Inspirational parent hacks for Christmas

By Casey Major-Bunce

On a mission to empower parents to save time, money and stress and create joyful family moments, these are a few of my favourite Christmas hacks, to make your festive season run more smoothly.

Driving to visit friends or family?

Car journeys can be very stressful when your kids are asking for things and you’re supposed to be keeping an eye on the road!

Keep them entertained. Before you leave, take the headrest off one of the front seats. Place a sandwich bag on top of the seat, zip side down and facing the back seat. Replace the headset. Place a phone or iPad into the bag and do the zip up. Your child can now watch cartoons or play games easily without a holder or dropping the phone or iPad.

If you have a new style headrest and you can’t remove it, just make two holes in the top of the sandwich bag and use some string or ribbon to tie the bag on.

Pack their snacks and drinks in a caddy to minimise spillage and you’re ready to go.

Christmas morning

Hate messy wrapping paper and bin bags ruining your lovely photos when the children are unwrapping their gifts? Just gift wrap a large box and have the children throw in their used wrapping paper as they go along.

When the unwrapping is over, gather all the presents into a laundry basket to carry to the children’s bedrooms in one easy trip.

Easy sweet treats

A festive hot chocolate makes a lovely treat. One of my favourite hot chocolate hacks is to put some squirty cream in cupcake cases, add some sprinkles and freeze. Add to the top of a hot chocolate for a festive feel and to cool it down so little ones can drink more quickly. Personalise with your child’s initials to make it even more special.

My simple Snowman Cinnamon Roll is also fun and super easy to make. Buy some Jus-Rol (or similar) ready-to-bake cinnamon swirls. Arrange them on a parchment-lined baking tray in three sections to make the head and a small and large body section, plus a hat. Bake to the pack instructions then decorate with snowy icing sugar, candy canes for arms and a sweet bootlace for a scarf.

Seven Second Bauble Treats look really great with very little effort involved! Start with a packet of Snow Enrobed Oreos for the bauble, decorate quickly with an icing pen and add a Reeces mini peanut butter cup to the top. Cheap and simple and the kids love making them too.

Packing away decorations

Easily store away your decorations for next year with my free storage solution hacks (I love recycling things!) Place beaded garlands in an empty water bottle and stick the end to the inside of the cap. This ensures fewer tangles and offers some protection for fragile decorations.

Safely store tree baubles in cardboard: egg boxes for smaller ones and larger ones in clean Pringles tubes or plastic cupcake holders.

Save untangling your Christmas lights next year by wrapping them around an old coat hanger.

Want to change your colour scheme next year but don’t want to waste money? Just buy balloons in your chosen colour, cut off the tops and pull them over your existing baubles.

Casey Major-Bunce is a mother of four and her cost-effective, imaginative and fun hacks have earned her over 200k Instagram followers. For more hacks, follow Casey @majormumhacks on Instagram.