After all that prep you need to give yourself a break, and be able to enjoy a disaster free Christmas Day – you deserve it! The day will go smoothly and you CAN avoid Christmas Day Disasters by using these 7 essentials tips.
When Christmas Day comes – you’ll no doubt be hoping for an easy day (as much as possible, of course!).
The last thing you’ll want is to have anything go wrong, and that’s where this post comes in…
I’ve put together my list of tips that should help ensure a disaster free Christmas Day. A day that runs as smoothly as possible – so you get to have a good time as well.
Yes, there’s still stuff to do – but a few things planned and sorted beforehand will really make all the difference.
Let’s get started…
Enjoy A Disaster Free Christmas Day With These Tips
Tip #1 – Get The Essentials Stocked Up
You really don’t want to get to Christmas Day only to realise that you’ve run out of matches / batteries / **INSERT ESSENTIAL ITEM** – do you?
Have a good think ahead of time what you are likely to need, and get it in the house. I would much rather have things I don’t need than not have them….
Related: Absolute Essentials to make your Christmas stress-free
Tip #2 – Put Toys Together
How many times have your children asked for a toy/game/item that needs putting together – and how many times have you spent half of Christmas Day trying to put said item together….
If this is fun for you and the kids, then by all means save it for Christmas Day as a treat, but if you would rather spend time doing something else, you may want to look at putting things together before the big day.
This also makes sure that if you haven’t got a part, or are having trouble putting it together, no one is disappointed when Christmas rolls around…
TIP – Make sure you’ve also got extra batteries for all the toys. There’s nothing worse than not being able to play with them once they’re opened…
Tip #3 – Prepare Food In Advance
You don’t want to have issues with your Christmas Day food on the day, because that adds extra stress you can do without.
Ideally you want to make things as simple as possible when it comes to sorting out the food on the day itself – and so preparing food in advance will have lots of benefits.
Not only will you have less to do, but you’ll also see where you may have forgotten ingredients in time to still go shopping.
Whether this means spending some time baking and freezing ahead of time, cutting veg the day before, or buying pre prepared food – get as much done in advance as possible.
You’ll still have to cook the meal, but you will have created much less strain on the day, and more time to enjoy yourself as a result.
Tip #4 – Plan The Day – A Little
Christmas Day can rush by, so having a plan will help you to slot everything in, and still have time to just relax.
This can be as easy as sitting down as a family and seeing what everyone would like to ideally do on the day itself. Have a list and see what you can and what you can’t fit in. This sets expectations well, and avoids disappointment.
Overall you don’t want to be rushing anything as much as you can.
Imagine having to open presents quickly because you’re late for relatives, or being unable to sit and watch that family film you’ve promised the kids because it’s now too late, or having to miss going to church because you’ve got the time of the service wrong.
Plan it out a little, and you’ll actually be able to have MORE flexibility while still doing all that you want to do.
Tip #5 – Get A Meal Timeline Sorted
Plan your Christmas dinner timeline in advance so it’s easy to follow on the day.
If you followed Tip #4 then you will know what you want to do on the day, and where you will be at any given time – so you will be more easily able to fit your food prep and cooking around these things.
For example – the turkey can be cooking while you are at church or with friends in the morning, and you can be home ready to do the rest of the food.
This would mean that you will know when you are eating – so you can plan the rest of the day as well…
(Need help with this? There’s a Christmas Dinner Timeline printable in the Christmas Planner – this helps me each and every year to keep things on track)
Tip #6 – Spread Things Out A Bit On the Day
Most families will be really rushed on Christmas morning, because there will be food to prep, presents waiting to be opened, and possibly places to go and people to see.
As such, it makes sense to spread things out a little more.
Here are a few ideas that go against the norm,but can make all the difference (most of which I’ve done over the years and loved!): –
- Eat Christmas dinner in the evening
- Eat Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve
- Open presents in the evening on Christmas Day (it’s all about the expectation!)
- Don’t plan to go anywhere on Christmas Day
Tip #7 – Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff
Remember – even if everything goes wrong it’s still Christmas day and you WILL have a good time.
You don’t want to have a meltdown because everything has gone wrong in your opinion (even if it HAS gone wrong it’s not the end of the world). You’ll have bad memories of the way you felt rather than good memories, and that’s definitely a mistake for Christmas…
Beans on toast for lunch and Christmas TV sounds pretty good actually! ;o)…
I hope these tips have helped you a little in thinking ahead for a disaster free Christmas Day – and you’re a little less stressed about it all!
And here are the Christmas Day Prep Tips in a quick list for you: –
- Get the essentials stocked up
- Put toys together before wrapping
- Prepare food in advance
- Plan the day – a little!
- Get a meal timeline sorted
- Spread things out a bit on the day
- Don’t sweat the small stuff