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Swell Holiday: Turning Up the Twinkle
A guide on how to celebrate and survive the holiday season offers suggestions that can be followed with a minimum of time and budget, in a manual that covers gift giving, music, car games, home-made holiday cards, and hosting parties.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2003
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23 people want to read
About the author
Cynthia Rowley
10 books1 followerCynthia Rowley is a Illinois native who is best known as a fashion designer.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 10, 2014
I got this when it was new (2003), and I keep it in the boxes that contain Christmas decorations, so I tend to forget I have it. I already had two other "Swell" books by Rowley when I came across this one, both of them are better than this pocket book. I think she was taking advantage of the fact that her existing Swell books had done pretty well but turning the concept toward the holidays.
Rowley makes the occasional nod toward the fact that Christmas is not the only holiday celebrated in mid-winter, but not enough to make the book worth buying for anyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas. I tend to wonder why she bothered, not even every chapter has a Hanukkah option.
A lot of the ideas here are things you now see on crafting blogs or Pinterest hailed as "omg, genius, why didn't I think of that?!". Lots of ideas for wrapping gifts in new ways, for creating themed gifts, for decorating your home differently, for themed parties, for dealing with family on the actual holiday, etc. Despite the fact that our space is very limited and so I'm always having to give up books to make more room, I'll continue to hold onto this one. There are enough good ideas in it to make it worth the small space it takes up in the decor boxes. However, it really doesn't have much in common with the other Swell books. The two Swell books that I have (had? I haven't seen them in awhile, I may have passed them on to new homes) were created with the idea of a Swell Girl being a particular type of young woman, and how the tips and tricks in the books could help you be that kind of girl. This, though still a Swell Guide and with a couple of mentions of "a Swell Girl", is really just holiday ideas for anyone who wants to change things up a little bit.
Rowley makes the occasional nod toward the fact that Christmas is not the only holiday celebrated in mid-winter, but not enough to make the book worth buying for anyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas. I tend to wonder why she bothered, not even every chapter has a Hanukkah option.
A lot of the ideas here are things you now see on crafting blogs or Pinterest hailed as "omg, genius, why didn't I think of that?!". Lots of ideas for wrapping gifts in new ways, for creating themed gifts, for decorating your home differently, for themed parties, for dealing with family on the actual holiday, etc. Despite the fact that our space is very limited and so I'm always having to give up books to make more room, I'll continue to hold onto this one. There are enough good ideas in it to make it worth the small space it takes up in the decor boxes. However, it really doesn't have much in common with the other Swell books. The two Swell books that I have (had? I haven't seen them in awhile, I may have passed them on to new homes) were created with the idea of a Swell Girl being a particular type of young woman, and how the tips and tricks in the books could help you be that kind of girl. This, though still a Swell Guide and with a couple of mentions of "a Swell Girl", is really just holiday ideas for anyone who wants to change things up a little bit.
October 23, 2009
great idea book for the holidays.
December 31, 2014
A fun read for the holiday season.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews