Help your pets celebrate holidays with these ideas

Where did this year go? Can Thanksgiving really be next week?

When I was a kid and felt that summer vacation and Christmas would never come, my parents would say, “Wait until you’re older, the years will fly by.” How true they were.

As you’re starting to bring out your holiday decorations, why not include your pets in the festivities while you’re keeping them safe? Here are some fun holiday decorations for your pets and pet-safe decorating alternatives.

Bringing in Cheer

n Change your pet’s bedding to a holiday theme. Make a simple knotted fleece pet bed cover. Buy a couple yards of fun fleece, cut strips and knot. If you don’t want to store it, throw it in the wash and donate it to a shelter. Believe me, the dogs and cats won’t care if their new, soft, cozy beds have snowmen on them.

n My pups love pillows — you could call them pillow princesses; so I switch out the plain pillow cases with holiday-themed ones.

n If you have a covered litter box make it into a gingerbread house. Use a large cardboard box to form the house and then decorate.

n Change your pet’s everyday food and water bowls to ones with some holiday cheer.

n Don’t want to fuss with changing their bowls? How about a fun mat? I use plastic place mats. They’re easy to clean and inexpensive to replace when they need to be changed out.

n Along with her pillows, my Matilda loves beach blankets. She is constantly balling them up until they are just right. Then, when she’s done with hers, she’s off to her sister’s bed for a remaking. I pick up a couple holiday blankets for a quick and easy switch-out.

All these things don’t have to have a specific holiday theme or traditional colors if you want to leave them out longer. Just look for designs with pinecones, winter scenes or snowflakes.

Keeping it Safe

Pets can find the smells and textures of holiday decorations very interesting, which can make for a dangerous time. You can still make your home beautiful for the holidays; just decorate with your furry friends in mind.

n Consider moving some of your decorations up and out of the reach of tails and teeth. I know if you have cats, this can be more challenging. Have you ever decorated above your kitchen cabinets? My girlfriend does it every year and it looks wonderful.

What about your pot shelves — or, as I like to call them, “dust bunny collectors”? This also makes it the perfect time to get those things down for a yearly cleaning.

n Decorate behind glass doors. Consider adding some holiday cheer to your china cabinet, entertainment unit or glass kitchen cabinets. I put out a few of my holiday Barbies in my entertainment unit each year. I’m a bit of a collector so it takes a couple of years before I see the same ones again.

n Holiday plants can be toxic. And because they’re bringing new smells into the house, you have to be extremely careful with them. Instead of real poinsettias, use artificial ones. These have a bonus: no watering or dead leaves to pick up.

n Glowing candles can really set the holiday mood. It goes without saying that we always have to be extremely careful around flames, especially with pets. Maybe this year invest in battery-operated candles. They have come such a long way in looking real.

Have a happy, safe and pet-friendly holiday season!

Gail Mayhugh, owner of GMJ Interiors, is a professional interior designer and author of a book on the subject. Questions may be sent by email to: GMJinteriors@gmail.com. Or, mail to: 7380 S. Eastern Ave., No. 124-272, Las Vegas, NV 89123. Her Web address is: www.gmjinteriors.com.