Moving during the Holiday season? Here are some tips!
Trading in gift boxes for U-Haul boxes this holiday season? While it’s no one’s secret Christmas wish to move while the fluffy white stuff is flying outside and the stockings are already hung by the chimney with care, there are ways to make moving around the holidays a little less chaotic and a lot more cheerful. Here are a few of our favorite tips to put the happy “Ho! Ho! Ho!” back into a hectic moving season:
Opt for the real stuff.
While a massive, faux fir tree decked out from stump to star and dripping in hundreds of highly-breakable ornaments might work most years, the year you move around Christmastime isn’t one of them. So, instead of setting up your faux wreaths, garlands, and trees (only to have to re-organize, re-box, and re-label them again before the big move) opt for real trees and wreaths to deck your halls. Keep your ornaments and decorations simple and natural (think candy canes and popcorn garlands hand-strung by the kids) so those can be tossed with the tree before the move, too. You’ll save yourself loads of time by not having to unpack and re-pack holiday décor on your way out the door!
Tone down the tinsel.
While we know you’d love to keep up your Clark Griswold status in the neighborhood by lacing your entire roofline in thousands of icicle lights, make this your year to practice a little restraint. Take the time you’d normally spend detangling strand after strand of lights and, instead, use that time to make your home cozy and festive in other, simpler ways.
Try burning a simmering spice pot on the stove (think orange juice, cinnamon sticks, and cloves!) to create a welcoming, seasonal scent, or let your little ones decorate with hand cut paper snowflakes. Keeping things simple and streamlined with your holiday décor will help make move-out day much more manageable.
Coordinate your Christmas gifts.
Rather than buy stacks upon stacks of oversized Christmas toys for your little ones in the midst of a major move (leaving you with dozens more boxes to relocate while still staying in stealth mode as Santa), coordinate your Christmas gifts around the move. For instance, instead of buying big, bulky toys way in advance of your move, give your kids the gift of a great space in their new home – a fun, girls-only playroom complete with tea party table (that you’ll pick out the pretty dishes for together), or that special, space-themed bedroom your son has been secretly wishing for.
Not only will your kiddos love being part of picking out their gifts, but they’ll love teaming up to personalize a space and make your new family home really feel like home. Best of all, giving this kind of gift takes away the pressure of a timeline and helps things match up with your move, regardless if the project gets completed before Christmas morning.