It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Need a break from the holiday shopping and tree decorating? Why not pack the family up in the car and go take in some Christmas Lights? It’s a great way to get in the holiday mood and see how your neighbors celebrate! Below is a list of some of the great places to see lights in and around the Los Angeles area.

Not in LA? Try a Google search of your area, or contact your city. They often have great references of lights in the area and even free holiday events.

Altadena: Christmas Tree Lane

Long Beach: Naples Holiday Boat Parade

Los Angeles: Griffith Park LADWP Holiday Light Festival

Newport Beach: Christmas Boat Parade  and Zimmerman House

Pasadena: Upper Hastings Ranch Holiday Lights

Riverside: Riverside Festival of Lights

Santa Clarita: Holiday Light Tour

Woodland Hills: Candy Cane Lane

Know of a great place to see lights that we didn’t include? Please leave a comment and let us know!

Celebrate! Giving: Give Your Staff a Hand

I will always remember the "clickity clack" sound ring out through the office followed by a huge smile on the face of my resident assistants. When you work in Residence Life on a college campus, you often have a small budget, which gives you the opportunity to 'get creative' when trying to encourage your student staff who work countless hours at a sometimes thankless job. While at a party store, I came across these hand clappers and it seemed like a perfect way to give them the 'round of applause' they deserved. I tied a note on the hand thanking them for a job well done. You would be surprised at how a simple act of recognition can make a team member feel appreciated...and you don't have to spend an arm and a leg...just give them a hand!

 You can find these hand clappers at most party stores or buy online here:
Mini Hand Clappers

Celebrate! Giving: Birthday in a Box!

Part of the idea behind Celebrate! is to give and share new ideas on how we can celebrate those special people in our lives. I love what Veronica and a group of friends did to celebrate LaMesha’s birthday. They chose a Sunday afternoon to get together at one of the free concert events at the Levitt Pavillion in Pasadena. With some lawn chairs, blankets and a few of their favorite eats ~ they spent the day listening to a great new artist, catching up with one another, and topping off the evening with a Birthday in a Box. What is a Birthday in a Box? It’s the birthday girl/boy’s favorite cupcakes, cookies or sweets presented in a gift box, tied up with a bow & a candle. The cupcakes worked out great for LaMesha’s celebration, and were enjoyed by all!

Golda's Kitchen Cake Box - 10 × 14 × 4 - Window - White - 10 pack

Golda's Kitchen Cupcake Insert - Standard - Holds 12 - 10 pack

Celebrate! on a Dime!: Lovely Lighting

I helped a friend throw a going away party when he was accepted into graduate school. He didn’t have a lot of money to spend, but wanted to have a nice, cozy dinner party and asked me to help set the mood. I love the effect of lighting a pathway up to a party…it automatically sets the mood for an evening gathering…kind of like saying “Good times this way!” Or maybe I watched the Wizard of Oz one too many times growing up and have the idea of following the yellow brick road stuck in my psyche somewhere!

In any case…when you add light to the dark…something special happens.

I was in one of my favorite “everything-is-under-a-dollar” stores and had a ‘light’bulb idea. I bought several tall pillar candles. Then I went to the local craft store and found vellum paper. I taped the paper to the glass (making sure that the paper did not pass the lip of the glass)…and voila! A pretty lit driveway for under $2 a candle. They are long lasting and pretty sturdy, but you always want to make sure you have someone to supervise lit candles. You can also buy “flameless tea lights” and place them down in the glass instead of lighting the wick.

There are so many different types of cool paper now that make these candles fun and flexible to fit the theme of any celebration! They are great to put on your food tables and can even be used as centerpieces. 

Celebrate! Taste: Family Dinners Made Fun!

Celebrate! Taste focuses on not just how the food tastes at your event, but how it adds to the overall celebration.

I’ve had the opportunity to see my brothers and close friends become parents. It’s been a great learning experience to sit back and watch how they do what they do! Being a parent looks like no easy task…but I’ve been inspired by watching them create new traditions with their little ones and can see the memories being made.

I loved the idea that one Celebrate! fan, Tina Sanborn, did for her family. Both Tina and her husband work, and are raising two beautiful little girls. Tina decided to celebrate family one evening by creating a ‘Kung Fu Panda’ themed dinner party. The menu consisted of Chinese Noodles, Kung Pao Chicken, Chinese Chicken Salad and “Jack Black” Punch! She finished the dinner with a Panda cake (pictured below). Simply adorable!

I guarantee that this is something Tina’s little girls will always remember…the day their mommy decided to turn a regular dinner into a special family celebration!

Have you done something special to celebrate your family? Or, do you have some ideas, but need some further inspiration on how to put the final touches on a family fun dinner? Feel free to contact CelebrateByG@gmail.com or leave a comment below!

For recipe and instruction on how Tina made her Panda cake, go to Betty Crocker at http://ow.ly/1q0IN

Celebrate! You: Is there really ALWAYS a reason to Celebrate?

I have to admit…the last two weeks that question came to mind on several occasions. Having bad news come in the form of a terminal cancer diagnosis of a close family friend followed by another cancer diagnosis of an immediate family member had me asking that question. Seeing people on my Facebook page posting that they had lost their loved ones recently to cancer had me asking that question. Visiting my Great Uncle in the nursing home and not only seeing him, but also seeing the other residents who don’t have visitors, had me asking that question. And then, to have the Haiti earthquake followed by the Chile earthquake…it just seems like some days it is harder to believe that there is always a reason to Celebrate!

But its in those times, the times that our worlds seem most dark, that a ray of light comes in the form of a random act of kindness from a stranger, a call from a friend at just the right moment, the exuberance of a child who is just happy to see you, or a survivor being pulled from the rubble after they say all hope is gone. Those are the daily celebrations that if we aren’t paying attention to, we could miss out on.

Celebrate! is, of course, about those extra special life moments that we come together to acknowledge like a birthday, wedding or new baby. But it’s also about those daily celebrations we choose to have in the midst of those days that we don’t feel much like celebrating.

So how will you Celebrate! today?

photo from: http://www.eveningstar.co.uk/content/pdf/eyevine-haiti-rescue.jpg

Celebrate! Style: A "Sweet" Table Setting

Want to add a quick splash of color to your table setting? A quick and easy way to make your table stand out is a sugar rimmed glass! Be creative and incorporate your theme colors into the table by picking a color that will pop, and maybe even a beverage that coordinates!

For instance, if your party theme colors are sage and brown, serve ice tea in a green sugar rimmed glass. Or, if your party theme colors are orange and yellow, serve lemonade in an orange sugar rimmed glass. Throwing a princess tea party for your lil’ princess? Rim tea cups in pink sugar and serve pink lemonade! (yes…it might be sugar overload BUT you should see the smiles on the kids’ faces!)

Colored sugars can be found in the cake aisle of any grocery store (near the cookie decorations) or at specialty baking, cooking and or craft stores like http://www.surlatable/ & http://www.michaels.com/. There are also a lot of privately owned cake decorating stores where you can often find more colors and lower prices. One of my favorites (if you're in the LA area) is in the City of Glendora: http://www.ajcake.com/ The owner is wonderful, and she has an entire wall of every colored sugar imaginable!

How To Rim a Glass in Sugar

1. Cover your counter with wax paper or trays that you can set your glasses on.
2. Fill a shallow dish or bowl with water, enough to submerge the rim of your glass.
   Make sure to use a dish or bowl that the entire rim of the glass will fit in.
3. Fill a bowl with colored sugar, again filling it with enough sugar to submerge
   the rim of the glass.
4. Dip the rim in water and then sugar. You can twist a bit to cover fully. Place on
   wax paper or tray to dry. Wipe any excess water off the side of the glass.
5. Let sit for at least 3-4 hours, or until the sugar hardens. This is something you
   can do the night before the party as well.