Growing up in the tropical weather makes you envious of those who enjoy a snowy white Christmas morning. Whether you choose to admit it or not, tropical people know what's going on, everyone's seen ‘It's a Wonderful Life' on the television on Christmas eve, and Christmas in general is associated with snow. We all know where the North Pole is located, especially the kids, so I don't have to spell it out, but it's on the biggest iceberg in the Great White North. If you grew up in the tropics, have never seen snow, and wish you could do something extra fun this Christmas to knock the beach sandals off your little beach bums, then this article is for you.
Here's some cost effective ways to chill down your blazing hot Christmas, and give the kids one of the best white Christmas's they'll never forget.
Dream of Winter. First of all, you need to get yourself into a white snowy mood, suggestion while you're thinking, play some Christmas music about snow, and mix yourself a nice hot cup of tea, or cider, or even coffee. Take a seat in your favorite spot in your home, and look around, think of the decorations you already have, paying particular attention to where you put the tree, where the focal point is in your home when the guests come over for coffee. What type of lawn you have, bigger in the front, or the back, do you even have a lawn? That's a great place to start.
Now.
Lights. To get a really Christmasy type of feel, we need to tone down the colors, and add a lot of white. We'll get to the list in a minute, but first we need to think about lights, try to use the white fairy types, twinkling ones are great, try to avoid the highly decorative colored ones, until we get to the final touches, if you are really stuck on color.
Here's a list of items that would come in handy when you're revamping your decorations.
Quilt batting. A bag of quilt batting is a great cover for under the tree, it's fire retardant, and looks like snow. You can also use quilt batting to line the top of banisters, shelves, piano tops, anywhere that's not in the way, and has some height where it will catch the eye. There are tree-skirts available that look like quilt batting, and have sparkles, and are quite pretty, in working with the snow theme, but if you can't find any, quilt batting works just as great, or a fake white fur blanket.
Sparkles with Glitter. 
For a snowy effect, you would want to use the white glitter, it looks like snow, you can also use silver glitter, and for pieces you want to stand out, you can add a little touch of gold. You can go all day applying sparkles and the more you do, the more glamorous the decorations become. You can dress up old tree bulbs, you can sprinkle glitter on the quilt batting, you can dress up Christmas bows, poinsettias, plastic fruit from the craft store, holly, mistletoe, wreaths, even the branches of your Christmas tree.
Next.
Garland. If you are a fan of garland, even the fake kind, twisting a golden or silver sparkly craft ribbon around the garland, and then adding a layer of some quilt batting, with white fairy lights. For the snowy effect, hide the fairy lights under the cotton, gently stretch a small piece over the light, just enough to conceal the wires, (make sure the cotton is fire retardant, and leave the lights on for a day without, to make sure there are no defects.) The results are amazing.
Decorate an Arbor. 
An arbor at your front door, inside, outside, in the yard, will amaze all your visitors. A simple garden arbor, decorated with shrub net lights, a few fiber optic lights first. Then go over the lights with strands of garland, strands of holly, strands of poinsettias, what ever you can find. Add some silver bells, little gold and silver, and some red Christmas tree bulbs, bows, decorated boxes tiny sized, until the holes look just about filled, but not overly filled, as less is more. But fill it with as much foliage as you can. Then apply the quilt batting over the arbor, letting the flowers stick through the snow, let the lights hide just enough behind it, and let the netting droop just enough over the top to resemble a snowy top. Add some really huge bulbs, or bells, or mistletoe in the inside hanging down just above your head. And when she lights up, she looks like she's from the North Pole. Dangling icicle lights will also add an amazing affect. Use your imagination, but remember to go slowly, add things one at a time and place them carefully, careful planning, makes it look neat. Stretch the quilt batting gently, and try to tuck it into the arbor as if it fell there. Don't put it on too thick, or the lights won't show, or the flowers.
White linen. Or Lace Drape it over your sofa, chairs or cushions in your dinning room, use a white linen table cloth, replace colored afghans with white ones. White roses in your table center, with silver bows, and white glitter on the leaves. Use white candles, in silver or gold candle holders, and cover the base with either quilt batting or fake white fur. Winter white placemats and even use snow angels or little snowmen, (directions to come) or simple white lace for napkin ring holders. Using gold or silver bows in your centerpiece will look amazing. And if you have a glass table top, put some white lights under the table, a little garland as described above, and even add an interesting focal point in the middle, tie them together as if on a clothes line, close to the glass, and even use those suction cups to stick the bottom of the table. The lights, and garland will stick to it, and light up your dinning room elegantly.
Archways and Windows. Put soft white fairy lights around the archways of your rooms, and you can add garland, or a simple thin fake vine. If you paint the vine white, and add some glitter to it, it will give a gorges affect.
White Candles. Put white candles in your windows, the fake candles with bulbs work great, and you can leave them on. It's safer then real candles.
Angels decorated with white feathers, and fake fur, or even white velvet add warmth to any Christmas display. Note the candle in her hand, it's a bulb candle, and you can get them easily on eBay.
Lawn. If you are looking to decorate your lawn, and have chosen to keep the arbor outdoors, good for you, if it's inside, it will look magnificent from the outside looking in when it's lit up at night. Having a nice red carpet, or one made of fake white fur would be a nice touch.
Artic Animals. 
Using Christmas themes look great on your front lawn. Things like a lit up polar bear, or a white lit up reindeer, or even get a Santa suit, and stuff him with quilt batting, and put him in a chair by the arbor. You can get a rubber mask and wig at places like the San Francisco Store, or novelty stores and stuff it, too. You can even put penguins on the front lawn, there are many different types sold on the market. This year we decorated bowling pins and used fake fur, they turned out gorges.
Front Yard. You can get creative and put fake white roses in your window, spray snow snowflakes, put garland around your front window with the quilt batting and white lights, white or gold or even red berries and flowers. Set up white flood lights facing the house, florescent black party lights would really make the snow stand out.
Picket Fence. 
A nice white picket fence with white fairy lights looks wintery at night. Adding that to your front porch, over the garage, or anywhere you put lights will give a soft glow to your house.
Christmas Projector. Using a Christmas projector is another way of adding a soft delightful glow to your home. You can also purchase, (link at bottom of email) a projector light that actually looks like it's snowing when you point it at your house.
One of the hot ticket items of this years decorations are the 6ft snow globes. They actually snow inside, some light up, some rotate, but all are gorges. They have ones with snowmen, Santa's, Pooh bear, the variety is endless, and quality is amazing. (link at bottom, to where you can find one that's inexpensive, and the shipping in the US is free.)
Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow. Another great fun thing to do for your kids come Christmas morning, is get yourself some snow. It's not as expensive as you would think.
In shopping around, I found that a fake snow machine isn't that expensive, and what better way to add the brrrr of winter to your north pole lawn, than to have a blizzard for the kids to play in. (the link's at the bottom). I looked at quite a few different brands of snow machines, there are a variety of different types, different priced, and I did some research on the results of a few of them.
Here's the results.
Antari Snow Machine. 
This is a picture of my snow machine. According to my research, whether you pay 10 grand or $150.00, or $40.00, which is what this one goes for on eBay, they all do the same thing, emit tiny white bubbles, that look like snow, but isn't snow. (You can purchase ones that use shaved ice, but then you are talking about 30 grand or more, those are big kahonas, and that's getting away from the cost effective way to have fun.) The tiny bubbles, after being elevated, usually on the eves of your house or garage, depending the size of the machine you buy, as each machine covers a different amount of area, it's always listed in the specs. But they all, cheaply priced, or expensive, have the same results, they are blowing tiny bubbles on you, that for the products I researched, are non toxic, non flammable, and all say don't eat it, or let it get into your eyes.
* Notes to watch for. Snow machines, no matter what size, can cover your yard with a glorious snowstorm. Now, with some products you can specify the amount of snowflakes you want to fall. Other ones have a remote control. Some have timers. And one thing to watch for, is the size of the tank. Some tanks are smaller than others, and refilling is a pain when the machine is elevated. You can also buy automatic refillers, if you plan on using the product often.
The downer from the snow machine, is that it doesn't stay on the ground. It melts as soon as it touches the ground, but makes the air look amazing, as it really looks like a snowstorm brewing out there.
What to play with, if you can't with a snowstorm?
The kids are going to want to play, they will want to give you a brain freeze by whacking you upside the head with a snowball. They will want to build a snow angel, or a snowman. How ever can that be possible?
Oh it's possible my friends.
I did a little more digging, and leaning more towards what movie producers tend to do, is what I'm going to let you in on.
The snow is already on the ground, while the snow machine is blowing.
Where do you get the snow?
The links at the bottom, but here's the scoop of snow, just for you. I bought a bag and tried it out, and it's some pretty cool stuff.
Fake Snow Ground Cover. It's called polymer, and it looks, and feels like real snow. It comes in a powder form, and all you do is add water. With any snow product, using distilled water makes the snow whiter, and last longer. It stays wet for days, and the bigger the quantity you make, the more snow the kids have to play in. It's not cold, but you can freeze it, but he illusion of it being cold is what makes it soooo fun!
Neither the snow machine or ground snow is recommended indoors. They leave a residue of white, they suggest you rake it up when you're done, and put it in the garden. It's biodegradable, and great for tropical gardens, because it keeps in moisture, it's what gardeners use. You can also let it dry up, and reuse it next year. Or, you can get out the hose, wet it down, and you've got snow again. I suggest buying a really big white tarp, and laying it down on the ground where the snows going to be put, or even putting the snow in a plastic swimming pool, or empty sand box. It's easier to keep clean, and the kids don't care, they are gonna have a blast.
With the combination of the snow machine blowing, the ground covered with snow, the little beach bums will race outside Christmas morning, screaming with delight, and spend the entire day having a blast, playing on their first White Christmas morning.
For some little touches, you can use the fake snow inside the house, put some on the table where Santa came to eat his cookies. If you don't mind to vacuum, put some of the snow indoors, to look like Santa's boot marks going across the hallway. Just because, that stuff is really, really slippery to step on, don't put it where the kids will race over it, and knock themselves silly.
For another added touch, after they go to bed, put some silver tinsel strands on the tree, add some quilt batting or the fake plastic snow flakes you can get at any craft store, to resemble a freshly fallen snow on the tree.
The Fireplace. 
One of the greatest things about a winter white Christmas is the fireplace. Fake fireplaces, with heaters are kinda pricey, but if you look on eBay, you might land yourself a bargain. There are easy ways to compensate if you don't happen to come across a pot belly stove. For one thing, fake flames, and logs are easy to come by, (again with the link at the bottom), you can simulate a fake fire easily with a few simple tools.
I was lucky and perchanced across a fireplace hearth screen, and by setting it in the corner, with the fake flames behind, voila, there was a gorges fire burning. The fake flames are only a light, they are safe, they don't make your house hot, and there's something so relaxing about a blazing fireplace, and the snow blowing outside. If you get lucky, you can even find a fake fire place, that's not a heater, but is for Christmas, and that would be amazing as well.
Another tip. If you get your snow machine going at night, with the flood lights switched to a black light, your entire yard will light up, and the entire street will think a snow storm is a coming.
Add a few of your own ideas, and may all your Christmas's be white.
Throw a dinner party, don't tell your guests the forecast calls for snow, and watch their eyes light up with joy as they walk beneath your snowy arbor, into your winter wonderland yard, and home. Put on some hot apple cider, use some Christmas scented potpourri, use your fine white china, serve cool whip, or vanilla ice cream for desert, and watch the kids after supper have fun playing in the snow.
Links as promised.
Search eBay
SNOW FLAKE LIGHT FLURRIES CHRISTMAS OUTDOOR PROJECTOR. This one is a beauty. It has a gorges picture of how the projector looks, making a snow storm on your house, and it also has a great picture of the light you are buying.
Search eBay
Here's the sellers store. Search eBay
Christmas Picture Projector. Now for a fun Projector, that actually has pictures, (there are a variety of Disney ones available as well) go to eBay, and type in Christmas Projector. Not only will you get a whole host of projectors, you will also get some great packages of slides. The slides are for all occasions. Mine has Christmas, Halloween, Saint Patty's Day, Fourth of July, Baby showers, Easter.. Point it at your garage door, or the side of your house and have a huge image, just like bat man.
*What to look for. Be aware when shopping for one, they do different things. Mine rotates, the picture spins slowly, making for an interesting effect. And as with all of these wonderful toys, always check for remote control, that makes it so much easier to use.
Giant Snow Globe. According to my research, when looking for a giant snowglobe, Gemmy is the brand name to trust. This link has some excellent prices, the shipping is the right price, and their snow globes are made by Gemmy.
Snow Globes Featuring Dora the Explorer, the average price is around $40.00, with free shipping in the US.
http://www.buysantasuitsonline.com/productidG-10799-78.htm
Other Snowglobes, that are 12" high and higher.
http://www.buysantasuitsonline.com/catalog458.htm
Also, here is the Frosty the Snowman I bought on eBay. If you are looking for special edition snowglobes, like the Original Frosty The Snowman, from the first Frosty Cartoon, then this is the store for you. Or a light up Pooh Bear Snow Globe, how about the Grinch? He's gorges! This place in
Michigan is great to deal with, I even bought one for myself, and one for my dad. The name of the store in
Michigan is Airblown Inflatable Blowups, and their eBay store is called, fbinflatables.
Search eBayNow if you buy it on eBay, it'll cost you around $40.00 US, not including shipping and the snow fluid.
According to my research, Antari is the most trusted brand for DJ equipment, and the DJ equipment stores (easily found on eBay), are the ones to go to, for a fake snow machine, and refills on your fluid. Antari also sells, fog machines, bubble machines, (which use the same liquid as the snow, but the bubble machine makes huge bubbles.) There are foam machines, that's like taking the entire crowd in for one huge bubble bath together. You can combine the snow and fog machine, to create a really stormy night. You can also buy scented fog, (I personally have rose, apple, peach, and strawberry), and you can purchase scented snow. You can buy the scent separate, which is the smarter thing to do, (search scented snow in eBay) because if you scented snow buy the bottle, you have to pay a lot of money for shipping all that water. If you buy the snow/fog/bubbles/foam in powder form, and add distilled water, you can make what you need as you go, and scent it according to the theme, it will last you forever. I did find some nice Christmas Morning scent for the snow at snowmasters. I wouldn't recommend scented snow for the kids, as snow has no scent, and any with allergies of asthma might not want to be around a scent, but for a Christmas display, to make it smell like a real woodsy fresh winter morning, it's fabulous.
If you are geared to spending a little more money than the snow machine above, the best place, according to my research, is Snow Masters. These guys know how to make it snow, and they have the best snow fluid in the market. This is where you can get the scented snow, the UV snow, the liquid snow, ground cover snow, you name it snow. Their stuff is used in Malls, for store displays, and the big wigs pay the big bucks for their products. They have an excellent site, because they explain everything you need to know about their products. The fluids, the different types of machines, and wow, do they have some pretty amazing stuff. They are worth checking out. Their prices run around 1500.00 and up. Their machines are bigger than the Antari listed above, and cover a wider area, but still are tiny bubbles, not shaved ice.
http://snowmasters.com/solutions.php
They even have the cutest little snowman, that blows fake snow from his pipe, scroll down this link to see him. He isn't that expensive, and is gorges, but if you look at the snowman, also look up the help files, as a lot of people have had problems with the snowman, that is easily solvable by following their instructions.
http://snowmasters.com/products.php
Fake Ground Snow
This stuff is amazing! And it's cheap to buy! I bought mine on eBay, and love, love, love it! It couldn't look and feel more like snow, than if it was snow. One seller on eBay is called Onlinesciencemall. I haven't dealt with these guys, but they do have good ratings, and the price of 16.99 for one pound that makes 8 gallons of snow. The only thing about their description, is that they don't tell you that adding food coloring to your snow is frowned upon by most sellers, as it stains really badly. They also don't warn you that the sun will dry it up, and it's best in the shade. The UV of the sun will break down the snow, and it won't be reusable after that.
http://stores.ebay.com/OnlineScienceMall
Snowmasters.com also sells the fake ground snow, they also sell snow pellets, snow blankets, snow fog, mist, and a whole host of related products.
www.snowmasters.com
I found another seller in Australia, who are called snowfactoryaustralia, ships worldwide, that has a great photo display for their fake snow, with good warning signs, and is worth checking out.
Search eBay
Fake Fireplace. 
The one in the picture is a Dimplex Fireplace, and is easily found on eBay. I've owned three different Dimplex Fireplaces, and swear by the brand name. There are also some excellent fake fireplace mantels that are sold in Texas. I did find a seller on eBay is called choodak22, and he has some nice fake fireplace logs, no stove, just the logs for about $40.00. They light up, and look fabulous.
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZchoodak22
* If you type in Fake Fireplace, or Faux Fireplace in eBay, you'll get a nice list.
Peace and Love this coming Season, to all of you.
Written by: Sacreeta
tweet this!