7 Reasons Making an Amazing Wreath This Holiday Season Will Have You Running to the Next Wreath Making Workshop this Winter
If you have never tried your hand at a wreath making workshop, run, don’t walk! You and your neighbors (curb appeal anyone?!) will be thanking you for googling wreath making workshop near me and joining in the fun!
Did you know that working with flowers can reduce your stress, improve your mood, and help relax you? Try something new this holiday season and find a wreath making workshop.
This post is all about jumping into a wreath making workshop!
Top 7 Reasons You Have To Try Your Hand in a Wreath Making Workshop
1. The Company is the Best in a Christmas Wreath Making Workshop
Who doesn’t love a bunch of amazing women brought together with a common purpose?!
2. Stop and Smell the Roses – Literally – at a Holiday Wreath Making Workshop!
2. The smell is divine! Every single person in the room could not help but comment on how good it smelled!
3. Do You and Express Yourself in Colors, Textures, and Foliage
3. The dried flowers are gorgeous and you can pick anything you like!
4. Enjoy a cozy venue, warm drink, sweet jams and cheese over a puzzle of ferns and flower bundles
Warm tea, hot chocolate, homemade jams and chutneys, all included. I mean, can you ask for much more than that? Just be careful not to drop your pines into your cup like I did!
5. Find Hot Chocolate that Would Have the Polar Express Pulling Over for the Recipe
Find a hot chocolate that is JUST RIGHT. Looking at you Goldilocks. The hot chocolate we had was just right, not too watery, not too sweet (according to my 9 year old daughter – so basically an expert).
6. Enjoy a Gorgeous Wreath that Reminds You of Your Hidden Goddess Talents
Leave with a gorgeous wreath that you can look at all season long and for YEARS to come! Did I mention you can show it off to everyone else to tout your craftiness? These wreaths are secured with wire upon wire carefully crafted by artisans (aka you!). Not even Fort Knox is more secure than these puppies.
7. Search a Wreath Making Workshop Near Me and Hope You’re Lucky Enough to Find Swallowtail Farms
Saving the best for last, you can find the amazing wreath making workshop we attended at Swallowtail Farms in Mason, MI. Or, follow them on @swallowtail_farm_mi. There you will meet Ann, the woman behind @swallowtail_farm_mi . She was so helpful without being too directive with her advice. Was able to support our overly ambitious projects and somehow we got out of there just in time 😬 thank you!!
What’s Gut Health Got To Do With It?
Your gut health is all part of #goals to live healthy and feel fantastic! That means mental health too. So often during the holidays we get worn down, over scheduled, worried, lonely, crowded, under slept, overworked, and end up coping instead of ENJOYING life.
If this is you, working with flowers in a wreath making class could help you relax!
Take Time to Breathe During the Holidays
With that fun picture, how about turning inward and doing something that people see outward to relax, enjoy the company of someone you love, and just breathe. Breathe again too, because it smells amazing!
Flowers May Make You, and Everyone Else You Know, Smile
Working with flowers can reduce your stress, improve your mood, and help relax you! In fact, researchers have found even receiving flowers elicits a certain smile that is consistently shown across humans, the Duchenne smile.
I was shocked. When I saw that every person who got the flowers responded with the Duchenne smile, I thought, No, this doesn’t happen. In the emotions lab, you never get a 100 percent response unless you’re dropping a snake on people, which gives you a nice 100 percent fear response. But, happy? No.
Jeannette Haviland-Jones, Rutger’s Magazine
Flowers Can Decrease Our Stress
There’s more, research shows the aroma from flowers can actually decrease our stress (American Chemical Society, 2009). In fact, just living with flowers for a few days has been found to decrease stress according to an associate professor in public health (Largo-Wight Lab).
Looking for Other Ways to Decrease Your Stress This Holiday Season?
Check out these cozy recipes that will be sure to warm you up from the inside out!
Tortilla Chicken Soup You’ll Love This Winter
This instant pot tortilla soup is a staple recipe you will be pulling on again and again. Combining onion, green pepper, poblano pepper, black beans, corn, fajita chicken, and tomatoes, you’ll get 9 plant points in one meal! This tortilla chicken soup recipe is delicious, nutritious, and EASY!
The Secret Ingredient to Instant Pot Tortilla Soup is the Tomatoes!
The secret ingredient to good food is good ingredients! Seems basic but this is fact is often overlooked. If you want to make the best chicken tortilla soup recipe start with San Marzano tomatoes. These tomatoes are top shelf setting them apart from others!
Best Tex Mex Chili Recipe in the Instant Pot
This is seriously the best Tex Mex chili recipe! It’s full of flavor and gut healthy ingredients including poblano peppers, black beans, kidney beans, onion and garlic. What’s more, you can make this ahead of time in your Instant Pot and allow it to simmer. Or, if you don’t have an Instant Pot you can throw it in a big ol’ pot and cook it on your stove. As a side note, this is a big winner with the guys!
How to Make Insanely Delicious Split Pea Soup with Bacon Stand Out
Split pea soup with bacon is a go to meal and gut healthy recipe that is so quick and easy you can throw it together in under 15 minutes! This really is the best split pea soup recipe and can be made in your Instant Pot or on the stove!
Split pea soup with bacon is gluten free! If you’re vegetarian or vegan, lose the bacon and you’ll have a delicious vegan split pea soup! The Instant Pot makes this a fantastic and EASY one pot meal. If you are busy on the weeknights or just want to binge the latest season of Yellowstone, throw this together and press “soup.” Yep! It really is that easy!
Make split pea soup ahead of time and let the Instant Pot keep it warm until you’re ready for dinner. Best part, this gut healthy recipe can feed a family of 6 for under $12! Don’t have 6 people to feed? Store the leftovers for a gut healthy lunch idea later in the week!
Mediterranean Pasta In Just One Pot
This is a Mediterranean Monday favorite. Mediterranean pasta is the perfect recipe to make when you have a busy day or life feels a bit crazy! In just one pot, this recipe is also perfect if you’re traveling or on vacation with the family and are looking to save some cash and make a few meals in!
As an added bonus, this Mediterranean pasta is all homemade, restaurant worthy, and healthy! It’s also super straight forward and requires only basic kitchen utensils. Think: 1 pot, 1 spoon or fork to stir. It is the perfect meal for a quick fix in one pot. Mediterranean pasta in just one pot is both savory and hearty. Better yet, it’s vegetarian and packs 7 plant points.
This pasta includes chickpeas, red onion, garlic, spinach tomatoes, and whole wheat pasta. It may as well be an immunity pasta. Chickpeas contain a ton of fiber, protein, and also other micro superheroes that enter into your gut and strengthen its ability to fight off bad bacteria.
A stronger gut strengthens your immune system. Ultimately, a stronger you is a healthier you. Your, new and improved, stronger body functions more efficiently which means storing less fat and leaning out your waist line.
Chickpeas: Plant-Based Protein with A Ton of Benefits
Let’s take a look at the some of the research on chickpeas. Doctors examining the effects of eating chickpeas across 21 clinical randomized trials have found chickpeas, on average, reduce people’s weight (Kim et al., 2016). How much? In one study, they found a 25% reduction in weight loss for those people eating chickpeas as compared to those who were not.
Chickpeas are full of protein and fiber. Similar to black beans and lentils, one cup of chickpeas has about 14.5 grams of protein (Elliott, 2021). That’s a bit under half the amount of protein in one cup of cooked chicken (USDA, 2022). However, unlike cooked chicken, chickpeas are also full of fiber. The fiber and protein within chickpeas are a dynamic duo for your gut health and your overall health including weight loss and preventing chronic disease (think cancer and heart disease).
One Pot, Quick and Nutritious
This Mediterranean pasta is a favorite for everyone in the family. Kids might attempt to barter out of eating the kalamata olives. But, I have them try at least one bite of each food and describe the food.
Asking kids to describe the food rather than asking them, “is it good?” gives them the opportunity to think about what they are eating rather than outright rejecting new tastes.
Dr. Kait
Try Something New This Holiday Season and Check Out A Wreath Making Workshop!
With all of the inherent benefits in a wreath making workshop, flowers, decreased stress, walking away with a gorgeous wreath, and did I mention hot chocolate, what isn’t to like?! Check out a wreath making workshop today and enjoy your Christmas wreath for years to come!
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