christmas

Same-day Flowers to 150 Countries

Filed under: Decor

If you're like me, you might have had a panic attack when you finally realized that it's already the middle of December and you haven't done any holiday shopping yet. If you're even more like me, then you're hopeless when it comes to picking out gifts for friends and family. Thankfully, there are some classic standbys out there to help you get through your holiday shopping with as little stress as possible.

In this season of extreme home decorating, everyone can appreciate a lovely flower arrangement. Flora2000 is a high-end flower delivery service offering same-day deliveries to 150 countries, and I'm in love with their bouquets. Even if you've put off your holiday shopping until the last minute, you can still get gorgeous gifts sent out ahead of Santa's sleigh. Whether you're ordering flowers for local delivery or overseas shipment, you'll be amazed by Flora2000's speedy service, and the arrangements are top-of-the-line.

In addition to over 3,000 floral arrangements, Flora2000 offers a wide selection of gourmet gift boxes and chocolates.

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Tags: chocolates, christmas, flora2000, floral-arrangements, flowers, gift-baskets, gifts, holidays, roses

Swarovksi Holiday Ornament 2008

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor

No snowflakes are alike and so Swarovski offers a different snowflake for each year to celebrate the holiday season. The Holiday Ornament, Annual Edition 2008 has chosen a faceted-crystal snowflake with a blue satin ribbon and a small silver-tone tag with year of issue 2008. It retails for $75 and is available at Swarovski boutiques nationwide. Swarovski is donating $250,000 from the sales of its Annual Edition holiday ornament to Clothes Off Our Backs to benefit children's charities worldwide.

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Tags: christmas, crystal, holiday, ornament, swarovski

Get Your Christmas Spirit At The Biltmore

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events

If you need a quick dose of the Christmas spirit, a tour of the Biltmore, the largest privately owned home in the U.S in Asheville, North Carolina might help. The estate and grounds include more than 100 decorated trees, 1,000 wreaths and bows, 1,800 poinsettias and thousands of ornaments and lights. It's pretty hard to hold onto your humbuggery amidst the elegant spectacle of this grand estate wreathed in holiday magic.

Individual rooms are decorated according to a theme that changes each year, this year it's "Christmas Traditions from Around the World," which turns each room into a microcosm of Christmas traditions in a country. The estate also hosts "Christmas Candlelight Evenings" which feature entertainment by carolers, ballet dancers and puppeteers. Free seminars for daytime guests through Nov. 23, offer instruction on subjects such as decorating your home and tree, making a gingerbread house, pairing wine and cheese, and crafting a wreath or centerpiece. Admission for adults starts at $55.

[via USA Today]

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Tags: asheville, biltmore, christmas, holiday, north carolina, NorthCarolina

NYC Holiday Hotel Packages for Every Traveler

by Lisa Palladino (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Luxury Travel & Hotels, Services, Events, Holiday Guides

Holidays in New York City can be a lot of things: charming, classic, thrilling ... overwhelming, chaotic, expensive. While some travelers arrive in search of the quintessential Silver Bells experience, others may want to discover something new or stick within a budget. Luxist's friends at Nancy J. Friedman Public Relations, Gabrielle Etrog Cohen and Gina Masullo, came up with a comprehensive list of places to go and things to do for all NYC travelers as well as package deals, including hotels.

THE FAMILY: Crowd-pleasers for all ages-within a budget.

The show: The Off-Broadway production of The Gazillion Bubble Show is the first and only interactive stage production of its kind, complete with fantastic light effects, lasers, and jaw-dropping masterpieces of bubble artistry.

The sites: Gawking at the Macy's displays, a visit with the polar bears in Central Park, photo ops at the Rockefeller Center tree.

The meal: Dim Sum Go Go offers more than 24 kinds of dumplings, plus four variations on the dough-wrapper theme, four sauces, and microwave-safe takeout containers. Kids will love the creative finger food and parents will love the dim sum delicacies (beet flavored dumplings?).

The hotel: Apple Core Hotels -- a family-friendly vibe in the city's most exciting neighborhood.

The deal: Apple Core Hotels invites guests to explore New York -- including a trip to Toys "R" Us Times Square to create a stuffed animal at the Filled-With-Love interactive design shop. Apple Core's "Filled with Love" package is available January 2 - February 14, starts at $159.99 and includes accommodations in the heart of New York City, stuffed animal and breakfast, and in-room coffee. Children under 13 stay free.

For more packages, click on the continued link.

Gallery: NYC Holiday Hotel Packages for Every Traveler

Tags: Christmas, holidays, hotel packages, HotelPackages, hotels, New York, New York City, NewYork, NewYorkCity, NYC

Continue reading “NYC Holiday Hotel Packages for Every Traveler”

Selfridges's Luxurious New Wares For Christmas

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

London department store Selfridges in London has unveiled their luxurious new Christmas offerings which will go on sale starting next month. The store is releasing their first toy collection which is topped by a limited edition Steiff teddy bear that will have eyes of emeralds surrounded by diamonds, a 24K gold snout and fur that is entwined with gold leaf. The bear comes with a Mont Blanc pen with an ink pot filled with liquid gold. The bear will be made to order ith an example sitting in a glass box in Selfridge's flagship London store and will cost
£43,000.

Other items in the Selfridges Christmas collection include a £15,000 cashmere dressing gown, jeweled Champagne bottles and an Alexander McQueen that costs £29,530 and resembles a Faberge egg.

Gallery: Selfridges Christmas

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Tags: christmas, selfridges, steiff, teddy bear

Sting's Christmas Hamper

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining, Celebrity Shopping

Sting's wife Trudie put together a few Christmas hampers (well, 100 of them actually) filled with hand-selected items from the couple's country estate in Wiltshire, England and they've become insanely popular. Available in London at Selfridges, the hampers included a variety of organic goodies including a bottle of champagne, a Christmas cake, beetroot chutney, a couple of beeswax candles, and a chocolate coin. There were 9 treats total in the $300 hampers, and they must have be good because they've already sold out -- with "a number" of them going to Sharon Osbourne.

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Tags: Christmas, Christmas hamper, ChristmasHamper, hamper, holidash, holiday, holidays, osbourne, sharon osbourne, SharonOsbourne, sting, Trudie Styler, TrudieStyler

What Did Katie Get Tom For Christmas?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Celebrity Shopping

One of the perks of being married to Tom Cruise has to be the shopping. Since Katie Holmes met and married the diminutive action star she's logged so much time at Barney's they should thank her in their annual business report. Recently though, it was the Beverly HIlls Neiman Marcus that got the Katie touch. In Touch reports that she had a $300 lunch with friends there on December 15 and then went on a massive shopping adventure that totaled around $100,000. Katie's picks includes a $30,000 rose-gold Cartier wristwatch, a black Giorgio Armani suit for $5,400, Gucci snakeskin sneakers for $990, a Prada ski coat for $1,395 and four pairs of Barker Black handmade English shoes at $825 each all for her hubby.

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Tags: christmas, holidash, katie holmes, tom cruise, TomCruise

Mandarin Oriental Tokyo Luxury Christmas Package

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

We've covered a $150,000 hotel offer in New York but if your Christmas travels take you to Japan, you can hole up in the a luxury hotel in Tokyo for a one-of-a-kind Christmas that costs $130,000. The Mandarin Oriental Tokyo is offering a Christmas suite that is decorated with a small tree with diamonds. The package also includes a bath with fresh roses, vintage champagne, and a breakfast with truffles. The package comes with limo service, a spa treatment and a gourmet dinner that is served in the dining room of the presidential suite. Much of the money you spend you get to take home with you, in the form of diamond jewelry worth around $108,000.

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Tags: christmas, holidash, japan, luxury hotel, mandarin oriental, MandarinOriental, tokyo

What Do Billionaires Want For Christmas?

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Gadgets, Yachts & Sailing

What does a billionaire want for Christmas? And what does he or she buy for billionaire friends and family? Obviously anybody with that much money already has pretty much everything that can be bought with said money, so it should be no surprise that on the top of the list is one of the few things that can't: time spent with family. Yacht charters, ski trips, and other family vacations are some of the hottest items this holiday season, but other popular gifts for the uber-wealthy include commissioned biographies and personalized gifts to unique or meaningful charities.

And of course there's always that guy who wants the NM Gem Triton 1000 Submarine for $1,440,000. Go figure.

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Tags: billionaire, billionaires, christmas, gift, gifts, holidash, holidays, millionaire, millionaires, NM Gem Triton Submarine, NmGemTritonSubmarine

The Flatpack Christmas Tree

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, Green

I'm all for live, green, piney-smelling needle-dropping Christmas trees myself, but if you're not then this Flatpack Christmas Tree might be an interesting option. I'm not sure what kind of home decor this sort of tree would look best in -- I'm thinking something contemporary, but it's awfully plain and unexciting looking. And how do you decorate it? I have to say I think it makes one ugly Christmas tree, but as a general decor item it could be really cool. Available from Büro North in 3 sizes ranging from 1' to 7.5' it may be eco-friendly but that doesn't mean it's cheap: $1414 for the full-sized version.

Via Gizmodo

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Tags: Christmas, Christmas tree, ChristmasTree, eco-friendly, environmentally friendly, EnvironmentallyFriendly, Flatpack, green, holidash

$150,000 "Christmas Key to the City" Package

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Services

Too many people out there dread the holidays in part because spending so much time with family is exhausting, but maybe you'd feel differently if you were enjoying the Buckingham Hotel's "Christmas Key to the City" package with your loved ones. A little luxury (or in this case a LOT of luxury) makes everything better, right? The package includes the following:

A gold and diamond Christmas key to New York City
Transportation to events in a private Christmas-themed Amtrak car and a white vintage Rolls-Royce
A penthouse suite at the Buckingham Hotel decked out in Christmas decor, including a Swarovski crystal star tree topper keepsake and cashmere pj's for everyone.
Individual green iPods loaded with classic Christmas tunes.

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Tags: buckingham, buckingham hotel, BuckinghamHotel, christmas, family package, FamilyPackage, holidash, key to the city, KeyToTheCity, new york, new york city, NewYork, NewYorkCity, ny, nyc, package

Continue reading “$150,000 "Christmas Key to the City" Package”

Rockwell's Santa Should Bring Big Bucks

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

Perhaps the ultimate holiday decoration might be a piece of art going up for sale on November 29th as part of Christie's sale of American paintings, art and sculpture. The painting, Extra Good Boys and Girls, by Norman Rockwell, is one of Rockwell's Christmas pictures for the Saturday Evening Post. Santa is shown using pushpin flags to create a path with destinations across the Pacific and throughout the Americas. The map alludes to the spread of Christmas throughout the world and the holiday's power to bring together friends, families and people from diverse backgrounds. The painting is estimate to sell for up to $3.5 million.

Other lots includes works from Georgia O'Keeffe, Edward Hopper and both bronzes and paintings depicting the American West from Frederic Remington. The sale is expected to bring in more than $59 million.

UPDATE: Santa sold for $2.17 million.

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Tags: christie's, christmas, holidash, norman rockwell, santa

Oprah's Favorite Things 2007

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Celebrity Shopping, Holiday Guides

One of the ultimate compliments that can be paid to a product is a seal of approval from one of the most influential women alive: Oprah Winfrey. Getting on her "Oprah's Favorite Things" list has got to be a nice feeling and a nice boost for sales -- even for already well-established brands and products. It must be nice for Oprah to have people so interested in sharing her personal preferences in everything from electronics to cupcakes that it warrants a whole show. and (generous spirit that she is) she of course gave all these goodies to one lucky live audience in Macon, Georgia. Oh to be part of that group on that day -- they cleaned up!
Gallery: Oprah's Favorite Things 2007

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Tags: celeb, celebrities, celebrity, celebs, christmas, favorite things, FavoriteThings, gift, gifts, holidash, holiday, holidays, oprah, oprah winfrey, OprahWinfrey, shopping

Santa Claus Made of Pure Gold

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor

Gaudy? Flashy? Over-the-top? These are terms that come to my mind when looking at this Santa made of pure gold, but I'm sure somebody out there has a completely different take. Somebody is going to love this golden Santa so much they'll be willing to dish out almost $2 millions dollars to have it. Or at least that's what a store in Tokyo is hoping, as they've got not just one but two of these beauties going up for sale between December 21st and 25th. And they've even said they're willing to make more if people pre-order them (warning: they take 3 months each to make!).

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Tags: christmas, gold, golden, holidash, holiday, holidays, santa

Marzipan Santa

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

As with so many of the treats we find at Dean & Deluca these are probably too precious to actually eat. The polar bear Santa and his three penguin helpers are hand-sculpted in marzipan by pastry artist Rebecca Russell. Of course they can be eaten but why not have them as a table centerpiece first at a holiday party so everyone can appreciate them. The set sells for $45.

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Tags: candy, christmas, decoration, holidash, marzipan, santa

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