How to Make Mini Floating Shelves

Host a Candy Cane Lane party with this sweet and colorful backdrop. (via Etsy)

Dried Orange Garland

String dried oranges with twine for garlands, attach them to gifts, or use them as natural ornaments on your tree.

Festive Charcuterie Board

Serve up the most festive charcuterie board with gingerbread, pomegranate, chocolate, rosemary, and candy canes!

Create a Christmas Tree Arch for your photo backdrop with real or artificial garland.

Buy or DIY these adorable cups for your holiday party. (via My Mind's Eye)

Dress up your tree for a very demure, very mindful holiday party. (via Etsy)

Bring a little dance floor vibe to your holiday door with this disco wreath. (via Brit + Co)

If you’re looking for a colorful, swoon-worthy backdrop for your dessert table, you can’t go wrong with a wall covered in honeycomb shapes. How pretty are those jewel tones with pops of gold? (via Sugar & Cloth)

Instead of Santa or reindeer, turn your tree into an homage to everything awesome about the ’90s, including Koosh balls (‘member those?). (via Aww Sam)

This tribute to our fave legal blonde is now our new favorite holiday decoration. Invite some friends over, and make one together! (via Brit + Co)

Foil-wrapped chocolates will make these pretty trees the main attraction. Line them up along the mantel or use them as an inexpensive table centerpiece at your holiday dinner. (via Brit + Co)

DIY queens will love the idea of putting their own spin on ornaments. Stock up on plain glass balls at the dollar store and let your friends have a blast coming up with holiday puns. They can then take their handiwork home at the end of the night as a fun party favor. (via Brit + Co)

Peace, love, and peppermint! These candy cane gift boxes are a breeze to put together. Fill ’em with chocolate truffles dunked in pink chocolate and sprinkled with crushed candy canes. (via Brit + Co)

A disco ball tree beats vacuuming up pine needles any day. It’s bold, it’s glam, and it’s actually pretty easy to put together. (via Studio DIY)

Glass Ball Terrariums

Fill these glass ball ornaments with pine stems, snow, gift bows, even sprinkles for your festive decor!

Marble backdrop with tiny packages full of goodies? Now you’re well on your way to counting down to Santa’s arrival in style. (via Brit + Co)

Don’t forget the hot chocolate! You need all the fixings, though: marshmallows, whipped cream, sprinkles, and even a little caramel drizzle. (via PMQ for two)

Let these beauties bounce across the floor, bunch them together for a photo shoot, or hang them on your porch. (via Studio DIY)

Decorate your tree with gold stars, red ribbon, and soft sage leaves for an extra pop of texture. Then follow this DIY to recreate the soft pastel ombre ornaments. So pretty. (via A Kailo Chic Life)

Channel warm holiday vibes with this crafty ornament. (via Club Crafted)

It doesn’t get much more festive than a bar cart full of presents and gold barware. Layered garlands and mini bottle brush trees create punchy decor accents for any holiday get-together.(via Sugar & Cloth)

Give that punch bowl set you found at the thrift store a new lease on life with metallic paints. (via Design Improvised)

Don’t pass up a chance to put a fresh spin on this party staple. Just add gumdrops, candy wheels, and sugar dust! (via Studio DIY)

No need for a tree when you have this festive cactus tree! (via Sugar & Cloth)

String these on the tree, hang them across the mantel, or use them as a photo booth prop. These light bulb garlands can do it all. The best part is that you can totally customize the colors! (via Studio DIY)

Round up a group of friends for a spur-of-the-moment holiday wrap party. Make sure to get plenty of tape at the store, then warm up your printer and go crazy with this tropical-themed gift wrap. (via Studio DIY)

Simple, colorful, and DIY — all of our favorite things! This easy balloon backdrop will transform any blank wall — and the tree! — into a breathtaking party scene. (via A Kailo Chic Life)

Deck out your bar cart for the holidays with some swag and swap out your wine glasses for something gilded to show off your signature Christmas cocktail. (via Brit + Co)

It’s not a party until the confetti shows up. Pop the bubbly, then pop these DIY confetti cannons to kick off your bash in style. (via Brit + Co)

THEME IDEAS

If you’re going with good old-fashioned snail mail this season, nothing beats a handwritten holiday card. Throw a party dedicated to hand-lettered addresses and actual stamp-licking. Check out the Brit + Co x Moonpig Holiday Collection too! (via Brit + Co)

Skip the grand festivities in favor of a cozy night in with the people you love. Order in pizza, break out the Trader Joe's wine, and get ready to share some hilariously weird and wacky gifts. (via Brit + Co)

Give everyone a reason to wear their cute holiday sweaters without needing to shop for something they'll never wear again. (via Brit + Co)

Gift Wrap Gathering

Grab your besties for a night of warm cocoa, gift wrapping, and holiday festivities at your house. Stock up on pretty wrapping paper and cool DIY gift toppers for a fun gift wrapping extravaganza.

Turn your tree lighting into the main event. Invite your pals over for coffee and cocktails, then get your decorating on by DIYing a few baubles. You can even ask everyone to bring one DIY ornament with a prize for the most creative! (via Brit + Co)

@k.ard Medicine Ball for only $1.69 each! #medicineball#fluseason#coldseason#starbucksdupe#budgettok#SephoraConcealers#DrPepperTuitionContest#halloween#fall2022♬ Halloween - KenZie DarkStar

TikTok always makes recipes look effortless. So, I took this trusty tutorial into our own hands to compare how good an at-home Medicine Ball could really be against the real one from Starbucks.

Ingredients for the Starbucks Medicine Ball Drink

• Teavana Peach Tranquility Tea Bags
• Teavana Jade Citrus Mint Tea Bags
• Honey
• Lemonade

How can I make a Medicine Ball at home?

1. Heat 1 cup of lemonade in the microwave for 45 seconds to a minute.
2. Add 1 cup of hot water and stir in 1 tablespoon honey.
3. Add one bag of Peach Tranquility and one bag of Jade Citrus Mint, then steep for a few minutes.
4. Enjoy your Medicine Ball!

How I Made The Starbucks Medicine Ball At Home

First, I embarked on an ever-iconic Target run to gather my copycat Starbucks Medicine Ball recipe ingredients. Since they were out of the exact Teavana teas I needed to replicate the TikTok recipe, I picked up two similar ones: first, the Good & Gather Organic Peach Honey Tea, and the Good & Gather Organic Mint Tea. I also picked up a jug of lemonade, and planned to use the honey I already had at home. All together, the three ingredients I needed ended up costing me about $9.50.

Step 1: Heat Lemonade

I measured a cup of lemonade, and just popped my Starbucks mug in the microwave for a minute.

Step 2: Add Water and Honey

While the lemonade was in the microwave, I set some water on in my electric kettle. Once both liquids were heated up, I measured a cup of water and combined it in the mug with a tablespoon of honey. Yum!

Step 3: Steep Tea Bags

Then, I put the two teabags in the mixture to steep. The tea wasn't overly hot either, and I steeped them for about 3 minutes before giving my homemade Medicine Ball recipe a lil' sip.

Is the homemade version of the Medicine Ball as good as the one from Starbucks?

To my surprise, my homemade Medicine Ball recipe was extremely delicious, and it mimicked the Starbucks one so closely. Before tasting, I gave my tea a sniff, and the smell was pretty much identical to the drink made in stores. The flavor hit the exact same mark.

Overall, I rate my homemade Starbucks Medicine Ball a 4.7/5.

The only detracting factors are the temperature of the drink – Starbucks steams their lemonade to make the drink super hot, and mine wasn't nearly as piping. Of course, this is just personal preference, and next time, I can heat the lemonade for a longer duration, or reheat the drink altogether. Another reason for the minimal point deduction is the drink wasn't as sweet as I expected it to be. Again, this is a personal preference, and you can add as little or as much sweetener you desire!

All of this goes to say, that a homemade Starbucks Medicine Ball is just as yummy as the one you can get at a Starbucks cafe. By following the steps above, you can make a copycat recipe that's going to satisfy your hankering for a citrusy, hot tea!

7 Times You Should Never Send A Venmo Request

1. You don't always have to Venmo request someone for their coffee. Gasp!

I can't believe we're living in the land of $9 lattes, so I totally understand not being able to cover the tab every single time you meet a friend at a coffee shop. But if you haven't seen a friend in a long time, or, dare I say, you know they're struggling (whether it be emotionally or financially), cover the bill y'all! And if someone has opened their home to you? A coffee is the perfect thank you.

2. Don't ask to be paid back for small, generous favors.

Getting into the weeds of every little penny will turn any enjoyable activity into a nightmare. "I had a college friend who would Venmo request every person in the car for gas money when we would drive to the grocery store," one anonymous Brit + Co reader says. "Like girl, don’t offer to drive 15 minutes then."

A Reddit user also points out that asking to be paid back for a cheap favor can come off as rude. "$10 is less than 1 hour minimum wage," they says. "$30 maybe. $50 absolutely. If this became a habit, then sure. But you don't see each other regularly."

3. Don't send a Venmo request if you're helping someone who's sick.

If you've offered to help out a sick friend who can barely get out of bed, it's probably not appropriate to charge them for things like medicine, water bottles, and soup.

4. Definitely don't ask for money if you offered to cover the cost in the first place.

When I went to a movie and a friend offered to cover my soda? So kind! When they texted me the next day to ask I send them money? I was a little taken aback. I didn't mind paying for my own drink, of course, but I would have also appreciated some clearer communication...

5. Maybe don't send a Venmo charge if your friend is being generous in other areas.

I have to admit that I never realized how expensive it is to host friends. Well, one Reddit user explains that when they hosted some friends, and offered them food, one guest ended up sending a charge to cover just a couple of dollars.

"This is after I hosted her and was very generous with my time, home, and food," they say. "Charging me for crappy cheap grocery store muffins and a soda just feels like a slap in my face."

6. Do NOT send a Venmo request just to be passive aggressive.

Just like the idea that "it's only weird if you make it weird," relationships can get messy if you let them. Case in point: money situations aren't the time to be passive aggressive.

"I once quit my job at the college coffee shop to help open a local cafe and my former boss at the college...made me feel so bad for taking the new job, like I was betraying everyone," says photographer Brittany Melissa. "He randomly sent me a Venmo request charging me $1 for emotional stress. I cried. I ended up paying it and told him it upset me and then he sent a Venmo paying me $1.50 'for causing you emotional distress.'"

7. And you shouldn't send a Venmo request if you're just avoiding confrontation.

Friendship really is all about communication, and when you find yourself splitting a bill, make it clearer for everyone and actually discuss who's paying what.

"I’ve had friends in the past Venmo request me for food or for when we go out rather than messaging me & I feel like as a friend & someone I know & when dealing with money, it’s kinder to ask for the money rather than Venmo requesting," Brit + Co reader AspenGrace Ricks says. "When requesting on Venmo, it feels like there is more of an obligation to do it."

3 Times Venmo Requests Are Totally Appropriate

1. It's okay to send a Venmo request when you have communal living needs.

If you live with friends, there's no way to avoid the fact you'll be using some of the same products (unless you buy two of everything). My roommate and I go back and forth on things like toilet paper and paper towels, but when it comes to items like the folding table we just ordered for Thanksgiving — yeah girl, send that Venmo request.

2. Feel free to send a request if you're running their errands.

Listen, as someone who's in a very happy relationship with my Instacart, I understand not having time to grocery shop. But (unless you find yourself in the aforementioned "small, generous favors" situation) if you're already at the store and a friend asked you to pick up a few things just because they're short on time, I think it's totally okay to ask for them to chip in.

But if you want to give them the favor out of the kindness of your heart and cover the cost? It'll make their day!

3. Going on a roadtrip means splitting roadtrip travel essentials.

I know the internet can have some differing opinions on what "essentials" mean, but I'm talking, like, the cost of a rental car. If your friend group is splitting the ride, then everyone should absolutely split the cost. And if you ask me, the same goes for gas money!

4. Send a Venmo request if your bill had to be on one credit card.

We've probably all been there: your 6-person bill arrives to the table (where you were all very respectful and kind to your waiter RIGHT?!) and no one wants to pick up the tab. If you end up swooping in to save the day, and you've all agreed to pay your own way, take a picture of the receipt and send those Venmo requests. Dinner ain't cheap!