Easy Christmas Hacks For Busy Moms
I absolutely love this time of year, the cool weather, family gatherings, the gifts, and the food. What else could you ask for! But I can’t point out the beautiful without seeing the ugly and the truth is the holiday season can also be sooo overwhelming, especially for us moms. We tend to have higher expectations around the holiday season, which can mean extra work to make everything “perfect”. But, I’m here for you girl! You don’t have to work too hard (or break the bank) this year just to spread a little Christmas cheer. Here are a few hacks you can use to make things a bit easier during the chaos of Christmas.
Since this post is all about Christmas hacks why not start with the Christmas tree?
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The Christmas Tree
My ornaments use to always end up broken by the next year until I started to store them in egg cartons. It works perfectly for the smaller ornaments. For larger ornaments, use plastic cups or coffee cans.
If you typically put your tree in the corner like we do, you don’t have to wrap your lights all the way around the tree. All you have to do is criss-cross the string across the portion of the tree that’s visible.
Use green tinsel to wrap around the inner branches of your tree to make it look fuller.
Take the bulbs off of your strings of lights and spray paint them gold or silver to make them stand out.
Use things like popcorn and cranberries along with some string or twine to make natural (and inexpensive) garland.
Make your tree taller by placing a milk crate or paint cans under the base, then hide them with a tree skirt.
The Gifts
Skip the name tags this year and just wrap everyone’s gift with wrapping paper unique to them. For example, my 2-year-old loves PJ Masks so I’ll be wrapping all of his gifts with PJ Masks gift wrapping paper. My daughter is really into unicorns right now so that’s what I’ll be using for her gifts this year. My husband is a pretty big gamer (insert eye roll) so guess what kind of paper I’ll wrap his gifts with?… Of course, something video game-related… You get where I’m going here so I’ll stop rambling about wrapping paper now!
Use double-sided tape while wrapping presents to add a professional touch to your gift wrapping. This one is super simple but it can make a world of difference in the way your gifts look.
You can DIY easy snow globes using Mason jars, some glitter, waterproof craft glue, vegetable glycerin, and a few small Christmas-themed trinkets. These could work as a decoration as well as a personalized gift.
When I give gifts to certain family members (especially kids) I like to fake them out a bit. I’ll buy something really nice that they wanted but I’ll take it out of the packaging and put in a cereal box or something like that. A couple of years ago I got my daughter a phone but I had it stuffed in an ice cream cone box, the look on her face was priceless. I have to say it was pretty damn hilarious! This works for little Christmas pranks but can also come in handy. If you run out of gift boxes just go raid your pantry!
The Decorations
Decorating is a big part of the holiday season. It can be a really fun activity for the family to do together but it can also be so time-consuming!
Wrap your lights around a paper towel tube or part of a wrapping paper tube to store them once the season is over.
If you run out of hooks while youĂre hanging up ornaments, try using twine or zip ties. I’ve even used paper clips a few times.
Wrap a bit of green garland around a tomato cage to create a quick and easy outdoor decoration.
Wrap a couple of pool noodles with brown paper and paint them to look like a bundle of Christmas firewood.
Hang ornaments from a ceiling fan or light fixture to form a festive holiday chandelier.
You can run string through gingerbread cookies to make another decoration that looks good enough to eat.
The Food
Fill squeezable ketchup or mustard bottles with icing to make cake or cookie decorating a snap.
If your slow cooker isn’t being used to make food for your Christmas feast, you can use it to make a big batch of Christmas morning hot cocoa.
Use Christmas cookie cutters to make the cutest holiday-themed pancakes for breakfast.
Sprinkle a bit of cinnamon and clove into a pot of boiling water to fill your home with a festive holiday scent.
Spread out some whipped cream on a baking sheet, put it in the freezer, and use a cookie cutter to make festive hot chocolate marshmallows.
If you’re making potatoes this year boil them first for a minute or so then put them in ice-cold water. The skin should just peel right off. True-time saver!
This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Christmas hacks. I’m always on the lookout for ways to save time and money and of course, I have to share them with you. If you have any helpful Christmas hacks or tips feel free to share them with me and our other mommy readers in the comments below.
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Lovin’ these tips! I do the whole half wrap lights technique too. I never thought of using twine for ornaments before though, such a good hack!
Thanks Monica! The simple things can make a big difference sometimes
“Make your tree taller by placing a milk crate or paint cans under the base, then hide them with a tree skirt.”
Great tip!! Why didn’t I think of that?!
I am going to make our tree taller tonight!! đŸ™‚
Awesome!
Loved these hacks! I will have to pin for later!
Thanks Ashtin!
Awesome tips! I never thought about wrapping the inside of the tree with green tinsel to make it fuller. Such a great idea and totally doing it this year!
Green tinsel on the inside branches! That is brilliant! And so are homemade marshmallows! And I stopped using name tags on presents years ago. Instead I would practice my calligraphy and write everyones names on the wrapping. But using individual paper for everyone sounds less time consuming.
Make the tree taller trick is golden! I never thought to prop it up on something. My fiance jokes about how short our tree is every year. I am keeping it until we buy a house and I can go back to getting real trees. lol Thanks!
Thanks for these amazing hacks! I have been drowning in work and definitely needed a few tips