Post-holiday entertaining

The festivities are over! All the family dinners, open houses, soirées ... poof, done! Here are a few things to do around the house this month while you have some downtime.

1. Review presents and hostess gifts

Chances are you don't really need all the tokens of affection you received. By all means, hold on to what you love, but if you didn't host a gift swap, get rid of the rest by dropping it off at your favourite charity.

2. Move the furniture

You may be surprised what you find there.
Take the cushions off sofas and chairs, vacuum along the wall behind
the furniture and then turn your attention to the inside of the
furniture itself. No doubt it needs it.

3. Clean out the fridge

All those half bottles of olives and maraschino cherries, those opened sauces, dips and marinades that don't work with weekday meals ... why hold on to them? The next time you need them, they will probably have passed their best-before date. Either plan menus around them, or get rid of them and don't feel guilty about it.


4. Inspect your seasonal decorations

When you put them away, look for missing hooks or broken bits on balls and wreaths. You can probably fix them yourself, but if you can't, get rid of them now and use this as an excuse to go shopping again. There will no doubt be serious bargains to be had at this time of the year.

5. Restock the liquor cabinet

You may have used up a lot of your mix and standby offerings like vodka, rum or scotch. It's always nice to have a few sweet after-dinner bottles as well, and they may also be close to empty.

6. Take care of your dinner party accessories

Polish the silver
and pack it away carefully. Check table linens for small holes before
washing them and putting them away. Don't bother putting them away if
they need to be mended. It's easier to take care of these things now,
rather than adding it to your to-do list when the next event comes
around.

7. Deal with your pictures

Download and edit your photos now. As you create a file, email them to people who were in the shots as a way of saying 'thank you for celebrating with me'. If you're going to hang on to all the shots yourself, pick up a few photo albums and frames for the selected few.

8. Send thank-you cards

Keeping on top of holiday notes can be tough when you're in the middle of planning, celebrating, and shopping. But now that things have slowed down, there's more time to draft short missives of gratitude. Do it - you'll feel good about it.