There are many great gift ideas for kids out there for the holiday season. We have a bunch of great gifts to bring about smiles this year. Learn tips on how to make fuzzy flip flops for teens in this free video clip on arts and crafts ideas.

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There are many great gift ideas for kids out there for the holiday season. We have a bunch of great gifts to bring about smiles this year. In this video, we take you through a few of the different ideas we have available for kids.

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The European health insurance card provides proof of European citizens’ entitlement to health insurance. Today, more than 172 million citizens have the card in their pocket. It is free and facilitates access to medical treatment when travelling in another Member State, whether for a weekend trip, holidays, education, a training course or for business purposes.

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Vacation rental is a term in the travel industry meaning renting out a furnished apartment or house on a temporary basis to tourists as an alternative to a hotel. A vacation rental is a fully furnished property, such as a condominium, townhome or single-family-style home. Many vacationers choose to rent a house in their vacation destination instead of staying in a hotel. For these vacationers, this is a worthwhile alternative as it gives the vacationer a more comfortable place to stay with features such as cooking facilities which are not normally offered in commercial hotels. Finding these vacation rentals may be significantly more difficult than simply making hotel reservations but many vacationers report this to be a worthwhile effort. However, a few care should be taken when renting a holiday house to ensure the quality of the house meets the expectations of the vacationers.

Finding Vacation Rentals

Finding a vacation rental property may obviously be much more difficult than just renting a hotel during the vacation. Naturally a few vacationers will be lucky and have a friend or family member who owns a house in a particular vacation destination and is willing to rent it out to others. Those who don’t have this type of fortunate situation have other alternatives for finding a holiday rental property.

Several householders in popular holiday destinations rent out their house during the peak season. These householders may allow a realtor to handle the transactions. Contacting realtors in the area of the holiday destination and inquiring about available rental properties in the area is one way to begin the search. The realtor will likely be able to assist you in finding a house for rent.

There are also many popular sites where houses for rent are listed directly by the owner of the house. Searching the Internet may lead you to a reliable source of houses for rent. These houses are normally divided into categories by region and will likely provide you instant access to available dates. It will likely give useful information such as whether or not pets are allowed, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms as well as the size of the house and the proximity to nearby attraction. The listing may also provide useful information regarding the furnishings of the house. Some rental properties may include items such as bedding and cookware while some may not.

Ask Questions before Renting a Vacation Home

Vacationers who want to rent a holiday house as opposed to spending their holiday in a hotel should exercise a definite amount of caution in choosing a property to rent. Being cautious won’t only enable the vacationer to ensure his rental property meets his expectations but will also aid to avoid potentially dangerous situations. One way to avoid these potential troubles is by asking a great deal of questions during the process.

Renting a holiday house through a rental agency is ideal for safety purposes. In these situations the agency handles the entire rental giving the tenant the security of knowing they’re not walking into a possibly dangerous situation. However, even in this situation the tenant should ask a few important questions. These questions will be explained in the subsequent paragraphs.

How old is the property? Potential tenants should ask questions about the age of the property and whether or not appliances, plumbing and electricity have been updated. This is important as this type of information may mean the difference between a comfortable stay in the property and dealing with troubles related to the age of the house.

What is included in the rental? While most rentals include the basic necessities, there are some rental agreements which only include the use of the house and furniture. Tenants perhaps required to bring along bedding, towels and even cookware.

How frequently is the property rented and how is it maintained? These two questions are inter-related as properties which are rented often see significantly more wear and tear than properties which are only rented a couple of times per year. Properties which are rented frequently should employ a maid service to clean the property thoroughly between each rental and maybe during longer rental periods.

What is the exact location of the property? Asking this question will enable the vacationer to determine whether or not the property is ideally situated for the purposes of the holiday. E.g. a vacationer on a ski trip would prefer to be located close to the mountains while a vacationer more interested in a cultural holiday might be interested in a downtown location which will likely be closer to museums and other locations of interest.

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Gifts for friends and family are more about the thought than the gift itself. These ideas are inexpensive and easy to make, and let you add that personal touch to all your gifts!

Tucking in a coupon that promises one free shovelled driveway or a gourmet breakfast in bed is a great present for a loved one! =) Just make sure to put an expiry date and ‘Copies not accepted,’ or else you may be shovelling the driveway all winter!

Gift Hamper
Tea or Coffee in Mason Jar
Mug with Hot Chocolate and Flavoured Spoons
DVD Movie with Popcorn and Snacks
Aromatherapy Cold Compress
Coupons

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Fresh greenery wreaths stimulate and delight the senses in several ways: they are beautiful, they smell nice, and when given as a gift, they fill the heart.

To making one, consider redwood, pine, balsam fir, douglas fir, and similar trees as your first choice for XMAS wreaths. In addition, ivy, eucalyptus sprays, box hedge stems and ferns are other good suggestions as far as fresh wreath greenery goes.

Walk around in your garden and see what’s there that you like and that might keep well. And of course, rather than throwing away the cut-off branches of your trimmed XMAS tree, you incorporate these to make your own fresh Christmas wreath.

There are really 3 steps to making a wreath:

I: Find the Right Wreath Form

Wreath forms are usually made of straw, grapevine, twigs, wire, styrofoam, or oasis foam for wet arrangements. There are many variations in sizes and shapes. I typically use the straw, grapevine, twig forms as they are natural. I may choose an oasis base if incorporating fresh flowers for a table centerpiece or other piece that will be kept in warm indoor quarters.

If you don’t want to buy a form, you can easily make your own using two wire coat hangers. Intertwine the hangers together and cover them with floral tape. Then wrap the thick metal wire around something circular like a pot or a bucket to make the wreath’s shape.

Tip: Keep the hook of at least one hanger, to hang up your wreath later on. Decorate the hook if visible.

II: Make a Basic Wreath with Life Greenery

In this phase it is easiest to work on a table.

Take your tree branches and cut them into 10″ or shorter twigs. Place the greenery on the wire frame to make your design. Put all the twigs into the same direction to create a flow.

Secure the twigs to the wreath form using floral wire. Overlap the twigs till the wreath form is fully covered.

Tip: try using fishing wire which I do when I don’t have floral wire at hand.

III: Embellish your Base Wreath with Seasonal Decorations

Now it’s best to hang your wreath up. This makes it easier to see where you need to add branches and decorations as you’ll be facing your wreath. You can also stand a bit further away for an overall look.

Your embellishments can be best placed in 3- 6 groupings around the wreath: 3 largish groupings, plus optionally 3 tiny ones. Alternate large and small. Space your groupings for balance. Alternatively, you may choose just 3 groupings whereby one is larger then the other two, or even just have one large grouping. However, one tucked-on, red ribbon alone is usually not enough to make the wreath a delight to look at. Take things a couple of steps further and you’ll be happy with the result!

A grouping may include holly, berries, small pine cones, XMAS ornaments, ribbons and more. You may wish to include items relating to the hobbies of the person who will receive the wreath, and get personalize your wreath.

Consider where your wreath will hang to determine the kind of decorations you may wish to include. If it’s a frequently opened door, you may want to stay away from fragile items. It it has to hang in the freezing cold, don’t include that can not withstand that kind of cold. Etc.

Have no XMAS decorations? No problem. Just walk around your house and see what you can find. Don’t skip children’s rooms and recycling boxes as these areas are likely to make you overjoyed with ‘treasures’ for your wreath. Adding glitter glue does miracles for ordinary objects.

Now it’s time to plan your collection into decorative groupings. Do yourself a favor and limit your color scheme in your decorations to 1 dominant color, 1 complementary/adjacent color plus white. No more colors as this will be too busy. Why white? The white accents will make the other colors ‘pop’ as one of my artist friends would say.

When you finished planning, fasten the decorations with floral wire, ties or hot glue. After all the decorations are on, don’t stop yet. Instead, stand back once more, and squint. Identify what works well and what needs a final tug. Clip, shape and un-clutter. This is an important design step – don’t rush it, don’t skip it. Instead, be critical and inventive.

When done, you’re really ready to hang your own hand-made wreath for all to see & enjoy! If you’ve folowed these steps and tips, I’m sure you can be proud of your work.

Happy Holidays.

p.s. Sort and save your left-over material for future projects…. which might come sooner than you think!

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To take the sting out of the overwhelming arrangements for a grande family Thanksgiving get together, I’ve come up with a fool-proof plan for a successful Thanksgiving dinner. My plan is to ensure there is fun in the entire process for all, but particularly for me, who’s doing all the prep and the this and the that. The secret is: start early! That is: start NOw!

My Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner – Planning Schedule

First week of November
I flip some magazines at the checkout stand to get some visuals, I browse through my favorite cookbooks for recipes & ideas, and I research recipes online. Then, I choose my menu. Weeks ahead. These days I love picking an upscale restaurant and I try to choose the entire meal (nibbles and all) from their recipe books.

Determine how many people will be coming to your Thanksgiving dinner party. The closer you can get to the exact number, the better. It is a good idea to call and confirm regulars, but also if new girl friends will come along, and that sort of thing.

Make a shopping list right away and keep it in your wallet so you can pick non-perishable items up, during your regular shopping routine. Particularly if you need specialty items from those ‘at the other side of town’-kinda places. Cross off what you have bought. Store your Thanksgiving dinner items in a special (marked) section in your pantry, so that everyone knows it’s ‘hands off’ and so that you can easily find them when the day comes.

Second week of November
Now is the time to order, if you want to have a fresh one.
Talking about ordering, I have a huge garden which I like to bring inside in the festive season. However, some of my friends want fresh flower arrangements for Thanksgiving. If that’s you, order your floral centerpiece and other arrangements now so that there is no panic at the florist later.

Third & fourth weeks of November
Buy your frozen turkey. If you leave it till the last minute, you may find that they are all the wrong weight (too small, too large). Also, you typically need about 3-4 days to thaw the turkey in the fridge. Give yourself the good part of a week, and you’re fine.

One week before Thanksgiving
Buy the remainder of the non-perishable items on your list, and a bread for the turkey stuffing. Cube the bread and dry on a baking sheet. If you are baking pies and pastries, now is the time to prepare the dough for your desert and other recipes, and keep them ready in the freezer.

Three – four days before Thanksgiving
Put your defrosting frozen turkey towards the back (i.e. the coldest) part of your fridge. Prepare your cranberry sauce and store in the fridge to let the flavors set.
Prepare your entire table setting. Get your nice cloth table cloths and napkins washed, ironed and ready.

The day before Thanksgiving
Pick up your floral arrangements or ensure they are delivered. Do all your fresh food grocery shopping: a fresh turkey (if ordered, or perhaps at the market), fresh breads, diary, seafood, etc.

Given the size of your turkey and the nature of your recipe, now is the time to work out the exact time required for the turkey to cook in the oven. Allow an additional 30 minutes at the end. Calculate backwards from the time you would like to have dinner, and determine the time the turkey needs to go in the oven.

Defrost your pie dough, prepare and bake your pies.
It’s finally time to prepare the stuffing (omitting any raw eggs till the very last minute). Make stock for the gravy from the giblets that come with the bird.
Wash and prepare all vegetable and other side dishes, so that it is very easy to either reheat of finish them off tomorrow.
Pre-peeled potatoes won’t turn black if you refrigerate them in cold water.

Thanksgiving day – early morning
Set the table for the dinner and chill your white wine.
Take the turkey from the fridge to bring it to room temperature (which may take 2 hours).

Thanksgiving day – late morning
Just before you will put the turkey in the oven, complete your stuffing recipe and stuff the bird.
When you are doing the stuffing, preheat the oven.

Put the turkey in the over and bast it every 30 minutes.

Thanksgiving day – early afternoon
Do more prep work, such as boiling the potatoes and mashing them. You can heat them up just before dinner time. Grind the coffee, and set the coffee maker. Do not make the coffee until just before serving.
Prepare garnishes for all your separate dishes.

Thanksgiving day – late afternoon
Remove the turkey from the oven when it has an internal temperature of 180 degrees. About 30 minutes before your calculated time for the turkey to be ready, start checking the internal temperature at the thickest part of the turkey, which is the thigh. If it is not yet done, check back every 15 minutes.

When you remove the turkey from the oven, it needs to rest for about 30 minutes. Use this half hour to round up the gathering to start getting ready for dinner and move to the table. Get a helper for serving. Instruct someone else to pour the drinks. Make the gravy and complete all your vegetable and other side dishes. Garnish and serve.

Happy Thanksgiving Dinner!

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Whether to decorate your house or your classroom for Halloween, the best choice of decorations are the ones that you make yourself. Home Halloween decorations are fun to make and are really cost efficient in the long run. The camaraderie shared with your friends and family is priceless while you make home Halloween decorations. It is a creative experience that every child will remember doing. In some households it has become a family tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation. With just a few materials you can turn your house or classroom into a gruesome, scary, and fun place to have a party or to invite trick or treaters.

The basics of home Halloween decorations are simplicity. Orange and black construction paper is a must. You also need Elmer’s glue, scissors, tape, and crayons or magic markers. The best way to start is to start at the top of the room.

You can make a boarder to go around all four walls with a paper chain. Simply cut your orange and black construction paper into strips. Curl the strips into a ring and glue or staple them. They must be interlocked and should alternate in color from black to orange. If you really want to get gruesome you can add some blood red construction paper to the chain. To be more creative you can draw symbols of Halloween on each strip to give it more character and depth.

While still working on the top of the room, think of things that dangle from the ceiling. You can make cut outs of the skull and crossbones, witches, black cats, or ghosts from your construction paper to make some great scary figures. The paper is light enough so if there is even the slightest breeze your figures will move with it in a eerie fashion. To make this home Halloween decoration more creative, you may want to create mobiles with the figures by hanging your cut outs on descending sticks hung by fishing line or twine. If you have extra cutouts paste them on whole sheets of construction paper to give it a colorful back ground.

On your snack table, you can play a joke on your guests by decorating with Halloween food. You could glue all the candy corn together in a huge ball so that when a friend tries to take one, the whole glob of candy corn comes up in his hand. Think of eerie foods that you can serve like gummy worms and marshmallow eyeballs. Your can take the paper plates and draw monsters or scary images on them.

Put on a scary movie in the background with the sound off. These can give the room an extra feature of the Halloween spirit. You might want to die your curtains orange or another Halloween color and put candles in the windows. From the outside the candle looks nice but from the inside the candle can cast eerie shadows on the curtain creating a cool special effect. The skies the limit with home Halloween decorations and your imagination and creativity will flourish once you get going.

About the Author

Are you trying to come up with some fun Halloween activities? The Get In Costume website has plenty of other ideas for Halloween fun as well as creative costume ideas for trick-or-treaters of all ages.
Plus, get a free copy of my special report “The Family Guide To Halloween Safety” at http://www.getincostume.com/freereport

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All you need is a couple of different papers & card stock, a hole puncher, sticky tape, glitter glue, and some fantasy. A crafty project to do with the family.

Have fun this holiday season!

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If you are fortunate enough to have a guest bedroom in your home, you want to make it friendly and inviting so that your guests enjoy their stay no matter how long or short. Don’t you want them to feel comfortable and at home in your guest bedroom? You want to give them a bed they will love to sleep in and that suits their needs. You also want to give them dressers, tables and other bedroom furniture that allows for a comfortable stay. So how can you do this?

One of the first things you should think about when decorating your guest bedroom is your guests. How many guests do you usually have? How often do they come? How often do they stay? What type of amenities will they typically need in their rooms? These are all some things that help you plan the perfect guest bedroom. You will want to have a comfortable bed and non-controversial wall hangings that are suitable for any audience. Anything you can include to help them sleep better is a plus since many people have difficulty sleeping in an unfamiliar room or home. Include a fan in case they get hot and extra blankets in case they are cold. You might also want to include pillows of different firmness so they can choose what they feel most comfortable on.

In addition to your guest bedroom furniture, you also want to think about the decor. For a guest bedroom that will often have different people stay in it; male, female, couples, children, etc; you want to have a generic decor that will make anyone feel comfortable but this doesn’t mean you have to decorate like a hotel. You can still have a homey feel without being clinical or too much like a hotel. You can also decorate in a way that suits your own style a bit. This will make your guests feel more comfortable as they are coming to visit you.

In fact, comfort is the real defining factor in creating a guest bedroom so anything you can include to aid with this is a plus. Here are some ideas:

- Pillow top mattress pad
- Down comforter
- Reading lamp
- Books
- Notepad and pen
- Alarm clock
- Fresh flowers

- A welcome basket of fresh towels, wash clothes,
travel soaps, shampoos, and conditioners
- A television
- Night Light
- Wastebasket
- Fan
- Extra blankets

These are just a few ideas to help you create the perfect guest bedroom that they will never want to leave. You can use your own creativity and imagination to help think of even more ways to make your guest bedroom extra special.

Ben Weissman writes articles about using Metal Beds, Headboards and other Contemporary Bedroom Furniture to Decorate Your Home. You’ll find more Design Ideas at http://www.Home-and-Bedroom.com Make your bedroom into a personal retreat!

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