1. Make Sugar Cookies – My grandma has an AMAZING Sugar cookie recipe that is so soft and so delicious! She always comes over and we all make a huge batch of cookies!
2. Decorate the Entry way – The entry way is the first thing someone sees as they enter your home, be sure to get that decorated early as it will really bring in the spirit of the season. Hang a wreathe, get a festive door mat, and even some lights!
3. Bring Treats to Friends/Neighbors – The holidays give a great excuse to get out and meet your neighbors, or even stop by friends homes to bring a collection of treats or baked goods you have prepared for them.
4. Send out Holiday Greetings – You can plan to get your cards done by early December so they don’t end up stressing you out during the Holidays. This also lets your recipients list hang the cards or use them in decor themselves to enjoy through the Holidays!
5. Go Caroling – Caroling is so much fun if you can get a small (or large) group together and bundle up and enjoy the crisp air! It’s so fun to just stroll the block and the kids enjoy it too!
6. Buy/Donate Gifts for the Needy – You can donate new, unwrapped toys at many locations to be gifted to those in need this holiday. If you don’t have anything new to gift, you can always donate some of your used toys to thrift shops to clean out your closets before your children get their new Christmas gifts.
7. Decorate with a theme – When planning your decor, if you select a color or other inspiration as your theme it will make it easy to get all your decor to coordinate and look great! Try Red & Gold or Blue & Silver together!
8. Don’t forget the Christmas Tree! Of course, how could this list be complete without the Christmas Tree! If you don’t have a lot of decorations you can make your own or use ribbon and lights around the tree for a simple and pretty look.
9. Hang Stockings! Stockings are so fun and they look great for the decor as well! You can have your children help you decorate some new ones if you don’t have any pretty inexpensively.
10. Advent Calender Countdown – Have fun counting down the days to Christmas with an advent calender. If you don’t want to purchase a store bought one you can make one by collecting boxes or containers from around the home or even making a paper chain countdown.
11. 24 Days of Christmas Stories – There are many books (or free internet resources) of Christmas Stories. Have a tradition of reading a Christmas story a night for each of the first 24 days of December as you await Christmas!
12. Holiday Parties! Holiday parties are so much fun! Plan one for early December before the rush or for New Years! Or be sure to offer help to parties you may have received an invite to!
13. Ornament Gift Exchanges – It’s a tradition in my church group to do an ornament gift exchange and they are super fun! Everyone picks out really hilarious or beautiful ornaments and we play a gift swapping game. You could also include this in a holiday party to make and/or swap ornaments!
14. Homemade Gifts! Plan out some homemade gift ideas and work on them through the early holiday weeks to make for inexpensive gifts as well as help you get into the Holiday spirit! Hand knitted scarves make great gifts!
What great festive holiday ideas do you have? Do you do any of the ones I mentioned above? I love the Holiday and I’m always looking for new find traditions to pick up!
Anonymous
Saturday 4th of December 2010
Do you people have a facebook fan page? I looked for one on twitter but could not discover one, I would really like to become a fan!