Christmas Preparation Guide – everything you could possibly need to do and how to do it

Lifestyle

December 17, 2017

Heya guys!

Winter break has finally started for me, which means no more stressing about school (for a few days at least) and I can finally start my Christmas preparations! In my family even though we don’t celebrate Christmas religiously, we still go full out with the decorations, music, gifts, and food. I think it’s something about growing up in London, I don’t think you can live here and not be drawn into the Christmas Bonanza that’s London during the holiday season. There’s lights everywhere, a chilly breeze, Christmas music playing in every store, and everyone is bursting with happiness. It’s truly amazing.

Because I’m an organizational freak, and because there’s a lot to prepare for Christmas I decided to write a small guide on how I get all my Christmas bits and bobs sorted, and where I like to buy my gifts and decor etc…

What Music To Play:

Would it really be Christmas without the sound of sleigh bells and cheesy Christmas songs? I don’t think so. I’ll be the first to admit it, I’m guilty of listening to my Christmas playlist all year round. I know, I have no self-control when it comes to Christmas songs, but they always put me in a good mood and make me want to dance along to them. Am I the only one? Here are some of my favourite songs that I think you HAVE to have on your Christmas playlist:

  1. All I Want For Christmas Is You – Mariah Carey
  2. Do They Know It’s Christmas? – Band Aid
  3. Mistletoe – Justin Bieber
  4. Santa’s Coming For Us – Sia
  5. Last Christmas – Wham
  6. Mary’s Boy Child / Oh My Lord – Boney M.
  7. Baby It’s Cold Outside – Idina Menzel and Michael Bublé
  8. This Christmas – Chris Brown
  9. Step Into Christmas – Elton John
  10. It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year – Andy Williams
  11. I’ll Be Home – Meghan Trainor
  12. Sleigh Ride – Carpenters
  13. It’s Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas – Michael Bublé
  14. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town – Michael Bublé
  15. Holly Jolly Christmas – Michael Bublé
  16. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! – Frank Sinatra
  17. Santa Tell Me – Ariana Grande
  18. Driving Home For Christmas – Gavin James
  19. Christmas Lights – Coldplay
  20. Merry Christmas Everyone – Shakin’ Stevens

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What Decorations To Use

Decorations have to be one of the most important aspects of Christmas for me. I love designing and putting together cute displays, so I am totally in my element with Christmas Decor. Excluding the Christmas Tree (which I’ll write about separately) I think that decorating your Christmas dining table is very important. After all, this is where you spend a lot of Christmas Day and you want it to look nice. I like to get small items to put on the table, as well as to put out if we’re having people around for snacks. I’ve been collecting little bits and bobs for the table for a while now and here’s what I’ve got:

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Also, you can’t go wrong with lights, the more the merrier! We put them up everywhere and I think it adds to the whole festive atmosphere. Here are some pictures of how I decorated our Christmas Table last year:

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Finding Some Christmas Inspiration

I love to spend my time browsing Pinterest and looking at Christmas tree inspiration and ways that people have decorated their houses for Christmas. I also look at some of my favourite blogs and see what they’re doing for Christmas. I love a cozy evening spent with a mug of hot chocolate and a fuzzy blanket spent ‘researching’ ideas for Christmas. Am I the only one that loves looking for new ideas and could spend ages browsing on their laptop?

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Gift Ideas

I looove buying gifts for other people, as well as creating my own wish list. I’m a big believer in giving thoughtful gifts to others. While receiving a box of chocolates or a bar of soap is nice, I think that Christmas gifs should be a little more exciting and personal. If I’m not really sure what I want I want to get someone for Christmas I like to browse some of my favourite shops for gifts. A few good places to look for presents are:

  1. Anthropologie
  2. Oliver Bonas
  3. Notonthehighstreet
  4. Urban Outfitters (gift section)
  5. ASOS (gift section)

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Making The Perfect Tree

Of course, your Christmas tree is one of the most important parts of the holiday! When we’re in Dubai we have a fake tree with decorations that we use every year because we never spend actual Christmas Day there. When we come to London our Christmas tree is a much more fancy event. We usually get a real tree, and it’s HUGE. When I say huge I really mean it, we keep it in our library which is two floors high, and our Christmas tree reaches the ceiling, so you can tell it’s big. I’m all for having a festive and ‘family’ tree but I don’t really like tacky decorations so my family usually lets me decide the theme of the tree and look for decorations. As I said, I look on Pinterest for my inspiration and themes. Once I come up with a theme, I usually take a look at a few websites and what they have for their Christmas decorations. A few of my favourite places to look at decorations are:

  1. John Lewis
  2. M&S
  3. Next
  4. Fortnum and Masons
  5. Crate & Barrel
  6. Cox & Cox (I got almost all my tree decorations from here)
  7. The White Company

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I hope this Christmas guide is helpful for you guys and your Christmas prep! Please let me know if you like any of my tips and tell me what you do to prepare for Christmas, and where you buy your gifts and decorations from!

Little Miss Expat

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  1. Cathryn says:

    Enjoyed your post. You have some pretty pictures.

  2. Cathryn says:

    Enjoyed your post. You have some pretty pictures.

  3. […] a place to buy tree decorations I’ve written about a few of my favourite places in my latest Christmas Preparation post, definitely have a look at […]

  4. […] a place to buy tree decorations I’ve written about a few of my favourite places in my latest Christmas Preparation post, definitely have a look at […]

  5. Hoon Gyeong says:

    i will definitely follow your ideas that i am looking for.

  6. Hoon Gyeong says:

    i will definitely follow your ideas that i am looking for.

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