Celebrating Christmas Where It’s Warm

Baby It’s Warm Outside

In every holiday movie, Christmas carol or seasonal commercial, you see glistening white snow, frosty cheeks, steaming hot chocolate and warm woolen mittens. It seems like the whole Christmas season is wrapped in snowflakes and icicles. So, what are you to do if you live where the weather is tropical and warm year round? Getting into the Christmas spirit while surrounded by palm trees and cacti can be a challenge, but you don’t have to blast the AC to feel festive. There are all sorts of ways to make it feel like Christmas even if you live where it’s 72 degrees and sunny.

CREATE AN INDOOR WINTER WONDERLAND

Whatever the weather outside, it can look like an arctic paradise inside.

ADD SOME SNOW
Decorate your mantel with cotton batting, snow globes and miniature frosted trees  to add a wintery mix to your home. Gather tree branches and spray them with white paint or with spray snow and group them in containers of varying sizes on your tables or hearth. Fill mason jars or apothecary jars with fake snow and winter accents like pine cones and berries for a wintery centerpiece. BONUS: None of it will melt! 

IT’S STARTING TO SMELL A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS
Bring in the scent of a winter woodland and fresh pine with a real Christmas tree. Or, if a real tree isn’t your jam, choose fresh garland or pine springs that you can use throughout your house. Mix pine sprigs with battery-powered lights on your mantle, wrap a garland of fresh greenery on a stairway handrail or over a door frame, or hang a fresh evergreen wreath on a wall to fill your home with the aroma of Christmas.

ADD SOME SPARKLE

There’s no time like Christmas to add a little shimmer and shine inside and out.

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS
A classic holiday staple for a reason! Sparkling Christmas lights make it look festive wherever you live on the map – and, there’s no such thing as too many lights. Add them outside to your house, landscape, and trees along with other lighted yard decor such as lit snowmen, reindeer or elves. Wrap tree trunks and branches, use net lights over your bushes, and place landscape spot lights to shine on your front door. Inside your home you can add strands of lights in so many more places than just on your tree. Frame a window or door with rope lights, hang a strand of icicles lights across the mantle or across the headboards in your bedrooms. There are so many types and shapes of Christmas lights to choose from including icicle lights, colored bulbs or tiny white battery-powered fairy lights. (Pssst… we like these glow-in-the-dark night lights that can add a pop of color.) Mix a fun variety of sizes, colors and shapes to shout, “It’s Christmas” from every corner of your home.

YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY CANDLES
For some romantic sparkle, use candles throughout the holiday season for decorating and entertaining. Choose some festive scents like cranberry, pine, cinnamon and gingerbread for your kitchen and bathrooms. For a beautiful table centerpiece, cluster candles in glass votives and jars and place among greenery and berries. You can even find flameless LED candles to use throughout your house and in your windows to get the same ambiance with less worry

SHARE IT WHILE YOU WEAR IT
Share the holiday cheer by adding some shimmer to your wardrobe! Try a DIY ugly Christmas sweater. If the weather is too warm to wear a sweater, then choose a sequined t-shirt or sparkly jewelry. Too warm to wear a fur-trimmed coat? Don’t be afraid to pair your shorts with some shimmery shoes and a fur-trimmed Santa hat.

PLAY FESTIVE GAMES

The reindeer aren’t the only ones who play games at the holidays. Plan a few days of seasonal and glowing games to get everyone in the holiday mood.

SNOW MANY GAMES TO PLAY
Play a Snow Shovel Relay Race game by filling two big buckets up with cotton balls or fake snow purchased at a craft store. Then divide into teams, give each team a shovel and let players race to scoop the snow out of the large bucket and fill up smaller buckets that are 20 feet away. Then, they pass the shovels off to their teammates for a turn until the bucket is full. Another hilarious game is to divide in pairs and use rolls of toilet paper to wrap your partner up like a snowman from head to toe, and then add a hat and scarf to complete the look. The first one with their partner completely wrapped and dressed is the winner.

STARLUX GAMES
The glow-in-the-dark games at Starlux Games are the perfect way to add more shine in warm locations where you can be outside and active during the holidays. These games add excitement, action and adventure to any Christmas family party or group gathering. Check out Capture the Flag REDUX: a futuristic twist on the classic game complete with glowing orbs to use as flags and color-coded LED bracelets to differentiate teams. Or, choose Glow Battle and prepare for fast-paced running and dueling with harmless glowing batons. For a fantasy-filled game, Wizards and Werewolves will transform your backyard into an epic glowing mythical competition. There’s even a Starlux Swimming Games kit that comes with glow-in-the-dark pool lights…definitely a benefit of living where it’s warm.

EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY

Festive food, drink and merriment can definitely complete the mood for the perfect Christmas season. 

A TROPICAL TWIST
For a warm-weather twist on some traditional holiday fare, throw the ham on the backyard grill with some pineapple, add some sides like fruit salad and a veggie tray and then serve Christmas dinner under the lights outside. Don’t forget to finish it off with holiday-themed desserts like reindeer cookies or snowball cupcakes.

HOT CHOCOLATE… MINUS THE HOT
If it’s too warm where you live for steaming mugs of hot chocolate, try frozen hot chocolate. It’s also the perfect time of year for frosty cocktails like eggnog, cranberry-mixed drinks, and other fun party punches that will keep you cool. 

Whether it’s 32 degrees or 82 degrees, the best way to celebrate Christmas when it’s warm is to be merry! Enjoy spending time with your family and friends doing the things you love. Watch holiday movies, play the classic Christmas carols, head to the local ice skating rink or holiday parade…and send everyone warm wishes for a happy new year.

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