Racecourse Road Community Christmas

Hurrah it's finally Friday and the weekend is almost upon us! I will be spending my Friday night at the Racecourse Road Community Christmas with a friend or two. It's an annual christmas event in an area I grew up in that has markets and raises funds for the Leukemia Foundation. If you're in Brisbane and looking for something to do tonight, I would highly suggest it. Here's a run down of the event:

 

Image from http://www.racecourseroad.com.au/

Christmas is coming, are you ready?

Yesterday I was officially invited to my first Christmas party for the year, so Christmas is now officially in my head and the panic of gift-giving has begun. Before now, I was happy to ignore the department store displays and online newsletters promoting Christmas decorations but being invited to an event, makes it somewhat more real. 

I'm not sure if I'm more or less prepared than last year at this stage. I feel I am still behind but that may have something to do with the amount of social events I've had this year. Here's what I've done so far to prepare:

•  Bought cheap Christmas wrap in the boxing day sales last year (always a great idea, you can get a roll of Christmas wrap for $1 from places like Kmart).
• Written a list of who I have to buy for, present ideas and a budgeted amount for each gift. Here's a printable gift list planner from Kidspot (it may be a favourite website of mine, even though I don't have kids yet :p).
• Printed free printable gift tags from the internet. 
  

If you're not as prepared as all that, here's a few budget saving ideas I've found on the internet:

1. Brown paper wrap (you can buy from Coles or Kmart) with alphabetical stamping and a cute ribbon (discount stores sell cheap ribbon). Here's Kikki's K's tutorial for it. 

Photo courtesy of Kikki K

2. Find free Christmas tag printables and even cards online. Here's a few links to some cute tags:

From The 36th Avenue

 From Kelly Medina Studios

From The Pink Doodle

Magic in the Sky

Tonight was the night of Riverfire in Brisbane and I must say my view just keeps getting better and better with each passing year. I was invited around to a friend's place this evening with a magnificent view of Kangaroo Point, South Bank and the Story Bridge. Here's a few images I managed to capture.

It also marks the end to the Brisbane Festival. Here's a couple of images from the festival, I managed to take.