 Fast and Festive Meals for the Jewish Holidays: Complete Menus, Rituals, and Party-Planning Ideas for Every Holiday of the Year
ASIN: 0688145701
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: The Best Jewish cookbook ever
Comments: The loz and cream cheese pizza was a big hit at my party last week! And the passover desserts are excellent. This book is the best for Jewish holidays. All of the recipes I have made were excellent. I never made the drediel cake as mentioned in another review, but the meals, deserts and even the punch I made were easy to make and big hits at our family gatherings.
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 Holiday Theme Parties: Entertaining Ideas, Decorations and Recipes for Nine Unique Parties
ASIN: 0865733422
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 Christmas Parties . . . What Do I Do?
ASIN: 0964993945
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: A user-friendly instructional reference
Comments: For anyone wanting to recapture the nostalgia and "family friendliness" of the Christmas season, Wilhelminia Ripple's Christmas Parties: What Do I Do? is a terrific place to start! This attractively presented compendium offers more than 125 creative ideas for games, crafts, and holiday snacks that will make every Christmas gathering fun and memorable. The themes offered for consideration including Christmas Trees, Stockings, and Candy Canes; Snow, Snowmen, and Snowflakes; Santa Claus and His Elves; Rudolph and His Reindeer; I Believe in Angels; and Christmas Here, There, and Everywhere. 36 easy craft projects are clearly laid out with step-by-step illustrations. Christmas Parties is enhanced with 40 simple and delicious recipes for Holiday treats and drinks; 36 "Santa-Approved" games; and more. There's even suggestions for celebrating the end of the Christmas season with "New Year's Tips and Fun Party Ideas" from here at home and around the world. Christmas Parties is a thoroughly "user friendly" instructional reference that will be appreciated by one and all, year after year, Christmas after Christmas.
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 Simplify Your Christmas: 100 Ways to Reduce the Stress and Recapture the Joy of the Holidays
ASIN: 0836267850
Customer's Rating: 2
Summary: Some Good Ideas But Very Anti-Christmas
Comments: I really enjoyed this author's other book _Living The Simple Life_ and was really excited about this one. Ideas to simplify Christmas are *exactly* what I needed! And I did get a few good ideas from this book - maybe a handful. I agree with a previous reviewer who said the book has a lot of "Filler". It does.
But I almost felt depressed reading this book - obviously Ms. St. James really dislikes Christmas. The book was extremely negative about every aspect of Christmas, with the exception of encouraging outreach and giving to those less fortunate [something I actively support as well]. But she hates Christmas trees, Christmas cards, Christmas dinner, giving or receiving Christmas gifts [even suggesting that we are "burdening" our loved ones by giving them gifts]. She hates pretty much everything about Christmas and apparently doesn't celebrate it.
There is also a strong Pagan/Earth Religion undertone to the book. Christmas is a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Christ [or at least it WAS until it was hijacked by marketing executives...]. The author never once mentions the ostensible purpose of Christmas - Christ's birth. She does however have a chapter on celebrating Christmas for "Mother Earth", repeated mention of Christmas as "Winter Solstice" [a Wiccan/Earth Religion Holy Day], as well as another section on how to bury arrows representing prayers to the "Great Spirit". [I'm pro-environment myself, so I'm not discouraging the "be nice to mother earth" idea, but it was very awkwardly done in a book on this topic].
She is very "new agey" and apparently very non-Christian. While I have no problem with her personal religious choices, its kind of weird reading a book on celebrating Christmas by a non-Christian. Kind of like reading a book on Celebrating Hannukah written by an Atheist or something. I think some of the suggestions she makes might actually be offensive to more fundamentalist Christian readers as well.
Overall, I don't think this book was worth the money. I wish I'd taken in out at the library. It was still worth reading for the handful of good ideas I came accross, but overall it was pretty lame, slightly depressing, and gave me a weird vibe. I think _Shelter For The Spirit_ by Victoria Moran has MUCH better chapters on celebrating holidays, and she is very respectful of all kinds of different religious beliefs [including Christian]. I highly recommend her book.
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 Boomwhackers Holiday Fun!
ASIN: 0757902677
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 Holiday Party Ideas For Kids
ASIN: 0965852717
Customer's Rating: 3
Summary: Good for the Experienced Party Thrower
Comments: I've been throwing big parties for my kids for many years, and this is my first year as room Mom for my daughter's class, and I was responsible this year's Holiday Party. I bought this book in hopes of getting some ideas on what to do to entertain 29 excited nine-year olds for two hours. I liked some of the game ideas in the book, however, I didn't find the book to have a decent party outline or schedule for these games and the like. Luckily I've thrown many kids' parties, so I had a reasonable idea on how to schedule the party, although, I believe a beginner would be lost in party planning if that person depended solely on this book.
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 Parties and Projects for the Holidays: Christmas With Martha Stewart Living
ASIN: 0609805932
Customer's Rating: 4
Summary: Another Martha Classic!
Comments: Here's another Martha book for the collection! With all the ideas and beautiful pictures, it's a book that sure to inspire most to creating beautiful tables and decorations for your own spectacular party!
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 Christmas Party Celebrations: 71 New and Exciting Party Plans for Holiday Fun
ASIN: 0918420334
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: A totally fun read!
Comments: This book makes party-throwing a pleasure - not work. Ms. Dytrych's ideas will inspire even the most reclusive reader to kick up his or her heels and party. After all, Ms. Dytrych has already done the hardest part for us - the planning. She has thought everything through for us - the theme, invitations, food, decorations, etc. All we have to do is pick the theme we like best and then do it! Many of the ideas can also be adapted for year-round party-giving, so we can party anytime we feel like it - not just at Christmas. Since this book is totally fun to read, it's not hard to imagine that the parties will turn out the same way. I can't wait for December!
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 Celebrations: A Joyous Guide to the Holidays from Past to Present
ASIN: 1557883734
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: Celebrate!
Comments: This is an incredible book. The photos are exquisite and I can't wait to try out all of the recipes, even if I don't necessarily celebrate ALL of the holidays! I was especially impressed with the history behind the holidays -- information I wasn't aware of and all the craft and decorating tips. I love the idea of having different time periods for each holiday. It will really be fun to try out all these different themes on friends and family!
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 Easy Holiday and Seasonal Art Projects with Paper (Grades 1-3)
ASIN: 0590433717
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 Holiday Parties for Children: A Complete Planning Guide
ASIN: 0786408022
Customer's Rating: 5
Summary: Holiday Parties for Children
Comments: I am a Sunday school teacher and a homeroom mother. I found this book to be very helpful in planning classroom parties and events. I would be lost without it.
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 Holiday Helps
ASIN: 0866510591
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 The 12 Days of Christmas Cookbook: Planning and Preparing Quick Meals for One
ASIN: 0937552003
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 Christmas Shortcuts
ASIN: 0964004410
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 Teachers Holiday Helper
ASIN: 0865301727
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 Checklist for a Perfect Christmas (Checklist Series , No 4)
ASIN: 0385482213
Customer's Rating: 4
Summary: Great guide to reducing hassle!
Comments: I picked up this book on a whim, and loved every minute of it. It is a nifty little guide to help make Christmas less stressful, if not simpler. I loved her day-by-day lists and homemade goodie recipies!
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 How to Have a Perfect Christmas: Practical and Inspirational Advice to Simplify Your Holiday Season
ASIN: 0525942505
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 New Year's Eve Compendium: Toasts, Tips, Trivia, and Tidbits for Bringing in the New Year
ASIN: 0609603744
Customer's Rating: 1
Summary: The New Year's Eve Compendium
Comments: This book was not very helpful in trying to plan a New Year's Eve party. Rather than compiling useful information about the holiday (histories and traditions), this book is mostly poorly written personal opinion.
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 Simplify the Holidays (Simpler Life Series)
ASIN: 0762100974
Customer's Rating: 4
Summary: Simple!
Comments: Easy to read, comprehensive, practical. This book goes through everything involved in the holidays (primarily in December, but much applicable to other times) and gives very useful and simple advice for making it more manageable. I will really put this book to use - from the tips for enjoying the holidays more to gift ideas, entertaining suggestions and even a list of additional resources. Mostly Christmas, but includes Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, too, plus helpful tips for other times of year.
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 Simplify Your Christmas: A Little Treasury
ASIN: 0740702165
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How to Have a Perfect Christmas: Practical and Inspirational Advice to Simplify Your Holiday Season
ASIN: 0525942505
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 Holiday and Seasonal Bulletin Boards (Easy to Make and Use Bulletin Board Series)
ASIN: 0865301379
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 Springtime (Teachers Holiday Helpers Series)
ASIN: 0822467755
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 A Year of Holidays : A Planning and Idea Book for Holiday Activities in Nursing Homes
ASIN: 1877735418
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 Quick and Easy Holiday Activities for Early Learners: Arts and Crafts for Beginning Skills and Concepts
ASIN: 0865301956
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 Thanksgiving (Teachers Holiday Helpers Series)
ASIN: 0822467720
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