Welcome back and happy holiday season to all! This edition of tips and tricks will be dedicated to the wonderful season of winter and all the fun that comes along with it. I hope you all are keeping warm this holiday season!
The holiday season is officially in full swing, which means lots of holiday parties! A great, fun gift for any party is to make “root deer.” It’s a play on root beer and will cost you no more than $7 to make. All you need to make this is brown pipe cleaners, googly eyes, red cotton balls, a glue gun and a six-pack of root beer. Wrap the pipe cleaners around the bottle caps of the root beer and glue the googly eyes and red cotton ball onto the top of the bottle to make a face. Voila- your very own root deer!
Another great gift idea is to use recycled, burnt out light bulbs to make ornaments. These are great as a cheap gift idea for friends and family and you can personalize them as much as you would like! All you need is a light bulb (old or new) and your choice of ribbon and paint. Paint the light bulb however you would like, then when dry wrap the ribbon around the bottom (which will now be the top) of your light bulb!
There are a few fun things to do during December in the C-U that would make great ideas or just a night out with friends! Head on over to Hardy’s Reindeer Ranch (there are REAL reindeer there… so cool!) or Candlestick Lane in Urbana where residents along Grant Place and parts of Eastern Drive and Fairlawn Drive in Urbana decorate their homes with approximately 50,000 lights! Get in the holiday spirit in the C-U and head on over!
If you are headed back to the Chicago area for break make sure you stop by the beautiful Millennium Park Ice Rink for a quick skate and hot chocolate. Tip: If you bring your own skates, then it is FREE and you can avoid the terribly long line of waiting for skate rentals. If you want to avoid the frigid temps that winter has brought us, head over to Winter WonderFest at Navy Pier. The Chicago Blackhawks Indoor Ice Skating Rink is back this year and there’s tons of food and entertainment, plus great views of the city from Navy Pier. Admission is free, though activity wristbands cost between $16-$20. Santa is supposed to be there this year along with Mrs. Claus, so make sure you drop in and say hello to them as well — and don’t forget to try the indoor zipline!