O Royal Tannenbaum

Short on time and money but still want to get into the spirit of the season? Give your loved ones the royal treatment with this holiday surprise party: Play Secret Santa and put up a festive tree for your boyfriend, best friend, little sister or whoever else has entrusted you with a key to their apartment. Here's how:

1. Get a Christmas tree, and ask for an attached stand.
2. Stop at the drugstore to pick up a string or two of lights and ornaments that won't break your bank: foil, ornament hangers, a bag of holiday-colored Hershey's Kisses and a roll of red ribbon.
3. Let yourself in, then position the tree, water it, and decorate it: Fashion a star tree topper from the foil, use the ornament hangers to hang the Kisses from their paper tags (yummier than candy canes, shimmery like tinsel), and tie red bows on boughs.
4. Put A Charlie Brown Christmas on the stereo and a pot of cocoa on the stove (on low so it doesn't burn).
5. Hide in the coat closet with a good book and get ready for the kid-on-Christmas-morning reaction when they walk in the door.

Comments

I was at the 99-cent store recently and was amazed at how many holiday lights and ornaments you can buy without having to spend a lot of cheddar, ya know? Granted, they're not hand-blown glass ornaments imported from Poland, but perfect for something like this.

I did this for my best friend in New York and she still talks about it 10 years later--in fact, it was the centerpiece of the toast she made at my wedding! I also did it for my last boyfriend (now my husband).... He's not really the go-go ho-ho Christmas type, but even he was utterly charmed and delighted. In his case, I set my phone ringer to "Jingle Bells" so when he called me when he walked in the door, it started playing--in his apartment, since I was still there. Very fun yet easy, and the recipient will never forget it.