4 Unusual Ways To Prepare For December

Until now, I've been (kind of) holding back from mentioning the festive season in every single post, share, message and caption, but the pressure's getting too much.  I'm going to burst - and there'll be candy canes flying everywhere.  The remedy?  Discuss how best to prepare for December!  There are some obvious ways to get ready for the last month of the year: browse gift guides and start your Christmas shopping, plan festive party outfits, write Christmas cards, choose your decorations (quick question: do you prefer real or artificial trees?!) and tons more.  But how about the lesser known ways to prepare for December?  Read on, get out your novelty festive pens and start taking notes...

C O L L E C T   F O L I A G E

Ivy, holly, conifer sprigs, mistletoe - choose your poison!  Bring the outdoors, indoors.  Keep your collection outdoors in a safe, cold place before bringing inside at the beginning of December (holly lasts indoors for approximately 3 weeks before drying out).  But do keep private land in mind and only forage in areas you know are okay to collect from

__________

A T T E N D   A   M A S T E R C L A S S

Always wanted to make your own traditional Christmas fruit cake from scratch?  Keen to create a festive table centrepiece?  There are loads of festive masterclasses and workshops around leading up to the festive season.  It looks as though bookings are now closed at Fortnum & Mason, however some other gems include Christmas craft workshops with the National Trust and making festive garlands with Anthropologie.  Oh and for Londoners, Time Out has a fabulous edit of festive Christmas craft workshops!

__________

C R E A T E   A   F E S T I V E   P L A Y L I S T

Okay, not so unusual, but no setting, list or festive season is complete without festive music getting you into the holiday spirit.  I'll admit, I'm about three weeks deep into Mariah Carey and Wham! at this point, but you're still getting ahead of the game by creating a playlist of your faves before December kicks in!  Perfect for putting a smile on your face on the train, working through emails at home, putting up decos and driving through snowflakes (hey, I'm an optimist...)

__________

P U T   F E S T I V E   B E A U T Y   O N   T R I A L

Is it just me, or is beauty the last thing to be done when getting ready for a festive occasion.  By this, I mean that glittering manicure we'd promised ourselves, the black velvet bow we figured we'd try on Christmas Eve and that killer smokey eye.  Sigh.  Well this year, I for one will be testing it all before December, rather than attempt it five minutes before heading out the door to an event.  Who's with me?!

__________

Sheer Dress - Zara Tulle Dress With Pearls

Jeans - 7 For Mankind

Bag - Zara City Bag With Faux Fur |  Boots - Kurt Geiger

Psst!  Whip our your oldest boots for collecting foliage; to get those dreamy pieces you'll have to get a little bit dirrrrty! 

How are you feeling about this festive season?  Have you started the celebrations or prepared anything yet for December?  Let me know in the comments below!

With love,

Gabrielle x