I am back today with the second part of our “Getting Organized for the Holidays” series. If you missed Monday’s post where I talked about getting ahead and planning gifts, decorations and meals during the busy month leading up to Christmas, you can read it HERE.
Today I wanted to touch on a few more ways over the next week or two you can get ahead for the coming holiday. After all, it’s a wonderful time of year but also probably the busiest with all the shopping, wrapping, celebrating, traveling, entertaining and such.
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GIFT WRAPPING
I tend to be a bit of a gift wrap hoarder, so I usually have quite a few holiday-ish rolls of wrapping paper on hand, but life is so much easier if you gather all your wrapping supplies in one place. I currently keep all mine in a drawer in the large armoire in our bedroom but I used to keep it all in my office in this cabinet. It was so nice to have everything together in one place.
Stocking up ahead of time on all the wrapping supplies like ribbon, tape {and more tape, you can’t have enough at this time of year!}, scissors and gift tags all in one place will make wrapping faster and easier. I also order several packs of stick -on gift stickers. I got mine from Jane.com, but you can also order custom gift tags from sellers on ETSY like our sweet friend Amanda. I am in love with these darling monogrammed gift tags she makes!
I purchase my wrapping paper at HomeGoods or Hobby Lobby, I tend to stick within the same colors each year–mostly gold and silver, mixed with black and white and sometimes a little red.
If you have already made a list of gifts you plan to buy, you can check them off when they are purchased and wrapped, especially if you have little ones and have to hide gifts until Santa comes. It is just one less thing to keep straight at this time of year 🙂
HOLIDAY BAKING
I have found that if I don’t plan to actually bake things for the holidays, it may not happen. Otherwise, I never have the right ingredients or a large enough window of time. There are a few tried and true recipes we make in our home each year, and I always try to make some extra to give to neighbors and friends.
For amazing inspiration for holiday baked gifts, the online store from Everyday Occasions has everything you need to put together beautifully packaged homemade gifts. My cookies may not be as beautiful as Jenny’s {above}, but it’s still fun to make a few batches of cookies at this time of year. For something different you can also make homemade liquors {see that post HERE}, or the sugar scrubs Christy shared yesterday.
WARDROBE PLANNING
This may sound completely over the top even for a ‘planner” like me, but spending a few minutes thinking about your holiday wardrobe will save you so much stress. Without fail at some point in the holiday season, we’re rushing out the door to a band {chorus, orchestra etc.} holiday performance and inevitably we’re missing something. Either pants don’t fit, we can’t find the required black socks–you get the picture. Even if you don’t have kids, planning out what your are going to wear to holiday parties will save you last minute headaches, and crazy shipping costs {been there/done that!}.
I have rounded up a few favorite holiday dress ideas below just in case you need them, just click on the image to see more about the items. For whatever reason, the last few dressy parties we have gone to, I have opted to wear dressy pants or a jumpsuit–it is so much more comfortable. However, I am more than a little obsessed with the blue dress below, it is a true showstopper.
SCHEDULE IN FUN TIME
In the same way scheduling in baking time makes it more likely to happen, scheduling in time for fun during the holidays is important to ensuring it actually happens. Finding time to do fun things like a family ice skating adventure, or a holiday movie night {we’re partial to ELF :)} is key to truly intentionally being present during the holiday season. It is so easy to get caught up in getting all the stuff done, don’t forget to schedule time for YOU too. A few quiet hours with the Hallmark Channel can make you a whole new person–don’t ask me how I know that! 🙂
As you have read, I designed the 2016 Holiday Planner to help you get your holiday under control ahead of time. With 17 pages of easy to use worksheets to jot down gift lists, party plans, your baking list and even a wardrobe planner {and more!} the holiday planner is a great way to head into the holidays with everything under control.
Click the button below to be taken to our online store to see our Holiday Planning collection {or read more HERE}.
Wishing you peace and joy this holiday season,
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You and Christy are always so beautifully organized!!!