With Christmas only weeks away, if you have not already put up your Christmas tree and decorated your house with baubles and tinsel, then you need to get your skates on and get activated PDQ! 

To help you speed the process and inspire you to create a beautifully decorated home for Christmas, Mariza Anthonisz, the founder of Five Star Event Management, a leader in the industry and a fabulous creative mind when it comes to conceptualising decor, shares her tips and ideas to help you kick-start your decorating. 

This year Mariza's creations have adorned the Colombo Swimming Club, Sifani Jewellers and a host of others, however the talking point is the giant snowflake she created. 

Mariza Anthonisz
 

A real creative genius, Mariza's top tips will have your house looking beautiful and festive in no time at all.

When is the earliest you can should start decorating your house for Christmas? 
I would say the first week of December. You wouldn’t want to be tired of your 
decorations by Christmas day.

What points do you need to bear in mind when beginning your decorating?

• Assess your spaces – the size, in which area would the tree look best.
• Which colour or combination of colours or theme - traditional, rustic etc. would suit your home.
• How you will fix it.

What is the colour that is 'in' for this season?
Mercury glass – Rose gold.
In Sri Lanka however it is difficult to break away from the traditional Red and Gold.

What are your top 5 tips for Christmas decorating? 
1. Try to choose a combination of a maximum of three colours with varying textures and tones.
2. Choose one special ornament or decoration that will feature throughout.
3. Concentrate on your tree and dining table.
4. When decorating your tree, hang some of your ornaments on the inside of the branches 
  to create depth.
5. Fairy lights are a must. 

How can you get the whole family involved? 
Give each member of the family a craft to make. Get them to each make a special ornament for the tree. Or assign them a task such as decorating the table, or the bannisters. The easiest, however, would be to involve the whole family when decorating the tree.

What Christmas decor projects have you undertaken this year?
Colombo Swimming Club, Sifani Jewellers – Colombo & Galle, Chatham Luxury Watches – Colombo & Galle, The Nail Spa, a leading Development Bank where we decorated four main branches and put together the décor for 83 of their other branches island wide, 7th Sense Apartments and several private homes.

What's the most ambitious Christmas decor project you've undertaken? 
This year’s bank project, as we had very little time to complete the job and in 2015 two 25 foot illuminated Christmas trees which went up on the Aitken Spence tower in Colombo.

Can you tell us about your 'sparkle'?
I guess my sparkle emits simply because of the passion and love I have for decorating. And, it is seasonal, so why not sparkle.

Mariza's Christmas decorations can be purchased directly. 
Call 0777 16 22 82