Dec 07 Simplify Your Life and Make Your Home Sparkle During the Holiday Season
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The holidays are meant to be a time to enjoy precious moments with friends and loved ones, but all too often we find ourselves overwhelmed and stretched too thin as we shop for gifts, trim the tree, and prepare holiday feasts. Conquer the craziness of the holidays and keep your cool during this manic month with these five tips guaranteed to reduce stress and make the season sparkle.
Decorate with Wrapping
Your tree is where most of the holiday magic happens. Make sure it stands out by choosing gift wrap that matches the colors and themes of your tree for a perfectly coordinated look. Decking the halls with neutrals this year? Complement these au natural colors with cream colored gift wrap and shimmery green and gold ribbons. Shades of silver and red more your style? Fun, wintery prints like snowflakes and polka dots add a charming touch to these classic holiday colors.
Instead of bothering with gift tags and labels, assign each member of your family their own wrapping paper so you can select gifts at a glance come morning. Children will especially enjoy getting their own personal wrapping, which they can help pick out in advance of the big day.
If talk of wrapping presents makes you break out in a cold sweat, don’t worry—holiday gift bags can look just as pretty underneath the tree and be re-used year after year, saving your money and your sanity. With coordinated gift wrap, tissue paper, bags and boxes, Inspirations from Hallmark, exclusive to Walgreens, has all the holiday wrapping you need to create a festive and coordinated look underneath the tree. Don’t forget a special wrapping paper for Santa!
Decorate with a Theme in Mind
Rather than collaging bits and pieces together, settle on a theme for holiday decorating to make shopping and styling a breeze. Whether it’s poinsettias, Santa and his sleigh, snowflakes, or elegant silver and gold, themed decorating ensures your holidays will be coordinated (and makes sure you don’t clutter your home with impulse buys).
Our favorite? Décor that can outlast the season. While it can be fun to fuel your holiday spirit with a jolly Santa and twinkling trees, you’ll get more bang for your buck if you opt for winter themed décor (think snowflakes, birds and reindeer) that you can enjoy long after the presents have been unwrapped. Looking for a fast fix? Add a wreath to your door for a bit of festive flair.
Deck the Halls
As loved ones gather near, it’s likely your guest bedroom will be getting a little more traffic than usual. Luckily, it’s easy to create a cozy space for overnight guests with a collection of simple (yet festive) décor. Our favorite way to give rooms a little holiday sparkle? Throw pillows! Swapping out your regular pillows for those with a more festive theme is an easy and inexpensive way to redecorate a room for the holidays. We love these fun and festive plush throw pillows, also from the Walgreens exclusive Inspirations from Hallmark line, for adding holiday cheer.
If themed pillows aren’t your thing, there’s plenty of other ways to make your guest room merry and bright. A scented candle on the nightstand, a merry wreath in the window, and a cozy lantern flickering on the mantel create an abundance of cheer while welcoming guests into your home. Prepare the rest of your home for guests by leaving a glass jar of toiletries and spare tooth brushes in your bathroom and a coffee and tea station stocked with muffins and croissants in the kitchen for early risers.
Master Secret Santa Gifts and Stocking Stuffers
Participating in the office Sneaky Santa this year? Licensed character ornaments from #HallmarkAtWalgreens make the perfect gift for co-workers or stocking stuffers for friends and little ones. With an array of licensed character ornaments from Disney, Marvel, Peanuts, Lucas Films and Troll characters (with three ornaments exclusive to Walgreens), you’re sure to find the perfect gift for everyone on your list–teachers, co-workers, and hostesses included!
Address Cards Ahead of Time
With the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, addressing holiday cards often falls to the bottom of the To-Do list, resulting in frantic trips to the post office later on. Luckily, there’s a few tricks you can use to streamline the process of getting holiday cards addressed and mailed out on time.
Make things easy on yourself (and your hands) by ordering labels with your return address that easily attach to each envelope. To make the process quicker, we suggest working in sections and addressing envelopes one day and writing quick, personalized greetings the next.
While you’re preparing your holiday greetings, make sure to differentiate your greeting with a unique card from Hallmark at Walgreens. With an array of designs and sentiments, treat your nearest and dearest to #NoOrdinaryCard this season.
However you get through the holiday season, we hope yours is a happy one filled with laughter, family, friends and great memories.