How to make your own rainbow menorah out of tissue paper and tea light holders
This colorful, modern take on the Hanukkah menorah is great for small spaces, and crafts up very quickly. Tissue paper lends a beautiful mosaic look.
Gifts for only the most black-hearted bad asses
Welcome to the forth edition of the Offbeat Home gift guides. This gift roundup was pretty fun to put together, because while I may be a total nerd, I definitely have a dark soul. So welcome to my roundup of gifts to get your black-hearted, bad-ass, totally-fucked-up-in-a-good way loved ones.
Gifts for the outdoorsy and adventurous types who won’t tell you what they want
Bird asked: “Anyone have ideas for what to get outdoorsy and fairly minimalist people?” Ooh ooh! Me! I do! I LOVE shopping for outdoorsy people because the products are usually so useful and creative, and then creatively useful. Here are my favorites for all the outdoorsy, adventurous, and travel-fiend types — brothers, sisters, parents, best friends, co-workers, etc.
Gifts for people you really like but hardly know
Holiday shoppers, stop stressing: Offbeat Home has gotchu covered this year. All this week we’ll be bringing you helpful Homie shopping guides. First up: gifts for people you like but don’t know that well. This can be co-workers, perhaps a couple of in-laws, what about your trainer or tutor? These things will please EVERYONE, and make you look like you give a shit about ‘ol what’s-his-name.
Where can I get geeky holiday cards?
Where can I find really nice geeky holiday cards? I want to order them in bulk to send out to my whole address list, but most of what I find on Etsy is photo cards (which my partner begged me not to make him do, at least until we have kids) or single cards that are $3.50/piece.
Have yourself a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
Are you too broke to fly home for Thanksgiving? Do you, like me, not know how to cook a Thanksgiving meal for yourself? Homie BobbityBets has a brilliant idea: throw an easy-peasy Charlie Brown-style Thanksgiving!
Midnight Thanksgiving: Our Non-Traditional Family Tradition
My first job in Portland was overnight stocking for a big box retailer. It wasn’t long before I started meeting more transplants like me, who couldn’t get the time off to fly home for the holidays, or just plain had nowhere to go. I wanted to invite everyone over, but there was also the nagging fact that while we did get Thanksgiving Day off, most of us would have to be at work before sunrise the day after Thanksgiving. Since we were all night owls anyhow, I offered to have everyone over on the Wednesday night before the holiday. And so the idea of Midnight Thanksgiving was born.
How do we celebrate ALL holidays this season?
My family of three is still very young, but we’re trying to beat our own path as best we can. We’ve recently (gently) let go of our religious upbringings, and we’re trying to see things through a broader scope. With the holidays coming up, I’d like celebrate with a more open mind. How do other “offbeat” families out there incorporate other cultures into their holiday festivities to form their own traditions?