7 Ways To Get Your House Ready For Christmas

Christmas is only a month away, and amongst the festive excitement, there is always a huge amount of festive stress.

Buying presents, organising the Christmas dinner, wrapping, decorating, making party plans and arranging to see the family can be situations that you'd rather leave on the back burner.

The key to enjoying this Christmas?

Organisation.

Before the wrapping paper is shredded, you've heard the same Christmas Classics CD on repeat for two days and you feel like you've eaten more food than you have for the entire year, you need to ensure your home is holiday ready.

If your house is sorted, everything else will fall in to place.

Here are a few ways to ensure you're organised and ready for the festive fun...

1) Give your house a deep clean

Yes, you probably feel like you're constantly picking up after everyone and whizzing around with the vacuum cleaner as it is, but when was the last time you really went to town on the house from top to bottom?

Before you put any Christmas decorations up, you'll feel a lot better if you know every nook and cranny is squeaky clean. Set a day aside when the whole family is around and get the kids involved. Allocate everyone jobs with the incentive of a takeaway or meal at their favourite restaurant that evening.

2) Prepare for guests

At Christmas time, you'll inevitably have guests popping in with Christmas cards and presents for the kids, so always be ready for unexpected visitors. Set some crockery aside so that you always have clean cups to offer your guests a drink and have a few boxes of biscuits and chocolates in the house. Make sure your bathroom is always tidy and you have spare toilet rolls to hand, too – people are often out and about for hours doing the rounds.

3) Get the guest bedroom ready

Whether it's a spare room, the dining room or the kids are moving into one room for a couple of nights, give it a good clean to make it cosy for your guests and make them feel welcome. Sort out some fresh bedding, invest in an electric blanket for extra warmth and keep a stock of towels for guest use.

4) Give them their own space

If your relatives have come from out of town and are staying over for a couple of days over Christmas, they may want their own space in a morning or on an evening.

Put a kettle or a coffee machine in their room with a little pot full of different teas, coffee pods, sugar and milk pots so that it feels as though they're staying in a hotel. You could even put a toaster or a mini fridge with their favourite snacks in their room to make them feel at home.

5) Get some extra storage

Storage is usually tight at the best of times, and we always wish we had a bit more space to store away clutter. Around Christmas time is the worst for it. Beforehand, you have presents to stash away and food to store. Start eating up everything in your freezer now to make some room for Christmas Dinner supplies and enough food for a Boxing Day spread, and clear out tins for cupboard space.

If you don't want what is there, but need the space, don't hoard it. Donate it to a church collection or help to feed the homeless over the festive period. For after Christmas, invest in some big plastic boxes for all the children's new toys and have a clear out of old ones in the new year to make room. Donate your old toys to charity shops and explain to your children where they are going and how they are helping by donating their old belongings.

6) Make sure your kitchen is Christmas dinner ready

Plan your menu beforehand to make sure you have all the ingredients and appliances. If you're cooking for the whole family, you may want to make a few alternatives so that there is something on offer for all tastes and all dietary requirements.

A turkey is the traditional meat of choice, but you could also do a lamb or beef joint in the slow cooker overnight, adding a delicious extra dish to the table with minimal effort on the day. You often find that the standard four hobs that you have is never enough for all your trimmings, so it is also a brilliant idea to invest in an electric tabletop hob. You can have more pans on the go, minimising the stress of getting your timings right on Christmas Day.

Don't forget about the rest of the Christmas period too. You can make a great curry in a Tefal Actifry using leftover turkey, and an array of Christmas cakes, cookies and baked goods with the help of a food mixer.

7) Decorate!

The only way to feel 100% Christmassy is to decorate your house. You don't have to stick with the one Christmas tree in the corner of your living room. Put one in the dining room to enjoy whilst you eat your Christmas dinner and even one in the hallway to greet your guests.

Dot bowls and vases full of pine cones and Christmas pot-pourri around the house and light Christmas scented candles to get you in the festive mood. Garlands around the bannister and mantle pieces are also a great traditional way of decorating your home. If you like everything to look well put together, come up with a colour scheme and stick to it.

You could choose a traditional red and green theme throughout or go for all one colour to match your décor. Don't forget outdoors too. People love to take their decorations further than just the front room with an array of lights to make the whole street feel festive.

Now that your home is ready for Christmas, it's time to get excited for the fun and festivities coming up.

Enjoy spending time with your family, eating delicious food and hopefully you have something amazing wrapped up under the tree for you this year.

Let us know your top tips for getting ready for Christmas in the comments below!