Christmas can be a hectic time of the year. The hustle and bustle of busy city streets, the decorating, buying the perfect present for your loved ones – the holidays can be pretty overwhelming. It can be vital to save time where possible in order to easily complete each task. Here are some of the most useful Christmas hacks to try out this year.
Putting decorations up is an exciting part of the preparation for the big day. However, taking them down can be stressful, with many people just wanting it all to be done. This can mean that decorations can be thrown into boxes, without any rhyme or reason. Organising your boxes is a great idea, but it’s important to keep the routine. Every year when you take your items out of storage, take a picture of the box. This way, you’ll know exactly where everything goes and easily be able to keep it all neat when the time comes to take it down.
Artificial trees save the hassle of having to buy a real tree every year. They look great for the first few years. However, naturally, they become gappy after being stored for eleven months out of twelve. There is no need to buy a new one when this happens, however. All you need to do is buy two garlands of a similar colour to the tree. Drape them in the middle parts of the tree that may have become gappy and voila, you have a fuller tree.
Tablecloths dress up any table, but they can easily get dirty. Your table cloth is bound to collect a few stains over the holidays. You can always have a few on standby, but buying brown kraft paper is the solution you may have never thought of. All you need to is drape the paper over the table before securing it underneath with tape. If you’re good with a marker, forego the table cards and draw them on the paper instead.
Outdoor lights look wonderful against the darkness of December nights. Some people hang them well, whereas others struggle greatly. Using a hot glue gun can help to secure lights on outside walls. Simply apply glue to the side of the socket first. After this, hold it in place for a few seconds while the glue dries. Hanging lights in this way means that they will stick for the duration of the holidays, and afterwards, if you would like, without having to adjust or fix them. Just be sure that you don’t stick them to a painted wall, as it will rip the paint off when they’re coming down.
Hanging festive photos is an underrated aspect of decorating that will have a greater effect than any store-bought item. Many people may display them above the fireplace or near the tree, but using a ribbon to hang your festive pics is both easy and looks amazing. While you can hang the ribbon anywhere, draping around your open cupboard doors is a great way to brighten up the kitchen.
What hacks do you use? Let us know in the comments your most useful Christmas hacks!
