How to Find Your Christmas Style

A few years ago, we celebrated our first Christmas in our new house. I wanted to go all out and decorate. We bought a new (fake) tree at a black Friday sale and I made plans for the perfect decor to fill my new home. Our old tree was about 5 feet tall, and while it was a perfect fit in our tiny NYC apartment, it would look like a dwarf in our large house. With this new tree came the need for new ornaments. Since we had 3 cats, and hoped to have some kids soon after, we decided to go with plastic ornaments instead of glass. In case you aren't aware, it's really hard to find cute plastic ornaments. They're usually cheesy and cheap looking, without necessarily being inexpensive. I looked at all the pretty glass ornaments and felt envy for the types of people who could buy them. It felt like my childhood all over again.

How my Christmas Past Affected my Christmas Present

You see, back at my parent’s house, we used to have this big beautiful Christmas tree. I remember making ornaments with my dad and putting up the same ones every year. Each one seemed to have a story and while it was kitschy, it was really sweet. We used multi-colored lights (because, you know, the 90’s!) and metallic gold fluffy garland. After a while, my grandmothers got sick and my mom did too. It took a heavy toll on her since she had to care for them, rushing from the hospital to the nursing home to see them both. My dad had to work a lot and my sister and I often ended up at his office with him. She and I would share his secretary’s chair after she left so that we could go online, since they had internet access there.

Because of all this stress my parents had, our house got forgotten. It filled with junk and we essentially became hoarders. I don’t use that term lightly- we were. The holidays became a little less glamorous for us. There was literally no place to put our tree anymore. Because my parents were so overwhelmed, we’d usually end up cleaning a spot for the tree and putting it up at the last possible minute- Christmas eve. After a few years, even this didn’t happen anymore. We bought a tabletop pink tree (the cutest!) and this replaced all our old decor.

Now, back to out first Christmas in our new home.

When my husband and I bought our house, this felt like a new opportunity to have that special Christmas I could only dream about. I had visions of Hallmark-movie-style decor in my head and I imagined a home fully decked out for Christmas. I bought a ton of new stuff to go with all the stuff I had brought over from our apartment. I had the perfect decor, the perfect home, and possibly even the perfect life. Finally, it was like everything had come together for me.

I'm not sure if it was the new house, but Christmas didn't feel like Christmas that year. The whole house had been decked out, but it somehow didn't look Christmas-y enough for me. Everyone else that came in felt the Christmas spirit, but I sure didn't. I struggled to figure out why as I packed up all my perfect decorations.

It wasn't until a month later, when I went into a thrift store near our wedding venue in Hawley, PA that I realized what had happened. I never had perfect Christmases growing up. We were a "put the tree up in a scramble on Christmas Eve" type of family. Perfect Christmas trees and decorations were only found in catalogues and hallmark movies. Cheesy, bright 90's holiday decor was all I ever really knew. So, while I might have dreamed about a day when I could have that perfect Christmas home, I didn’t truly feel like the kind of person who would have one.

It turns out, making a place feel like Christmas doesn't have to mean a perfect catalogue home. It can mean vintage ornaments, nostalgia, and the cheesy ornaments you had as a kid. Now, I try to keep my Christmas decor feeling fresh but also traditional. That means taking the same items out of storage year after year, and trying to buy ornaments and decorations that have meaning to me. It’s less about what’s pretty and more about what feels like me. I know my style will change over the years, but right now it’s a slightly nostalgic and colorful version of Christmas. A more upscale version of the ones I had as a kid, if you will.

To find your Christmas style, I’d recommend asking yourself these questions:

1. What did I love about Christmas as a kid?

2. What kind of decor am I drawn to? Think about colors and styles.

3. What’s my favorite piece of Christmas decor that I currently own? How can I add more decor like it?

4. What decor do I put up every year that I don’t like anymore? And, what don’t I like about it?

5. What color do I have most in my Christmas decor? Do I want to continue with that, or change it up?

I’ve been asking myself what exactly I want my home to look like and what Christmas means to me. It turns out it’s less about being the picture perfect Christmas, and more about being my picture perfect Christmas!

What does your perfect Christmas look like? Are you into traditional colors, fun colors, muted colors? I think we all know which ones I’m drawn to, haha! Let me know your preference in the comments below!

10 Reasons Why I Love thredUP

I’ve recently started shopping on thredUP and I am hooked. Like, head over heels, can’t-sleep-cuz-I-keep-thinking-about-you in love with them. At night I find myself on their app, scrolling for hours and dreaming about our future together. It’s because thredUP has some amazing deals. Like, “holy crap can this be right?” type of deals. As someone who loves a deal we’re a match made in heaven.  

Before I share why I love thredUP sooo much, I want to share my special link that will get you $10 off your first order with thredUP. Depending on what you purchase, this can be equal to a free item! Click here to get $10 off your first order.

Without further ado, here’s 10 reasons why I love thredUP so much!

1. You can find name brand stuff for way less than in stores.

What are your favorite brands and places to shop? Kate Spade? Yep, they’ve got it. J. Crew? Yep, got that too. Looking for luxury designer brands? Yep, got that as well! From $10 Old Navy dresses to Burberry pullovers, they have what you want. I got a Kate Spade shirt that retailed for $298 for under $40 and a J. Crew skirt that retailed for $148 for less than $20. You don’t have to sacrifice style or quality with thredUP!

2. You can hone in on your style

Because thredUP has so many different brands, you can very easily discover your personal style by favoriting items you love. Then, when you go back through your favorites you’ll probably start to see a pattern developing that will shape your personal style. For example, I saved a lot of pink (duh!) but I also realized that I prefer solids instead of patterns and stripes over polka dots. I also realized I saved a LOT of baby blue striped items, which I never would have expected. I’m not drawn to that in stores, so it surprised me! My favorites section is filled with colorful, simple yet fun clothes. I realized for me it’s also about the silhouette and while I like items in solid colors, I like them to have something fun about them. I like my clothes to be interesting, like me! I also found that this helped me to see the items in a mix-and-match way since they all go together so well. It helps to know I won’t just wear an item once!

3. You can shop all your favorite brands 

This goes hand in hand with point #1. With thredUP’s search functionality, you can filter results based on what brand they are! From J.Crew to Old Navy to more luxury brands like Kate Spade, pretty much anything you want you can find it on thredUP! This is also great for when you love an item in stores, but they ran out of your size. Check back on thredUP and you may be able to find it again! That’s what happened to me with this Old Navy shirt.

4. You can buy brand new clothes

If the thought of wearing clothes that someone else wore before skeeves you out, don’t you worry- you can shop for BRAND NEW clothes that still have the tags on! We’ve all had those items in our closets that sat there for years, and now you can snag your favorite items that came out of someone else’s closet and give them new life.

5. They offer the ability to bundle

This is another of my favorite features that thredUP has! Since you only have 24 hours to keep an item in your cart, you’ve gotta shop with speed. You can get free shipping when you spend $79, but not everyone intends to spend that in one sitting. So, you can start a Buy & Bundle and you can add items as you go for up to 7 days! They hold a $5.99 shopping deposit, and once your order hits $79 it’s automatically refunded. If you decide that you don’t want to add any more items before the 7 day mark, don’t you worry- you can choose to have your items shipped at any time, even if you haven’t hit that $79 threshold! This is a game changer so you can shop leisurely and avoid that shipping fee we all hate so much!

6. You can shop a person’s items

If you found an item you love, you can scroll down and see the More From This Seller section, where they show additional items that this seller sent them. If you like one item, there’s a chance that you found your style bestie and they’ll have even more items you like! Plus, they’re very likely to be in your size too. 

7. They recommend similar items you may like 

Just below the More From This Seller section, you’ll find a whole list of similar items to the one you’re looking it! Let’s say you’ve got a red pullover sweater. They’ll show you other, similar red pullover sweaters. This is great for if an item looks nice but maybe isn’t 100% your style. Let’s say you wanted a crew neck but it’s a neck. This section is great for finding alternatives! I love scrolling through this section to find items like the one I’m looking at. Sometimes there are some real gems here!

8. They’re always running promotions and specials.

I love a good sale! When you shop on thredUP, you can always find a deal but very often there’s also coupon codes on top! That’s savings on top of savings. I’ve seen them offer free shipping, 15-40% off coupons, and they even did a BINGO game in the summer that was super fun! It had different squares with different deals inside and you got points for each one you filled in, with a chance to win a shopping spree when you got BINGO!

9. They offer 3 monthly payments with no interest

You can break up your order into 3 payments if you want to. By partnering with Affirm, thredUP allows you to shop now and pay later! This might not be practical for everyone or in everyday use, but here’s an example of where it could be useful. Let’s say you get a new job and want new clothes. By shopping on thredUP with Affirm, you can buy these items now, wear them and ROCK your new job, then pay them off once your new paycheck starts coming in. It’s also great for buying back to school clothes for the kids, seasonal clothes, or vacation clothes! I’ve never used this before so I’d do some research into it before applying, but it can be super useful if you need some new clothes right now but can’t pay all at once.

10. Their interface is great

I guess you can say I left the best for last, but their interface is AMAZING. Unlike most places where you shop used clothes, it looks so clean and practically brand new. No more sifting through piles of clothes, no more trying to push over a hanger jammed in a small space, and no more horrible photos of clothes laying flat and lifeless. Each item is professionally photographed on a mannequin in accurate lighting. This means you can see EXACTLY what you’re getting and imagine wearing it! Looking through their items is actually enjoyable because everything looks so pretty. For me, one of the worst parts about shopping for used clothes is how gross everything can feel. Between the icky smells and the crappy shopping environment, it doesn’t seem worth the hassle. With thredUP, you don’t have any of that! You’ll actually love using their app since it’s so easy to navigate and pretty. 

So, there you have it! 10 reasons why I LOVE thredUP. I’m planning to write another post about how I used thredUP to narrow down my style and how I find the very best deals on their site. Let me know if this is something you’d be interested in by commenting below!

Be sure to sign up for thredUP now using my link and get your $10 to spend on your first order.

Have you ever shopped on thredUP? Let me know your thoughts and your favorite parts in the comments below!