Skip to Content

Welcome to Organized Christmas!

Our mission: to help you simplify your holidays and get ready for Christmas.

Browse our articles for great ideas to simplify the holidays. Choose a holiday plan, and print a free Christmas planner to get organized for Christmas.

Try easy gifts and crafts, recipes and free printables to celebrate the season.

organized christmas

Cutting Costs at Christmas?

Try these ideas to celebrate like Santa (but spend like Scrooge):

christmas countdown
Christmas is coming!
Will you be ready?

“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all year.”

— Charles Dickens

Pumpkin Poop: Recipe For Halloween Poop Gift

Submitted by Cynthia Ewer on October 13, 2009 - 7:24am

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

pumpkin poop recipeJust in time for Halloween: it's Pumpkin Poop!

Treat your favorite trickster with this simple, silly gift. Easy to make and inexpensive to give, it's a good choice for workplace surprises or Halloween parties or a Halloween BOO basket. Add a packet of Witches' Brew for a happy harvest-time treat.

Place a handful of candy corn or black and orange jelly beans in a zipper food storage bag.

Seal and label with the following poem, or print our free printable Pumpkin Poop gift tag.

I started to carve a pumpkin
with my carving knife and scoop
But the pumpkin got so scared
He took a little poop!

It looked so cute and funny
Just like a candy treat
So I'm sharing it with you now
Because you are so sweet! Read more »


Halloween Treat: Haunted Gingerbread House

Submitted by Cynthia Ewer on October 12, 2009 - 8:53am

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

haunted gingerbread houseGingerbread houses aren't just for Christmas anymore!

Use our easy-build methods to create a Halloween Gingerbread House to brighten your autumn home or workplace. Using melted bark coating or candy melts makes this craft simple enough for kids.

A black cat peeps from piles of pumpkins. Orange and black gumdrops light the path on Halloween night. Spiders creep and bats flap.

Don't miss our friendly ghosts! Read more »


Halloween BOOing Printables ... and a 'Virtual' Boo!

Submitted by Cynthia Ewer on October 11, 2009 - 1:18pm

halloween booReady to send a "Halloween BOO" to friends, neighbors ... and even online buddies? Check these Halloween BOO-ing resources from the folks at Hersheys.com.

With free printable Halloween BOO poems and signs, you'll be ready to declare "You've Been Booed!" around the neighborhood:

Hershey's Halloween BOO-ing Essentials

Check out the virtual BOO e-cards. They're fun, free animated e-cards to bring the fun of BOO-ing to the Web:

Virtual BOO-a-Friend E-cards Read more »


Christmas Notebook: Creative Christmas Planner Tours And Tutorials!

Submitted by Cynthia Ewer on October 11, 2009 - 1:11pm

altered file folderSavvy holiday planners know that making a Christmas notebook is the first and best way to simplify the holidays and celebrate the season.

But who says they have to be three-ring binders? While a standard Christmas binder is easy to make and to use, there's been an explosion of creativity across the Web. Papercrafters, scrapbookers, rubber stampers and quilters are creating personalized, custom Christmas planners that showcase their crafting skill. Better, these creative crafters share how-to tutorials to make it easy to build your own creative Christmas planner.

To create Christmas planners from altered file folders, pocket folders, index file cards or paper bags, check out the planner tours and tutorials at ChristmasPlanner.com. Get inspired ... to get ready for Christmas:

Christmas Planner Tours and Tutorials Read more »


Halloween BOOing: Free Printable Poems

Submitted by Cynthia Ewer on October 11, 2009 - 10:17am

Ready for "BOO-ing" the neighbors for Halloween this year?

Here are more free printable BOO poems and signs from the Web. Ranging from scary to silly, they'll make it easy to share this Halloween tradition in your neighborhood:

Won't You BOO My Neighbor BOO-grams

Halloween Booing Poem and Sign (in .pdf format)


Read more »

Houseworks Holiday Plan: Bed & Bath Week

Submitted by Cynthia Ewer on October 10, 2009 - 11:51pm

If the children are to be nestled, all snug in their beds, it's time to get things straight in the linen closet! This week in the Houseworks Holiday Plan, we'll focus on the linen closet and bathrooms.

We'll declutter, organize and clean these areas, then do a quick linen check. Will we have enough sheets and towels? What's the state of the tablecloth? Is the household stocked for winter colds and holiday guests?

With the deadline for mailing overseas gifts at hand, we'll get ready to wrap with a wrap and mail center. An account at usps.com lets us print mailing labels, buy postage and arrange for carrier pickup ... online!

Bed and Bath Week Read more »


Holiday Grand Plan: Guest Room Week

Submitted by Cynthia Ewer on October 10, 2009 - 11:50pm

Guest rooms ready for holiday guests? They will be, after we tackle them during Week Seven of the Holiday Grand Plan: Guest Room Week!

This week, we deep-clean, organize and prepare for overnight guests. In holiday prep, we keep plugging away on gifts, whether to-make or to-buy. Decor alert: Halloween is coming!

Ready? Let's get organized with Guest Room Week in the Holiday Grand Plan!

Guest Room Week on the Holiday Grand Plan Read more »


Decor Storage Solution: Holidays on Wheels!

Submitted by Cynthia Ewer on October 9, 2009 - 6:39am

There comes a time--and for me, it's at age 54--when your heart's desires and your body's demands come into conflict. To wit: I have a great love of decorating for seasonal holidays ... but I live in a three story house and my baby-boomer knees have begun to rebel at the seasonal tramp up and down stairs.

Solution: holidays on wheels!

 Read more »


Simplify Your Holidays With A Christmas Calendar

Submitted by Cynthia Ewer on October 9, 2009 - 5:06am

By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Christmas
Author, Houseworks: Cut the Clutter, Speed Your Cleaning and Calm the Chaos

Family scheduling reaches fever pitch during December, when every work, school and social group in existence insists on holding a holiday function.

Even if you never rely on a family calendar the other eleven months of the year, a Christmas calendar is a must for an organized Christmas season.

Seldom acknowledged but often felt, time pressure creates a unique stressor during the holiday season. Holiday events, school functions and holiday parties crowd December days; service projects, travel and worship activities double. To keep holiday stress at bay, a calendar is a must-have tool.

Take back your time--and find calm amidst the chaos--with a holiday family calendar:

Try these tips to calendar your way to stress-free holidays: Read more »


Houseworks Holiday Plan: Wardrobe Week

Submitted by Cynthia Ewer on October 3, 2009 - 11:50pm

Get out your high-heeled sneakers, Baby--it's time to think of holiday finery.  This week, our Housework focus will see us declutter, organize and clean clothing care areas and the clothes closets.

Will the family be able to strut their stuff all season long?  We'll do a family wardrobe check to make sure everybody's covered (literally) for the season's events.  Clothes closet decluttering helps us add needed clothing items to the gift list or shopping list in good time to replace worn or out-grown clothing--and we'll begin individual gift suggestion lists using the clothing sizes and preferences we discover.

Rounding out the week, we work on Christmas card chores, brainstorm ideas for Secret Santa celebrations and begin catalog or Internet shopping.

Ready? Time to get cracking ... on Wardrobe Week!

Wardrobe Week Assignments Read more »


Syndicate content