Video: Freezing unused whipped cream is a great way to store it for later use, but it also allows you to cut it into adorable, fun shapes - perfect for topping warm, rich mugs of cocoa.

I woke up one morning about four weeks ago and realised in a flash that I'd hit a wall. Most days I can't wait to get to work. On this day, I struggled to get myself out of the house.

Two years ago, at an all-staff meeting, I announced that we would be introducing unlimited annual leave. To be clear, I wasn’t talking about unlimited unpaid leave. Rather, staff would now be able to take as much leave as their hearts desired and every single day of it would be paid.

When's the last time you went on a holiday and felt confident that you'd packed everything you needed? For some of us, travel means spending the first night away from home at a Kmart or Big W, buying the sunscreen or thongs (or jacket and thermals) we should have put into our suitcases.

Whether a day trip or a transnational odyssey, if you’re bringing along an infant (yours, we hope), packing the dreaded nappy bag is a rite of passage.

As Hotels.com's regional director for Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, Katherine Cole knows a thing or two about the hotel industry. Travelling on a fortnightly basis to all corners of the globe, she's stayed at hundreds of hotels and has learned a few tricks along the way. We asked Cole to share her top hotel hacks with Lifehacker readers, from the best time to book your hotel to the hidden costs you need to watch out for.

It's a long weekend, you guys! That means family visits, winter hikes and traffic headaches. Now, in my family we generally we decide to pack up right after Friday breakfast, but because we have two small kids and are fairly disorganised, we inevitably end up leaving at pretty much the worst possible time for long-weekend travel: After lunch on Friday.

Tomorrow is International Tabletop Day! It's time to grab some buddies and head to a local game store, coffee shop, or book store and play some board games. Here's how to find a gathering spot near you.

The Sydney Royal Easter Show is one of Australia's largest annual events, with up to one million people passing through its gates every year. If you're planning to attend the event with a litter of rug rats in tow, here are some tips I learned during my own Show adventure. With a little luck, they should help you to get through the day without boring the kids or going broke.

I wish I left my computer on when I was on holiday. But when I came back from a week-long, cross-country trip to Lifehacker HQ late on a Saturday night, I made a fatal error. When I got home, I unpacked my bags, brushed my teeth, and fed my cat. I didn't think to flip on my desktop PC and let it chug through a sea of updates overnight, which would have saved me a ton of time.

Booking a holiday stay with friends can get pretty stressful, and pretty expensive if you're the one putting down the deposit. With Airbnb's Split Payments service, however, you can you split the bill with your fellow travellers. Instead of footing the entire bill on your own and waiting for your buddies to send you their share, now you can take care of it all in one place.

When you think of Valentine's Day you probably think of flowers, chocolates, and notes sealed with a kiss - not whipping women with dead animals or martyrdom. But it turns out this sweet and loving commercial holiday has its roots in pagan rituals and good old-fashioned Christian rebranding. Oh, and selling you cards.

It is, ironically, difficult to have a pleasant date night on Valentine's Day, when every "nice" restaurant replaces their normal menu with a mandatory and expensive prix fixe. Some couples actually like those dinners, and have a fun pre-packaged date night. Other couples like to cook at home, or to ignore the holiday altogether. But if you want to have a typical "date night" out on February 14, your options will feel limited. Here's how to navigate that strait.

When was the last time you had a really good holiday? If you're currently scratching your head, take note: With a little strategic planning, it's possible to score five luxurious vacations totalling more than eight weeks off work without resorting to unpaid leave. Here's how to pull it off.

Picture the scene: you've organised a week off work for some much-needed R&R. On the first day of your holiday, you're struck down with the flu. Instead of sunning it up on the beach, you spend the entire week coughing up phlegm in bed.

If you'd been at work, you definitely would have called in sick on these days - so why should annual leave be any different? Let's take a look at the legalities.

There are three ways to have a good birthday.

You've got problems, I've got advice. This advice isn't sugar-coated -- in fact, it's sugar-free, and may even be a little bitter. Welcome to Tough Love.

About ten years ago, I went to a New Year's Day brunch party. Frankly, I hadn't really wanted to go. That particular time in my life was a low point; I'd just gone through a breakup and was feeling unusually forlorn, and I wanted to wallow at home. But the hostess was a good friend and she had invited other interesting, cool people to a good restaurant... so I dragged my feeble, mildly hungover self downtown.

Everyone made fun of the performative pep talk from that Ticketmaster bro who thinks working the holidays turns you into Usain Bolt, but he got one thing right: Most people, even if they're back in the office, aren't working hard between Christmas and New Year's Eve.