Although it only comes around for one day a year, there’s so much more to Christmas than giving presents on December 25^th, and preparations need to start well in advance if you’re to make sure you’re fully prepared for the festive season.

This means getting the kids’ presents sorted as early as possible (unless you actually like the idea of a Jingle All The Way-style Christmas Eve), as well as making sure the turkey’s been ordered, the tree is in hand, and the cards have been popped in the post with plenty of time to spare. In between all that, you somehow need to make sure you’re all set for the party season too.

If you’re going to be entertaining at home this festive period, you also need to make sure your house is in order. And, as there’s no time like the present, just follow these simple steps to help prepare your home for Christmas.

Have a clear out

Christmas brings clutter – from decorations to presents to wine bottles, your house accumulates more stuff over Christmas than at any other time of the year, so it makes sense to have a clear out before the festivities begin.

Take a walk around the house and work out which items you can pack away and which ones you can throw away. And try not to be too sentimental, if there are things in cupboards that haven’t seen the light of day for months or even years, don’t be afraid to throw them out.

If you could do with a new vacuum cleaner to help with the cleaning, the Shark Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner offers unparalleled cord-free cleaning on carpets and hard floors. If you don’t want to spend the time vacuuming, the Coredy Robot Vacuum Cleaner can do all the hard work for you – it even lets you schedule and customize cleaning preferences from its remote control, with vacuum and wet/dry mop combo options for a brilliant cleaning.

Organise your kitchen

If you’re entertaining at home, you’ll no doubt be doing a lot of cooking, which means you’ll need your kitchen to be spick and span and make essential kitchen tools, utensils, and cookware are thoroughly clean and within easy reach.

If your kitchen cupboards are a bit of a mess, try and clear things up with an Icoco adjustable and extendable shelf organising storage tidy, and keep the sink area organised with an Oriware utensil holder and draining pan.

Then check the oven, stove, microwave, food processor, and dishwasher are all working properly, and repair or replace them where necessary. If you need an extra hand with the cooking, an Andrew James Halogen Oven is perfect for cooking meat, especially chicken, and could free up the main oven for the turkey, if you’re cooking more than one type of meat.

It’s also worth having a clear out of the fridge and freezer, to make room for the extra food and drink you’ll be getting in for Christmas.

Arrange the celebration space

Every house has its preferred spot for the tree and presents, but if you’re going to be entertaining this Christmas, you might want to shift things around for a larger celebration space. Work out which is the best room in the house for guests to socialise in, and make that the centre-point of your Christmas celebrations. And don’t be afraid to rearrange, replace, or remove furniture, either temporarily or permanently, this can all be part of your pre-Christmas clear-out. If you love the idea of a real Christmas tree, but don’t fancy the falling pine needles or the post-Christmas disposal, why not buy and artificial pine tree, then blitz it with a spritz of Aroma Mist Christmas Tree room spray?

Then complete the ambience with a couple of Yankee Candle Classic Perfect Tree jars and a set of Ollny LED Window Curtain String Lights Icicle Fairy Decorative Lights.

Then sit back, relax and enjoy everything the festive season has to offer.