Your Festive Survival Guide

The holiday period is fast approaching. While right now your to-do list seems relatively small and you are telling yourself that you’ve got weeks to get it all done, soon the list will start getting bigger and time will start running out. Even though Christmas falls at the same time every year, and we all know it’s coming, we usually find ourselves with a few days to go and absolutely loads to do. While Christmas should be a joyous time, filled with fun and love, for many it can end up being incredibly stressful and tiresome.

To avoid any festive burnout and stress, it’s important to have a survival plan, to help you get everything done, in plenty of time so that you can fully relax and enjoy yourself.

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Look After Your Home

The last thing that you want at Christmas time is something breaking or going wrong at home. Yet, it’s the time most things go wrong. Cold weather and overuse can easily cause your appliances and utilities to break down. Then, you’re stuck unable to get them fixed until the new year. Not to mention worrying about the added costs on top of your already overextended finances.

So, start taking care of it now. Contact Benjamin Franklin Plumbing to make sure your waterworks are in good order. Get your boiler serviced, make any repairs you need and consider replacing any older appliances in the black Friday sales.

Plan Travel

If you have family coming in for the holidays, it’s a good idea to give them a detailed itinerary and encourage them to travel early. The same applies if you are traveling elsewhere. Bad weather can easily cause travel disruption, so it’s a great idea to be prepared.

Start Early

Start making your preparations as early as you can. Start shopping for gifts and food now. You can always freeze food and wrap and hide presents. You could even pay for a storage space if you are a little cramped.

Plan Activities

Large family Christmases can be great fun. But, they can also lead to a lot of family drama. Especially when people start to drink. So, try to plan some activities to keep everyone going. Go to carol services, look for local events, plan walks and lunches out. Then for the day itself, get some new board or video games for everyone to play as well as some DVDs everyone is sure to love.

Cheat. Cheat A Lot

If you are getting stressed out by having so much to do, it’s worth cheating to make the day more fun. Buy personalised stickers, so you don’t need to write tags on all of your gifts. Buy frozen veg and potatoes for dinner and pay extra for free gift-wrapping services when you shop. Your guests won’t mind or even notice if it means that everyone gets to have more fun.

Remember, Christmas is just about spending time with the people that you love. Everything else is a bonus and should be treated as such.

Disclosure: This is a contributed post.