Our holiday tool kit and super hacks I love

As someone who is “high key” for Christmas, even I don’t like to buy new things every year (our kids love the nostalgia of what we already do with something new in style. But it can feel like a lot of work, a completely mindless hobby for many people to think of doing something new (and y’all, there is zero pressure to do anything new). So today I’m going to show you some styling hacks that I’ve been very good at that are very expensive, but make things feel new (and open our tool for those who want to do these).

Sequential pores in fish

This year, we stumbled upon a happy accident – a large crown over the fireplace where Carly was highlighted by a white light box in the middle of the hole. This was quite amazing (yes, AI can extract images, but less than video/social). So we decided to take all the bows we had (most bought on Amazon) and layer by layer by layer. I have to say this ends up looking a lot better than the big bow (which, in retrospect, was too small). I loved this look.

A few years ago, I put two ribs on my wreaths – one large accent (wing) and one small accent line (grograin). And now I’m inspired to keep the same wreaths every year, but if I feel like I want to refresh, change the ribbon (easy, fun, and inexpensive).

Tearing fabric to use as bows / ribbon

My best hack is to take a piece of fabric and tear or cut it into strips so it looks like a wide ribbon. I can’t believe how inexpensive it is, and you get to choose from a million fabrics. If you want them to be past the window, you will have to buy 2 yards, which will probably be $30, but that should get you enough ribbon for 5-7 colors (wide ribbon in good colors is more expensive).

FICRIC is FICRIC as bows on trees (and cloth wraps)

I like to take a bit of cotton (think seersucker, like green on a tree) and tie it to the branches. That was three years ago, and now, now bows have taken over the world in the last year or two, but this was before buying bows for your tree.

And … menacing fabrics

I also love buying fabric to turn into wrapping paper because I’m at the beginning of one man to cut down the “big wrapping paper” (lol – it’s not just how expensive it is, it’s clean that it’s expensive for Christmas). Wrapped fabrics are recycled, super cute, and you just roll them up on Christmas morning the following year. I bought a ton on Etsy.

Your best friend: command strips

The Command strips we used to hang this garland, these include the White Trim | These are great

Y’all, if I had a flux capacitor, I’d go back the day this community came in and buy all the stock. My goodness, these things are effective, expensive, and yet mostly disposable (that’s the trifucta of a billion-dollar product right there). If you are not familiar with them, you know that there is a side that you must stick to the wall (called the “sall side”) and you must stop letting your paint go. I use them with every garland, every wreath on every window or mirror, every thread to keep it in place. And the big lazy is lazy to make them raise the year (if you have them clear or white on white walls), which makes the garland of the year hanging really easy. Oh, and yes, there are others that can hold 5lbs (or you can combine many).

Delete a separate package (good for hanging on Windows)

I have a whole bar of them for different situations – like the big clear ones for wreaths on Windows 🙂

Easy on / off switch for lights

It sounds dumb, but buying loose extension cords for your walls helps (ie, white for light walls, black for dark walls). You can’t see the rope hanging from the fireplace there on the right 🙂

Fishing Line – Whatever Stylists Call “Monofilament”

OMG. The garland at Carly was very difficult to hang because, unlike my house, I didn’t want to put a bunch of random holes. Most of you probably don’t want more holes in your walls. So we used fishing line to hold the garland and strung it over the beams to hold it in place. Now this was Harvard-Level work here; It took me, Marlee, and Gretchen about 2-3 hours to find.

Hot tip: You will never see a nail hole on top of your window molding. So what we usually do is put a nail in there, directly, and tie a fishing line to hang from that nail. You don’t want to put a nail in your molding (drywall is easy to install, drywall is not). But this is a hack we do every time when something is too difficult in the Command strip.

Wrapping paper decorations (trees, ornaments) – Very easy to assemble and store

Paper Wrapping Set | Decorative paper tabletop trees | Christmas Christmact printed Christmas trees (set of 3)

Now, on to your vacation invention that can make your life easier. Wrapping a paper tree is hero # 1. This opens up a great impact, unique design, and quick decoration. Then fold down to fit in a small box.

I think that today’s paper tree is inspired by those groups that Elliot likes to play with (at-end is not made of crepe paper and lives one year ago in the big space.

Mixing real blue with faux

One hack I used to do before I went “faux” indoors full time was mixing real green with faux. Somehow, the presence of real greenery makes the faux look real – it’s all about the styling content, right? I always put realism in Faux Garland, FAUX Wreaths, and various types of artificial greenery to make it look real. Now the faux stuff is so good that you don’t need to mix real in it.

My favorite outdoor colored lights

Brightly colored lights

Last year, we installed colored lights for the first time and loved them. The only thing I might have done differently was to buy a painter that had 24 “outside 12” lights. It was so light (but also so sweet ??? !!!). Just make sure you get shatterproof and lead. I like the classic “glass” look (not with features), personally.

Do not sleep on curtain lights

Curtain lights

I got the curtain lights during the lockout and left them on alllll winter. It’s a string of lights passing over a curtain of bright golden lights, rose gold that looks like it’s raining.

It is bright even during the day. It is very sweet and warm. I bought the expensive ones from anthropologie / terrain, but Amazon has this refill.

Quick and dirty holiday tips If you really want to know how my brain works

Okay, I’m running late to the movies with my family, so I’ll dish out some quick and dirty holiday philosophies:

1. Don’t buy a faux tree without pre-clearing it. Chant “only lit”. Literally 50% of the reason for buying faux is that you don’t have to deal with the frustration of the pieces.
2. Definitely buy “warm” light bulbs (or string lights in general), they don’t cool. Anyway, they may be very cold, but they have to say they are warm, or it would look like 7-11.
3. I like to do faux greenery indoors and outdoors (For the most part – and sometimes with faux asides, honestly). This is strong to avoid the mess of the garland that spilled the needles every day inside. Outside is fine and dandy, then you can just go into the woods!
4. But… If you don’t start decorating until after Thanksgiving like “Norny” (We really represent the name of non-Psychopathic holiday lovers like me), After that the actual interior is beautiful. But the other 50% is why I use faux, so I can start in the morning and not worry about confusion. As an Oregonian, I feel very guilty that we don’t go out and cut down the tree, but we start early enough to make sense.
5. Choose a plug-in garland where possible. Batteries are annoying to change (OK, I do it every year), but I love that this plug in, so if I get the extension cords situation, it’s good for 6 solid weeks.
6. Buy tree collars that wrap – Some don’t have my tree, but if you buy a tree collage this year, don’t get a big ring to keep them, now they bend (both anthro and stone versions of wicker).
7. Faux candles are great, but waxier ones are better. I love it, the pottery barn has some great ones, and the target papers I’m busy selling, that’s great.

Look ya! xx

Opening Photo Credits: Photos by Kaitlin Green | From: Our fresh and easy 2025 holiday ideas that will get your wheels turning