Stress Less At Christmas With 75 Easy Tricks

General Holiday Hacks to Destress Christmas

Buy labels because you’re going to be labelling your storage bins once and for all.

Stock up on ink, tape, and go ahead and splurge on fun sharpies and glitter pens; I have no great reason for this other than it’s fun to own pens in every seasonal color. Even if you don’t use the whole pack you can always put them in Advent calendars as fillers!

Take at least one family photo. It’s annoying. It’s a wrangle. But when someone isn’t there anymore you’ll laugh at what a gong show it was and cherish that memory more than you know. 

Send online cards and save yourself money on postage or better yet take a family photo (selfie or self timer or professionally done), upload it to Canva and pop it into one of their Holiday Card templates, download it,  and email your gorgeous self to friends and family.  If you forget to do that and find yourself lying in bed on Christmas Eve thinking “ Fudsicles, I forgot to send out a Christmas card”, upload the image to Instagram or Facebook and wish all your peeps a Merry Christmas. Done. 

When it snows you have two choices: shovel or make snow angels

Get outside. Winter drives people indoors which can bring down our mood. Make a point to leave the house, take a stroll around the block, make snow angels, park further away from stores, whatever it takes to soak in that Vitamin D. 

Make sure your car is prepared for holiday road trips with an emergency roadside kit.

Book all your beauty appointments (hair, nails) early in the fall to feel refreshed and party ready for the holidays! The less stress you have worrying about these appointments the better.

To avoid getting run down, make sure you get plenty of sleep, drink lots of water (I use this gallon jug and swear by it) moderate eating and drinking, take time for yourself, and exercise. We’ve all spent a Christmas or two sick and had to miss out on the festivities.

Tips to Make Christmas Decorating Easy

3 – 5 decor items. A tree, a garland, a wreath, and two other pieces (medium to large in size) is all you need to bring a room to life for the holidays. Keep everything within the same color family or style and you’ll be done decorating for Christmas in under an hour (or maybe two if you have to set up a tree). Plus storing these 5 items is so much easier than storing 45!

Place a command hook upside down on the back of a door or cupboard so it can act as the wreath hanger. 

Wrap tree lights around a hanger or an empty Christmas wrapping tube to keep them from getting tangled for the next year.

Hang bells on your tree so you can hear if kids and pets are poking around somewhere they aren’t supposed to be. Also works to hang bells on the top of closets and doors to hear if little eyes are about to find something they shouldn’t. 

Ornament containers!  These are the ornament containers we have and they are life changing. Sturdy, include dividers, they’re made of canvas, they’re waterproof and they look very neat and tidy when stacked. 

Have some extra tomato cages lying around from summer? Grab some string lights and wrap up the cages into the shape of a Christmas tree and use them as decor along your walkway or balcony. 

If you happen to have a spare room or empty closet, wrap your artificial tree in a king size sheet and store it for next year. Now that’s an easy way to decorate next year!

Hang a few ornaments from a light fixture with thick satin ribbon to transform it into a Christmas chandelier.

Purchase 2 planters from a local hardware store or greenhouse and use as decor for your entrance, driveway, or wherever you need a bit of sprucing up. 

Cooking Tips and Hacks for Less Stress at Christmas

Clean your refrigerator and freezer before you stock up for the holidays. Take inventory of the pantry and toss expired items. Your guests will thank you. 

Make your turkey stock for gravy ahead of time and freeze for less stress at Christmas Day.

Use the turkey bones, oranges, garlic, onions, herbs and spices to make bone broth for staving off those winter colds and generally having a go-to comfort food during the dark days of winter.

Use your crockpot for mulled wine, large batches of hot chocolate, delicious soups, or chilis and roasts in order to avoid being tied to the stove for the duration of the holidays. 

Serve turkey dinner around 2pm or 3pm so there is no need to make lunch or dinner. I thought this was commonplace until my brother-in-law asked why we were eating in the middle of the afternoon and not at dinner time. A little kitchen wizardry I say. Instead put our grazing platters with meats, cheeses, crackers, or just have a large breakfast.

Dry turkey? If you’ve overcooked the turkey, no worries, simply pour chicken stock all over the turkey and this will help add some much-needed moisture to the bird.

Once dinner is done, put the lid on your turkey roaster and set it outside on the deck or in the garage where the temperatures are cold. Bring it inside for late night turkey buns. 

Freeze whipped cream dollops or in a layer on a cookie sheet and use a cookie cutter to make hearts or other Christmas shapes to use in hot chocolate 

Bought too many fresh herbs? Stress less about wasting food by freezing them in olive oil to use at a later date. Or better yet purchase in advance and add these when you need to flavor the stuffing, soup, potatoes, or veggies

Put icing in a condiment squeeze bottle to make it easier to decorate cookies.

Make your mashed potatoes in the slow cooker to save stove space and no tending required.

After everyone has had their fill of turkey and late night turkey buns, throw the turkey carcass in the slow cooker or in a large pot of water on very low heat in order to make a delicious turkey soup.

Make your Christmas breakfast ahead of time; especially helpful if you have kids!

Christmas Entertaining Suggestions to Maximize the Merriment

Come November I stock up on assorted crackers, a couple extra bottles of red, white and Prosecco that I keep chilled, as well as cheese blocks and cream cheese for an impromptu brie bake, and pistachios just in case we get a few unexpected guests who drop by! It will save you from running to the store during peak shopping days as well, which is far less stress at Christmas. 

Pets need attention too. Take them for a few more spins around the block or play for longer so they can get plenty of exercise before your guests arrive. 

Make sure your bar is stocked and ready to go with the basics:

Need a quick dessert? Chocolate and strawberry mousse is easy and festive when you sprinkle crushed candy canes on top.

Glue or tie two candy canes together to make easy place card holders for Christmas Eve dinner

Ice can really level up your holiday party or dinner. If you don’t have the LG Craft Ice Refrigerator, then get yourself these silicone sphere and cube ice trays. They are very easy to fill and your mini softballs will be ready in a few hours! Add sprigs of rosemary, orange slices, or cranberries to make each cube more festive.

Fold your napkins like Christmas trees to get all fancy

Smash candy canes in the food processor or by putting in a plastic bag and beating with a rolling pin. Do this in advance to rim cocktail glasses, sprinkle on ice cream, garnish desserts, or slip into a hot chocolate to make it mint hot chocolate (so easy!)

Freeze grapes, cranberries, and raspberries to use as pretty chillers for drinks at your holiday party and garnishes

Use an old bulletin board to make a pin-the-nose-on-the-reindeer game to keep kids entertained

Christmas Gift Tips to Make Gifting Easier

Shop throughout the year for gifts so it’s less stressful around the holidays. There should be no such thing as ‘Christmas shopping’. Heading to the shops when everyone else is trying to do the same thing is a nightmare. I’m always amazed every parking lot is filled to the max during Christmas rush. If you can take advantage of the end of season sales to pick up gifts, they were likely be useful throughout the year. 

Have a theme for your gifts. For example, a gift must be handmade, or involve the letter ‘insert letter’, or include something music related, or promote good health. Each year come up with a new theme for next year.  

Make Christmas candy sleighs to give as acquaintance gifts – teachers, coaches, kids, neighbors etc.

Instead of gift tags, use a different wrapping paper, ribbon or bow color for each member of the family. I’ve shifted to buying 1 large roll of brown paper (or using the grocery store brown bags) and tying them with different ribbons and baker’s twine. It’s aesthetically pleasing to have simple gifts under the tree without all the loud patterns of traditional wrapping paper. 

Recycle old Christmas cards and use them as gift tags. Here’s a link to a punch you can use to quickly make your tags.

Need a last minute gift? Check out this post 

Fill a Christmas hamper this holiday, or a basket to the food bank or other charity that could use food and clothing.

Prepare for Next Christmas (You’ll thank yourself in 364 days!)

Make a list of wrapping supplies, hosting items, new decor pieces, new board games to buy, or anything else that will make the holidays easier. This way you can shop for sales, ask for these items as gifts, and take your time restocking for next year so it’s bigger and better!

Toss and curate your decor. Get rid of anything that is chipped, broken, or you’re just tired of looking at. Donate, toss or sell these items to simplify your holiday decor so all the pieces you own add joy to the season. This will help to make the list from above easier. 

Label your bins using Avery labels #2317 and only put the items on the label in each bin. It makes it so much simpler next year. Soooooo much simpler.

Make notes in your phone, calendar, planner, wherever you’ll remember to look, for things to do differently next year. These can be reminders to book family photos in August, send Christmas cards to so-and-so, uninvite Uncle Jim, or purchase the greatest party machine ever made – the Bartesian the ultimate cocktail creator! (I cannot tell you how well this completes our bar).

Sell ornaments you no longer enjoy or like. You never know what you have in your collection that others may be looking for. There can be good money for the right piece.

Start a holiday budget. 

I always go overboard during the holidays and end up with way too many odds and ends that eat into my budget. This is pretty common, yet quite stress inducing. A few years ago I started to put away money in January by setting up automatic transfers from my account to a savings account, putting all my change in a jar/piggy bank, and cutting back in a big way by simply not eating out or buying things I either already own or received for Christmas. It’s amazing how quickly the habit of purchasing and spending money happens during the holidays. 

Final Thoughts

My single greatest tip (one I’m still working on!) …

Say no. The holidays are brief, don’t ruin them for yourself by over committing.

Merry Happy Holidays!