#LifeHacks: Homemade Holiday Gifts!

Homemade Holiday Gifts

Holiday shopping can be difficult, whether you’re shopping for family members, friends, coworkers, or neighbors. Additionally, gifts for everyone can add up! This year, consider making homemade Christmas gifts. Not only will these save you a little money, but taking the extra effort and time shows a person how much you truly care about them. More thought is put behind homemade holiday gifts, and whoever receives it will be extra thankful! Not sure where to start? Don’t worry! Check out these do-it-yourself homemade holiday gifts to try this holiday season.

DIY Agate Coasters

These beautiful coasters by Jen Woodhouse make the perfect gift for home and apartment owners, as they are very trendy and useful! This gift will be greatly appreciated and is also half the cost of buying it in-store. Additionally, you can make them any color you want! Think of your friend or family member’s favorite color, and simply buy those shades of acrylic paint. Not much of a painter? That’s okay! For these coasters, perfection is not necessary. Mix up your colors and add some water for a unique, homemade look. These are perfect, easy gifts to give away that require extra thoughtfulness and creativity.

Mason Jar Candles

You can never have too many candles! What’s even better, is these are homemade and make for the perfect Christmas gift. This DIY Peppermint Candle by a Pumpkin and a Princess will put anyone right into the holiday spirit. They are also easy to make! All you need is soy wax, mason jars, tea light cups, candlewick, and peppermint essential oils. Decorate your mason jars however you please, and they are ready to distribute! If you thought this was easy, you can even try making them with different scents and decorations for different friends, neighbors, and coworkers.

DIY Hanging Grill Tool Display Sign

For the cooks in your family, the DIY Hanging Grill Tool Display Sign is the perfect, handy gift by the Rustic Willow. It is both functional and decorative. You can gather all of your supplies from the nearest home improvement store. Customize it to say whatever you want, as you can paint on the letters! Whether it’s for a family member or a friend, your loved one will enjoy using this awesome and crafty gift when they’re grilling.

Stamped Keychain or Necklace

This unique idea from Kojo Designs is perfect for, well, anyone! You can customize it to say anything you want, and you can either make keychains or necklaces. Although it does take a couple of practice rounds, once you have the supplies and the moves down correctly, you will be on your way to success. The necessary supplies are metal brass discs, key rings, a metal stamping set, and a jump ring if you are making a keychain. Additionally, you will need a hammer, black permanent marker, a piece of steel wool, and a drill and a small bit tool. Once you have all the supplies, it is easy to make these as gifts year-round! Give it to your special someone as a necklace, or your best friends as a friendship keychain. The opportunities for creativity here are endless!

Christmas Cookie Mix in a Jar

For an easy and tasty gift, try these Christmas Cookie Mix in a Jar idea by Crazy Little Projects. This gift is perfect for the holidays, because who doesn’t love baking cookies during this time? You can also decorate the jar however you like. If you have a lot of people you need to get gifts for, like neighbors or teachers, you’ll want to give these a try. You can switch up the recipes you use to cater to your friends’ tastes. Whether it’s chocolate peppermint cookies or double chocolate and toffee cookies, your friends will love them!

The holidays are the most wonderful time of year, but it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the shopping and thinking of new gift ideas. With these homemade holiday gifts, you will save a lot of money, while also putting more thought, time, and effort towards your gifts instead of simply purchasing them from the store. Your loved ones will appreciate knowing that you care so much about them to make them their own gift!

Apartment Resident #LifeHacks was created in 2018 by Grady Management, Inc.  Grady Management was founded in 1965 and continues to provide a full service residential, commercial, and consulting real estate firm in the greater Washington and Baltimore metropolitan area.  Learn more from our website or Facebook page.

How To Prepare and Serve a Holiday Meal in an Apartment

Three Simple Steps to Cooking and Serving a Delicious Holiday Meal in an Apartment Community

With Thanksgiving only two days away, the 2018 holiday season will soon begin! 

Many apartment residents may be getting ready to host friends and family members for Thanksgiving or other, upcoming, holiday festivities.  For some residents, this may be the first time they are hosting guests at their apartment communities.  There are some simple ways to ensure your holiday festivities are enjoyable to both attend and host:

1) Preparing the meal: The first step in preparing a holiday meal is to ensure that the kitchen appliances are in working order.  Test the oven, stove, and microwave now, at least 48 hours before holidays, to make sure the appliances work before the morning of the holiday.  If anything needs to be adjusted, submit a service request as soon as possible so the community maintenance team can ensure everything is working for meal preparation. 

2) Organizing the apartment: Once the kitchen is set up for the holiday meal, it is time to prepare the rest of the apartment.  Begin cleaning and organizing at least 24 hours in advance of when guests will arrive.  Run the dishwasher and take out the trash and recycling.  Set out extra soap and toilet paper in the bathroom so guests do not have to hunt for those items the day they arrive.  Since apartments tend to be smaller than single family home and/ or townhouses, it is necessary to ensure everything is put away in designated places to provide for ample seating areas.  Hang jackets and fold and store blankets in closets to ensure there is enough room for guests.

3) Entertaining the guests: Once family and friends arrive to the holiday celebration, things will become a lot more fun but also a lot more hectic.  Offer to take coats, scarves, an outwear and put in the bedroom or linen closet to remove excess clutter.  Before the main meal, scatter plates of appetizers like cheese and crackers and fruit throughout the apartment so people all do not gather in one central place.   Make sure to set out place settings with names so everyone knows where to sit and can easily identify their place when the time comes to begin the meal.

The Grady Management team wishes you a happy and healthy holiday season!

Apartment Resident #LifeHacks was created in 2018 by Grady Management, Inc.  Grady Management was founded in 1965 and continues to provide a full service residential, commercial, and consulting real estate firm in the greater Washington and Baltimore metropolitan area.  Learn more from our website or Facebook page.