32 HOLIDAY HACKS to Make the Season Brighter

We asked local parents to share their tips and tricks for making the holiday season “brighter” (easier, more fun, meaningful, festive, organized, etc.). A big thank you to moms in Poway, San Marcos and Rancho Peñasquitos for all the responses we received on Facebook! Here are holiday hacks to make the season brighter.

Gift Giving

Request gifts that won’t clutter the house, such as zoo memberships, meal prep services or magazine subscriptions.

Ask family members to submit their favorite recipes and make a cookbook. Consider adding family photos and stories. It will be a treasured gift for years to come.

Keep a spreadsheet of gifts: where purchased, how it’s wrapped (in case a label falls off), and which gathering it goes to (when there are multiple celebrations to attend). The spreadsheet can also be used to remember what you’ve given people in previous years.

To avoid going overboard with gifts for the kids, buy them something they want, something they need, something to wear and something to read.

Use www.pirateship.com to print labels from home for free and save on shipping costs through USPS.

Make mason jar cookie kits as gifts for neighbors and friends. Layer all dry ingredients in the jars; recipients only need to add eggs and butter, and bake. Don’t forget to include the recipe!

Anne Barrera made large themed felt envelopes with Santa’s mailing address on them; her kids write what they want for Christmas, put it inside, and an elf picks them up to deliver to Santa. On Christmas Day some gifts are specially labeled, “certified” from The North Pole.

Wrapping and Decorating

Buy wrapping paper, gift bags, ornaments, etc. after Christmas (for the following year), so you don’t have to pay full price.

Use fishing wire to string up Christmas cards on the mantle—it looks so festive!

Use cup hooks to hang outdoor Christmas lights—little white ones that blend in if you have white wooden eaves on the front of your house. Leave the hooks up all year so lights are a cinch to hang each year.

Use cloth bags and flannel pillowcases tied with ribbons to wrap presents for kids. The cloth bags are reusable and make wrapping so fast (and quiet).

I take the Monday after Thanksgiving off work every year and decorate EVERYTHING. My kids come home to Christmas awesomeness and we enjoy hot cocoa in special cups. I really get into Christmas! — Emma Romberger

Growing up without much, I wanted to find a way to share the holiday spirit with my children that had nothing to do with tangible gifts, but sharing a sentiment that money couldn’t buy. This was the beginning of our Christmas letter tradition. Each family member writes a letter to the others. Everyone can participate no matter the writing level (preschoolers draw pictures). Before Christmas Eve, the letters are rolled up, tied with ribbon and placed in the tree. We take a quiet moment on Christmas Day to read them treasures over the years. — Susan May

Celebrate / Fun Stuff

Looking for a place to drop off your child’s letter to Santa? Swing by the amazing Candy Land house at the corner of Mt. Albertine and Mt. Aguilar in Clairemont, where there’s a dedicated mailbox. Go to www.sandiegofamily.com/things-to-do/seasonal-happenings to print out a free Santa letter template that kids can color, fill out and drop off.

Get 25 books from the library, wrap each one and put them under the Christmas tree. Each day in December kids get to unwrap one to read together. Hours of enjoyment for only the cost of wrapping paper!

Every year Santa brought my children a new Christmas book, so now we have a great collection. Santa always wrote a note inside the book and signed it.

Take the kids driving around different neighborhoods to look at lights, complete with fun snacks and warm drinks. Use Family Magazine’s Map of Christmas Lights to navigate your way around the county! www.sandiegofamily.com/things-to-do/san-diego-sbest-map-of-christmas-lights

I made an advent calendar that I fill each year, alternating days between kids. They love waking up to get their present (even though they’re now teens). I try to limit myself to $2 per pocket, but will spend more if I find something I really like. Some of the items I’ve given are a Pokémon Pez dispenser, eye pillows, a pack of their favorite gum and hair ties. I also give each of them a meaningful ornament with their name and the year. Last year we lived in South Africa, so one ornament had a lion on it and the other a rhino. Hopefully the kids will use these keepsakes to decorate their trees in years to come. — Kristy deLange

Put the Christmas tree inside a Pack ‘n Play if you have little ones! It keeps the presents contained and curious hands off the tree. Here’s a photo of ours last year. — Jaclynn Whitehead

Make an advent calendar featuring silly or fun activities instead of treats: sing a Christmas carol, have a dance party in the kitchen, call a relative just to say “I love you”, etc. Sprinkling in a few surprise quarters or dollar bills is fun, too. — Jennifer Mulloy

Learn how to make an advent calendar at www.sandiegofamily.com/for-the-kids/crafts-for-kids

Christmas Eve Traditions

We let the kids open a box of fun snacks and something to do together as a family on Christmas Eve (a movie, a puzzle, etc.).

Make a fabric “Santa bag” for each child to set by the tree for Santa to put gifts in after they go to sleep. It only takes a yard of festive fabric and a cord for a drawstring—so easy to sew! Bonus: No need to wrap Santa gifts and less wrapping paper in the landfill.

After candlelight service on Christmas Eve, the kids are allowed to open one gift each, which is always new pajamas, so we can take adorable pictures the next morning.

Make-Ahead Breakfast

Make cinnamon rolls the night before to bake in the morning or make an egg casserole in the crockpot. Prep goes a long way to help have a stress-free morning.

Brittney Vier preps blueberry French toast casserole the night before, so on Christmas morning she just sticks it in the oven. “The house smells amazing and there is no cooking to be done. It’s so yummy!” Here’s the recipe, but she substitutes Challah bread and uses fresh blueberries. www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/ baked_blueberry_french_toast_ casserole

Making simple recipes helps when making cookie plates to give away, so you don’t have to bake all day. I love these four-ingredient vegan peanut butter cookies (make them festive with a chocolate star on top): www.cassclaycooking.com/4ingredient-vegan-peanut.../ — Cassie Bains

More Hacks

Check out all the things busy mom and local teacher Alyssa Navapanich does to save time:

• Accesses the family’s shared gift list in Google drive, which has everyone’s wish lists, sizes, favorite colors, interests, etc.

• Packs all stocking items in labeled bags to drop into stockings on Christmas Eve.

• Makes side dishes for dinner a few days ahead to simply put into the oven the day of.

• Keeps an address list for cards (already formatted for labels) that she updates as needed throughout the year.

• Maintains a shared recipe book in Google drive with all the family recipes, including (most importantly) the Christmas cookies.

We have embraced decorating store-bought cookies for Santa in hectic years. I’m grateful to the person who said years ago that Santa doesn’t want a ton of goodies because he and his reindeer eat at every house. — Janice Lew Santos

• SanDiegofamily.com • December 2020