The winter months are hectic for households across the country, as matriarchs and patriarchs alike battle to organise household budgets, Christmas preparations, and the movements of their kids, newly free for their term holidays.
It can sometimes feel like you’re tripping over your own family when trying to pull everything together for Christmas. But sometimes a little planning and a little inclusion can go a long way. If your kids are frustrating your Christmas plans, maybe they need to be let in on them! But how?
Crafting
The easiest way to get your kids involved in Christmas preparations is through creative play. Your home could always benefit from new decorations and ornaments, and all the better if they have that personal family touch to them!
There are many Christmas decoration projects you and your children could undertake, as part of a fun ‘crafternoon’. Paper snowflakes are incredibly easy projects for children, but a more involved project could be the creation of personalised stockings to hang above your mantle.
Garden Décor
Garden decorations are a quintessential part of Christmas preparations. While you might not beat your next-door neighbour to getting your outside decorations up, you and your kids can certainly give them a run for their money!
No Christmas display is complete without lights. You could encourage your children to design their own Christmas displays in lights while taking care of the tougher and more dangerous bits – such as hanging them or wrapping your trees in tinsel.
Personal Christmas Trees
Speaking of trees, a lot of the friction ahead of Christmas Day can come as a result of differences of opinion regarding the tree. Children have a habit of making Christmas tree decorations uniquely difficult, often simply because they’re desperate to help!
A good way to channel this energy is to allow your kids to have their own mini trees in their room. You can allocate them Christmas lights, baubles, and tinsel to decorate them as they see fit, and even have them craft their own tree topper to suit their vision and tastes. They’ll feel special and included altogether – and you have an extra tree to sneak a treat under before the big day.
A Free Approach
Lastly, it can be easy to feel you need to take control of Christmas in your home. But there’s something to be said for letting go, and letting your hair down a little. Rather than supervising every last aspect of your home’s decoration, why not let your children go a little wild with their own vision and approach? What’s the worst that could happen?
Ultimately, an imperfect Christmas tree is all the more perfect for having been done with love and curiosity by your little ones. Whatever the outcome, you’ll have a warm and loving Christmas to remember together – and maybe a funny story for next year.
