Getting Your Home Ready For Christmas 🎄

12 Minute Read

As soon as Halloween and Bonfire Night are done, our thoughts turn to Christmas. While there are some organised folk that start getting ready for Christmas early in the year, many of us don’t start to plan, let alone begin the process of getting ready for Christmas before December rolls in.

If that sounds like you, then we’ve got you covered with the steps you need to take to prepare for Christmas 👍

Getting Your Home Ready for Christmas . . .

How you start preparing for Christmas depends very much on who you will have with you throughout the holiday period and what type of celebrations that you’re going to have. If you’re going to have guests staying, and family and friends of different ages, there’s even more to think about. Here’s our checklist for preparing for Christmas:

✅ Declutter throughout

✅ Do a deep clean before guests arrive

✅ Put little-used coats in bedroom wardrobes, to free coat pegs for the coats of your guests

✅ Clear spare bedrooms of clutter and ensure you have enough bedding

✅ Decorate the main areas of the home

✅ Plan your menu

✅ Shop ahead where you can

✅ Make sure you have enough drinks

We’ve made it sound pretty simple, and really your guests are coming to see you, rather than the standard of your home. However, having a good tidy up, clean through and being prepared will help you feel confident and ready for your guests, and that you’re not feeling stressed and frazzled on the day that they arrive.

How Should I Decorate My House For The Holidays?

Some people start decorating for the holidays as soon as they can, some wait until December 1st, others wait until the last possible moment. Whichever type of person you are, and the style of decorating that you prefer, here are some of the places you’ll want to consider decorating around your home for the holidays.

The Christmas Tree

Whether you choose a cut tree, or an artificial one in a different colour to green, setting up the tree and decorating it with ribbons, tinsel, lights, and baubles is a tradition that many of us love. Whether you have a mismatched collection of sentimental decorations, or a carefully selected mix of colours doesn’t matter – as long as you love the Christmas tree, and decorations that you have chosen, that is the main thing.

Outside

Going big on the outdoor decorations can get expensive pretty quickly – and although children love seeing the lights, you might not love the electricity bill! If you prefer to keep things to a minimum, a wreath on the front door may be all you need. If you fancy a bit more, then a few bushes in decorative planters (galvanised steel buckets wrapped with a strip of hessian and a ribbon look great) and maybe a few solar powered outdoor LED fairy lights can look just as festive.

The Front Door

Wreaths are the traditional adornment for the front door, and they are easily purchased – whether they are made from real foliage, or faux – but they are simple to make too. If you want to make a wreath that you can make once, look for silk foliage, or use baubles, tinsel, or ribbons to create a wreath that you can pull out next December too.

The Entryway

At this time of year, there really isn’t anything nicer than getting home to a warm home that smells like Christmas. Bringing little festive touches to your entryway won’t just look and feel great to you, but your guests will be impressed when they walk in too.

Depending on the size of your hallway, you might add tiny accessories like a festive bloom and a scented candle on your console table, or you might go all out and decorate throughout with garlands of seasonal greenery and tinsel – especially if your staircase is off your hallway and you can attach garlands to banisters.

Bedrooms

You don’t have to decorate bedrooms for Christmas, but if your family loves the holiday season, then why not decorate the bedrooms too? Allowing children to have their own artificial tree means that they can rearrange the baubles as often as they like, and hopefully will leave the main one alone! If there isn’t space, try stringing fairy lights in a tree shape – they’ll love the excitement.

If you have guests staying, or children that aren’t used to staying with you, you might want to bring simple decorations the guest bedrooms too. A poinsettia on the bedside table will make guests feel considered, while a few fairy lights make for a great stand-in for nightlights where children are sleeping.

How To Get Ready For Christmas Dinner

Planning the menu for the big day is an important step. Whether you have a traditional turkey and all the trimmings, or you prefer a different menu, knowing what you need to buy ahead of time means you can buy non-perishable items in advance, and freeze items so you can ensure you have everything, and streamline your shop during Christmas week.

If you plan to buy a turkey from a local farm, order as soon as possible – demand is high. If you’re ordering from a supermarket, make sure you’ve got a day or two in case they send you substitutions that you’re not happy with. Do as much of the Christmas dinner prep as possible ahead of time. Peeling potatoes, carrots and parsnips can all be done with a glass of mulled wine on Christmas Eve, meaning you can spend a bit more time enjoying yourself on Christmas Day. There are more tips for getting ready for Christmas dinner in this post.

Christmas Place Settings Ideas

Christmas table décor is another way you can make a great impression on your guests. As with everything at Christmas time, you can take your table decorations as elaborate, or minimal as you like.

Choose A Great Table Cloth (Or Not!)

A great table cloth, or a centre runner can really help your table to look and feel Christmassy, whether you go with red, green, gold or tartan. If you’re adding a natural centrepiece, this is advisable – you’ll catch all the bits that might fall off.

You might decide to have a bare table for your Christmas dinner – there are more than enough other tasks to deal with without having to launder table cloths as well. A biodegradable paper table cloth is an easy option – and you can write names directly onto the cloth, without needing to create name tags for place settings.

Pick A Great Centrepiece

If your table is big enough, having a centrepiece on your Christmas dining table is a great conversation starter – and will make your photos look amazing. You don’t have to spend a fortune on flowers either, here are a few ideas that you can put together quickly and inexpensively:

Fill decorative glass vases or bowls with water, then add sprigs of holly, and light floating candles on top
Use seasonal fruits, nuts, and berries to fill vases, jars, and bowls
Create a wreath, lay it down and add a tall, chunky candle in the centre
Arrange greenery along the length of the table and add satsumas, pomegranates, and pine cones
Lay LED string lights along the centre of the table, winding in between glasses and plates

Decide On Place Settings

Whether you use table mats and coasters on your festive table depends on if you’re using a table cloth or not, but they are an easy way to add festive cheer. Don’t forget your napkins too – cloth ones can be washed, which is much more sustainable than paper ones. Then, it is all about deciding who will sit where. You might let people make their own decisions, but if there are fractious relationships between certain guests, then choosing the seating plan ahead of time will help to keep the peace – especially when the drinks have been flowing!

Prepare Christmas Drinks

There are many opportunities for Christmas drinks during the holiday season – and happy hour is a seasonal tradition in many homes. Take advantage of those supermarket deals to ensure you have a good stock of wines, ciders, and beers. If you prefer a Christmas cocktail, choose one or two signature drinks, to prevent bottles of ingredients going to waste.

Non-drinkers don’t have to miss out on seasonal drinks – there are delicious non-alcoholic mulled wines, non-alcoholic wines and spirits, and juice blends like orange and cranberry that can be just as seasonal. For kids, stock up on cocoa, with flavoured syrups, marshmallows, and whipped cream. These are all great drink options, since you can adapt them for all types of dietary requirements - gluten free and vegan included.

Final Thoughts

Getting prepped for Christmas is a big job, but one that is well worth doing – and once you’ve got your holiday home prep done, all that is left is to do is to choose a seasonal playlist, and to resist tucking into the seasonal goodies, and the drinks supplies too soon!