side of the family I feel like I have to get into the St Paddy’s day spirit around this house. It looks like Ireland is celebrating the holiday as well.

Shorth and sweet history of St Patrick

St Patrick ministered (most think) in the middle of the 5th century. Born in Roman Britain he was captured at 16 and lived in slavery as a shepherd in Ireland until he escaped and returned home. He says that his faith grew in captivity – he prayed daily and made his escape when he was told by God that it was time to go home and his ship was waiting. It was and he did.

After he was ordained as a Bishop, he returned to the Emerald Isle to baptize thousands of Irish people. We don’t know much about the details of St Patrick’s life but he is a venerated figure in the history of Christianity and Catholicism.

St Patricks day has evolved over the years to a celebration of all things Irish and green. Where the tradition of punching a classmate if they weren’t wearing green came from… I don’t know but I wonder if kids do that any more??

Itinerary for March 17, 2010

We’ll be eating green frosted cupcakes tomorrow, wearing green and watching the Quiet Man – the perfect movie and a March tradition around this house. I wonder if you can make popcorn green?

Decorating for St Patrick’s Day with Christmas Lights

We’ll also be switching out our light bulbs around our front yard flower beds to be green (good thing we live in a tolerant neighborhood without covenants regarding having some sort of Christmas lighting out all year!!)

We’ll also be outlining a couple of doors and windows inside the house with green mini lights to make the family party more festive for just a few dollars more.

However you celebrate it, bring out your inner Irish, have some green food and light some green lights to celebrate the Holiday and Spring!!

Top O’ the Mornin’ to You,

Shellie O’Gardner
Lights for St Patrick’s Day

I was visiting with a friend today and I made a passing reference to net lights (what a shocker!). She made a little face and complained that net lights were just a little too “uniform” for her. See, in her neighborhood all the hedges are nice and striaght and every Christmas everyone installs their net lights and there are rows after rows of perfect hedges.

Seems my friend is a bit of a rebel. As part of the same conversation, I mentioned pink mini lights and pink C9 lights and the idea that she could have a completely pink house this Christmas made her eyes light up with anticipation. (We were conspiring that she and her daughter could surprise her husband and son with their all pink decor!!)

Well, I had a small solution to her net light concern. Net lights are just the best way to decorate a hedge, hands down. Especially in clear mini lights. Each bulb is laid out in a precise grid and the set takes approximately 30 seconds to install.

If you find all that order disconcerting then try the following: Instead of just one set of net lights, buy two. Throw the first set over the hedge then throw the second set offset by a couple of inches over top of it. The gridlike pattern will be minimized and you’ll have 300 mini lights in a some odd 24 square foot area.

I could see her eyes light up at the prospect of having all the convenience of net lights with the massive over the top look that she always spends hours and hours on ever November. Her words: “I like to wrap and wrap and wrap each branch of the hedge”.

I’m starting to wonder how the hedge manages to withstand all that Christmas lights affection.

If you decide that net lights are not the way to go because you want to do your entire house in purple, pink, teal or yellow (net lights are commonly only manufactured in traditional Christmas colors – red, blue, green, and clear) then here are a couple of tips to help you adorn your shrubs:

1. Since Christmas lights can only be run 3 sets to a single run before you have to use another extension cord, consider choosing the longest strands that you can get your hands on without going overboard. Consider 4 inch spacing since that is the most common and easily accessible distance between mini lights available on a set. For large tree trunks, you might look at 6 inch spacing. I like the sets that have 100 mini lights per string with 4 inch spacing because they give you 33 feet to work with.

2. Make sure your hedges are all trimmed up so that you don’t have pokey branches messing up all your hard work. This advice is strictly for folks in the deep South who don’t experience much winter. Or for our South American readers

3. Roll the lights up like balls of yarn before you begin installation. The principles here are the same as they are for yarn. The sets will stay better organized and you will be less likely to knock a bulb out – which will begin your search for the open socket when half the set refuses to light.

4. Consider installing the lights at night so you can see all your empty spaces and correct as you go.
(Be safe – don’t do this if you live in the hood like my neighborhood used to be 10 years ago. Use your good judgement.)

5. Use a modified figure 8 to install the lights on your greenery. The figure 8 pattern will help disguise irregularities and make holes less likely. Just bob and weave…

Most of all, have fun. Some folks like neat and tidy nets, other like the cacophony of chaos. Pick an all one color theme or go crazy with multi or mix it up – it’s all good and fun at Christmas time.

Best Regards,
Shellie Gardner
Christmas Lights

Isn’t August the best time to have a party before the fall routine sets in? The thought of barbeque brisket and lemonade makes my mouth water.

In that spirit here is my favorite brisket recipe (from my good friend Joni!)

Joni’s BBQ Brisket

5-6lb beef brisket
1pkg Lipton onion soup mix
1/4 bottle liquid smoke
Hickory smoke BBQ sauce
Garlic salt
Onion salt
Accent or savory salt
Celery Salt
Pepper

Lay the brisket out on two long pieces of aluminum foil positioned like a cross.
Sprinkle over the meat equal amounts of garlic salt, onion salt, Accent or savory salt, celery salt and pepper. Sprinkle dry soup and liquid smoke over meat. Wrap tightly in the aluminum foil (using the two pieces ensures that as much of the liquid stays in with the meat as possible). Place in roaster or on deep cookie sheet with sides. Bake 11 hours at 225. Pour off juice and reserve. Open foil and cool meat slightly. When able to handle the meat, slice thickly with electric knife. Use 1/2 juice (separated from fat) and 1/2 hickory smoke BBQ sauce mixed, and pour over and between slices of meat. Rewrap tightly in foil. Bake at 350 for another hour (or finish off in a crock pot).

I like to fresh squeeze lemons, add their tangy juice to water and add more sugar than may be healthy for me. It’s also nice to serve lemonade in a clear pitcher with ice and lemon slices.

I love it – kicking back with friends on the porch after a hearty meal – don’t forget the coleslaw and beans Oh! And savory corn on the cob – buttered with herbs and baked in foil if you aren’t barbeque-ing.

Just a few strings of mini lights hanging above the back deck – making the feel of the evening mellow while we kick up our feet is just the thing.

Hope you have a great party very soon. Invite a few friends over and when they ask what to bring suggest margaritas….

Best regards and stay cool,

Shellie
Christmas Lights

or Spider Cider and Lady Fingers: Halloween Party Food

What’s a Halloween party without perfectly-themed food? Every party will be a little different, but here are a few ideas to get you started.

Kids Halloween Parties

Food coloring is your friend! Start with the old standbys – cupcakes and hot dogs and such – then get creative. Dye your cupcakes neon colors or even black (you can get specialty food dyes at good cooking stores or online), then frost with white or orange frosting. Look in the candy aisles at the store for bags of chocolate fingers and eyeballs to stick on the cupcake.

Or make dark devils-food cupcakes, top with chocolate frosting and crushed black cookie crumbs, then embed some gummy worms into the frosting for dirt cupcakes. Sprinkle spider rings on the tray with them.

Hot dogs, slit from one end to a little past half to make eight “legs”, will cook (grilled or boiled) in such a way that the “legs” splay out, making hot dog spiders. Serve with olives (eyes), noodles and spaghetti sauce (guts and blood), and string cheese (lady fingers).

Candy, of course, is a must. Mix up traditional favorites with some gross things – gummy worms and body-part chocolates. Gummy spiders are always a winner. You can have these in a big dish or – smarter – put them in favor bags.

For drinks, float a half-gallon chunk of rainbow sherbet in red fruit punch – fizzy is preferable. If you can find some, put some dry ice in to get the lovely steamy effect, but be careful and don’t let the kids touch it.

Finally, you have to have an apple-bobbing event. Use a wide, shallow bowl, and put just enough water into it to float the apples. Pick off the apple stems so no one is tempted to cheat!

Adult Halloween Parties

Start with candy. No matter how old you get, you’re never too old for Halloween candy. Use the same candy you’re passing out or purchase upscale specialty candy, whatever works for you, and put it in a nice favor bag.

After that, the sky’s the limit. Start with finger foods – that look like real fingers. Strips of steak or sausage, large pretzels, and other finger-like foods, complete with “bloody” dipping sauces, are always a hit. Pigs in blankets become mummies, when you wrap them all the way in phyllo dough.

For more upscale foods, experiment with pumpkins. Sort and keep the pumpkin seeds from your jack-o-lanterns, and roast them with different flavorings: salt, Mrs. Dash, or a Mediterranean herb blend are winners. Chilled pumpkin soup is a winner, as are pumpkin breads.

Most importantly, pay attention to your drinks: Bloody Mary is a must, and a good assortment of alcoholic beverages will always do well. The children’s punch noted above but made with Sprite and rum is excellent, for instance. Decorate the table with lights, and put dry ice under fake spider webbing to keep your cold dishes cold while lending some nice fog to your overall party atmosphere.

And – have fun.

Shellie Gardner
Copyright 2008
Halloween Lights

Who doesn’t love Halloween – the candy, the flat witches-who-crashed-into-trees, the candy, the gaudy costumes, the candy? And even better, Halloween is our fastest-growing holiday, with nearly as much being spent on decorations as on Christmas, and more being spent on candy and sweets than on Easter.

Chances are good that you are planning to spook up your life with some Halloween gloom, or maybe even throw a party for little or big ghosts, goblins, and other assorted frights, complete with traditional purple and orange lights and enormous vats of candy. But why do we celebrate Halloween?

Halloween’s Spooky History

Halloween falls at the time of year when trees are dropping leaves, plants are shedding their last blooms, and animals are preparing for long winters. In many cultures, this is the end of the year, while in others harvest feasts and celebrations are being prepared. Every culture that celebrates Halloween or a festival like Halloween believes that this is the time of year when the lines between life and death are blurred, and living spirits may walk the earth.

While many believe Halloween is a pagan holiday or something that mostly came from witches’ Samhain, you’ll find that everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere cultures have a holiday like Halloween; in China, for instance, Ghost Festival is celebrated (though much earlier than Halloween). In Mexico, El Dia De Los Muertes feels like a very creepy Halloween blended with Mardi Gras, its traditions coming as much from the Aztecs as from Christian culture. Ancient Egyptians and modern Pacific Islanders, Peruvians and Russians, all celebrate some form of this death-and-food festival. Go figure!

So harvest festival plus day when the dead rise up out of graves – it’s easy to see, when you look at it this way, why you give candy to children dressed like skeletons. The Power Rangers and Strawberry Shortcakes are perhaps a bit more ambiguous.

Halloween Traditions – Or, Why Pumpkins and Masks?

Halloween Symbols

There are reasonable explanations for the mishmash of things we think of as Halloween symbols. Start with the costumes, one of the universal features of this festival from China to Paris, TX. Because the line between life and death is theoretically thin, the spirits of the dead can cross into the world of the living. It works the other way as well – weak living spirits can be enticed to the world of the dead. (insert spooky oohh ahh ahh here) Therefore, mothers dress their children in costumes of the dead so that the spirits will mistake them for fellow ghosts, ghoulies, and spirits, and will leave them alone.

These same costumes gave birth to trick-or-treat. Children, already cleverly disguised as spirits and cartoon characters, can force adults to give up treats lest the “spirit” play a trick on them. The spirits would have sought out treats, anyway; since Halloween is a harvest festival, tradition requires that the living share food with the dead, and this is a time when many cultures leave food at graves to appease or honor the spirits.

Not to belabor the food aspect, but consider that candy is a symbol of that harvest festival; we don’t have a feast anymore, but candy is an easily-portable sign of plenty. Bats, cobwebs, the dark, and spiders are all associated with death and the grave, thus were easily adopted into the holiday. See how it is all coming together?

Fire

And then there is fire. No other holiday is so closely related to fire, whether in bonfires or Jack-o-lanterns, candles or hearth fires. Traditionally, the fire in a house was kept burning at all times, throughout the year, because it was so time-consuming to light a new one. At the festival of the dead, however, fires were extinguished because it was believed spirits would enter the house in search of their warmth. Bonfires were often lit outside houses to draw the spirits there.

Today, you see the fires mostly in Jack-o-lanterns and the occasional bonfire. A new trend has people decorating with white, orange, and purple mini-lights and rope lights, and a few people are using black lights and glow-in-the-dark decorations to give their homes an extra creepy air. Why those colors? Orange is a traditional harvest color, referencing ripe vegetables and the color both of flames and of the turning leaves. Black is associated with the dark and death, and purple is an acceptable substitute for black when you’re designing lighting that you actually want to see.

Halloween in America

Halloween has been celebrated in the United States for centuries, though its status today as the second most popular holiday is new. Even in Puritan New England, the more secular members of the community used this day to tell fortunes and feared the dead rising from their graves. The Pennsylvania Dutch, though they did not recognize Halloween as a holiday, took extra care to ward off evil spirits at this time of year. And starting in the 1700s, Halloween grew into a holiday when people engaged in frightening one another with stories and tricks, with its own literature (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow) and traditions like jack-o-lanterns and trick-or-treat.

Halloween as we know it today was born in the 1950s, when the baby boom resulted in lots of fun-seeking children at loose ends on the streets on that night. With a historical problem of vandalism on Halloween, communities everywhere institutionalized trick-or-treating, and children throughout America started going door to door in a playful ritualization of what had once been a problem. “Give me a treat or I’ll pull a trick.”

Of course, there’s no keeping grownups out of the fun. In the 1960s, adults were not willing to give up that free, celebratory feeling they had as kids begging for candy, and dress-up Halloween parties became an annual masquerade tradition. Today, adults have as much fun as children, if they celebrate the holiday right.

And in America, they generally do celebrate it right. The only holiday that sells more décor and lights is Christmas. Halloween decorations on houses are becoming commonplace, even expected. And most adults agree: Halloween is, in essence, a time to cut loose, to celebrate life and fun before the dark days of winter begin.

Shellie Gardner
Christmas Lights for Halloween
Copyright 2008

You’re planning another birthday party. You’ve been to the party stores and the department stores for paper decorations. The cake is ordered and the invitations have been sent. However, something is missing. The paper decorations alone just don’t seem to be enough. Why not bring a fun, festive and unique flair to your birthday party by decorating with mini lights? Mini lights are the perfect addition to any party decor.

Decorating for birthday parties doesn’t have to be typical or boring any longer. Use your imagination to utilize mini lights in every way possible for your next birthday party. Here are a few ideas for incorporating mini lights into your birthday party decorations.

Does your daughter love to dress up and pretend she is a princess? Throw her a princess birthday party. Decorate the doorways with pink and white tulle. Then, intertwine pink mini lights around the tulle to outline the doorway. Continue the theme into the party room. Use the same idea to decorate the front of the buffet table and cake table. The gift table would look beautiful with pink and clear mini lights swagged around it against a pink tablecloth. Drape pink mini lights from the ceiling of the party room to add more color. Or, it would be simple to alternate crepe paper and mini lights across the ceiling.

Boys love pirates! Purchase or make a large treasure chest. Decorate it with orange or clear mini lights. Fill it with fake gems and treasures. Perhaps include the game prizes in here too. Are you really creative? Make a cardboard pirate ship in the front yard and deck it out with clear mini lights. This would be especially fantastic for an evening birthday party!

For a fiesta themed birthday party, decorate with our multi colored mini lights. Birthday parties for younger children aren’t the same without a piñata. Create a circle on the ceiling with multi colored mini lights and then hang the piñata right in the middle of the circle. Hang a curtain of multi colored mini lights in the doorway where the children walk into the party room. Place a few blow-up cactus plants around the party room and use either multi or clear mini lights to wrap the cactus and pool some lights at the bottom of the pot.

A Sweet 16 birthday party isn’t complete without pink and purple mini lights decorating the doorways, windows, food table, and even the sidewalks leading into your home or into the party room. Create the number “16″ on a wall with mini lights. Perhaps put pictures of the teen growing up in and around the lit up number.

Decorating for birthday parties for people turning 40, 50 and older sometimes seem to always focus on black items. Why not approach those milestone birthdays a bit differently? Instead of “grieving” the birthday age, celebrate it! Use multi color mini lights or several individual strands of colored mini lights to decorate the party room. Perhaps you’ve chosen antiques for your party theme. If your party area is large enough, bring in antique props, like red wagons and wooden wheelbarrows. The red wagons would look fantastic outlined or draped with red or clear mini lights. The wooden wheelbarrows would be so pretty decorated with clear mini lights. Use old-fashioned lamps on the food and dinner tables. Surround each one with battery operated mini lights for a beautiful effect.

Decorating for birthday parties with mini lights is a great way to create a party atmosphere that is a step above the others!

Shellie Gardner
Mini Lights
Copyright 2008

If you’re dreaming of the tropics, they may be as close as your own backyard. A luau is, in essence, a Hawaiian party, often used in Hawaii to celebrate events of great importance like graduations and, especially, the birth of a first child. While most luaus that tourists see are commercial events with hula and gigantic buffets, traditional Hawaiian luaus are generally held in someone’s backyard, especially along the beach where a pig or lomi-lomi salmon can be easily roasted in a pit.

Originally, luaus were called pa’ina (small dinner party) or aha’aina (large feast: literally, a gathering-meal). It was believed that the ancestors of those gathered were also at the feast, partaking, and the dinner was conducted with some ceremony. Each person brought a dish or two, or helped to prepare the largest items like wild pig; this made it something of a pot luck, another Hawaiian tradition. Today, things are less formal and more social. Your luau can be on any part of this spectrum.

Decorations

You can go tacky or traditional with this. Hawaii tends to be on the relaxed side of things, so using things you already have around the house – a cooler for drinks, plain white platters to serve with, etc. — is just fine. There are also great party supply places online for things like fake palm trees and other decorations. Paper plates should be in tropical colors, and really paper, not foam, so they’re easier on the environment (Hawaii is all about the environment).

Use lots of flowers and fruit in your décor. Paper and silk flower garlands are excellent decorations for your table, home, or to camouflage ugly things like electrical cords. Look for grass skirts to wrap your tables in, or just use white tablecloths and make sure you have plenty of bright tropical colors in your serving ware.

Lights

Luaus are traditionally held in late evening, just before sunset. You’ll need to think about lighting, and tiki torches, while they add to the atmosphere, just won’t give you enough light. Mini lights and C7 and C9 lights sets are ideal for this. Good choices for light colors for Hawaiian theme parties are pink, purple, yellow and teal. Run the lights all around your porch or lanai, along the fence, around your trees and bushes. They provide soft romantic light exactly perfect for the magical atmosphere for your perfect luau. If you’re also decorating with fake palms and indoor tropical plants, running mini lights through these will look beautiful, as well.

Leis

Don’t forget to decorate your guests, with lei. These traditional flower garlands should be about 30-36” long, tied at the ends with a ribbon, and placed on the shoulders – not against the neck – of the recipient with a kiss on the cheek, or on each cheek. You can easily make your own leis by stringing together silk flower blossoms with needle and thread, or (if you’re really brave) tough real flower blossoms, running your needle through the thick center of the flower. Look at some examples online; they’re not hard to duplicate. Your own garlands will look much nicer than the cheap plastic version most party stores sell.

Foods

For a luau held outside of Hawaii, you don’t have to have all the traditional foods, and in fact you almost certainly can’t get hold of some (poi, for instance, loses its sweetness within about a day, and prepared from a powdered mix just isn’t as good).

You can, however, find recipes for some items: kalua pork is essentially ground-roasted pig with scant seasoning, laulau salmon can be replicated by roasting your salmon on a top shelf of your backyard grill, and delicious haupia – a solid coconut pudding – can be made with commercially-available mixes or from online recipes (sugar, corn starch, and coconut milk are the primary ingredients).

You can also do poi mai’a, mashed ripe bananas mixed with a little water. Look for recipes for lomi-lomi salmon, poke (a raw fish, like sushi without the rice), and chicken long rice – yard-bird (chicken) is a very common ingredient in Hawaiian dishes! You must, of course, have fruit: pineapple, mango, coconut, guava, banana, tangerine, pomegranate, and papaya are all popular on the islands. Decorate your food platters with fresh flowers: bird of paradise, orchids, plumeria, and ginger are all traditional native flowers. If you can’t find fresh ones, just use silk flower blossoms. For night serving, string white mini lights around all the dishes to provide enough light to see by.

You can’t have a great luau without mai-tais! Decorate your frozen drinks with flowers and fruit, and try to get hold of some real coconut shells to serve them in (available online in many locations).

Music and Ambience

Hawaii is all about music and scent. The air in spring is perfumed with flowers, mostly plumeria and ginger, so look at Bath and Body Works for body sprays you can use on the tablecloths and other fabric decorations to get that authentic smell. On hot days, spray scent on cork or other porous materials that have been lightly soaked in olive oil; the heat of the sun will release your scent slowly.

For music, you’ll need something with a ukulele. One of the most popular artists on the islands is IZ, or Brudda Iz (Israel Kamakawiwo’ole), who created a haunting island rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, among other music, before his death in 1997; this is, for most parties, a perfect choice. You should also be able to find many Hawaiian music collections in the world music section of your local music store.

Food, drinks, music, décor – and your guests. Invite people you love and can relax with, and prepare for a wonderful evening of fun and talking story (conversation).

Aloha,

Best regards,

Shellie
Christmas Lights
Copyright © 2008 All Rights Reserved