Easy holiday decorations and entertaining ideas with Starbucks Holiday

This blog post was sponsored by Starbucks but the opinions are completely my own based on my experience.

You know the holiday season is here when Starbucks starts serving delicious coffee, tea, and warm drinks in their iconic red cups. There are lots of ways to bring the warmth of the holiday season into your home, like making holiday decor to create an inviting place to entertain guests and family who visit. Or like serving Starbucks® Holiday Blend ground coffee, Starbucks® Holiday Blend K-Cup® pods, and Starbucks® Peppermint Mocha Caffe Latte K-Cup® pods from Walmart. Today I'm sharing 5 easy ways to entertain and decorate this holiday season, including using holiday decorations you probably already have!

First, get in the mood for the holiday season with a hot cuppa right at home. Find Starbucks Holiday Blend ground coffee, Starbucks Holiday Blend K-Cup® pods, and Starbucks Peppermint Mocha Caffe Latte K-Cup® pods at Walmart so you can bring the holiday flavors of #JoyCheerStarbucks into your home. Whether you're wrapping presents or welcoming guests, Starbucks #CoffeeAtHome is a great way to make the season feel festive and bright.

If you're like me, you love your Starbucks Rewards™ card. But did you know, there's a way to earn stars, even when enjoying Starbucks at home? By December 26, 2016, receive 75 stars with the purchase of 3 qualifying Starbucks products at Walmart. Find out how by going to www.walmart.com/starbucksholiday

Now that your coffee cup is filled, let's get to those holiday decorations and entertaining ideas! Today I am sharing 5 tips for giving your home a welcoming feel for the holidays:

DIY Coffee Bar

Keep it simple this holiday season by allowing guests to make their own custom drink with Keurig, Starbucks® Holiday Blend K-Cup® pods, and Starbucks® Peppermint Mocha Caffe Latte K-Cup® pods. That's the best thing about a Keurig machine – everyone can make the exact drink they want!

Set up pretty holiday coffee cups on a table top with holiday decor. Use a cake plate to hold a box of K-Cup® pods so it is easy to access and looks cute. Fill the coffee cups with biscotti or candy canes that guests can use to stir their holiday drinks. Add pretty napkins or a cute welcoming sign.

You can create a holiday coffee bar in any area of your home and make your guests feel right at home. Add cookies and cute holiday plates to give the space a cafe feel.

DIY Felt Letter Board

Welcome guests with a customizable felt letter board! I shared how to make felt letter board signs a few months ago and have been making them for every holiday since. You'll need the back of a wood canvas or a tray to build the letter board in. The whole process takes about an hour and you can use the letter board over and over throughout the year.

If you do not glue the felt in place, you can remove it and replace it with a different color of felt for the next holiday. I love decor that has multiple functions so don't be surprised when you see this same felt letter board out for Valentine's Day and Fourth of July! In fact, you can set up similar coffee bars for those holidays as well, using your Keurig and your choice of Starbucks® K-Cup® pods. Add a colorful holiday ribbon to make the letter board match your holiday decor.

Easy Christmas Mantel Decor

Yesterday morning we went out to breakfast at a mountain top cafe with a huge stone fireplace. It was all decked out for the holidays and my husband said he loved the way it looked but the overloaded, highly decorated mantel was just not practical in our house filled with cats and kids. If you have a busy home and don't want to store 10 boxes of decor just for your mantel every year, I have got a great, simple Christmas mantel decor idea for you. Fill vases with plastic ornaments!

Now, when I see all these wreaths and displays made with plastic or glass ornaments, I think about how expensive they are. So I was really surprised when I bought ALL of the ornaments for this project for about ten dollars.

Fill vases, apothecary jars, mason jars, or any clear container with plastic or glass ornaments, then set them on the mantel. You can arrange them in a row if they are all the same size or make clusters if the containers are different widths and heights.

Add battery operated LED lights inside the jars for a pretty, twinkling effect and a warm glow. One large jar on a tabletop can look really pretty and doesn't cost much to make at all.

I complimented the vases on the mantle with tinsel trees I've collected over the years, a word Christmas ornament that I trimmed the hanger from, and any other items from around the house that matched the silver and gold color scheme of the ornaments I chose.

I spray painted metal and ceramic houses and jars with gold or white spray paint to make them match my decor.

Mix matte, metallic, and glossy or glitter finishes creating extra visual interest. Also mix textures and patterns, like the geometric pattern embossed on the copper candles or the honeycomb ceramic vase that I included on the mantel.

It's really all about just using what you already have with a little extra sprinkle on top to make it all come together for a cohesive look.

Upcycled K-Cup pods Christmas Trees

I love recycling and upcycling and I also love kitschy, vintage style Christmas decor, especially bottle brush trees. In years past, I bleached hundreds of bottle brush trees in my bathtub and then dyed them rainbow colors, selling them on Etsy and at craft fairs. Now, you can actually find bleached and dyed trees at most stores for the holidays but the bases of them are not very stable and honestly, not very cute. Someone seriously phoned it in when designing bottle brush tree bases! Why not make them cute with empty K-Cup pods?! Pick up a pack of bottle brush trees and make cute potted Christmas trees for simple holiday decor with empty K-Cups pods!

This project is super easy and the kids can get in on the action too, painting the K-Cups pods. Collect your used K-Cups pods and allow them to cool. Cut away the foil top with a craft knife, dump out the used grounds, and then peel away the filter from the inside. Rinse and dry.

Dry brush acrylic paint onto the outside of the K-Cup pod and allow to dry. Apply Aleene's Tacky Glue to the outside rim of the K-Cup Pod and dip in chunky glitter, allowing to dry for at least 1 hour. Roll gift wrapping shred or tinsel into a small ball and place inside the K-Cup pod to fill. Remove the base from the bottle brush tree, apply glue to the wire, and press into the tinsel ball. Allow to dry and then decorate all the places in your home with these cute trees!

Stock your Pantry for the holidays

Stock your pantry with favorite Christmas treats like cinnamon coffee cake, candy canes, old-fashioned candies, and gingerbread cookies. Put out a plate of cookies and candies when guests arrive, perfect for pairing with Starbucks® Holiday Blend ground coffee, Starbucks® Holiday Blend K-Cup® pods, and Starbucks® Peppermint Mocha Caffe Latte K-Cup® pods.

Treat yourself during the holidays too! Wrapping gifts is so much sweeter and filled with joy when sipping from a mug of fresh-brewed Starbucks® Holiday Blend along with a slice of cinnamon swirl bundt cake!

Are you inspired for the holidays now? Share your tips for preparing your home for the holiday season in the comments below. And don't forget to visit Walmart and Walmart.com to take advantage of the bonus stars deal and stock up on Starbucks® Holiday Blend ground coffee, Starbucks® Holiday Blend K-Cup® pods, and Starbucks® Peppermint Mocha Caffe Latte K-Cup® pods.