Christmas is in theory supposed to be about quality family time. But the truth of the matter is, it can be a hectic period made all the more stressful if you find yourself hosting the get together.
So in anticipation of the hustle and bustle that is the silly season, we’ve listed some simple DIY ideas that might get your home ‘Christmas ready’.
Festive Lighting
You don’t have to win “Best Christmas Lights in Australia” to create a warm and convivial atmosphere in your home. Fairy lights in trees and amongst the shrubbery can be a charming way to get your property into the festive mood without going to too much trouble (or blowing the energy budget). These can be so lovely and effective that you might just want to keep them once Santa’s long gone for another year. Another terrific option is to have a beautiful new pendant over the Christmas dinner table, which you can decorate with foraged foliage and ornaments. (Just be careful the light bulbs don’t get hot enough to light your masterpiece on fire!)
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Tidy Up Your Outdoor Spaces
With the house full of guests and the weather starting to warm up, it’s only natural that gatherings will spill outside. Summer is the perfect time to make use of your outdoor spaces, usually reserved as a dumping ground for craft projects and spider webs. With a little bit of effort, it’s a cinch to jazz up your outdoor spaces and make them an extension of your house. This will reduce bottle necks inside, and make standing around the barbie that much more pleasant. Even if you’re in an apartment with a small balcony, it’s possible to maximise that outdoor space to give your home an open, summery feel.
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- Planning Your Outdoor Living Spaces
- Create an Outdoor Barbecue Space
- Rejuvenate Your Balcony or Patio
Foliage-Free Trees
You want your home to imbue the Christmas spirit, but you don’t want to deal with the after-effects of random pine spindles and bugs running rampant in the house. There are so many great ideas to get the tree look happening this Christmas. Invariably Christmas cards start arriving mid to late November, and indeed you might have actually kept them from previous years. Gather your Christmas themed cards and mementos and create a temporary tree shape on a wall. It takes up no physical space, leaves no mess, but is still plenty of fun for the kids to create. Even better, if you have off cuts of decking, or an old timber palette lying around, with a bit of creativity you can have a fun and unique tree in no time!
Sort Out Your Storage
We can never have too much storage. Yet in the lead up to and during Christmas, we can really never ever ever have too much of it! If you anticipate crowds over the silly season, then finding enough space to house them all might be top of your priority list. What can be moved under the house? What can be relocated to the garage, or stored up in the attic? Would a series of big, smart boxes or tubs help your storage solutions without creating eye sores? Or, would something more permanent be preferable?
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Upgrade Your Diningware
Scrambling to find matching silverware on Christmas morning is not ideal. It’s also around this time of year when breakages are at an all time high – it’s only natural when you’ve got young and old alike running around the house. If you have an obsession with matching diningware, now is the time to fill in the gaps in your set. If you’re not so picky with everything matching, have some fun by investing some cool and quirky pieces. Whichever way, you can never have enough plates, glasses, silverware or napkins, trust us.
Stock Up On Emergency Presents
Whether it’s the primary school Kris Kringle, your cousin’s new boyfriend or the couple who swore they weren’t doing presents this year, unexpected gift-giving is an unfortunate feature of Christmas. Noone likes the feeling of being left red-faced and empty-handed when an unexpected guest turns up. Save the embarrassment by stocking up on some crowd-pleasing neutral gifts, which you can pre-wrap and leave in the back of your cupboard for emergencies. Try using neutral, non too christmassy wrapping, like gold, silver or beige, so you can use the gifts year round.
Road Test Some Recipes
It’s said time and time again, and yet we fall for it every year. When entertaining guests, now is not the time to test new recipes. It can only lead to tears whilst a meringue isn’t quite setting, or the new roast recipe has left you with raw pork on the inside and charred crackling on the outside. In the lead up to your Christmas and New Years soirées, test out some of the recipes you’ve got your eye on. This will mean you can have your cake and eat it too, so to speak, without the stress and heart-break of discovering your new discovery is a flop. Same goes for your new kitchen appliances. Whilst christmas lunch is indeed a great time to whip out the new electric carver Dad’s ecstatic about, try giving it a whirl before the main event. This It can only lead to a smooth and relaxed event, as you carve your middle-eastern spiced ham leg injury-free and with ease.
We hope you find these Christmas tips handy – let the Advent Calendar Countdown begin!
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