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» Holiday Trends
» Time to Shine
» Family Fun
» Holiday Party
» Seasonal Home
» Top Toys
» Holiday Safety
» Green Gifts

Holiday Tips

Your Time To Shine

(NAPSI)-Looking your best for the parties, family dinners and heartfelt moments that make the holidays memorable may be as simple as stocking up on a few key fashions. So mark your calendars and send back those RSVPs. It's time to shop so you can celebrate in style.

Deck The Halls

After-work parties are really all about looking fabulous while showing your personal style. If you're heading to the party straight from work, why not wear a pair of classic black pants and a colorful beaded tunic or an embellished jacket? If your company tends to go all out, choose a more formal look such as a chiffon skirt and shimmering top.

Gather With Friends

Getting together with the girls over the holidays? You want a casual look that's comfortable but also a little more glamorous than your everyday look. Go for a colorful tunic with beads, sequins or pretty prints. Throw on your favorite pair of jeans and maybe a statement ring and you're ready to go.

Trim The Tree

Get out the tinsel and untangle those lights. It's time to decorate! During the holidays, it's fun to show your festive spirit, even if you're just hanging out at home or running to the mall. New fashion activewear mixes everyday casual comfort with embellishments like rhinestones and metallic stud detail.

Ring In The New

During the holidays (especially New Year's Eve), many women get all dolled up and head into town for a holiday show, a special dinner or to meet up with friends at a swanky hot spot. Wear a glamorous top with plenty of shimmer paired with your best trousers or a long, slimming skirt. You're sure to make an entrance that no one will forget.

It's your time to shine, and the right clothes can help you look and feel your very best this holiday season and beyond.

Fun For Everyone In The Family

(NAPSI)-Getting great holiday gifts that appeal to anyone's age, interests and abilities may be easier than many people realize if they consider something as versatile as video games--and heed a few hints:

1. Tune in to their interests. Is there a film buff on your list? Consider a collection of DVDs and microwave popcorn or a certificate for movie tickets. To bring big-screen magic back to the living room, there are video games based on the year's hottest blockbusters including "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and "G.I. Joe The Rise of Cobra."
2. Consider age appropriateness. For safety's sake, check the package when you get toys for babies and toddlers. For teens and tweens, you may care to consider Nintendo Wii titles such as "MySims Racing," "Spore Hero" and "Nerf N-Strike Elite." Young girls may also enjoy "Charm Girls Club," in which tween girls complete challenges that are fresh, fun and relevant to their world.
3. Cater to their creativity. Consider a paint or craft set. For the PC or Mac gaming fan, popular "The Sims 3" offers creative possibilities and unexpected moments of surprise and mischief. The critically acclaimed Mac/PC game lets players devise lifelike Sims with unique personalities.
4. For those who long to travel, you can give a special pillow and blanket to make trains and planes more comfortable, send them on an imaginary trip with travel books, or let them pretend to journey to famous real-world-inspired destinations such as Shang Simla, China; Champs Les Sims, France; or Al Simhara, Egypt, and seek out new adventures in "The Sims 3: World Adventures" expansion pack.
5. Pet lovers may lap up accessories for their furry, finny or feathered friends. They may also enjoy the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS game "Littlest Pet Shop: Friends."
6. For families that play together, "Hasbro Family Game Night 2" features a new way to play classics including "Operation," "Jenga," "Pictureka," "Connect 4X4" and "Bop It."
7. For people who'd prefer personal gaming, there are puzzle books or a subscription to Club Pogo, an online gaming community with more than 120 card, word, puzzle and board games.

For more game and gift ideas, visit www.ea.com.

A Simply Extraordinary Holiday Party

(NAPSI)-For a holiday party with plenty of pizzazz--but not a lot of expense--focus the spotlight on one signature dish as your centerpiece.

For example, shrimp can make a big impression, especially when you consider this example of simple, at-home cooking, the gourmet way. In less than 15 minutes, this recipe is ready to serve and wow your guests.

Merry Shrimp Martinis

Makes: 6 appetizer servings

• 2 (12-oz) packages SeaPak® Shrimp Scampi, frozen
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomato
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon horseradish
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons hot sauce
• Celery sprigs
• Garlic Crostini (recipe below)

Preheat large skillet 1-2 minutes on medium-high heat. Preheat oven to 400°. Place shrimp in skillet and sauté for 7 minutes. Pour off ½ cup of scampi butter and reserve. Add tomatoes, lemon zest, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce to skillet. Stir. Bring to a simmer. Portion shrimp into serving dishes. Garnish with celery sprigs and Crostini.

Garlic Crostini

• Reserved scampi butter
• Bread slices (such as thinly sliced ciabatta bread)

Brush reserved scampi butter on bread slices. Place on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes.
Once you have your showpiece dish, you can then fill in the party with other more-simple dishes that can be picked up from a local market or prepared ahead of time, such as a fruit and cheese tray, a simple dip and a dessert platter.

You can find more recipes, tips and entertaining ideas online at www.seapak.com.

How To Freshen Your Home For Seasonal Festivities

(NAPSI)-Holidays are a great time to honor tradition, but they also come with preparing for extra guests and special family events. With everything there is to do, you don't need to stress about getting your home ready. Here are a few tips to ensure you welcome the holidays with a fresh home:

Be prepared. Take a walk through various rooms of your home and consider what could use some freshening and whether the bed linens, curtains or tablecloths need to be washed. To freshen rugs and upholstery, sprinkle some baking soda on them and vacuum up.

Be considerate. When preparing beds for guests, be aware of any allergies they may have. Use a detergent that does not contain dyes, phosphates or bleaches, such as ARM & HAMMER Perfume and Dye Free Liquid Detergent.

Make guests feel at home. Mop up bathroom floor grime with a mixture of baking soda and warm water. A natural but effective product, baking soda cleans tough spots without scratching. Add special touches to the room such as freshly washed towels and special soaps to make guests feel welcome.

Keep your fridge fresh. Clean out the refrigerator to make room for delicious seasonal foods.

To keep them tasting fresher longer, open a box of ARM & HAMMER Baking Soda to absorb odors and prevent taste transfer between foods.

For added kitchen freshness, pour baking soda down the drain while running warm tap water to deodorize drains and garbage disposals. Don't forget to stock the pantry and fridge with some of your guests' favorite foods.

Clean and freshen up. Thoroughly clean and vacuum, paying special attention to guest rooms. Open a window, run a fan to circulate and display fresh flowers.

Make your home guest-friendly. Before guests arrive, ask them if they suffer from pet allergies and how to best alleviate their sensitivities.

Clean litter boxes and put pet toys and bedding away, preferably in a room where guests won't go. To prevent even the worst litter box odor, use an odor-eliminating litter such as ARM & HAMMER Clumping Cat Litter with new Ammonia Block formula. And before guests arrive, freshen litter by giving it a quick spray with the company's Cat Litter Deodorizer Spray.

Guests will appreciate the extra effort and appreciative guests help make the holidays stress-free.

For more tips, visit www.armandhammer.com.

Top Toy Trends

(NAPSI)-This holiday season, toys offering enhanced play and price value will top kids' and parents' wish lists:

Exercise toys challenge kids to stay physically active by getting them to run, dance or even go on a scavenger hunt.

Electronic high-tech toys such as TV plug-and-play systems and handheld games are hot choices for young digital natives again this year.

E-connected (Web-related) toys such as "Dora's Explorer Girls," "Club Penguin," "Neopets" and "Tamagotchi" extend playtime and interests by combining physical toys with an online or virtual world component.

Entertainment toys and games such as "Star Wars," "Toy Story," "Disney Princesses," "Twilight," "Bakugan" and "Ben 10" are exciting kids of all ages by blending playtime with favorite characters from television, movies and books.

Free downloadable gift guides, toy industry picks for this year's top toys, advice on how to pick the right gifts for children of various ages, helpful play tips for kids and families, discussion boards and more can be found at www.toyinfo.org.

Take Care Of Lighting Before, During And After Holidays

(NAPSI)-Those decorative lights you haul out of storage every year to brighten up your home for the holidays can do more than promote holiday cheer. According to the National Fire Protection Association, each year, holiday decorations and Christmas trees account for almost 2,000 fires and cause more than $41 million in property damage.

Giving holiday lights special attention before, during and after the season's celebrations is key. These tips can help you keep holiday lights shining brightly--and safely--throughout the season:

Conduct a preseason review. "Before putting up the lights, inspect them for frayed wires, bare spots, insulation gaps, broken or cracked sockets and excessive kinking or wear," recommends QBE Regional Insurance Senior Vice President Charles Valinotti. Use only lights tested and approved by an independent agency, such as Underwriters Laboratories, which is noted on the packaging. Consider light-emitting diode (LED) lights that aren't combustible and are more energy efficient than other types.

Celebrate safely with holiday lights. Don't link more than three light strands together unless the directions say it's safe to do so. Connect light strings to an extension cord before plugging them into an outlet. These precautions will help you avoid what happened to one customer who decorated a holiday tree using 1,300 lights powered by five plugs inserted into a single strip on one circuit. The resulting fire caused nearly $300,000 in damage.

Wrap up the holiday lighting season. Before packing up decorations for the season, reinspect and discard broken or faulty lights. "To save you time next year, separate outdoor from indoor lights and label them," suggests Valinotti. "Always store lights and other decorations away from kids, pets and water," he adds.

If you're among those who keep holiday lights up year-round, especially outdoors, you should rethink this practice. Wires exposed to the elements all year long could pose a constant threat of electrical shock or fire. "Holiday decorations are intended to be used only for a short time," explains Valinotti. "Keeping them up for several months or all year long exceeds safety limits and shortens their life span."

Keeping these hints in mind can help you have a happier holiday and a safer new year.

QBE Regional Insurance specializes in property and casualty insurance through subsidiaries General Casualty, Unigard, Farmers Union Insurance and QBE Agri. Through these subsidiaries, QBE Regional underwrites insurance for businesses in 40 states and for individuals in 29 of those states. For more information, visit www.qberegional.com.

Greener Gifting

(NAPSI)-This gift-giving season is going to be greener than ever with eco-friendly gifts and environmentally aware shipping methods. Here are a few tips to help:

• Package shipments properly to minimize the weight and cost of shipping. Use the smallest box possible to save resources and money.
• Reuse packing materials. Use shredded paper, packing peanuts, Bubble Wrap and used wrapping paper to pack your shipments.
• Purchase boxes made from recycled materials. Most FedEx envelopes, for example, are made from 100 percent recycled content. All their boxes are recyclable.
• Save a truck stop. While running errands, drop off your express shipments at one of more than 50,000 drop-off locations. Ground packages can be dropped at more than 1,800 FedEx Office locations nationwide.

Knowing important deadlines will help ensure cost-effective gift delivery. As the more cost-effective option, ship with Ground and Home Delivery services before Dec. 17 in time for Christmas. For last-minute gift givers, the final day to ship with FedEx Express is Dec. 23. For more information, visit www.fedex.com.