How to Prepare For Christmas

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On January 24, 2025

It is that time again, C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S! Time to prepare yourself for the tinsel, the Christmas carols and of course all of the entertaining of loved ones!

Here are our tips for how to arm yourself for Christmas.

1. Declutter!

This is a great time of year to clear away the clutter that tends to collect in those areas like the: entrance, kitchen table, bedside tables, closets etc. The ideal thing to do is to create a ‘home’ for all your things i.e. a hook for keys, a bowl for wallets at the end of the day, hooks for handbags, racks for shoes etc. So even if there are things ‘out’ they are orderly. It is a lot easier on the eye and saves you a lot of time when you are looking for your things before heading out to this Christmas BBQ and that work cocktail party.

Need a little inspo? Have a look at the Home Edit or Tidying Up on Netflix both are wonderful, it just depends if you want heartwarming and helpful tips vs bubbliness, celebrity closets, amazing transformations and next-level organisation.

2. Have a good ‘wow how long has that been there?’ chuck out

More specifically, the fridge, pantry and freezer:

Chuck away foods past their expiration date: Herbs and spices have an expiration date, as do baking products. HERE is the difference between best before and use by
Chuck away food with freezer burn
Chuck away food that has been in the freezer forever, despite some beliefs food does indeed spoil in the freezer eventually. Check out a helpful guide HERE
Replace things you are going to use again but they are past their best. But really think about it. Unless you need it ASAP sometimes it is better to wait and see if you actually use that item again… ahem treacle anyone??

3. Pave the way for Santa

What do Aussies like to do at this time of year, BBQs!! Cue worried sideways glance at our overgrown garden and moss-covered patio…. Get in now and make the job a bit smaller by doing it slowly over time, better yet grab some Wet & Forget (or similar) and give yourself the gift of ‘less’ this Christmas (effort that is). You will thank yourself when you aren’t paper-bagging it right before Christmas day!

4. Get on top of the bathroom

Yep, it’s time to even clean behind the bathroom door and clean entire surfaces instead of..you know… just cleaning around them like we usually do! People are going to be coming around for gatherings and popping in, get your big cleaning out of the way so that if you get that surprise call from Sharon that she is dropping by in 30 you can do a quick toilet paper dust of the vanity, scrub of the toilet and you’re good!

5. Time to find the fancy stuff (I know I put it somewhere safe last year)

I think a lot of us (despite the Minimalism movie we watched and vowed to give away every item we owned) have those items that only come out once every 365 days i.e. fancy table cloth, ‘nice china’ and things. So get them out now and clean them so that you aren’t frantically doing it the day before! Because yes, they may have been clean when you put them away last year, but you can be sure they have gathered dust and various debris since then!

6. Garnish your home

Hang pictures, update cushions, plants, bedheads etc

You know all those things you have been meaning to do to ‘complete’ your home. Hanging photos, completing that couch with cushions, purchasing that bedhead or putting plants about like it is completely effortless – and you totally can keep them alive.

Do them now! Otherwise, you will catch yourself saying ‘Oh we still need to do X’ and ‘I have been meaning to replace Y’ to your guests.

7. Even Santa delegates to his elves

Now, this is going to be unpopular with every ‘hostess with the mostess’ out there… DELEGATE! Even just a little. You will find you have more time to spend with your friends and family rather than seeing only the kitchen. Get people to bring a plate, or have a loved one come by the day before whatever your event to help you prep! It will save you time and you will have fun. If you are worried about how it will look, don’t. People are happy to help and everyone has hosted these things before and thought gosh all I did was stay in the kitchen.

8. Tackle the home office – don’t let your home office take over your Christmas as well as your home.

If your home office is also part of your lounge, guest room or other space that will be seen by guests… give it a tidy! Paper has the tendency to get away from us, so does dust. This is an area that is new to most of us so sometimes, gets left off the regular clean.

9. Bench space – the other great gift to give yourself

Clear off items from your kitchen bench. If you don’t use it multiple times a day put it in a cupboard. It only takes a few seconds to pull it out. Toasters are a great example of this, I always thought my Nana was a little odd for keeping her toaster in a cupboard rather than on the bench. Her answer? I use it once a day. It takes me 2 seconds to pull it out, another 2 to put it away, it isn’t really a pretty addition to my kitchen plus and I get more bench space.

You are going to need space to prepare food, serve food and inevitably the fridge/pantry will run out of space. So you are going to need every inch of bench you can get!

My note since trying her approach – Do it! it is so much calmer on your eyeballs to see your kitchen clear of clutter.

10. Beautify…your cupboards

People will want to help you out at some point with food preparation (aren’t people awesome!?). You don’t want to feel like you have to say no because you don’t want them to see the state of your Tupperware draw (everyone’s Tupperware drawer looks terrible just FYI). But you get what we are saying. Just a general tidy will make you happy to have happy helpers!

11. Seating plan

Not the scary wedding one, but just a general plan. Inevitably every year it happens, we all sit down and ahhhhh opps 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,….and oops not enough seats. Perhaps think ahead and ask a relative to bring a few extra chairs or pull a couple of camp chairs out. Or have a look at your available seats and think about how it could work – maybe designate a kids area around the coffee table (because let’s be honest their young limbs can take it!) that way there is more seating for the adults.

12. Plan & Prep

On that note….Have a look ahead to the food (when you get a spare moment!) and think about the meals/events that you will be hosting at your home but also those you will go to and need to take a plate or something (these are often the ones we don’t plan for and tend to sneak up on us).

Whatever your preferred method – be it a spreadsheet, piece of paper, make a plan! Have a look at what you can make ahead like the Christmas cake or things that can be frozen. Then look at what ingredients you will need and when. My preferred method is grocery delivery because you can order it in your jammies watching The Crown on Netflix and have it bought to your door in a fraction of the time and effort.

If you know ahead of time what you are going to make and when it will reduce thinking time, trips to the supermarket and stress. Once you go ‘planned’, you will never go back.

How to Prep:

If you have guests staying these holidays

1. Fill the freezer

Have a few goodies ready in the freezer for Christmas Day and last-minute guests over the summer. There are a lot of things you can prepare ahead of time and even freeze to save you time HERE

Also each week from November we like to grab one extra thing like a packet of BBQ related meat, biscuits and wine so we have a bit of a stockpile to reduce stress runs to the supermarket and makes the financial outlay less MASSIVE.

2. Play ‘Hotelier’

If you have guests staying, think like a hotel. Put tea, coffee and sugar together on a tray next to the kettle along with cups, saucers and spoons. That way, you won’t feel you have to keep offering.

3. Give them spaces and places

Create a space somewhere for guests to hang their towels either in the bathroom or in the bedroom, otherwise, you will feel like you have to give them fresh ones each day (who needs the laundry honestly!!).

Clear some space for their belongings – maybe move out excessive furniture and look inside the closet. Hangers tend to take up a lot of room so if you have too many in there, store a bunch somewhere else.

4. Toiletries be gone!

Clear the basin area and the edges of the bath of messy toiletries. Put duplicated products in a box to store elsewhere and throw away any almost-finished bottles you won’t use.

5. Refresh your spaces

Add a cushion, hang a new print or painting, change the duvet cover and maybe even consider buying a new piece for your room like a wonderful bedhead or blanket box.

6. Deep Clean

Clean the linens, particularly if it has been a while since you have had guests… dust tends to gather pretty quickly! Clean skirtings, dust surfaces including any bedheads or other spots that gather dust and debris. Give the room a really good air out for a day too, perhaps take your pillows outside to sit in the sun or even wash them (if the pillows are more than 5 years old, the best thing you can do is replace them!).

7. Get extra keys cut

Label them and give them their own hook so they can come and go when they like. If you are in a city and have public transport, pick up a couple of transport passes/cards so they can use them while they visit. It’s hard enough to take public transport in a different city than your own, let alone figuring out how to get a card and top it up and use it.

Enjoy your time with your loved ones, and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!