Organized Christmas

Organized Christmas

Do the holidays find you festive ... or frazzled? Stop the stress with tips, ideas and printables for an organized Christmas.  Find a get-organized plan, get gift suggestions or print a Christmas planner.

Low-Cost, No-Cost Ways To Celebrate Christmas with Kids
Celebrate with kids
Cynthia Ewer December 1, 2021

Cutting costs at Christmas doesn't mean celebrating like Scrooge. It's not about what you buy--it's about what you do! 

Putting "celebration" at the center of the season--and taking the focus off of gifts and giving--can be the key to happy holidays that don't break the bank.

Better, when it comes to kids and Christmas, cheap is good! Simple, inexpensive family activities can be as meaningful as pricey Nutcracker tickets--and no need for scratchy dresses or dress-up suits. 

Try these no-cost, low-cost ways to celebrate the holiday season with kids:

Do Less, Enjoy More: Simplify Holiday Traditions
Simplify holiday traditions
Cynthia Ewer November 28, 2021

"Tradition" is a powerful force that sometimes pulls an unsuspecting family along in its wake. Do your holiday traditions serve your family, your values and your spiritual beliefs--or are you running a tired and joyless circle during the holiday season in the name of tradition?

To cut stress during the season, it's time to give your family's holiday traditions a stiff scrutiny.  Today, think back to traditions from season's past, with an eye to trimming them.

organize holiday gifts and crafts

No More UFOs! Get-Em-Done Strategies for Handmade Holiday Gifts

Scanning a list of handmade craft gifts is something like reading a cookbook: it makes you hungry! 

Whether you wander the crafts store, settle in at the library's craft bookshelf, or browse online, visions of bright and beautiful gifts follow one after the other. Will this be the year you give hand-crafted gifts ... to everyone? 

Give in to the impulse to overload on holiday crafts projects, and you're likely to find yourself drowning in UFOs: Un-Finished Objects. Try these ideas to keep your holiday crafting within bounds--and budget and timeframe, too.

It's A Wrap: Set Up A Gift Wrap And Mail Center
Gift wrap and mailing checklist
Cynthia Ewer November 9, 2021

Wrapping gifts for the holidays? Repeat after me: "This year, I won't be wrapping gifts at midnight on Christmas Eve!"

If there's a single most-underestimated holiday chore, it's gift wrapping. Supplies lie scattered throughout the house, while space and privacy are hard to come by. Translation: late-night Christmas Eve wrapping sessions, grumbling your way through the job.

Gift closet for an organized Christmas

Gift Closet Guide: Get Organized for Christmas Giving

We should all have a friend like my friend Joyce. No matter what the occasion, she comes up with the perfect gift--even at short notice. 

Her wrapped packages are lavish and lovely, her cards are sweet and well-chosen--and she does it on a budget and without last-minute dashes to the shopping mall. Her secret? 

A gift closet.

It's a concept we love here at Organized Christmas: a dedicated space in the household to store gift items, gift wrap and cards. A gift closet holds a stockpile of gift items and everything needed to wrap and present them.

Christmas planning center

Settle In: Create A Christmas Planning Center

When planning for the holiday season, why try to wing it, on the fly? 

Making lists on the go often finds them scattered in your wake, never to be found again.

To stay centered as you plan the holidays and get into the seasonal swing in comfort, find a place in your home to create an activity center devoted to Christmas planning. 

A dedicated spot to make gift lists lists and track menus keeps holiday planning on track.

Seven Tips for Sparkling Christmas Letters
Tips for holiday letters
Cynthia Ewer October 30, 2021

Christmas is coming, holiday cards and letters fill the mailbox--and it's time to write your family's annual Christmas letter. 

Want your letter to stand out from the crowd? Looking for ways to spice up the same-old, same-old Christmas greeting?  Try these seven tips for a sparkling holiday letter.

Start off on a positive note

It's a trend you can count on! Roughly 95% of holiday letters begin with a sentence like this: "I can't believe the year has come and gone so quickly!" While we all feel this sentiment, it's not the happiest way to begin a holiday letter.

Print a Christmas holiday budget

Santa Savings: Make a Holiday Budget For a Debt-Free Christmas

For many families, Christmas comes not once a year, but lingers on for months! Credit card bills arrive shortly after season’s end, not to be paid off until the following summer. Nearly two-thirds of American families don't know the true cost of their own Christmas celebration--and if they did, they'd be shocked. That much ... for a single day?

Fight the seasonal spending spree with the financial tool of choice: a Christmas budget. Try these ideas to create--and keep!--a holiday budget to save money on Christmas.

Print a master gift list

Master Gift List: A Holiday Shopper's Best Friend

Every family has one: a gift-giver of extraordinary flair and creativity. Year after year, this paragon finds just the right gift, large or small, for every friend and relation, and all without breaking the bank. 

Her “just because” offerings are tiny jewels, she’s hip to the latest teen trends—and she never, ever hears the double-barbed response, “Oh, you shouldn't have--you really shouldn’t have!”

What’s her secret? A master gift list.

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