Gransnet forums

Christmas

So, before we all forget, share your Christmas tips ready for next year!

(57 Posts)
phoenix Wed 26-Dec-18 13:16:51

Happy Boxmas to all!

May I recommend, especially for those who (like us) don't have a dishwasher, buying a few tin foil trays?

Mr P and I used them for the turkey, roast potatoes, parsnips, extra stuffing and pigs in blankets. Much reduced the amount of washing up, and they can all go into the recycling.

And for those with littlies, from past experience when my own were small:

Have 2 identical pillow cases/sacks/stockings, one for them to leave on the end of the bed, the other ready filled in the wardrobe.

If you want to avoid the risk of them waking up at silly o'clock, and being tired and ratty by mid morning, set your alarm for 6am ( or 5, if you can face it!) and do the big switch then.

This gives you time for a cup of tea in peace, and be fully awake to enjoy watching them open their presents.

(I appreciate that everyone does things differently, we had presents from FC at the end of the bed, presents from family under the tree.)

Pittcity Sat 29-Dec-18 09:35:45

I've already got my half price cards and have put them and the reused several times gift bags in the bedroom cupboard.

gmelon Sat 29-Dec-18 09:29:47

My first is a vow not a tip. I shall not be pleased with a purchase of M&S chocolate Yule log and still be trying to find it now.
Tips.
Earlier this year I bought a convection/grill/micro wave oven. It came in very useful when dinner was being cooked. Extra oven space.
I've decided that doing it all at the last minute is no longer exciting. I'm starting on the second of January.
I'm making a list of what was actually eaten and used. Make a note of nibbles that went down well.
I'll avoid being knee deep in mince pies and chocolates.
Over the coming year I will buy non perishable food and some nice gifts.
I will buy there and then if I see the ideal little gift and not "get it nearer the big day". Which translates as "never".

I'm sure that my tips are teaching Gransnetters to suck eggs. I'm learning organisation late in life.
smile

Purpledaffodil Sat 29-Dec-18 09:27:10

Sounds similar to mine Nandalot. It lives under the bed and the lid keeps out the dust bunnies, which of course don’t exist because I am such a Domestic Goddess?

gmelon Sat 29-Dec-18 08:52:09

I needed to tame the rolls of wrapping paper lurking in one of my wardrobes. Googled and loads of ideas. and I have done precisely none of them
Wrapping paper can be stored in a garment bag which then hangs up.

Other ideas are a back of the door shoe holder with the plastic pockets. Slice through the bottom of the upper pockets and slot rolls in vertically.

Or use the plastic dispensers for used carrier bags. Screwed to the back of a cupboard can fit lots of rolls in.

Nandalot Fri 28-Dec-18 23:18:48

Purpledaffodil, that’s what I have done this year, but got a long under bed storage box for the purpose. It holds even the longest rolls of wrapping paper. I bought it quite cheaply at one of the discount stores.

Purpledaffodil Fri 28-Dec-18 21:15:53

Buy a wrapping paper box from Hobbycraft or wherever. I keep birthday wrap on top and rolls of Christmas stuff at the bottom, At this time of year I top up Christmas wrapping in the sales and add the half price Christmas cards I will buy too. And I know where to find them next year?

phoenix Fri 28-Dec-18 18:37:14

Only 1, Greyduster? tchwink

annodomini Fri 28-Dec-18 14:56:47

Grey, I think you win the prize!

Greyduster Fri 28-Dec-18 14:40:05

And take a large bottle of malt whisky!

Greyduster Fri 28-Dec-18 14:37:20

Christmas tips? Go away on the 23rd, somewhere where they have never heard of Christmas, and don’t come back until the 2nd of January!

grandtanteJE65 Fri 28-Dec-18 13:50:40

Label your boxes with Christmas decorations clearly on all four sides and stack them so the things you want early on in December are at the front of the stack.

Unless of course you decorate in one fell swoop, but I am too old for that now.

Emma49 Fri 28-Dec-18 12:03:48

We cover our decorated Christmas tree (lights included) with a very large plastic sheet and put in the garage. All ready for next year. My grandson, five years old says we are very lazy!!

newnanny Fri 28-Dec-18 11:39:52

Buy crackers, Xmas cards and plenty of wrapping paper now as half price. Colour code dc gifts so if one goes astray you know who it belongs to. Make a spread sheet to keep tabs if you do as i do and pick up bits through the year. Don't try to host too many at once. We have my ds, sil and dgc and 2 ds weekend before Xmas. Then my dsis, bil and their 4 dc after Xmas on 30th. Much less stressful and 2 days to enjoy.

mumofmadboys Fri 28-Dec-18 09:39:14

I wrote my Christmas cards at the end of October slowly over a week leaving it all out in the dining room. I did about 8 or 9 a day and enjoyed it so much more than normally. I am often the one doing it all in one evening the day after last day of posting, especially when I was working!

JackyB Fri 28-Dec-18 08:39:42

Make notes before putting everything away of wrapping paper and Christmas card requirements for next year. Better still, get them now while they're going cheap and then don't forget to make a note NOT to buy any next November!

Witzend Fri 28-Dec-18 08:31:27

1. Rest the turkey upside down, so that juices drain into the breast, not out of it. Can't think why I never did this before.

2. (Probably not applicable to everybody!)
Make a note of where I have hidden bags of presents brought by far-flung relatives earlier in December, so I don't go mad looking for a missing bag on 25th and 26th - after dd had put her own stash of presents for son in law's family on top of them in the spare room wardrobe! Where I'd already looked 4 times in an I-must-be-going-mad frenzy.
So they finally turned up yesterday morning, as dd and family were packing up to go to in laws.
Phew!

Grandma2213 Fri 28-Dec-18 05:26:07

This year I made a simple (A4) organiser chart with each of DC and DGC's names and a general title,which I carried around in my bag. As I bought or received online orders I wrote them under the apropriate name and ticked them. When they were wrapped I changed the tick into a W. A bit OCD I know but it saved buying things twice, made sure presents were evenly distributed and avoided tearing paper off to see what I had bought and for whom! It definitely worked!

KatyK Thu 27-Dec-18 16:47:24

Don't buy so much food for the buffet we do here on Boxing night. There are only usually 9 of us and I buy enough to feed an army. We are now trying to plough through it.

bikergran Thu 27-Dec-18 16:43:03

and leave the wrapping paper/gift tags/ribbon etc downstairs/garage etc so as not to have to clamber up the ladders to the loft mid November confused (unless you have posh loft ladders of course) smile

me..! I have to treck the ladders in (usually wet through) drag them up stairs, then have to seperate them to make a long ladder \(trying not! to severe fingers at the same time)

phoenix Thu 27-Dec-18 16:27:43

Luckygirl I use the tube from the middle of a roll of wrapping paper for storing lights.

Another tip

Keep a wrapped bottle of wine, box of chocolates or biscuits in the car when visiting, with a tag attached, "best wishes from X&Y.

If you are given a gift that you weren't expecting, say "Oh, DH left yours in the car! "

Scuttle out and retrieve item, and present with a smile!

lemongrove Thu 27-Dec-18 16:18:37

I’m not laughing Chewy .....am licking my lips, sounds delicious.?
grandtante that’s a really good idea! ??

Chewbacca Thu 27-Dec-18 16:06:22

Only just caught up with this thread and I'm laughing out loud at the roasted parrot! tchgrin

grandtanteJE65 Thu 27-Dec-18 14:28:18

Oh, and save egg boxes during November and December. They are invaluable for packing small glass Christmas tree ornaments and it saves a lot of individual wrapping in newspaper.

grandtanteJE65 Thu 27-Dec-18 14:26:29

Paper table cloths if you have small children amongst your Christmas guests!

Phoenix dear, my mother invented the switched stockings ruse. Daddy had a pair of green kilt stockings and a pair of blue. For years I wondered why my sister and I had one stocking from each pair. Mummy told me why once I had grown out of believing in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy.

craftergran Thu 27-Dec-18 07:37:42

We have a buffet on Christmas Eve, prior to the main event next day. This year we served up many of the buffet items in those plastic container you get from take aways (which we had saved up over the past few years). All stacked neatly and quickly in the spare fridge when we cleared up.
Paper plates for buffet - oh why did I not use them last year? They were a godsend - plates straight into bin after use. The only washing up was cutlery and bowls. I am going to get paper bowls for nuts and bombay mix etc for next Christmas Eve.