Grandma coming for Christmas?

Impress her and the rest of the rellies with these 5 fast fixes and decorating ideas.

If it’s your turn to have the rellies over for Christmas dinner and you’ve left your run a bit late – “What, less than three weeks to go?” – don’t panic. We’ve come up with five quick, low-cost ways to make a good impression this Christmas, and hopefully make everybody’s day – including your own.

1. Make an entrance

Forget masses of Christmas lights and topiary reindeer festooning your front yard – there isn’t time. If your frontage is looking really dire, or the stairs are falling down, call us in to arrange repairs and a lick of paint. But if the problem is just that it’s looking a bit ordinary, a bit plain, here’s a word of advice – two words, actually. Keep it clean. And keep it simple.

The first thing all grandma’s notice is the grime and cobwebs in the corners of your porch and the peeling paint on the front door. Give everything a good scrub and touch up the paint. There’s nothing like a freshly painted front door to make a good first impression. Check the state of the welcome mat. Check outdoor lights and replace any burned-out bulbs.

Then add one more touch to top off your grand entrance. Fix a simple wreath to the front door. Straight away, you’ll have set the scene for the day. And what will it have cost? Not a lot.

2. Make Space

The next step is to find room for everyone. Even if your family and friends don’t tend to stay over, you’ll still need space for everyone to sit, for all the presents, for the Christmas spread, for younger members to run around or immerse themselves in PlayStation.

The first step is to clear the decks – remove any unneeded furniture and breakables from the living and dining areas. If you have nowhere to put it all, there may still be time for us to come in and create some storage options – shelving in the attic or basement, built in cupboards, that sort of thing.

The next step is to make sure there are enough chairs and beds for everyone. Blow up air beds are ideal, but don’t forget to remind everyone to bring sleeping bags. And if you can’t beg or borrow enough extra chairs, BYOC – bring your own chair – may be an option.

For tips on making the most of your space this Christmas, try this excellent website.

3. Get smarter with your decorations

When we finally brave the darkest, spider-iest recesses of the loft, basement or understair cupboard to pull out the Christmas decorations and lights, there’s often a nasty shock in store – hopefully not literally. Broken bulbs. Pine cones and dangling things so caked with dust that you’ll need a waterblaster to get it off.  Torn streamers. And a Christmas tree so crushed and bent from being shoved in a corner that it no longer resembles a tree.

There’s no time to think about all the highly practical storage options you could have used to prevent the problem last January – but you should definitely make a mental note to do so in the New Year. If you have a heart problem or suffer from anxiety attacks, be sure to bring your pills with you when you race down to the Christmas Heirloom Company or The Warehouse to replenish your stock of decorations. They’ve been waiting for people like you, and even the most basic items are priced accordingly.

But don’t fear, it is possible to decorate frugally, and this fantastic Christmas website will show you how. 

4. Get your kitchen in order

The kitchen is the heart of any home, but during the festive season it’s also the liver and several other important body organs. There’s just time to get any necessary surgery done – leaky taps, sticking or broken cupboard doors, waste disposal making funny noises – you’ll need everything working smoothly on the day. Now’s also the time to get rid of any clutter on your worktops – you’ll need all the space you can get for preparing the food and mixing the drinks!

5. Pre-prepare as much of the food and drink as you can

Christmas can be fun or it can be hell – the difference often comes down to preparation. The better prepared you are, the less you’ll be stuck in the kitchen frenziedly trying to feed and water the mob. Over the next three weeks it will pay you to clear out the freezer and start preparing and freezing as many of the dishes and drinks you want to serve on the day. Don’t forget to take them out the night before so you don’t end up blowing up your microwave trying to defrost them ten minutes before grandma arrives.

From all of us at Fix It Renovations, wishing you a joyous and stress-free festive season!