Problems
How do you find a Xmas card in a hurry at a Xmas party when the organiser have put a Xmas card on every place? How do you find a suitable card for Christmas and Chinese New Year?
If you wrap a present, you might have to unwrap it at security or customs. You can't even travel with a big pair of scissor in your hand luggage.
In Singapore we were invited to housewarmings, engagement parties, and to dinner with people who had just had a baby. We needed cards in a hurry.
What do you do to decorate the room in a hurry when you are too busy to go shopping or the shops are closed?
Answers
Cards And Wrapping
At home I keep a stock of Christmas and birthday cards in boxes marked Christmas and Cards. I also have a section of wrapping paper.
Storage
You can store your leftover Xmas cards and wrap in a zip up bag for about £15. Or simply keep it in a tote bag with Xmas or festive patterns. Or cover a shoe box with leftover Xmas wrapping paper.
Packing
I take a couple of spare Xmas cards in my pockets to parties and when travelling over Xmas. I have also spent hours hunting inside my suitcase for the card and wrapping twine. Days later I discovered them in the suitcase outside pocket. You might add the location of small or vital items to your packing list with the location such as; jacket pocket; in handbag; in carryon bag; in outside pocket of suitcase, in lid.
Storage and Packing
Alternatively load up a picture of your suitcase. Or keep the luggage tag when you buy the item which has a picture of the suitcase. Label the outside as A and the lid pocket as B and the back inside pocket of the base of the suitcase as C. Your hand bag similarly labelled with letters. (Not numbers, since you will use those for the numbers of pairs of socks or underwear or blouses or shirts.) Alongside each item you note where you have packed it.
You can also direct a partner or friend from the bathroom or another location to find the card or wrapping in your luggage by checking the packing list stuck on the inside lid of the suitcase.
Place names
Save place names from Xmas parties and weddings for re-use on your festive table. To check the correct spelling of names, look at your emails, or inside Xmas cards from this year (or last year, if you keep them).
Stories
On one occasion I bought a card which was all in Chinese from a rack of Chinese New Year cards in Singapore. My friend laughed a lot. A week later, when I asked her to translate it, she admitted that my card had wished her Happy Birthday.
We also had a Swiss army knife confiscated. On another occasion we had a pair of scissors confiscated at Heathrow. One person had to race around the airport to find an envelope and post it home. The other was waiting half an hour airside wondering what took so long and whether a family member had been arrested.
Tips
Keep a similar lettered checklist for items which are left in the fridge (sandwiches for the plane; chocolates for the hosts you are visiting).
Attach post-it notes to the back of your front door and remove them as you leave as you check every item.
For example:
LAST MINUTE LEAVING CHECKLIST
Passport, tickets;
Keys (one set; second set left with neighbours / family /office;
Holiday/business address and insurance details left with family;
Food for journey, drink for journey;
Items in fridge to throw out or give to neighbours or family.
Keys of second home.
Name and phone number of person who has keys to rented accommodation.
Hotel number in case of delay.
Print-out of reservation in case reception.
Xmas cards. Birthday cards. New Home cards. Chinese New Year cards.
Gifts.
Wrapping paper. Coloured string or ribbon and bows. Sticky tape.
Gold and silver pens for writing cards.
DIY Decorations
Xmas cards you have been given can be attached to a string and hung across a wall.
Crackers
I like recycling. Saved empty Xmas crackers can be linked with a string through the middle. I remove the leftover bit which you pull to make the cracking noise because I think it is a fire risk and it blocks the centre. However, it does keep the cracker rigid.
The resulting string of colours can be used as a semi-circular string of colour and glitter along a wall or table top. Or tie the ends of the string to make a wreath to hand on a door knob.
If you have whole crackers left over, even better. You can thread them together.
Or stick them vertically on the wall for a public party, ideally using removable adhesive such as Blue-tac or White tac.
Cracker Jokes
Stick half a dozen jokes from inside crackers onto a card for the centrepiece of the table at the next festive dinner party. They could also edge a printed menu of what you are serving. Or pass the joke card around the table for amusement whilst waiting for latecomers.
DIY Menu
To decorate a DIY Xmas menu, cut the pictures of festive foods from the cover or inside of a supermarket magazine. I would not take a restaurant menu. But if it's dated with a specific day so they will not use it again, you might keep it. Or ask permission.
Keep the menu card in a souvenir book of Christmas Past memories. (Put menus on the left, Xmas photos of your Xmas party on the right).
Alternatively re-use all or part of the menu to decorate your own menu. If you cannot take away the menu, or forget, photograph the menu and use part of the cropped photo to decorate your home menu.
The magazine pictures can also be used for a mosaic seasonal greetings card. You may need to buy a cheap glue or Sellotape. That's a UK brand name. Sticky tape is what you might say in the USA.
If you are in a hotel, ask a friendly receptionist if she or he has any glue, sticky tape or a stapler. Failing all else, stick paper together by bending over corners twice, or cut a slit in one piece of card, and an arrow shape in the other.
I hope this helps you.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Author and speaker.
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