Planning – Stress Free Christmas

Category: Planning

Door Covers For Easy Fun Budget Christmas Decorating

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Decorating For Christmas

Not everyone wants to think about a Christmas theme or to carry out all the work involved in sourcing and decorating to suit the chosen theme. There are some really lovely and unusual themes that can be chosen, instead of the traditional red and green that can be supplied by a Christmas tree or wreath and some red baubles or holly berries. These can require a lot of work and a reasonable budget that not everyone can afford. Christmas can still be fun and decorative without a large budget.

Tree and wreath with mistletoe for a traditional Christmas

Christmas Tree

For some people, a cheerful Christmas tree, decorated with hand made items, some fairy lights and perhaps sparkly tinsel is as much as they can think of with everything else to do at Christmas, especially if children are involved. And if a budget is a big consideration, then perhaps any spare money should be spent on quality toys for children or good food, rather than decorations which may be discarded once Christmas is done or which may not survive any mauling they may receive.

Christmas Themes

Fun Christmas theme using gnomes

For others, decorating for Christmas requires careful thought ahead of time, with a different theme or color scheme each year being a total necessity. Your theme may depend on whether you will be hosting adult or perhaps business company for Christmas or whether you are a harrassed parent with a number of small children and plenty of company to keep you busy. Themes do not all have to be high cost or bought in, they can be home made, with children creating snowmen or snowwomen and families or gnomes, for instance from recyclable materials that might otherwise be junked, including toilet paper inner rolls, dishwashing liquid bottles, cereal packets, paints, pencils or crayons and a lot of imagination and possibly cotton wool.

Door Covers

Door covers are a great way to decorate the outside or inside of your home at low cost. These are plastic or pvc sheets with colorful Christmas themes and pictures that are pinned or taped to the doors in your house. They are mostly budget friendly and provide a quick way of brightening the house with a cheerful and colorful festive feel. Being plastic, they are waterproof, so can be used outside on your entry door or inside on various inner doors.

Points To Be Careful Of

Christmas cover poster with snowflakes for door wall covering ideas

Plastic Christmas door cover or poster

If you are choosing a door cover or door covers for your house, make sure you know, as far as you can, what you are getting.

Height

Door covers can be different heights, ranging from 5 feet to 7 feet. A 5 foot cover is unlikely to cover your whole door but can look very effective centered vertically on the door, especially if it has a glass panel to shine light through. You can also add decorations top and bottom, depending on your creativity and the material to hand, For instance green paper at the bottom for grass or white for snow, perhaps wood effect paper at the top to suggest a shed. A 7 foot door cover may well cover your whole door or most of it.

Width

Check the width of your chosen cover against your door width. You may prefer a narrow cover or want one that goes right to the edges. Remember you will need a way to open the door and may need to cut a slit for a handle.

Attaching The Cover

Many of the door covers come with a rope that attaches to corner holes but this may not be suitable for your door. You may need to tape or tack the cover to your door. Be sure you are happy with the options you choose before perhaps realising that you could cause damage to a new door.

Quality

As with anything, you need to be sure of the quality of the item you are getting compared with the price you are paying. You will not get a silk purse at sow’s ear prices but you will at least want something that is likely to last out the Christmas season without ripping, even if it does not survive for re-use next year.

How Many Days Until Christmas

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Are You On The Christmas Countdown?

Once it comes to the end of August each year, some people starting counting how many weeks or even how many days till Christmas. Of course, 2020 is going to be very different for many people: no Office Parties and kids may have started thinking about what they might like for Christmas, but in many households, Christmas expenditure will have to be cut back severely!

If your household is still able to celebrate and you need to know how many days until Christmas, you can see that on the Xmas clock in the top right hand corner of this page.

Preparing Ahead

If you like a big Christmas each year, you may have already started preparing as soon as the previous Christmas is over: recording what went well and what needs to be improved and starting to store decorations and the tree away ready for next year.

If you cook your special Christmas meal only once each year, it’s important to note down the cooking times and temperatures, the ingredients and any special items you include. It’s so easy to forget to buy that special ingredient or the particular temperature or cooking time needed for your turkey or special recipes but you usually remember them at the time you need them, so write them down then in your journal.

Getting Ready

Have you made a list of all the things you need to do? The cards to send, presents to buy and wrap, guests to prepare for? You can get a download list of things to remember and budget for here.

Secret Santa

Many work places hold a Secret Santa event each Christmas, where each worker draws another person’s name from a hat and buys them a present within a given budget. No one knows who buys which present for which person. Some families, especially large ones, make use of Secret Santa each year to cut down on overall expenditure and allow each person to receive one bigger gift rather than many smaller gifts.

Redefine Christmas

Simple Ways To Redefine Christmas This Year

Last Christmas

What did you do last Christmas? Were you snowed in and had to spend the holiday locked indoors? Did someone break up with you and you spent the holiday depressed? Were you too broke to fly home for Christmas? Did you feel like you could have done more volunteering work? Well, that was last year and you can start planning how to spend Christmas this year now. Here are a few ways you can redefine your holiday and feel better about it come next year.

Next Christmas

1. Set A Budget – You need to start creating a budget early enough. If you are planning to travel home, buy gifts for the less needy, buy gifts for your loved ones or do anything else that costs money, you need to know beforehand how much you will spend. That way, you can start saving early enough in preparation for the big holiday. No matter how skint you are, get a jar or a tub, put a few coins or notes in it and don’t spend them. Next pay day, add a few more.

2. Release Your Expectations And Keep Things Simple – If you don’t want to feel disappointed this holiday season, don’t overschedule. Yes, there may be so much to do and you may feel that if you don’t achieve it, you will end up overwhelmed and depressed. However, if you release some of your expectations, you will feel better. Simplify. You don’t have to do what others do. Be open to change and you can adapt to whatever the season brings you.

3. Create New Traditions – If all the past holidays have been spent aimlessly, try creating a new tradition and find a way to sustain it every year. Traditions will help you feel connected with yourself and you will feel comfortable and enjoy a sense of certainty. If you recently had a child, you can start a new tradition with your new family. If your parents recently passed, you can start a tradition of meeting your siblings every Christmas to remember your deceased loved ones. As you get older, help the younger ones make their own Christmas traditions. A tradition can be anything, as long as it makes you feel connected and not alone during the holiday season.

4. Try Volunteering Or Helping The Needy – The Christmas holiday is the best time to start giving back to the less fortunate. Of course, some soup kitchens are overflowing with volunteers but if you plan early enough, you will be lucky enough to find somewhere to volunteer. On the other hand, you can bring gifts to a children’s home or any other group home where it will be appreciated. You will feel better for doing it and bring some cheer to anyone who receives your gifts.

5. Start Organizing Early – Don’t wait until the last minute to start doing anything during the holiday season. Are you planning to give to the less fortunate? Start planning early enough for what to buy and the date to hand out your gifts. Are you traveling home to meet your parents? Make sure you have bought the tickets early enough. If you are planning to spend the holiday indoors, have everything you need ready in hand to avoid any last minute hassles.

With these tips, you can turn around your Christmas holiday celebration immediately and redefine Christmas to something that will make YOU feel happy!

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