Have yourself a creative little Christmas
Christmas doesn’t have to be filled with stress and the meaningless buying of stuff. Get creative this Christmas and feel the Christmas spirit!
Connecting with your creativity is a sure way to feel in flow, find a bit of peace and have fun, so what are you waiting for? It’s time to approach Christmas with a creative attitude.
“But I’m not creative!”
I hear you moan… Wrong! I totally believe we are all creative, from writing a report, to gardening, from planning a trip to creating a playlist. You don’t have to be an artist to be creative, you just have to be open and believe it. You don’t have to cover yourself in glitter making Christmas crafts if you don’t want to, creativity is about looking at things in a new way, trying something different, or taking an alternative approach.
My ten ideas for a creative Christmas
- Turn Christmas on it’s head. This is one for the brave! Whatever you would normally do, do the opposite. If you normally stay in, go out, if you usually spend lots on gifts, make presents instead. If it’s easier choose just one thing to turn on it’s head. Studies have shown that a change of scene or environment has a huge impact on our ability to solve problems creatively. So changing something up will instantly get your brain and heart engaged in new ways!
- Create the Christmas your heart is longing for. The whole point is to focus on what you need from Christmas and build your days and activities around it rather than letting it happen to you. Start with the day or event on a mind-map, write around it all the feelings you want to create, then think of activities and people you know will help you create them, this becomes your Christmas plan
- Creative gift giving. There are so many wonderful conscious, meaningful gifts available, from makers and artists like me, or from organisations and charities. You can even make gifts yourself. How about not giving stuff, but instead gifting your time to a loved one? Create a voucher that entitles the person to a picnic with you, or a winter woodland walk. You can make it special with a handmade invite.
- Food, we all love it! How can you do something new and fun with it this year? Maybe it’s a fondue on Christmas Eve, or a veggie Christmas lunch. Maybe you can bake cookies and gift them or have a winter walk with a gorgeous hot chocolate. Or maybe it’s choosing not to overindulge and creating a healthy Christmas for yourself?
- Create an atmosphere. This one is fun and we all do it naturally every Christmas with decorations and candles. What if you switched it up and created a different atmosphere this year, maybe for one party or day? How about a tropical New Year? Or a country music Christmas day? Don’t forget the music, smells, lights and tastes that go with it, make it multi-sensory.
- Get crafting! OK, so I know I said you don’t have to get the glitter out…but it’s so much fun! One year I made my kids advent calendars with a wide ribbon and envelopes. I numbered the envelopes, put trading cards inside and attached them to the ribbon and hung them up – they loved it! What do you have round the house that you can reuse for decorations or cards? Loo rolls? Plastic carrier bags? Bottle tops? Lego?
- Gamify Christmas. The stress of Christmas can really get us down, so let’s bring back the fun! You can turn almost anything into a game. Brussel sprout peeling, making the worst card, who can wrap themselves in tinsel fastest. My sister gave us all magical elf names on her Christmas day, we had to call each other by them all day – it was a great giggle.
- Community creativity. How can you get your community together or connected? I am lucky enough to live on street with a great neighbourhood group. We just had a crafting morning and we have kids’ colouring competitions at Christmas, Santa visits and we take care of our elderly neighbours. Mobilise your street or apartment block and get people together.
- Create a new family tradition. Traditions have to start somewhere. Our 8 year old tradition is to always have smoked salmon blinis on Christmas morning. What could you do to create a little magic, luxury or togetherness this holiday season? Let the kids come up with one – I bet there’ll be oodles of creativity there!
- Go analog. OK, I know the kids will want their play stations and we will want the Christmas day movie… but choose a time over the season when you turn everything off. EVERYTHING. You will be amazed and what you will start to do. Board games, crafts, sports, playing, chilling. Let your brains become less stimulated by electronics and more stimulated by you.