So how are all your Christmas preparations going? Are you managing to tick things off your lists? I am slowly working my way through mine, you can see them here if you want to be nosey.
My thoughts now though have started to turn to christmas day itself. How can I make it easy and fun for everyone? We prep a few things to help make the day run a bit smoother and I thought I would share them with you. I hope these tips can help you make your Christmas Day run smoothly.
Number 1 – Have you got the batteries?
There is nothing worse than when the kids start to open all their presents and you find you need batteries, and there are none in the house. So if you haven’t already, add them to your shopping list. When you do get them, make sure they are put somewhere where you can find them. Ours are in a drawer in the kitchen.
Number 2 – Prepare the toys before you wrap
Now this little trick was passed onto us and it has been a godsend. Lots of toys these days come with a tonne of plastic and elastic things keeping the toy in place in the packaging. These are a nightmare to find and remove when you have very bouncy kids excited to play with their new toy. So before you wrap it up, remove as many of these as you can.
This is also the perfect time to add the batteries if they are needed.
Number 3 – Have all your tools ready
Gather a couple of different types of screwdrivers and some scissors and put them with the batteries before the big day. You will then be prepared for whatever is thrown at you, literally, by a child who is very excited to play with their new pressie.
Number 4 – Make sure someone is on note taking duty!
I don’t know about you but our children do fab impressions of the Tasmanian devil when unwrapping presents. This can make it hard to work out who sent what to which child. Put someone on note taking duty, as the last thing you want to do at the end of a long day is remember where all those presents came from.
Number 5 – Charge everything!
Phones, iPads, camcorders, iPods, kindles, you name it! If you want to take a picture with it, charge it! If you want to video with it, charge it! And if it’s a present you are giving, try and charge it and check its working before you wrap it.
Number 6 – Build the flat pack before the big day
Are you giving a dolls house this year? Or do you have that lovely play kitchen all boxed up to give to your little one? Then I suggest you build them before the big day. Then all you have to do is slap a bow on it and get it out when you go to bed on Christmas Eve.
If you don’t have the space to hide something build it on Christmas Eve. Make sure you have plenty of chocolates and wine to hand, that really helps make things more bearable. And yes, we will be getting our DIY on this Christmas Eve!
Number 7 – Be prepared for dealing with the rubbish
I don’t know about you, but every year as the paper and tissue paper is flying around the room we normally bung it all into a black bag. This means later on, or a few days down the line, the contents of that black bag needs to be gone through and sorted into recycling and binning.
This year I am going to try something different. I’m going to find three spare boxes and put them in the front room ready for Christmas morning. One will be for paper, one for cardboard & plastic and one for everything else that can’t be recycled. My plan, if it works, is that as we open our presents we can sort the rubbish as we go.
Number 8 – If cooking, write a timetable
This has worked so well for me in the past. I have worked out what time we would be eating and I then work back from that. I include everything we want – roasties, veg, turkey, trimmings, starters etc. This also shows when you have gaps for opening presents and when you need to start cooking.
Number 9 – Prepare what food you can the day before
I like to peel the potatoes on Christmas Eve and leave them in a pan of water over night. All you need to do the next day is turn the hob on. I have also cooked up some veg dishes a few days before and frozen them. They just need defrosting and warming though on the day. And don’t forget the ice. Whether this is buying a bag or filling an ice cube try, make sure you have enough.
Number 10 – Dress to impress!
We always buy the girls a new outfit for Christmas Day, this is then used as party dresses throughout the year. Get them out ready the night before so everyone knows what they are wearing and it will help speed up the getting ready process in the morning.
Do you have any tips on how to help Christmas Day go smoothly? Please share, I would love to hear about them.
Lets get organised!
Jo
X
Excellent tips!! Especially about the batteries, I remember being little and my parents never having any batteries and there would be nowhere open to get any either. The frustration would outweigh the excitement pretty quickly!xx #picknmix
I have similar memories about batteries not being around too. It’s funny what you don’t forget. Thanks for stopping by. X
I love the Party Dress idea! I think I’ll use this one for my toddler 🙂 #picknmix
A great post Jo and will be having this to hand in the next couple of weeks.
X
This is a list I am going to be using. I love to be prepared for everything and I’ve already told my husband that we will be making our daughter’s kitchen on Christmas Eve to save time. Great list!!!
Exellent tips! We have learnt to always build flatpacks the day before and batteries make for a much nicer and calmer Christmas #MarvMondays
We are having our first Christmas Day at home this year which I’m looking forward to, loving all these tips! Thanks for linking to #PickNMix
Eilidh x
Enjoy your day at home, it’s nice not having to go anywhere. Thanks for stopping by. X
This is such a helpful post. The mini screedrivers and batteries is definitely a must as well as scissors for getting into those pesky boxes with the stupid plastic tags. Thanks for joining us for #marvmondays
Glad to hear you found it helpful. These tips have all come from experiences and I just want to help people not having to go through the pain of having very excited children not being able to get to their present! X
We’ve gone one step futher with the batteries this Christmas and purchased a rechargeable unit and the batteries. I’m so fed up with constantly buying batteries and the waste is awful.
Feeling quite smug that I was organised enough to buy it in advance of the big day 🙂
Great list as always
Rechargeable batteries are a good shout, we have some but I never have enough! Thanks for stopping by. X
These are great tips! I’ll certainly be using them
Some great advice here especially about making sure you’ve got the right batteries and removing as much packaging as you can. Nothing worse than the kids not being able to play with a battery operated toy properly or becoming impatient as you try to remove the ridiculous amount of packaging. I don’t remember toys being that hard to get at when I was younger. You need tools just to get the packaging open. It’s crazy. Also I put the wrapping paper and packaging into bin liners aso we go as I can’t stand mess and I don’t want the smaller gifts being asnountsccidentaly her own it with the mountains of paper.
#marvmondays
That should say *accidentally being thrown out with* the mountains of paper x
I am sure the toy manufacturers out those annoying tags on so they can secretly laugh at parents trying to open them in front of excited children! Thanks for the comment. X
Ah lots of fab tips here! I need to grab some new batteries before the day, we are never prepared for batteries! #MarvMondays
Love these tips. Especially the list writing and recycling. So organised! I have to disagree about number 10 though, it’s Christmas PJs/jumpers all day for me! x #SharingtheBlogLove
Oh if I could spend the day in my PJ’s I so would. We are off to the in laws this year, glad rags on all round. Thanks for stopping by. X
Cutting off all those annoying plastic tags before wrapping is genius! I’d never have thought of that! We’ve bought a huge fire station with fire engine for Max which will require assembling – we’re lacking on storage space so it’s going to have to be a Christmas Eve job for us. Some great tips here – thanks for joining us again at #SharingtheBlogLove
Those toy manufacturers have a lot to answer for with the amount of tags they use, good luck with your christmass eve building. X
Such helpful tips – especially the batteries and tools. I think these tips are also great for birthdays and other celebrations that include presents. Thanks for the advice! #SharingtheBlogLove
So true about these tips being helpful for other celebrations. Thanks for stopping by. X
I am vaguely organised for Christmas now, but I am still having that last minute eek have I forgotten something or someone feeling!
Thanks for linking up to #PicknMix
Stevie xx
I’ve spent the last 2 christmas eve’s building toys, but we don’t have any to build this year 🙂 Removing those annoying tags is a great tip, they are literally on everything. Thank you for joining us at #SharingtheBlogLove x
Ordering batteries is on my list of jobs for tonight! I followed your second tip with my daughters birthday presents this year and it made a HUGE difference. I was planning on doing it for Christmas too but the past week has been a nightmare and I ended up with only a one hour window to get the presents wrapped up and moved to the in-laws before my son broke up from school (not enough hiding places in our house) so had to just wrap them fast. I’ll be kicking myself Christmas morning for not making more time to do it though!
#SharingtheBlogLove
Fab tips, must get out and buy some batteries this week!! #marvmondays
Great tips. We bought a phone for our son once that said (very big writing) to charge for at least 6 hours before use which we didn’t do which led to quite a miserable Christmas Day!