Holiday Hacks

With the holidays quickly approaching, it may be difficult to stay focused and organized. There are tasks around every corner and the lists seem to pile up continuously. Before breaking down, check out these little-known hacks to make your holiday season go by seamlessly. 

Decorating

• Save your fall pumpkins for the holiday season. If they aren’t rotten and mushy, don’t throw them out! Add some white spray paint and stack them into a snowman shape complete with eyes, a nose, mouth, scarf and hat. 
• Confused on how many ornaments and lights to shop for when decorating your Christmas tree? Here’s a good rule of thumb to keep in mind: For every 1 foot of tree, use 20 ornaments, 100 lights, and 9 feet of garland. 
• If you have a chandelier anywhere in your home, hang a few ornaments from it for a quick decoration that adds a magical touch to the room. 
• Add small mirror ornaments to your tree to reflect the lights. This will give the illusion that there are more lights and will add sparkle. 

Gifts

• Use a little bit of reverse psychology to get gift ideas for those who are hard to shop for. Have them guess three things that you may have gotten them, when in reality they just gave you three ideas! 
• Instead of messing with store-bought gift tags that you have to individually write on, tape a small photo of the recipient to the package for a quick and unique identification. 
• Children (and adults occasionally) like to shake packages to try and guess what’s inside. Throw them off by adding a few jingle bells to each package to disguise the sound and keep them guessing until it’s time to open their gifts. 

Travel

• If you’re hopping on a plane this holiday season, bring a power strip in your carry-on. You’ll be the hero of your gate by giving multiple flyers a chance to charge their devices if they are in a pinch. 
• Email yourself a copy of your license and passport in case of emergency. 
• Add a scented dryer sheet to your luggage to keep it smelling fresh after a long trip. 

Holiday Parties

• Have you heard of the “belly button rule”? By holding your drink at belly button level during parties and networking events, you will appear more confident. 
• Send a picture of your house to party guests. This way, there won’t be any mistaken doorbells ringing and it will be easy to find if they have to park along the street and walk to the house. 
• If a glass is broken at any point, don’t reach for the broom. Instead, take a slice of bread to easily grab the glass shards and avoid injury.