Ideas for dressing up the first night (and the second and the third) of the year

New Year's Eve is approaching and I bet most of you want to stand out in the crowd in a sparkling dress. As always, I left the "not as easy as it seems" task of outfit selection for the very last minute and I predict that maybe this is also the case for you too. Here, I selected a handful of attires which I promise not to let you down. Use your creative imagination and add your personal tone through interesting accessories of your choice.

From top to bottom : asos, for love and lemons, guess, french connection, Alexander Wang, Alexis, Anthropology, Bebe, J.Crew, Halston Heritage

Which one would you wear?

Knick-Knacks

Every year I spend quite an amount of time searching for tree decorative ornaments. Although this year I chose to accessorize my house with a book tree - yes I did it - I totally enjoyed looking around for beautiful embellishments. I already started to plan my next year's tree. Hmmm... maybe I have to choose first and the decision is not so straighforward! Scroll down to check my options and see for yourselves.

Every pet lover is definitely going to adore these cat and dog illustrated hanging balls from anthropologie.com. Are you a cat or a dog person?

You can extend your display of appreciation for the animal kingdom by choosing these cute little fellas, again from anthropologie.com.

I love my bike and I can't hide it. I found this on etsy.com and I got really excited.

For all of us Apple fans, here is a more shiny, glittery version of our favorite fruit, plus it comes as a whole and not bitten. You find it at etsy.com.

Also from etsy.com another exciting idea! You can choose the names - or any word of your choice - inscribed on the diaphanous balls and the fill in material as well! You can go for sweets or sequins and stars, your vote!

I have deeply connected winter holiday season with the nutcracker story. So, a tree with all the protagonists on it sounds like a wonderful idea to me.

One other superb idea is to present the fairytales of our childhood on the tree! Check out how adorable this Alice is. Just follow the white rabbit....

From the house of mouse straight into your home and maybe on your tree, adorable mice with personality and character. These three wise men (oops, mice) have to follow a bright star at the moment but you can still choose from a broad range of famous mice that reached stardom including the Beatles and Charles Darwin (my personal favorite) .

Finally, there are plenty of DIY yourself decorative ideas and the most cosy of them all, in my opinion, are the ones that involve making use of cinnamon. Either cinnamon sticks combined with dried fruits, or cinnamon in yummy tempting biscuits, those branches will look gorgeous.

There are also many books that can guide you through making your own personalised holiday ornaments, like this one.

So, what are your preferences?

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

As I am writing my articles I realise that I managed for another year still to leave my house not properly dressed up for the season. I started looking around for decoration inspiration. Eccentric by nature, I aspire for more out of the box ideas. I found some interesting suggestions and I want to share them with you. Hope you can help me decide.

This christmas tree by theory is meant to stand outside the house. However, I would choose to take it inside. It's so nice, I don't want it to catch a cold or something.

Check out this strange but lovely christmas tree, which you can find at amazon for an affordable price. I bet this will stand out in your festive living room.

Another idea, if you are not in the mood for a red tree from top to bottom, is to choose a more "mild" tree color, like this in rose gold, again from amazon. I would go with more alternative ornaments and not the classic gold balls, but still taste is really something personal. More for nice, alternative tree ornaments in upcoming post.

Speaking of alternative tree ideas...

and

I found these awesome tree decorative ideas at the website of the very creative sarahakwisombe. There are photos and videos with the exact do it yourself steps. However, personally, I am not going into the fuss of making everything by myself. Still, both are awesome.

I think I just might go with this alternative idea, as I have all the raw materials at hand and I find it very close to my personality as well as overall incredible.

Any other ideas?