You’ve Been Tinselled!

Some years ago, I came across the ‘You’ve Been Jingled’ idea on Pinterest, and thought it was great! What a fun tradition to start in our neighbourhood! I had not seen anything along those lines happening around here, nor heard of it anywhere else.

So we dutifully printed up a handful of flyers, selected a few Christmas treats (candy canes, from memory) and secretly left them on the doorsteps of several houses in our street. I wasn’t too keen on the ‘ring and run’ plan, which is why we just left our little packages on the doorstep. We were very excited, and watched the neighbours’ houses closely to see if they were going to follow through…

Alas…nothing 😦

We went a street or two further and dropped in to a couple of school friends’ houses nearby. I pre-advised that an anonymous package was going to arrive and what the story was. Our young man was very excited to see the ‘We’ve Been Jingled’ poster go up on these houses, but I’m pretty sure they had no further luck either.

I’ve been wanting to try this again, because I think it is a lovely sentiment to have in the community. Random Acts of Kindness can (and should!) be done any time of year, but it’s definitely nice to do Random Acts of Christmas Kindness!

**If you are new to this, the idea is you put together a Christmas treat (it may be as simple as a candy cane, or you may choose to put together a whole box of goodies), and anonymously leave it on the doorstep of your neighbours, friends and/or family. It doesn’t even have to be someone you know! Hopefully, that household will continue the tradition, dropping in to a house that hasn’t already been visited, and everyone will be getting into the Christmas giving spirit! You will know if a house has been visited because they will have the sign posted.**

There were a few things I wanted to change from the Jingled idea. I didn’t want to leave lollies or candy. I didn’t want people to feel obligated to continue (although obviously they didn’t!). And I didn’t want it to be big deal coming up with ideas of what to share.

I searched for some other similar ideas to Jingling, and there are a few out there. Some are pinned to my Christmas Pinterest board. The concept I liked the best was the Jones’ You’ve Been Tinseled. It still wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, though.

I decided I wanted Christmas decorations to be shared. Just a small token for the Christmas season.

They can be purchased quite inexpensively, or there are plenty of easy ways to create your own. They don’t go off if left in the sun before the householder finds them, and they don’t attract ants. Hopefully they will make interesting conversation starters for years to come!

I took inspiration from the poems written for the other jingling/elfing/socking/etc plans and came up with my own.

Then I set about making some decorations to spread around the neighbourhood. I made some icicle-style ornaments using random beads. I think they turned out quite nicely!

Now we are ready to go out and ‘tinsel’ 6 homes! The flyer and decoration will go in a clear plastic sleeve to keep it safe when annonymously left on people’s doorsteps. I wonder if we will be able to get the tradition started this year!!

If you would like to join in, I have created the flyers for you to print out. The PDF files are designed to be printed on standard A4 paper. There is one sheet, or two sheet options. This is the first time I have done this, so I hope it works for you!

Please note, the spelling of ‘Tinselled’ is the English (UK) version.

Download the one page poster here

Download the two page poster here

With big thanks to my brother, Phil, for helping me get these in the right format to share here! (You can find some of his work here)

I think we should wait until December is actually here before we start tinselling, but will update how we go. Who’s going to join us??

If you join in, please use the hashtag #beentinselled if posting pics on social media 🙂

*UPDATE 23/12/16 – Nothing 😦 Never mind, we will go tinselling again next year, and the year after that, and hopefully at some stage others will join in! I hope the households that we tinselled this year love their new ornament 🙂

*UPDATE 2017 – We Tinselled again in 2017, read about it here 🙂

Linking up with:

Nifty Thrifty Things, The Pinterested Parent- Sunday’s Best, Love of Home – Sunday at Home, My Husband Has Too Many Hobbies – Snickerdoodle Sunday, That Recipe – Happiness is Homemade, Plucky’s Second Thought – Cooking and Crafting With J&J, My Pinterventures – Merry Monday, Claire Justine – Creative Mondays, Create With Joy – Inspire Me Monday, I Should Be Mopping the Floor – Inspiration Monday, Yesterday on Tuesday – Project Inspired, The DIY Mommy – The Creative Corner, Lou Lou Girls, Our Home Away From Home – Tuesdays at Our Home, The Dedicated House – Make it Pretty Monday, Cedar Hill Farmhouse – The Scoop, The DIY Dreamer – From Dream to Reality, Savvy Southern Style – Wow us Wednesdays, 21 Rosemary Lane – Share Your Style, Posed Perfection – Creative Ways, Have a Daily Cup of Mrs Olson – Share Your Cup, Domesblissity – Thriving on Thursdays, Claire Justine – Wordless Wednesdays,