How to Prepare Your Space for the Holidays, Part 3 || Apartment Therapy

In week three of Re-Nest’s How to Prepare Your Space for the Holidays, professional organizer Amelia Meena gives readers five additional tips on how to prepare for your holiday event to ensure it goes off without a snag. If you’re not caught-up with last week’s list, take time to do that now so that you can get moving.

If you need to refresh your list or evaluate what’s left to-do, take a moment to review How to Prepare Your Space for the Holidays Part 1 and How to Prepare Your Space for the Holidays Part 2.

This is the week before Thanksgiving and everything should be falling into place. Next week will mostly be focused on the menu so make sure you can do as many household items as you can this week.

Organize Your Kitchen

Hopefully, by now you’ve taken an inventory of your cookware and serving items. Now let’s make sure you have everything you need to create the feast. Double check your spice cabinet: toss any old or questionable spices and make sure you have the Thanksgiving staples such as nutmeg, cinnamon, sage, thyme, pumpkin pie spice and cloves. Most ground spices keep for up to six months, while whole spices keep for about a year. Also, purchase any dry goods now that you will need next week: pantry items such as canned goods, dry bread for stuffing, cooking oils and snacks.

Table Décor

You’ll want your tablescape to look as beautiful as the food on it. Consider how you would like to decorate your table: traditionally, a table cloth is used, along with a runner and a centerpiece. You can make your own variation of this by adding placemats, cloth napkins, candles, flowers or autumnal foliage. If you are planning on displaying a flower centerpiece, make sure to order it this week. If not, locate decorations such as pine cones, squash, gourds or other arts and crafts projects you already use to spice-up your home.

Double Check Your To-Do List

Check-in to see how your To-Do & Priority List from How to Prepare Your Space for the Holidays Part 2 is shaping-up. Have you ordered your turkey? Figured out when you will run your errands and how you will batch them to save time and gas? Confirmed who is attending the event? If not, revisit your list and set your reminders.

Also, while you made any appointments to address larger issues in your home last week, take some time this week to check the smaller details. Fill your stock of candles, lightbulbs, batteries, toilet paper, kitchen and paper towels, superglue, matches, and other household items that you should have on hand.

Serving Preparation

If you will be serving the dinner on fine china or with silverware, go ahead and make these items available. Polish the silver, wipe down the plates and wash and iron the cloth napkins. If you plan on serving on the dining room table, it can act as a collection spot for all of your dinnerware after it has been cleaned and prepped. Additionally, it’s a good idea to sharpen your knives in preparation for next week’s cooking.

Post-Meal Preparation

The week of Thanksgiving will surely be a blur of good food and good friends. However, when it’s all over, you’ll need to be prepared to clean-up. Sort through your containers, making sure each one has a matching lid. Using what little time you have this week to prepare for post-Thanksgiving will allow you to spend all of next week focusing on the menu, the dinner and your guests.

 

APARTMENT THERAPY
November 15, 2010
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