Organized Christmas

Cutting costs at Christmas doesn't mean celebrating like Scrooge. It's not about what you buy--it's about what you do! 

Putting "celebration" at the center of the season--and taking the focus off of gifts and giving--can be the key to happy holidays that don't break the bank.

Better, when it comes to kids and Christmas, cheap is good! Simple, inexpensive family activities can be as meaningful as pricey Nutcracker tickets--and no need for scratchy dresses or dress-up suits. 

Try these no-cost, low-cost ways to celebrate the holiday season with kids:

"Tradition" is a powerful force that sometimes pulls an unsuspecting family along in its wake. Do your holiday traditions serve your family, your values and your spiritual beliefs--or are you running a tired and joyless circle during the holiday season in the name of tradition?

To cut stress during the season, it's time to give your family's holiday traditions a stiff scrutiny.  Today, think back to traditions from season's past, with an eye to trimming them.

Scanning a list of handmade craft gifts is something like reading a cookbook: it makes you hungry! 

Whether you wander the crafts store, settle in at the library's craft bookshelf, or browse online, visions of bright and beautiful gifts follow one after the other. Will this be the year you give hand-crafted gifts ... to everyone? 

Give in to the impulse to overload on holiday crafts projects, and you're likely to find yourself drowning in UFOs: Un-Finished Objects. Try these ideas to keep your holiday crafting within bounds--and budget and timeframe, too.

Wrapping gifts for the holidays? Repeat after me: "This year, I won't be wrapping gifts at midnight on Christmas Eve!"

If there's a single most-underestimated holiday chore, it's gift wrapping. Supplies lie scattered throughout the house, while space and privacy are hard to come by. Translation: late-night Christmas Eve wrapping sessions, grumbling your way through the job.

We should all have a friend like my friend Joyce. No matter what the occasion, she comes up with the perfect gift--even at short notice. 

Her wrapped packages are lavish and lovely, her cards are sweet and well-chosen--and she does it on a budget and without last-minute dashes to the shopping mall. Her secret? 

A gift closet.

It's a concept we love here at Organized Christmas: a dedicated space in the household to store gift items, gift wrap and cards. A gift closet holds a stockpile of gift items and everything needed to wrap and present them.