Now that November has begun and Halloween season is over, the thought at the forefront of everyone’s minds is how will I decorate for the holidays? The key is to plan things out, not overthink decorations, and remember that the holidays are a time for joy and love. Below are some tips to help keep you joyous and unstressed while decorating for the holiday season.
Plan It Out
Planning out exactly how you’re going to decorate and looking up tutorials before you get to work can significantly decrease your stress during the decorating process. When you are starting to plan out your holiday decor, start a Pinterest board where you can save pictures of all the ideas you like. Once you have pictures of different holiday decorations that you like, you can start to look at them all and figure out what you like from all of them. If you saved ten pictures that had garland trailing down a staircase, then you probably like that style a lot, and you can plan to include that in your own home. Try looking for pictures of rooms that are a similar layout or size as your own to get a good idea of what will look good in your home. In addition, it will save you money when you plan out what decorations you need since you won’t buy decorations that end up not having a place in your home.
Sometimes it can be hard to make the entire house match, especially if you are a fan of different styles of holiday decor. You can try to have rooms that have their own themes instead of making everything the same theme. If you still want things to be unified, consider choosing a colour scheme or pattern that you can incorporate into all of the different styles, like red and white stripes. That way your entire home won’t be overwhelmingly the same, but it will still all match.
Another thing to plan out before you start decorating is what exactly you want to decorate each day. If you try to decorate every room of your home in one day, it can be easy to get overwhelmed. To avoid feeling like you’re drowning in decorations, plan to decorate one to two rooms each day.
Less is More
A room overcrowded with holiday decor is still an overcrowded room, no matter how festive it may be. If you try to do too much with a room all at once, it can be visually overwhelming. Try to choose a focal point in each room, like your Christmas tree. If you have an extravagantly decorated tree, you should try to keep the rest of the decorations in the room minimal. Otherwise, your hard work will go unnoticed once it gets too overwhelmingly decorated and overcrowded.
Bring in Your Kids’ Style
Around the holidays, many schools will have time set aside time to make crafts dedicated to the season. This could mean ornaments, paintings, or a multitude of other creative projects that your children might bring home. No matter if your child goes to a small private school, of which 87% have fewer than 300 students and there is an average of 146 students in the school, or a massive public school, they will probably come home with a craft. This is when it is important that you aren’t being too strict with your theme or style. The holidays are about family, so make sure that you find the perfect place for your child’s new clay ornament that is supposed to look like an evergreen tree, even if it looks more like an unrecognizable green lump.
You can ever let your kids have control over one room of the house if they’re old enough. You can let them choose a style, pick out decorations, and control the process of decorating the room. If your kids are still younger, this might not be possible, but once they are old enough it is a great way to make them feel involved in the decorating process.
Make Decorating Quality Time
No matter how old your kids are, there is definitely a decorating related activity that they can partake in. Here are a few ways that you can make decorating time into quality family time:
- Make Gingerbread Houses. Gingerbread houses are a very cute piece of decor, and the process of making them can be a great way to spend quality time with your kids. Many grocery stores will sell kits with everything that you will need. You can buy a kit in colours that will match your decor or mix up your own frosting colours using food colouring so that the gingerbread house can add to the decor you have going on instead of taking away from it.
- Decorate the tree together. No matter your kids’ age, they can help you decorate the tree. This is also a great activity to do with your ex-spouse if you separated and co-parenting your children. Since children will spend an average of 277 days with the main custodial parent, finding ways to show your kids that you are still their parents even if you are separated is important. Decorating the tree usually doesn’t take too long if you have everything laid out, and it’s easy to make it a fun experience for the family. If you have a theme you want the tree to adhere to, make sure that you only take our ornaments, tinsel, and lights that will match your theme.
- Place little decor pieces. If you have little holiday-themed figures, wreaths, or candles, you can have your kids help you place them out. Even if you have to go back and fix a few misplaced things later, it will be worth it for the happiness that your kids will feel in being able to help decorate for the holidays.
Remember to save the more dangerous tasks, like hanging outdoor lights, for yourself so that your kids can stay safe. And remember to take into account your kids’ ages and ability levels when you’re figuring out what to have them help you with.
Relax and Enjoy the Season
Even though it can be easy to get caught up in extravagant holiday decorations, remember that the season is about love, togetherness, and joy. Although it is fun to have decorations that look perfect, having a good time while decorating and creating a holiday-themed room is what is most important.
Do you have any decorating traditions in your family? How do you have your kids help you when it comes to decorating? Let us know in the comments below!
