Archive for December, 2010

We had mentioned before that playing games together would be a great idea for a New Years Eve party.  One of the best games we have here at Coppin’s Gifts has to be Bubble Talk.  This is the game that will have everyone talking, laughing, and having fun—young and old alike!  Do you want to get in on the Bubble Talk craze?  This is what it’s all about!

This is a fun game in which you match captions with funny pictures.  It’s a lot like those “name the caption” contests you’ll find in newspapers and magazines—only you get to do it right in your own home!  It’s easy to play and similar to another game, Apples to Apples.  The difference with Bubble Talk, though, is that the result is funnier!  You’ll love how much everyone enjoys playing this game.

A picture card is drawn from the stack by the judge, and everyone gets to see it.  Each person finds the funniest caption in their hand to match the picture and gives it to the judge.  The judge reads all of the cards aloud and selects the funniest caption.  The person that played that caption wins the round!  It’s a perfect game for kids and adults to play together.

Make this New Years Eve a fun one with a rousing game of Bubble Talk.

We hope that your Christmas holiday was wonderful!  As you get ready to count down to 2011, we have a few tips for you to create a fun and family friendly New Years Eve celebration!  Gather a few games from Coppin’s Gifts, and you’re nearly ready to begin the party.

New Years Eve Ideas

• Invite some other families over for the celebration.  Make sure you tell them to dress up in their best party gear!
• Have all of the party decorations on hand for the kids to decorate as the party begins.  Have balloons, streamers, confetti, party hats, etc.
• You can even set some time aside to make party hats as a craft!
• If you have older children, they can use iron on decals to make shirts that say “2011” or some other New Year saying.
• Bake a cake or some cupcakes and let the kids frost them.  You can even stick a candle in and sing Happy Birthday to 2011.
• Explain what New Years Resolutions are about and have everyone write one down.
• Toast the New Year with sparkling apple cider.
• Get everyone around the table to play some fun board games while you wait for midnight.

Christmas tree traditions have ancient origins, and you can carry that around all year long with a DaVinci Beads Christmas Tree.  You’d be surprised at how far back the Christmas tree tradition goes!

A small way to celebrate the season

• Egyptians didn’t celebrate Christmas, but the treasured and worshipped evergreens.  When the winter solstice arrived, they brought green date palm leaves into their homes to symbolize the triumph of life over death.
• Romans celebrated the solstice by decorating their house with greens, also.  They had a feast in honor of Saturnus, the god of agriculture.
• Celtic Druids used evergreens during solstice rituals, as well.
• The modern use of a Christmas tree began from these varied origins.
• The legend has it that Martin Luther began the tradition of decorating trees to celebrate Christmas.  On Christmas Eve around the year 1500, Luther saw a group of evergreen trees in the woods.  He thought their branches looked beautiful dusted with snow—shimmering in the moonlight.  He shared the story with his family, and put candles on his own solstice evergreen.

One more Christmas tree fact

A Christmas tree may have played a part in the Revolutionary War.  On a bitter cold Christmas Eve in Trenton, New Jersey in 1776, a group of Hessian mercenaries caught sight of candlelit evergreens.  They were so reminded of home, that they abandoned their guard posts to eat and celebrate the holiday.  This allowed George Washington and his men to attack and defeat them.

Christmas trees have a long and celebrated history… give that history to someone you love this holiday season with a Christmas Tree DaVinci Bead.

Are you looking for a new twist on mistletoe?  Here at Coppin’s Gifts, we have just the thing for you.  Kissing Krystals are a beautiful and elegant way to display your mistletoe.  Add a little sparkle to a classic tradition!

A beautiful holiday decoration

But why do we kiss under the mistletoe, anyway?

Washington Irving noted:  “The mistletoe is still hung up in farm-houses and kitchens at Christmas, and the young men have the privilege of kissing the girls under it, plucking each time a berry from the bush. When the berries are all plucked the privilege ceases.”

Kissing under the mistletoe is an ancient custom.  We find that it was done in ancient Celtic and Norse rituals.  For example, in Gaul, the land of the Celts, the Druids considered mistletoe to be a sacred plant.  They believed that it had medicinal qualities and supernatural powers.  Mistletoe was rare, so when they found it they gathered it.

In Norse mythology, the god of vegetation Baldur was restored to life after a long period of winter.  Mistletoe was a sacred and rare plant, and his resurrection was celebrated by kissing under the mistletoe.

Keep this complex and ancient tradition alive with a modern twist.  Decorate your home with Kissing Krystals!