I was asked to be a guest blogger for an organization that I’m a member of – AfterHoursdenver.org. Please take a minute and read about the love and joy AfterHours Denver was able to spread on Thanksgiving this year!
Category: Holiday
Summer…where has it gone?!
Wow! Summer has flown by this year. At Little Miss Idea, we’ve been busy helping our clients get organized, plan their summer parties and get caught up on all kinds of administrative & daily tasks. Summer is my favorite time of the year, with so much to do…festivals, weddings, bridal showers, parties, BBQ’s and more! My next favorite time of the year is Fall. I love the change in seasons and welcome the cooler temp’s. If Summer got away from you and you could use some help this fall, please keep Little Miss Idea in mind for any of your needs. We’d love to help you get organized, shop for your upcoming dinner party, get your holiday card/gift list started or updated well before the rush…whatever you may need help with, just ask! On a personal note, I will be embarking on a cross country road trip with one of my best girlfriends in September. I’m really looking forward to our one on one girl time and seeing what we can discover along the way. I love road trips. They remind of youth and feeling free. If you haven’t taken a road trip in some time, I highly recommend it. It’s good for your soul to get out on the open road. Even if it’s only a few hours away…it will do wonders for your spirit. Enjoy the rest of your Summer, with or without a road trip. If you do take one, I hope it leads you on an unexpected adventure!
I want to ride my bicycle…I want to ride my bike!
#46 – Get outside & go for a bike ride…
The weather is getting nicer and there’s a long weekend coming up this weekend (yep…it’s already Memorial Day…hard to believe, I know.) What a great reason to get your bike out, tune it up and go for a ride…or several!
If you don’t have a bike of your own, why not try bike sharing? Bike Sharing?! What’s that you ask?! Bcycle is a Bike Share program where when you become a member, you can pick a bike up at one station and return it to a different one, for a small fee, of course. There are several bike stations at Bcycle’s across America…in several cities…Boulder, Broward, Denver, Chicago, Des Moines, Madison, Houston, Omaha and even Hawaii. If there aren’t any Bcycle stations in your city but you would like to see a bike share program in your community, go to the website and under the “locations” tab, request (and ask your friends to do the same) that they add your city by entering your zip code. It’s a great way to enjoy a nice bike ride if you don’t have your own bike in your own community or while you are traveling to other cities. Check to see if Bcycle is in your city then get out there and take some rides.
Happy Memorial Day! I hope you are able to take some time this weekend to be with family & freinds having some much deserved fun.
Holiday Decorating Ideas…on a budget!
#55 – Budget Holiday Decorations…
A co-worker of mine is a fantastic holiday decorator and with her help, we transformed our office space into a Holiday Wonderland. Her decorating skills on a budget inspired me to give you some holiday decorating ideas that you can do on a budget. The decorating that we did at the office has put me…personally…in the “holiday spirit”. I actually love coming to work in the morning and seeing all of the great decorations. It makes me happy and excited at the thought of spending time with loved ones in a couple of weeks.
So…you’re thinking…that’s great, but just tell us how to do it already! One of my favorite things that we did was to use wrapping paper in different colors (that we got at the Dollar Store, Target or Walmart) and then take framed art work that was hanging on the wall and wrap them like presents with a ribbon around them and a big bow with a plain ornament hanging off the middle of the bow with a paper clip. The art in the room looks like gifts haning on the wall and really finished the room when we were done decorating with white lights (that we wrapped around pillars – in the office) and different colored ornaments that we hung from the ceiling tiles with paper clips.
At home, if you have a dropped ceiling, you could do this…just prop the tiles up one at a time and use paperclips (you have to bend them to secure them to the ceiling tile frames) to hang the ornaments on (better if you tie nylon thread or string to the end of the ornament to attach to the paper clip and secure) at different lengths to create a really cool ceiling look.
Go to the Dollar Store, Walmart or Target and pick ups a couple rolls of contrasting holiday wrapping paper, some wide wired ribbon in one color that goes with both papers, and a package of different colored ornaments that goes with or is contrasting to the paper you choose…at Walmart & Target…they have boxes with two to three different contrasting colored ornaments that you can buy for $15 to $20. If that is out of your budget for this year or you’ve already decorated but like this idea, put it on your list for your after Christmas shopping and get everything you need for next year’s decorating at 50% to 60% off.
Another great decorating idea for the holidays is to use a large vase or hurricane and put two to three different colors of ornaments in the vase/hurricane and use it as centerpiece or in a corner of a room, if the vase is large enough. This looks very elegant and is also a favorite of Little Miss Idea.
I love how festive the office looks and am excited that we did it on a budget. I couldn’t wait to share it with you. Happy Holidays!
Quick cash for the Holidays…Sell your old, unwanted or broken gold jewelry!
#57 – Sell your old, unwanted, mismatched or broken gold jewelry for immediate cash
I think I’ve mentioned this in a previous post, but I thought it was worth mentioning again…if you have old gold jewelry that is broken, you don’t like it or maybe you’ve lost one earring…why not sell it to a gold dealer? The value of gold is only going up and you just might be surprised by how much mula you can get for your old, broken and not worn anymore gold jewelry.
If you live in Colorad, I personally know a great gold buyer and will be happy to send you her information. She will even come to your house to weigh and inspect what you have. If you refer to her to your friends, she’ll pay you a 5% commission too. So just by spreading the word about how easy it was and how much money you made selling your gold, you make even more money. If you’d like her info, please email me at: littlemissidea@gmail.com and I will send it to you in an email.
Another thought about gold, is to host a gold selling party at your house and invite your friends over for a girls night in to socialize and make some money. What a nice change, come over and make money instead of spend money!?!
Holidays = Gift Wrapping
#60 – Gift Wrapping at Department Stores or Shopping Malls
I love getting a fantastically wrapped package as a gift and try to be creative when wrapping gifts for my family and friends. Most large department stores still offer gift wrapping services for free or a small fee. If you love wrapping presents for birthdays and all the holidays throughout the year, this might be a great part time gig for you this holiday season. I have a friend who worked evenings and weekends doing this for several holiday seasons to make extra money. She loved giving customers beautifully wrapped gifts and even though she was on her feet long hours and got a few paper cuts along the way, she enjoyed the money she made making bows and wrapping pretty packages for appreciative customers. Something to think about now before the shopping season is in full swing!