5 HACKS TO HELP CHRISTMAS GO SMOOTHLY AS POSSIBLE
1. Take time off
- Well in advance of the big day, carve out a few days of annual leave and devote the time to Christmas preparations. You need time to organize yourself and complete the jobs you need to do, from sorting out the kitchen cupboards in readiness for festive goodies to shopping for gifts.
2. Create separate lists & prepare a playlist
- Whatever you do, make lists. You may divide it into 'food', 'drink', 'presents', 'music', and it goes on & on and save them until next year to use as reference. This will keep you on track and take the stress out of trying to remember everything you have to do. Digital lists are great because you can easily update them when you're out and about. Creating these lists once thoroughly will mean you can use them for years to come so you're always prepared.
3. Gather recipes and serveware
- Once you've written your lists, review them and be realistic about what you're actually going to have time to do – do you really need to make three different kinds of stuffing? One good way to keep calm in the Christmas kitchen is to print out or save all the recipes you need in advance and gather them together in a wipe-clean folder, ordering by actual meal/day if necessary.
4. Organize Secret Santa for family
- Secret Santa could save your festive sanity. Buying just one gift for adults cuts down seriously on shopping time, reduces spend on unwanted items and long-term, means that everyone's home doesn't end up full of clutter– presents they don't really want but are too polite to recycle or get rid of.
5. Make space
- Build a present cupboard/shelf/box during the year, gathering gifts from sales, special shops and craft fairs as you go along, and buy Christmas cards in the January sales. You know it might be a little too late to do this as December is already here, but it's definitely worth organizing your shopping time from now on. Put aside a couple of hours to choose and purchase cards, two or three half days to focus on buying gifts, and you'll feel far less frazzled and overwhelmed by everything piling up on you at once in the third week of December.
Subscribe to my TASTEMADE Makers Subscription service. Click HERE for exclusive content!