christmas

Preparing your home for Christmas guests

With all the social events, gift buying and party planning at this time of year, having guests over to stay can become a stressful added extra. The reality is, most of us simply don’t have much additional space available to accommodate more people, but all it takes is some clever forward planning.

Ensure your overnight guests feel welcome and relaxed (without you having to turn your home upside down!), with these straight forward styling and organisation tips.

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Dekko Bird Christmas Gift Guide [3]: for the host

Hello! I don’t know about you, but I’m really starting to feel the Christmas vibes now. The weather is crisp and blustery (with snow on the way!), the tree and decorations are up, the Christmas shopping is well underway. So I reckon it’s high time for my third gift guide to keep up the momentum on your festive shopping!

This week’s gift guide content is probably the one we often overlook or rush into – the small gift for a friend or relative who has kindly invited you in over the festive period. Whether it’s a morning coffee, casual drinks soiree or a candlelit supper for friends, it can be difficult to think beyond the bottle of wine or box of chocolates that we so often grab at the very last minute. That’s not to say these gifts aren’t gratefully received, because I for one love my sweet treats and glass of nice wine, however with a little extra consideration, you can gift your host or hostess something that little bit different that they’ll remember.

All these gift ideas come in under the £20 mark and are also entirely suitable for the ‘difficult to buy for’ person in your life… we all have one of those, don’t we?!

As ever, details of where to buy are included below.

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Dekko Bird Christmas Gift Guide [2]: The Eclectic / Boho Edit

We’re well into Christmas shopping season now that it’s the first weekend in December, so as promised, here’s my second home lover’s gift guide, this time with a more artsy, boho vibe. Perfect for those who love their slightly quirky home accessories and the arty, eclectic look. (If you missed my first gift guide with a Scandi-inspired theme, you can read it here.)

Hopefully this will give you a few ideas for your upcoming Saturday shopping spree!

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Dekko Bird Christmas Gift Guide [1]: The Scandi Edit

It’s that time of year again when I share some festive gift guides with you – I can hardly believe December is literally around the corner. Most of you have probably started your Christmas shopping (or at least thought about it and made a list, because that counts too, right?!), so I thought I’d help you along with a short series of Christmas gift guides. If anything, you might even find something for yourself in there, which I reckon is wholly acceptable and deserved after a busy year at work, school, college and everything in between.

In previous years, I have concentrated my gift guides around who the recipient is, however this year I thought I’d change things up a little and I’m writing three guides based on three different ‘looks’. I promise there will be something for everyone no matter what your home decor style (or if you’re anything like me, you’ll find something you love on all three gift guides!)

This first one’s for the Scandi style aficionados out there, so if you or the loved one you’re buying for, is a lover of all things simple, pared back and always functional, you’re in for a real treat…

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Welcoming in Winter with Simple Decor Updates

Like a lot of people, we spent some time at the weekend putting our tree up and adding some festive touches to our home. As we hung our decorations and draped the fairy lights around, it occurred to me that we were formally welcoming the beginning of Winter in all its sparkling, glittering glory, and so, rather sadly, once again bidding farewell to Autumn and its lovely mild weather and beautiful colours.

For me, it’s important to welcome in a new season with some subtle tweaks to my home decor, be it cosy cushions in Winter or vases of daffodils in Spring. A few weeks ago, with Christmas still a distant thought, I started shopping for some decorative winter additions for the home. I was on a mission to choose some ‘Hygge’ friendly pieces to make the house warm and inviting to festive visitors and I found some gorgeous homewares from my favourite high street stores that I wanted to share with you. Hopefully it will inspire you to think about your own home decor this coming season!

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Christmas is a coming… and the year is almost out

For many, the past few weeks have been a whirr of Christmas get togethers, festive drinks, work parties, Yuletide craft fairs, school nativities, present buying, present wrapping and Santa visiting, and quite frankly, I think it’s time to Relax. Unwind. Put the feet up. Chill. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still plenty to do and pull together in the final run up to the big day, but for me, when my three little ones finish up school for the year I really feel the holidays can begin in earnest and the manic stress of the preceding weeks of shopping and rushing around can pass for another year. I’m happy to be at this stage of the festive season when the brunt of work has been done!…

Christmas Table Favours

A few years ago I decided to personalise things a little more at the Christmas table, and rather than setting out the usual crackers and place cards, I chose and individually wrapped little gifts for each guest, setting one at each person’s place at the table. It was a very well received gesture and each guest was thrilled with their little package, especially since I had chosen them with the receiver’s interests and tastes in mind. I was also delighted, because at £1-2 spend per person, they had cost less than the price of a cracker each!

With only a week to go until this year’s Christmas celebration, I thought I would share a few table favour ideas with you so that you can surprise and delight your own guests! (I had planned to write this post much earlier in the month, however with children’s sick bugs and general busy schedules in the run-up to Christmas, I am only now getting around to sharing this with you – apologies!)

Image: Pinterest

The trick is to always choose table gifts that are either edible, practical or useful, so with that firmly in mind, here are some little ideas to get you started… and all for less than the price of a cup of coffee!

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Home Lover Gift Guide

Many of you will be well and truly engrossed in Christmas shopping by now, but for some of you, the list making is still a work in progress, so I’m hoping that this final offering of my Gift Guide series will help you along.

As this is a home styling and decor blog, I thought it only correct to include a gift edit aimed at the home lover or interiors enthusiast in your life! I have had lots of fun putting this last gift guide together and am secretly lusting after several of these items – in particular the super cute doggy jewellery bowl from Rose & Grey and of course the dinky digital radio, whose funky mustard colour would look fab against a very on-trend palette of white and grey… (also there is free UK delivery on all Rose & Grey orders placed up until New Year’s Eve, using the code NOEL so do take a look)….

Traveller Gift Guide

I hope you’ve had a lovely weekend, despite the relatively fickle weather we’ve been having! I am just back afresh from a weekend break with some old school friends to Edinburgh and I had the most relaxing and fun time – very good for the soul! I am now back and ready to inspire you further with some more Christmas gift ideas. If you haven’t already, pop over to my previous gift guides I wrote up last week. If you’re searching for a gift for a coffee loving friend or family member, check out these ideas here and if it’s the foodie or keen cook you’re buying for, have a look here.

These days, so many of us are constantly on the move and for many people, their jobs take them across multiple cities and countries. As a result, we hop between airports, public transport and hotel rooms as a normal part of the day job and that is why I thought a gift edit focused on those who are on the move a lot would prove helpful to many.

Here are my picks for ladies (and a few for gents!) who travel…

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Foodie Gift Guide

I love the 1st of December as it finally marks the official countdown to Christmas and it’s gorgeous to see people’s homes being lit up one by one with cheery twinkling lights and welcoming trees. However, for some of us it also marks the beginning of a stressful few weeks struggling to find the right presents for everyone within a tight enough timeframe. BUT – do not fret! If you are starting your Christmas shopping or finding it difficult to find the perfect present for a loved one, then you’ve hopefully come to the right place. Over the next week or so, I’ll be doing a little online research to help you along with your Christmas shopping quest and will be putting together gift guides for the different personalities in your life. I have already put together a gift guide for the coffee loving friend we all have so do take a peek here if you fancy some inspiration on that front! Actually, while you’re at it, pour yourself a coffee and read on……