15 Quick and Easy Projects to Tackle Before the Holidays

Scientists have yet to figure out why time and space bend around the holiday season to make it feel sudden-though-scheduled, lightning-speed-but-also-neverending. Since those equations aren’t coming any time soon, it’s up to us to prepare ourselves as best we can. Think of these festive, budget-friendly and easy-to-execute ideas as your very own action-movie training montage: Cue up the jock-rock classic of your choice as you consider our tips, take note of key moves as you see them and try one or two each weekend until it’s go time. You’ve got this.

With all due respect for funkins, felted and crocheted pumpkins and, of course, the real things, we’re partial to these easy-to-create, ultra-durable concrete versions. This cost-effective, satisfyingly-seasonal DIY requires little more than cement and a pair of tights or nylons that’s seen better days, and it yields hard-wearing harvest-season pieces that can double as doorstops. Some see holes in hosiery as tragedies; we see them as opportunities.

Here’s another fall-fabulous project that makes magnificent use of low-cost materials: With brown paint, jute twine and hot glue, last Easter’s plastic eggs can be transformed into acorns and put to use as autumnal table decor, garland components and treat-filled place cards. A paint pen will personalize the place-card acorns as a take-home favor for guests, and wooden beads spaced and knotted between acorns will add on-trend organic texture to twine garlands.

Bundle bulk-purchased, high-quality taper candles with fabric remnants and festive bits of ribbon and twine to bring along and present at each and every holiday gathering this season. We loved batched and consumable host gifts as well, mind you, but candles pair perfectly with whatever meal or munchies might be served and they’re MVPs in the event of a power outage. Fruitcake, please try harder.

Your feathered neighbors who don’t migrate to other regions for the winter can have a tough time finding food when seeds are scarce. If they’re accustomed to finding it at your place, it’s especially important to keep your feeder filled all year long; that food source could be a lifesaver in the event of an ice storm or blizzard.

If you fancy adding a bit of organic flair to the trees in your yard (or whipping up gifts for the nature-lovers in your life), in turn, use pantry supplies and birdseed to create edible decor for outdoor boughs. Try the National Audubon Society’s recipe for vegetarian suet once the temperature has dropped below 50 degrees for the season; if you’re in a warmer area or plan to give your ornaments away, use our recipe with gelatin as a stabilizer.

If ‘potpourri’ evokes images of dusty, batch-dyed old flower petals perched on a doily, allow us to introduce you to its chic contemporary counterpart. This mixture combines dehydrated fruit (like oranges, lemons, apples and pears), bay leaves, spices and essential oils, and it’s a natural-looking, crowd-pleasing way to infuse your space with a bit of scent without burning a candle or simmering mulling spices for months on end (though that does sound delicious).

Set the stage for next year’s explosion of color by prepping blooms like daffodils, iris, freesia and narcissus this fall. Many bulbs need time to develop strong root systems and colder temperatures to trigger the process that eventually produces flowers, and that applies both to plantings in the ground and what you grow in containers. Speaking of containers…

Why shouldn’t overwintering bulbs look festive as they develop for the spring? Hit your local craft store for grapevine balls in a mix of sizes, then wrap them with LED fairy lights to anchor a front porch display that will feel seasonal and celebratory through the fall and winter. Fill in the base of each container with evergreen wreaths and greens gathered from your yard.

Here’s a practical move that doubles as a cheery decorating detail for your interior spaces: Snipping off stem tip cuttings from outdoor plants like coleus (above) and geraniums, then rooting them indoors to get a jump on next year’s container gardening will give you pops of color on sunny indoor windowsills all winter long. Rooting cuttings of herbs like mint and basil in water and eventually transferring them to pots, in turn, yields mood-boosting indoor greenery and gets you started on a kitchen garden.

A memory-foam mattress and hotel-caliber sheets are sights for sore travelers, to be sure, but the most legendary holiday hosts of all frame and display their wifi passwords so guests don’t have to scrounge for a signal after everyone’s gone to bed. (A water carafe and shower caddy with luxe toiletries are delightful touches as well.)

If you’ve got banded towels like these and spare bits of too-short-for-gift-wrapping, too-lovely-to-toss ribbon, this no-sew DIY can customize your powder room and guest bath in no time. (Psst: Many craft stores put their seasonal supplies on sale before the holidays, so you can likely grab a discounted spool or two of high-quality ribbon right now.)

When it comes to winter warmers, we take cues from the mixologists at Elixir in San Francisco, where tipplers have bellied up to the bar since 1858. Their “Hot Butt” (above), a cheeky riff on hot buttered rum, is made with batter that can be prepped and stored indefinitely in the freezer, then deployed for impromptu cocktails whenever you like.

To create that batter, blend or whisk together 2 pounds of dark brown sugar, 1 pound softened, unsalted butter, 4 teaspoons each of ground cinnamon and nutmeg, 1 teaspoon each of allspice, cardamom, and vanilla extract, and 1 quart of melted vanilla ice cream. To serve, pre-heat a mug with hot water, then combine 2 heaping teaspoons of batter with 2 teaspoons of aged rum and top with 4-6 ounces of hot water.

Customize your guests’ experience even more by stocking your baths with colorful, seasonal bar soaps. Created with silicone candy molds, melt-and-pour soap base, dye and essential oil, these little fellas can also be packaged in glassine bags and used as gift toppers. Fancy a more wintery version of the same concept? Use star and snowflake molds, then tint your soap with food-safe glitter and blue dye.

Don’t be intimidated by the many, many components of this homespun accessory; if you can use a miter saw and have a downed branch or two in your backyard, you can pull a similar runner together in no time. Assembled on and glued to canvas drop cloth, then finished with a protective coat of polyurethane, its natural simplicity lends itself to holiday-season gatherings and warm-weather festivities in the new year.