10 Christmas hacks for a stress-free holiday season

1 Green coverings

Running out of wrapping paper? Carefully tear pages out of your favourite magazines, sticking them together with tape if you need larger sheets. It’s environmentally friendly, eye-catching and unique, and can be tailored to the exact preferences of each gift recipient.

2 Multiple Plan Bs

Buy a bunch of small presents – boxes of chocolates or cookies, interesting tea, cordial, cheese crackers; or silly things like fun socks, quirky mugs, or stationery – and wrap them up. It means you have options, just in case you’re invited last-minute to an unexpected gathering, more people come to visit than planned, or you’re at a Secret Santa party and SOMEONE forgets to buy their gift.

These gifts are timeless, and have long shelf lives, so if you don’t end up giving them away, you can use them as emergency birthday gifts instead. And if you do use them, you basically get to be Santa.

3 Hot chocolate on tap

The ultimate Christmas Party/Secret Santa present: buy a mason jar and fill it with drinking chocolate powder, add a few marshmallows, chocolate sprinkles, shavings and a chocolate bar of choice. Oh, and a candy cane (using it as stirrer adds a fresh mintiness!). Decorate the jar with a festive ribbon and you have the gift of a mix for the best mug of hot chocolate ever. 

4 Micro-living solutions

If you don’t have the space in your home for a real Christmas tree, put sprigs of pine in old jam jars and dot them around instead. They’ll inject some greenery into your home, and fill it with a lovely wintry smell. You can use the sprigs to decorate parcels, too. 

5 A mini Christmas tree

Don’t have enough space for a Christmas tree, or looking to make a DIY gift for your friends that doesn’t require too much expertise? Grab some old newspapers, roll them into a cone shape, then tape it in place. It should be able to stand alone.

Then use tape to stick some individually-packaged tea bags all over it (two different colours works best). There you have your own easy Christmas tree; tea-drinkers will love it!

6 Genius-level interior design

Don’t have enough fairy lights or ornaments for your Christmas tree? Not to worry; just place your Christmas tree in a corner of the room so that the back and sides are against the walls. That way, you only need to decorate the front.

7 Tag, you're it

Make gift tags out of old Christmas cards. Just cut out the shape you want, punch a hole at the top and thread a piece of string through.

8 It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas

If you have pets who tear down anything shiny, live in a very small space, or won’t spending much time at home over the festive season, don’t worry if you don’t feel like spending time and money decorating. Instead, light a cinnamon- or gingerbread-scented candle so your dorm or room at least smells festive when you’re there. 

9 Easy Christmas treats

Handmade gifts feel really special, but cost very little in terms of both time and money. Score.

Make chocolate bark by melting a bar of chocolate (white works really well for Christmas) and pouring it onto a sheet of greaseproof paper. Then smash up some candy canes, chopped nuts, and M&Ms, and sprinkle them over the chocolate. Leave the whole thing to set and then break it into pieces of bark. Pop into Ziploc or paper bags, and hand out to grateful friends and family.