Add a little creative holiday cheer to your home, recipes, and entertaining, with these 40 festive and creative Christmas ideas!
For this special seasonal round up, I’m including my favorite festive holiday recipes, entertaining ideas, and decor inspiration to bring a little bit of holiday joy from my home to yours.
Creative Christmas Recipes
I love to host during the holidays. I take delight in creating and serving new recipes that are easy, delicious, and amazing to look at! With the Christmas season, I like to kick it up a notch by adding fun, bright, and festive colors and themes into my recipe creations.
With these simple ideas you can add a little fun, sparkle and magic into your holiday party with some crowd pleasing recipes that not only taste delicious, but look as if they could dance right off the plate!
I’ve recently rounded up fifty of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes– you can’t miss that post! It’s everything you’ll need to kick off your holiday baking season. And BONUS… you can have some Christmas Cocktails too with 13 of my best holiday cocktail recipes!
If you’re thinking about sending a food gift through the mail, you can check out some of my tips for packing and shipping cookies easily and beautifully.
Tips to Add Creative Flare to your Recipes
- Use festive colors such as red and green – this immediately takes any recipe that you use all year and turns it into a holiday favorite!
- Shape appetizers into holidays themes such as Wreaths, Snowmen, or Reindeer.
- Add Candy Canes
- Use fresh ingredients
- Make signature holiday cocktails
Creative Christmas Gifts
Giving is a beautiful way to show our love and appreciation for one another. Homemade gifts are my favorite to give. I’ve included a few creative homemade gifts that you can personalize for the loved ones on your gift list!
Each of these only take a little bit of time and money to prepare but the impact is huge! From parents and grandparents, teachers and neighbors, I think you’ll find a little something for everyone. You can check out so many more handmade gift ideas here.
Finish off your homemade gift with one of my free printable gift tags. You can add a ribbon or a bit of juniper to make your package look pretty.
- Personalize gifts to the receiver with monogramming or using their favorite colors
- Use pretty packaging with homemade Gift Tags and ribbon
- Give homemade gifts
- Gift baskets are lovely ways to celebrate hobbies. Themes include baking, gardening, wine, chocolate, golfing…. you get the idea!
Creative Christmas Ideas for Decorating
My approach to holiday decorations is simple and minimalistic. Little changes throughout my home bring about the holiday spirt without adding a lot of clutter.
I love to include my girls in decorating and giving them the opportunity to decorate their rooms. These ideas can take only minutes to carry out, but can have huge impact!
- Add Christmas lights
- Add greenery – use live greenery from your own backyard. You can find tips for keeping it fresh here.
- Make paper snow flakes
- Add candles
- Change out picture frames for Christmas cards
Here’s just a few of my favorite creative ways to enhance the holiday season.
Creative recipes, homemade gifts and decoration inspiration for your Christmas holiday! This fun and festive Pesto Cheeseball Wreath is so colorful with bursts of flavor! Serve with crackers or for a healthier option, serve with a variety of vegetables! This has be come a fun tradition in our home. Instead of a huge mess and stale gingerbread houses, I've come up with this Candy House Sugar Cookie Cake. The girls have a blast decorating their individual houses and I love to see their creativity! Afterwords, they can enjoy their creations which are melt-in-your-mouth delicious! Stunning garland made with dried orange slices that adds a natural beauty to your holiday and seasonal decor. Learn how the make hot chocolate bombs for gifting this holiday season! This hot chocolate bomb recipe is created with spheres of chocolate filled with hot cocoa powder and miniature marshmallows. They melt into an incredibly decadent mug of hot cocoa with a pour of warm milk. Serve this cute little Reindeer Cheeseball at your next holiday party! It's not only adorable, but absolutely delicious! With flavors of real bacon, ranch, and cheddar, this cheeseball is a win for everyone. I always get lots of compliments with this Funfetti Dessert Cheeseball. No one ever guesses it only takes a few minutes to put together. It adds some fun color and character, plus it tastes amazing! These Mini Shortbread Cookies are too cute for words made by your Elf on the Shelf! They make wonderful gifts for neighbors and teachers, or your holiday cookie exchange. Enjoy incredible Puff Pastry and Brie in this fun festive holiday appetizer. It's incredibly easy to make too, with only 3 ingredients! I love this brightly colored Peppermint Fruit Dip for holiday entertaining! It's so fluffy and smooth with a natural pink hue from crushed peppermint candy. With only 3 ingredients, its a snap to make! You'll never be disappointed to be asked to bring a salad again! This creative Christmas idea is sure to be a hit! Serve this Christmas Wreath Salad with a homemade raspberry vinaigrette. With only a few simple ingredients you can make this elegant and delicious holiday dessert Snowball Cocktail. Step it up a notch and learn how to make a crushed cookie rim on your cocktail glasses and perfectly toast a marshmallow for the top. Warm up this Christmas with a mint cocktail made with Peppermint Schnapps, Vodka, and cream. Top your brownies or sugar cookies with Homemade Peppermint Ice Cream! It's the perfect frozen treat for the holidays! This no bake recipe is the perfect blend of sweet and salty. It's topped with crushed peppermint and corse sea salt. Make Christmas Toffee with this easy recipe and video tutorial. It's a fun no bake recipe using saltines! Get the whole family involved and make a huge batch for gifts! Sweet and creamy Snow Ice Cream! Make your Christmas, or snow day, extra special with this sweet creamy treat! These chocolate covered Rudolph Nose Dough Balls will be the hit of your Christmas get together! They’re amazing edible cookie dough truffles covered in a red chocolate shell for a one of a kind no bake Christmas cookie. Sweet, crunchy, and gluten free, Meringue Cookies! Top with sugared berries and mint for a gorgeous elegant Christmas cookie! Making these Salt Dough Ornaments are an annual tradition for me. They make wonderful personalized Christmas gifts for family or teachers. Colored Salt Dough Ornaments are fun and whimsical. They make beautiful sentimental Christmas tree ornaments or gift tags. This homemade Sugar Scrub makes a wonderful Christmas Gift. I like to store in a pretty jar and tie with ribbon and a homemade gift tag. Frame heirloom recipes for a sentimental gift at Christmas time. It will make beautiful kitchen wall are and will be a treasure that will last a lifetime. Mulling Spices is a warm fragrant gift that anyone would love! Attach my free printable label and include some of my recipes for mulling spices! Vanilla Extract is used in almost every dessert recipe. Gift this homemade vanilla extract to the baker on your Christmas list! This Cinnamon Bread might be my most popular recipe! I can never make enough! Give the gift of homemade sweet bread for Christmas and even attach the recipe! Who doesn't love chocolate and wine? Combine the two in this thoughtful gift basket along with a Lava Cake Mix! Do you have gardeners in your life? Help them prepare for spring with this gift basket and ideas for stuffing it full of every gardeners spring dream kit! It only takes a few minutes to decorate your mailbox using a piece of red cloth or scarf. The impact is huge! Add greenery to your doorways for natural Christmas Decor. Bonus for using live wreaths and garland because they smell amazing! Add Candles for a romantic atmosphere and holiday glow! Create a gingerbread village to decorate with - add it under your tree or to your bookcases. Decorate without spending a dime by using seasonal greenery from your own backyard! I added a wreath made from vines and a bit of rosemary around my kitchen. Why buy a boring store bought Holiday Cheese Ball when it’s so easy to make your own? This Pomegranate Cheeseball recipe is a savory Christmas Cheese Ball with a vibrant taste of sweet and sour pomegranate seeds. Make it in the simple shape of an ornament and you’ll have an appetizer that everyone will love! Homemade bath salts or bath soak is an easy and beautiful holiday gift for yourself, friends, neighbors and teachers! They’re perfect for all ages and a hit among kids and teens! Learn how to create a beautiful garland, using ornaments! Make the easiest, sweetest little handmade Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments. Baking these two ingredient cinnamon ornaments will fill your home with the scent of Christmas, and your kids will love joining in the fun! Everything is better with eggnog - especially whipped cream! It's the perfect additon to all your holiday desserts and drinks! Make it festive this holiday season with a delicious Cranberry Cheese Ball shaped like Santa’s hat! Add fresh picks to a faux wreath. Collect branches and top them with marshmallows for whimsical wintery decor. Create a vase from a birch log or branch with this simple tutorial! Wrap a cozy blanket around the base of a tree for a tree skirt you never have to store! The easiest hors d'oeuvres with Christmas flair! Arrange your endive to fashion a Christmas tree!40 Creative Christmas Ideas
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Lots of things to try! Just ordered paper loaf pans to make your Christmas bread!
Enjoy!
Julie
I am making the sheet cookies to decorate with my grandchildren. Do you have a recipe you recommend? Most of the ones I see have you bake individual cookies and I didn’t know if this would work for the sheet pan cookies.
Julie-Can’t wait to try them! So creative and perfect for the holidays!!!
Thank you, Teresa! Have a beautiful weekend!