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Updated: Apr 11, 2022 by Kris Jarrett

My Five Favorite Tips to Tame the Holiday Crazy!

The holidays will be here before you know it and instead of getting sucked into the holiday crazy, my goal is to take as much stress as I can out of the season so I can truly enjoy it. If you’ve got the same mindset, these five tips to tame the holiday crazy should help! (post includes some affiliate links – full disclosure statement {here}):

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Choose Accessories That Easily Transition From the Fall Through the Holidays

If you decorate your home for each season and the holidays, it can be a whole lot of decorating and redecorating to go from fall to Halloween to Thanksgiving and finally to Christmas decor. To help tame the crazy, choose accessories that transition beautifully from fall through the holidays with just some quick tweaking.

For example,  I have two lantern trios (found {here}) that I put on our front porch in early fall and continue to use throughout the rest of the year. When the seasons or holidays change, I simply do a little tweaking that includes a two-minute ribbon swap along with changing out what they’re filled with. For fall, I tied a black + burlap ribbon on the two large lanterns and filled them with white baby boo pumpkins:

Love this trio of black lanterns filled with pumpkins (and the mums too!) for a fall front porch

and then for the holidays, I can simply switch out the ribbon to something more festive and replace the pumpkins with ornaments:

Love the idea of filing lanterns with ornaments to decorate your porch for Christmas!

It takes less time and money to decorate and you end up with less seasonal “stuff” that you have to find a place to store. Another example of an accessory that can easily transition from fall through the holidays is a magnolia wreath such as {this one} that can be changed up seasonally with a simple ribbon swap:

This magnolia wreath is perfect for transitioning from fall into the holiday season!

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Pillage Your Own Backyard for Holiday Greenery

Instead of running around all over town buying greenery to deck the halls of your home, save some time and holiday stress by clipping greenery from your yard instead. You don’t have to have anything fancy like magnolia leaves to decorate (although if you do, I’m jealous!) – it can be as simple as some branches from an evergreen tree like I use every year to decorate our front door:

A simple greenery swag with bells to decorate your front door for Christmas - love!

Branches from bushes in your landscaping (like simple boxwood bushes that so many people have) totally work too! I purposely make sure my husband doesn’t trim this one row of bushes in our backyard late in the season so that they have branches long enough for me to clip when the holidays come around:

Branches clipped from backyard bushes plus berry bundles and a bowl full of ornaments make beautiful, simply entry way decor for Christmas.

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Use Time-Saving Tricks To Send Your Holiday Cards

I hand addressed, wrote (including personal notes), and mailed traditional Christmas cards for years and while I loved connecting with friends and family that I don’t get to see as often as I’d like, it was crazy time consuming and to be honest, totally stressed me out some years. So while I still do it every few years, I found a less stressful way for the years where it’s just too much. 

So what do I do to lessen the holiday card stress? I use Paperless Post – it’s been a life saver! It’s an e-card system where you choose your card (I always choose one I can upload a family photo to), personalize it, and design everything from the card background to the envelope style and even the pattern lining the envelope (there are some gorgeous options!):

Using Paperless Post holiday e-cards is one of my favorite ways to take the stress out of the holidays. There are lots of other great tips for taming the holiday crazy in this post!

You then add your recipient names and email addresses and your card gets emailed to them. When they open the email, they’ll see an image of an envelope addressed to them and when they click on it, the envelope turns around, opens, and the card pops out (including a personal note if you write one!). What I like best about the way Paperless Post is set up is that there’s an opportunity for the recipient to respond to your card so after my cards get sent out, I always get a bunch of emails from friends and family that I haven’t heard from in forever. I never thought I’d be a Christmas e-card type person but I love it! 

If e-cards aren’t for you, a great option for saving time and stress when sending traditional cards is to take advantage of shops like Minted that offer free recipient addressing. When you order your cards from them, they will print your envelope addresses at no charge (and I love that the design of their envelopes coordinates with the design of the cards!).  You can read more about it {here} and check out Minted’s holiday card options {here}.

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Stock Up on Hostess & Thank You Gifts Ahead of Time

While the holidays aren’t going to be filled with the same parties and gatherings as in past years, I know that my thank you gift list will be longer this year than ever! You can totally eliminate the last minute “I need a thank you gift” panic by stocking up ahead of time! Some simple gifts include a favorite bottle of wine, a bottle of gourmet syrup or local honey, or a pretty tea towel paired with chocolates or some other treat: 

Stocking up on hostess gifts ahead of time is a great tip for helping to take the stress out of the holidays! More ideas in this post!

My two favorite places to find cute tea towels are on Etsy {here} and Anthropologie {here}. 

A few other ideas include a pretty cutting board (like {these cute gingerbread men}) with some cheese and crackers tied on:

The cutest thank you or hostess gift idea - love these gingerbread cutting boards!

or fill a cute mug such as {these polka dot mugs} with things such as a plant, carmels + a gift card, marshmallows + hot chocolate mix, or a sweet treat:

Great thank you gift ideas filling these cute mugs!

 

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Wrap as You Go (and Then Use Your Presents to Decorate!)

You’ve probably heard me say it before but I LOVE wrapping presents! For several years now I’ve gotten my wrapping paper early and the wrapped a lot of my presents as I’ve bought them. That way I don’t have the stress of a huge pile of presents that I need to get wrapped right before Christmas and as a bonus, my wrapped presents are a simple, beautiful way to decorate my home for the holidays. Some of my favorite spots for wrapped presents are piled on the corner chair in our dining room,

Love the idea of using wrapped presents to decorate your home for the holidays! One of the great stress free holiday tips in this post!

the ottoman in our living room, and our family room bookshelves:

Wrapped presents used to decorate bookshelves for Christmas! Love this idea and the others in this post about stress free holiday decorating!

Also always remember that we often put more pressure on ourselves to make the holidays perfect than our family members or friends would ever expect from us! So cut yourself some slack! If you don’t find the perfect gift for your daughter, make a fun day out of returning it and shopping for something new after the holidays. If you hate the pressure of cooking, it’s ok to order take-out or get a ready made feast from Fresh Market. The time spent together will always be remembered so much more than the food, gifts, and decorations surrounding the season! 
XO,

KJ Signature

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Categories: Christmas Decor & Gift Ideas

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Comments

  1. Karen B. says

    November 01, 2017 at 8:54 am

    Kris,
    Great ideas, some of which I do myself. I love the hostess gift idea and have already started on some, since I have received an invitation for December! When I have time, it’s much more fun to prepare something without the stress level rising.

    I’m thrilled for this time of year to arrive, just wish it would linger longer than it seems to. 🙂
    xo,
    Karen

    Reply
    • Kris Jarrett says

      November 10, 2017 at 4:30 pm

      I can’t believe you’ve already gotten a December invite! Let the hostess gift stock up begin!!

      Reply
  2. Lisa says

    November 01, 2017 at 9:53 am

    How gorgeous are your wrapped presents as decor? I need to up my wrapping paper game this year and am looking forward to your new find in that department! I too love using fresh greens from the yard (and from trimming the Christmas tree to fit!), thank goodness for overgrown shrubs come the holidays 🙂

    Reply
    • Kris Jarrett says

      November 10, 2017 at 4:31 pm

      Thank you Lisa! And yes, our yard neglect comes in handy this time of year – lol!

      Reply
  3. Jean C. says

    November 01, 2017 at 10:00 am

    I loved reading this post today–it brightened up my morning (I’m suffering from a cold) and I love these ideas. You’ve given me some good options for redecorating for Christmas, which I love to do! It’s the time of the year when I can’t seem to get enough of sparkly things! And I always love seeing your Boston Terrier. Love that breed!

    Reply
    • Kris Jarrett says

      November 10, 2017 at 4:33 pm

      Jean, you’re so sweet and I hope you’re feeling better by now (I’m late in getting to comments on this post!). I’m all about the Christmas sparkle too!

      Reply
  4. Pam says

    November 01, 2017 at 10:07 am

    Great tips. I love wrapping presents as well. Looking forward to your gift wrap post.

    Reply
    • Kris Jarrett says

      November 10, 2017 at 4:34 pm

      Thanks Pam! I wish you lived right down the street – we could have a wrapping party to end all wrapping parties! 🙂

      Reply
  5. amy says

    November 01, 2017 at 10:11 am

    Such great tips, and your floral arrangements are just beautiful! I have a thing for wrapping paper too (can’t wait to see what you found!) so I guess I decorate with presents too, I guess that is all the more reason to shop and wrap early! Thank you for including me in this series, I loved being part of it. XO, Amy

    Reply
    • Kris Jarrett says

      November 10, 2017 at 4:37 pm

      Amy I’m so glad that you guys joined in! I need to be better about shopping early this year – I’m ready to get my wrapping on!

      Reply
  6. Kristen says

    November 01, 2017 at 11:05 am

    This is a great topic! Love all of your tips. I always read your blog and love your style…I’m also going to check out the other blogs today for their holidays tips as well! Thank you!

    Reply
    • Kris Jarrett says

      November 10, 2017 at 4:38 pm

      What a sweet compliment – thank you! Hope you enjoyed hopping around to check them all out!

      Reply
  7. [email protected] says

    November 01, 2017 at 1:12 pm

    I love using things from our yard to decorate with during the holidays. I may even be guilty of selecting plantings based on whether or not I can use them for said purpose!
    And yes, wrap as you go is huge!! I so remember the Christmas Eve nights staying up until 3 am trying to get it all done.

    Reply
    • Kris Jarrett says

      November 10, 2017 at 4:39 pm

      Lauren, that’s a smart kind of guilty! And years ago I used to do those late night wrapping sessions too – no fun!

      Reply
  8. Christy @ 11 Magnolia Lane says

    November 01, 2017 at 8:04 pm

    These are great ideas, Kris! By the way, I have two huge magnolia trees in my front yard and I can ship you a boxful! 🙂 They’re beautiful at Christmas but they are such a pain the rest of the year; maybe that will make you feel better. Thanks so much for letting us join in today–I’ve gotten such great ideas from everyone!
    XO,
    Christy

    Reply
    • Kris Jarrett says

      November 10, 2017 at 4:41 pm

      You are SO lucky! I’ve always wanted a magnolia tree and finally planted one at our old house – within months we found out we were getting transferred and I never got to clip a single branch! And in CT, it’s too cold for them to grow – sadness! Thanks so much for joining us and sharing your great ideas for staying on top of the holidays!

      Reply

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