christmas
Fix
Make A Lighted Christmas Ball
9:00AM Jason Fitzpatrick | If you’re tired of the same old outdoor Christmas decorating routine of simply wrapping a tree in lights, you’ll definitely want to check out these lighted tree balls, a cheap and novel way to brighten your neighbourhood. More »
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How To Make Christmas More Rewarding
It’s November and the festive season is hurtling towards us. Fortunately, giving gifts this Christmas can be more rewarding thanks to Velocity’s ShopAndEarn Store. You’ll be wrapped (forgive us, mighty Pun God) with the Velocity Points you can earn. More »
Money
Avoid Christmas Debt By Planning Now
5:00AM Jason Fitzpatrick | We’re not even out of July and we’re talking about the distant holiday season? With a little planning now you can spare yourself the sticker shock of Christmas spending. More »
Fix
10:30AM Angus Kidman | Christmas consumables are already in the shops, which might just serve as a cue for working out ways to celebrate the festive season which don’t involve so much cheap plastic from China. F**kTinsel.com (decidedly not safe for work) is largely designed to flog a T-shirt bearing the same slogan (which I for one would happily wear), but still offers a handy list of 10 tips for greening up your December 25. I especially liked the workplace option of banning Kris Kringle parties:
have you ever remembered receiving a kris kringle gift that you actually liked or found useful? probably not. well the important thing is not to encourage it.
A separate tip via OzBargain is to use biodegradable paper plates to minimise the impact of your celebrations. If you’ve got other green Christmas tips, spread the joy in the comments.
F**kTinsel (NSFW)
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Start Planning For A Greener Christmas
10:30AM Angus Kidman | Christmas consumables are already in the shops, which might just serve as a cue for working out ways to celebrate the festive season which don’t involve so much cheap plastic from China. F**kTinsel.com (decidedly not safe for work) is largely designed to flog a T-shirt bearing the same slogan (which I for one would happily wear), but still offers a handy list of 10 tips for greening up your December 25. I especially liked the workplace option of banning Kris Kringle parties:
have you ever remembered receiving a kris kringle gift that you actually liked or found useful? probably not. well the important thing is not to encourage it.
A separate tip via OzBargain is to use biodegradable paper plates to minimise the impact of your celebrations. If you’ve got other green Christmas tips, spread the joy in the comments.
F**kTinsel (NSFW)
More » Recycle
11:30AM Adam Pash | Rather than send your Christmas tree to the landfill (where it takes forever to decay), turn that tree into mulch and give Mother Nature a helping hand. [via] More »
Christmas decoration ideas with a geeky twist
9:37AM Sarah Stokely | I haven’t got my Christmas tree yet, but today I spotted a couple of very cute and geeky ideas for Christmas tree decorations. Pictured is an example of the range of decorations sold by Nigel’s Eco Store out of the UK. They’re made from recycled computer parts, if that’s not obvious. :) If you’re a DIY type with a lot of old computer bits lying around, I’m sure you could have some fun making something similar. (link courtesy of the Geek Dad blog).
And for the real DIYers out there, check out the Christmas tree and reindeer designs you can download and laser cut, courtesy of Ben Arendt. (link via the MAKE blog).
If you have kids, helping them make Christmas decorations can be a really fun thing to do. If you have any other DIY Christmas decoration ideas, please share in comments.
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Choose gifts for your office Secret Santa
9:28AM Sarah Stokely | We’ve already shown you how to organise your office Secret Santa online, and now Wired comes to the rescue to answer the prickly question of what to buy Mr No Personality from Marketing when you get his name in the draw.
Their advice? Research the person you have to buy for. Don’t get something too personal (eww underwear?!) and make sure you stick to the dollar limit which is usually set for office Secret Santas.
The best Secret Santa I ever participated in was in an office of crazy, tech and gadget obsessed geeks who gave each other random, silly gadgets. They were handed out at the staff Christmas lunch, which rapidly descended into a gadget-brawl of epic “plastic T-Rex versus punching nun” proportions. I’m still vaguely jealous of the guy who scored the mini catapult that shot little plastic pigs at people. :)
And the moral of that geeky little story is just to remind you that you can buy something little and cheap that still gives the recipient a laugh and some fun. I personally would much prefer that to something bland and safe like some scented soap.
So have you ever come up with a brilliant Secret Santa.gift (or scored a total dud?). Leave tips in comments please.
Choose Gifts for Office Parties [Wired] More » 
Manage your Secret Santa online
8:06AM Sarah Stokely | If you’re one of those people who always gets stuck organising social events for work or family, you will like this little tool for organising Secret Santa online.
Once you register, you can compile a list of people to invite, and either email them directly or send them a link to invite them to sign up. (You can publish the link to your Facebook profile, blog or other online forum as well). On the deadline date, Elfster does the “draw” to match people to the person they’re buying a present for (you can even set blocks to make sure that you don’t draw your own spouse or mortal enemy).
Elfster [via Web Worker Daily] More » 
The lessons from a pre-Christmas toy cleanup
8:34AM Sarah Stokely | Tis the season of rampant consumerism and Lifehack.org has a suggestion for an exercise which helps teach your kids about the *giving* side of Christmas, as well as how to unclutter their room and toy collection. The exercise is to work with your kids on going through their rooms, tidying and sorting toys.
“Set out two boxes, one for trash and one for charity, and sort their
old toys into them. As you pick up each toy in their room, ask them
whether they think they will still play with it next year. Then ask
whether another child might enjoy it more than they would. If they
aren’t playing with it anymore, or if they can bear to part with it, it goes in one of the two boxes.”
They note that your child should be the one to make these decisions – if you push them to give away things it could come across as a punishment!This also helps solve a problem that several parents have mentioned to me – particularly those with young kids. Often their kids get given so many toys they are literally overloaded!I’ve always been a big fan of the ‘giving tree’ or the ‘wishing tree’ that various charities set up at shopping malls and the like – so you can buy a present for a kid who needs it, and leave it under the tree. But this idea is good too – rather than buying more, you’re sharing from your own possessions.Got any tips for how to have a sane Christmas with kids? Leave them in comments please.
Teaching kids charity and clarity with pre-Christmas cleaning [Lifehack.org]
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