Create your own brand of ‘winter wonderful’ with the help of your Christmas Elves. We’ve summoned the magic of Christmas to prepare blueprints for six fun, festive Christmas in July celebrations. Brighten the gloomy winter months with lights in clear white and cool blue tones. Get out of the cold and bask in the warmth of time spent with family, friends, and friends you haven’t yet met when you schedule functions dotted throughout the wintry weeks that lay ahead.
Winter Wonderful Celebrations:
- Festive Feast
- Winter Wonderland
- Snowy Soirée
- Seasonal Eating
- EOFY Office Function
- Winning Winter Events
However you choose to celebrate, you’ll find everything you need spread across just nine essential product categories:
- Christmas Crackers
- Snowflakes & Snowmen
- Christmas Tableware
- Christmas Hats
- Blue & White Lights
- Winter Animals
- Festive Games
- Tinsel
- Christmas Trees
Festive Feast
Celebrate Christmas in July with your loved ones by serving up a feast in your very own home. We reckon you’ll agree it’s the best way to start a tradition of bringing people together in the cold, drab winter months. Dive into the spirit and decorate the dining room, the lounge, or even the entire house if you’re inspired. Although we will focus on the home dining area in this example, you can easily adapt any of our hints and tips to spread ‘winter wonderful’ throughout your home.
Tree
Let’s start with the one essential item for every Christmas-themed celebration: a Christmas tree! Either assemble the artificial tree you use every holiday season or get a new one specifically for Christmas in July. We heartily recommend the Shimmering Mountain Fir (7ft/210cm) for larger rooms with higher ceilings or the Juniper Snow Tree (6ft/180cm) for smaller spaces with 2m ceilings. Play your favourite holiday tunes and spend an evening decorating the tree and getting festive. Begin by wrapping your tree with strands of twinkling lights. In keeping with our colour theme this year, we suggest cool LED white Connectable Ready pinecones and retro bulb fairy lights. We also want a bit of winter whimsy, and these battery powered blue and white icicle lights and white icicle lights fit the bill. After the lights, we add a generous wrapping of white plush tinsel.
Next, bring out the baubles! Our celebration calls for sequins and snowballs. First, the snow. Hang a handful each of 10cm snowballs and 10cm winter white snowballs around the tree. (Grab a few 15cm snowballs for variety, too.) Now, the sequins. Dot sequin-covered baubles in blue, silver, and white all around the tree, from top to bottom. Finally, nestle 2–4 white feathered hummingbirds among the tree’s upper boughs. We would happily finish trimming the tree here, but if you wish to add more ornaments, we wouldn't dream of stopping you.
Vignettes
Gather your tabletop decorations and place them in playful and beguiling snowy scenes. All you’ll need is instant snow. Place a plate, flat piece of wood, or anything that can act as a sturdy base within a decorative bowl or atop a large dish. Sprinkle some instant snow all around this improvised platform. Then, add water and marvel as fluffy ‘snow’ magically puffs up. (When it begins to dry out after a few days, rejuvenate it by sprinkling a little more water on top.)
Snowmen will star in all our winter vignettes this year. These three frosty fellas also make sensational centrepieces:
- The gingerbread snowman gives off a merry glow thanks to his LED buttons. Bedecked in pastels, he comes bearing a candy cane and a miniature Christmas tree trimmed in (oh, joy!) blue and white.
- Looking dapper in a pale blue brocade ensemble with pearl and jewel accents, this snowman is covered in white, mossy flocking. He also wears a fleecy faux fur scarf and matching mittens.
- The friendly snowman waving at you comes from a magical land of Christmas confectionary where gigantic lollipops grow on cupcake islands. Textured swirls, miniature peppermints, and sparkling glitter lend this piece an unforgettable sweetness.
Snowmen not your type? –Consider these winter-worthy alternatives:
- Santa loves Christmas in July because he gets to kick back and enjoy the festivities. Plus, he doesn't have to wear red for once.
- This poseable elf said he would be at the party with bells on, and sure enough, he’s wearing them on his new ivory corduroy suit.
- Peter Rabbit spends so much time with his new snow rabbit friend because he doesn’t have to share any of his delicious radishes.
After you select the featured piece or pieces for your vignettes and centrepieces, incorporate a poinsettia or two from our range of exquisite floristry.
Tableware
Cheers to the season! Welcome your nearest and dearest to meals served in glassware and tableware from Australia’s own Ladelle Ashdene. Offer your guests aperitifs on arrival in highball tumblers. Sip vintages local and from further afield in elegant glass goblets. After the final course, treat everyone to a nightcap in an old fashioned tumbler. Each of these styles comes in a set of four: Santa Claus, Santa’s sleigh, a sack full of presents, and a classic Christmas tree.
Bring savouries or sweets to the table on platters shaped like Christmas trees. Serve up breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, and dessert on plates decorated with colourful ornament illustrations. To round out the evening, offer coffee and biscuits with a special mug and plate duo and a set of trays.
Cracking Fun
You’ve decorated and set the table, now just add fun! Set each place with a cracker. (Or two for an extra lively evening!) No surprises here: our two favourites are silver trees and blue hygge crackers.
Everyone will also need a hat to wear with their paper crown (trust us, it's a look), so stock up on a few of these styles:
- Sequined Santa hats in red, green, and silver for your fancy friends.
- Extra-long, bendable Santa caps for the larrikins in your life.
- Elf hats for those holiday enthusiasts who always lend a helping hand.
After dinner, keep everyone entertained with a game of bingo starring the characters from the movie Elf. Be sure to organise some great prizes, like hampers of treats you cobble together yourself, bottles of wine, and other gifts with universal appeal. Don’t get too wrapped up in the game that you forget to serve dessert!
Winter Wonderland
What kid wouldn’t love to have a special Christmas just for them? If you have a child who has a winter birthday, neither they nor their friends will ever forget a Christmas in July birthday party. Here's how to set up a kid-friendly winter wonderland:
- Celebrate the lead-up to the big birthday with this winter wonderland advent calendar. Add a new element to this charming woodland scene each day for 25 days.
- Frost your windows with snow spray and use these stencils like the professionals do.
- A day or two before the party, ask the birthday girl or boy to help decorate a small tabletop Christmas tree. (If you have the space, you can decorate a full-size tree, too. Birthday presents can go underneath it.)
- Scatter several snowmen and snowy white animals around the main room of the party. Pair the snowman wearing an aviator cap with an adorable white fox dressed in a jolly red jumper. Assemble a lovely centrepiece by arranging the winter white fox, hare, and snowman with red mittens around your petite tabletop tree.
- Kids will get totally wrapped up in testing their skill at the Snowman Snow Blaster disc game.
- A larger party demands a bigger game, and Frosty the Snowman bingo delivers with enough cards for 2–18 players.
- Display and serve delicious birthday cake with the Ladelle Ashdene ‘Spirit of Christmas’ cake stand and server.
- You’ll need Santa and reindeer crackers. Buy enough so that the adults have some, too.
- Give everyone a Christmas colouring book in their goodie bags. This one comes with five pencils and holiday erasers.
Snowy Soirée
Large parties help everyone shake off the winter doldrums and enjoy a fun evening away from the TV. Let your decorating be guided by light – the more lights, the better.
- Commit to the Christmas in July theme and station a sleigh constructed of bright white rope lights in front of your house. Your guests won’t have to guess where the party’s at!
- Light up the night even more with white curtain lights hanging down interior walls, white net lights over outdoor shrubbery, and rope lights in blue and white along doorways, window frames, hallways, and anywhere else that doesn’t already glimmer on its own.
- Spray snow isn’t just for kids. Cover your front windows and any glass panes that look out into your courtyard or back garden. Keep your artistic endeavours looking sharp by using stencils.
- Tree time! Set up a Blue Arctic Spruce tree and wrap it in RGB and white string LED lights. Position silver plush tinsel between the strings of lights. Lastly, hang pale blue and midnight blue baubles all over the tree. (Both of these come in handy packs of six.)
- Every party needs a little kitchy glitz, so hang smiling tinsel snowmen in every room and on the front door.
- Say ‘no’ to plastic cups and provide your guests with drinks in reusable bamboo tumblers.
- Set up a ‘selfie’ table with champagne mix regency crackers and wacky Christmas top hats. Post a sign with a unique social media hashtag to link everyone’s photos on your platform of choice.
Seasonal Eating
Invite a group of friends to a favourite pub or restaurant and surprise them with a Christmas in July themed meal. Besides a booking, all you’ll need are crackers and hats. Select crackers that agree with the type and style of the venue. Festive diamond regency crackers suit rustic traditional pubs and local cafés. Platinum gold flowerburst crackers go well with the look and feel of an upscale restaurant. Take a pack of midnight mountains to modern, trendy establishments. Bring enough plush Santa hats to go around and watch as everyone relaxes into the spirit of the season.
If you’re able to book a private dining area, deck the room with holiday cheer:
- Drape blue copper wire lights everywhere. (No need to hunt for power points: these only need batteries.)
- Hang tinsel snowflake plaques along the walls.
- Keep the party going after the meal with Dr Suess’ the Grinch memory master game.
Whether you book a big table or a private dining room, remember to tell your mates to bring a gift for either a game of Kris Kringle or Bad Santa.
EOFY Office Function
What better way to spend the remaining funds left in the office social club budget than to ring in the new financial year with a Christmas in July office party? Boost morale, raise productivity, and promote a cheery winter wonderful workplace with these budget-friendly decorating tips:
Snow Day: Hang a blizzard’s worth of paper snowflakes within the function space and throughout the office. (Safety first: use a sturdy ladder and work with a buddy.)
Table the Meeting: Affix silver plush tinsel around the circumference of the refreshment table. Hang several tinsel table decorations along the length of the table, too, and lay a few more among the bowls and platters of nibbles.
Fun Favours: Get the party started with lots of silver diamond mini crackers and give each of your colleagues a plush Santa hat.
Winning Winter Events
Delight customers and clients when they visit your commercial premises or attend winter events by setting up immersive Christmas in July displays. Decorate building foyers, retail spaces, and office reception areas with a few simple steps:
- Setting up a Christmas tree is a must. If the ceilings are at least 3m high, then you need the 2.4m (8ft) Snowy Highland tree. Should you have ample space to fill, you may need more than one. Trim each tree with plenty of white lights, along with the blue, white, and silver decorations we’ve mentioned in the above sections.
- Run tinsel on its own or plaited with cool white LED lights around window frames and doorways, as well as along desks, tables, and shelves. This white-tipped tinsel has the look of snowy evergreen garlands.
- Ice windows and glass partitions with flurries of snow spray.
- Select a star attraction. If space and your budget permit, a larger piece like this 82cm brown bear covered in a fine dusting of snow will offer lots of photo ops. Get the most out of this organic publicity by posting a sign nearby with the details of any business social media handles and a special hashtag so your visitors can credit and tag your account when they share their photos.
Next Steps
There you have it! Six fantastic ways to share Christmas cheer during the depths of winter. Remember, for any celebration, all you need to make things 'merry and bright’ are a few products from those nine essential categories:
- Christmas Crackers
- Snowflakes & Snowmen
- Christmas Tableware
- Christmas Hats
- Blue & White Lights
- Winter Animals
- Festive Games
- Tinsel
- Christmas Trees
Now, it’s your turn to create your own ‘winter wonderful’. Whether you already have an established Christmas in July tradition or hope to establish one in 2023, let our humble suggestions inspire your creativity. We would love to see your displays on Instagram, so tag us @christmas_elves_ and make sure to add #christmas_elves_ to your post, too. Happy Christmas in July!
