Archives for Parties and Celebrations

Thanksgiving buffet

I’m heading to my parent’s house for Thanksgiving this year. It has been a few years since I spent the holiday at my parents’ place, so I’m looking forward to it.

Our Thanksgiving dinners are usually served in a buffet style. This makes the whole process run smoothly and keeps the table free of serving dishes. The table is set with utensils and glasses, but the plates and food are stationed at the the buffet. It is an efficient way to serve your guests, especially if you are hosting a larger party. 

Martha Stewart has some helpful tips on setting up a Thanksgiving buffet. Some of the tips:

2. Position the buffet table away from the wall, so that guests have access from all sides. 

6. Lay out food in a logical order: entrees before side dishes.

7. Save space for food by displaying low arrangements.

If you’re having a party of six or more this year, a Thanksgiving buffet may be something to consider for your meal.

Posted by Matt on Nov 17, 2008 | 24 Comments | Tweet This

Notebook portable grill

Design Within Reach has started carrying an 18-inch grill that folds flat when not in use. At $70, the Notebook Portable Grill seems like a small-space dweller’s ideal outdoor stove. I haven’t tested the product, but it appears to be sturdy and straight forward in its design. From the product description:

Freeing the barbeque from the backyard, the Notebook Portable Grill (2005) folds up into a slender, nine-pound notebook-shape with a carrying handle. Included are two chrome-plated grill surfaces that sit at different heights within the frame (and can be folded into the grill when it’s shut for carrying). Measuring only 1.25″ thick when folded, this little grill goes from patio to park to poolside and can pack into a backpack for camping trips or beach visits.

Has anyone tried this cute, little grill? For the price, it looks like a decent solution if you like to grill outdoors, but live in a small space.

Posted by Erin on Jul 8, 2008 | 12 Comments | Tweet This

Wedding clutter

While going through boxes in our basement prior to our move, we found a bunch of stuff we felt compelled to save from our wedding back in 1999. I don’t know why, but we kept napkins, cookie bags, candles, champagne glasses, greeting cards, wedding programs, the cake knife, a guest book pen, a wedding favor, a wedding planning book, and a cake topper. It was all in a giant box we had forgotten we still had. Had the entire box gone missing in the last nine years, we wouldn’t have lost any sleep.

These items played an insignificant role in our wedding day, and even less of a role in our basement. So why did we feel the need to hold onto them for almost nine years? We couldn’t come to any sort of logical reason, so we took photographs of it and got rid of it. None of it made it to our new home.

My wife still has her wedding dress and veil, and they did make the cut. They’re currently residing in our daughter’s closet. I’m trying to persuade my wife to trash her dress, but she is holding out hope that our daughter will eventually wear the dress. Maybe she will, but I think it might become a dress-up gown first.

Rather than holding onto anything and everything that has to do with your wedding day, pick and choose what you keep wisely. If you choose to keep things, limit the keepsakes to a small box that can only hold a few items. Or, if you’re ready to part with all of it, photograph your wedding mementos and make space in your home for your life together now.

Posted by Matt on Jul 8, 2008 | 55 Comments | Tweet This | Tags: ,

Creating a multi-tasking wedding registry for your kitchen

Reader Kirsten recently e-mailed saying that she is getting married and is wondering what she should put on her registry:

My fiance and I just moved into a two bed, two bath condo and basically have nothing in terms of home items. We have a wedding registry at a couple of the typical stores (Crate and Barrel, Macy’s, etc.) and I would like your advice on how to build an Uncluttered Wedding Registry. There are a lot of items “they” at the stores suggest for a registry that are true unitaskers (e.g. salad spinners). What items would you definitely put on your wedding registry and what items would you definitely leave off?

Kirsten, this is a HUGE topic, so I want to just look at the subtopic of the kitchen right now. You’ve said that you don’t have a lot of home items, which makes setting up a registry a good plan for you.

I would keep two things in mind when heading to the stores: 1. The employees at the store want you to have people buy, Buy, BUY!! gifts and don’t care a whole lot about helping you get your home in order, and 2. Your goal is to set up your kitchen in the way that you and your spouse will use it.

Simply put, if you don’t eat salads or a lot of vegetables, the salad spinner the sales rep at the store is promoting probably isn’t for you. To help you decide the items that you should put on your list, I recommend getting your hands on a copy of Alton Brown’s book Gear For Your Kitchen. You can go through the book, learn about the items he reviews, and make decisions as to if they’re good matches for your kitchen. I recommend Alton Brown because he has a hatred for unitaskers, similar to ours.

Speaking of unitaskers, you also might benefit from reading this article from the Chow blog called “Common appliances, uncommon uses.” It’s a great piece to get you thinking about ways to be creative with the appliances you have in your kitchen. Oh, how I love when unitaskers can become multi-taskers! I feel much better about owning my ice cream maker after reading this article.

Good luck, Kirsten! Keep us posted on how the registry turns out for you. Also, I know that Kirsten would love to hear additional ideas about a kitchen registry in the comments — so please offer up your advice in the comments section.

Posted by Erin on Jun 9, 2008 | 29 Comments | Tweet This

Ten tips for planning a simple wedding

My husband and I tied the knot in Washington, D.C., just weeks after the 2001 attacks. Many of our guests canceled because they were afraid to travel, and a few of our vendors even lowered their rates because we didn’t back out of our reservations. As a result, we were able to throw a much more extravagant celebration than what we had initially planned. And, honestly, we needed a big party. There were tanks on the streets, people rarely went outside, and everyone was afraid. We were all longing for a celebration focused on life, love, family, and friendship.

I mention this back story because I felt it would be hypocritical not to. I’m about to dispense advice for how to plan a simple wedding when ours wasn’t. Most of the advice listed below we followed (1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 10), but not all of it. I loved our wedding day and don’t regret the choices we made at that time, but if we were getting married now, we would certainly do some things differently. For starters, I would ditch my 12′ veil and the heavy, wet, velvet rose, flower-ball bouquet nightmare our flower girl carried.

Ten tips for planning a simple wedding:

  1. Set your budget with money that you already have in a bank account. No one, under any circumstance, should go into debt for a wedding. If you only have $500 to spend on a wedding, then plan a $500 wedding. If your parents are paying for the wedding and say that they have $5,000 for your wedding, then plan a $5,000 wedding. Best case scenario, spend less than you have budgeted.
  2. When choosing bridesmaids dresses, remember that the dresses will only be worn the day of the wedding. (No matter how many times a bride tries to convince her bridesmaids otherwise.) Asking your bridesmaids to spend hundreds of dollars on a dress and matching shoes might not be the best way to treat your friends. Consider letting them choose their own dresses, or buy them matching floor length skirts and ask them to buy coordinating tops in any style they want.
  3. When hiring a photographer, work with someone who will shoot your wedding digitally. You won’t have to pay for printing proofs.
  4. When choosing groomsmen tuxedos, consider letting them wear their own if they have them instead of forcing them to rent.
  5. Be sure to ask your wedding venue their policy on flowers and musicians. Many churches require that you leave altar flowers after your ceremony and pay for their staff musicians even if you don’t use them. We coordinated with the other couples who were getting married on the same day at our venue and the three of us split the costs of two large arrangements that worked with all of our flowers.
  6. Be willing to think outside the box. You and your future spouse are unique individuals and your wedding should reflect that. Just because everyone else has their wedding a certain way, doesn’t mean that you have to. Be sure to manage guest expectations, however. If you’re getting married on the side of a mountain in ski gear, your guests won’t appreciate it if you forget to provide this information. No one likes to ride a ski lift in a dress.
  7. Consider having flowers that are locally grown and in season — you’ll save a lot of money if they don’t have to be flown in from the tropics.
  8. Remember that your marriage is what is most important, not your wedding day. Keeping this in perspective will save you time and stress when it comes to making decisions about minute details.
  9. If you choose to have party favors, consider something edible or consumable.
  10. Keep in mind that even if your cake is destroyed or your friends start a fight or your organist doesn’t show up and everyone has to sing a cappella that at the end of the day, you’re still married.

The points I’ve made barely cover the tip of the iceberg on the topic of planning a simple wedding. I’d like to open up the comments to everyone to share your tips on how to plan a simple celebration!

Posted by Erin on Apr 2, 2008 | 77 Comments | Tweet This

Free pass to return or re-gift presents

Gift giving is an art. Some people have an amazing talent at picking out the perfect something. I, however, am not blessed with such a skill. Every now and again I’ll hit one out of the park, but those occasions are rare. I think that it’s my disdain for crowded shopping centers that fuels my ineptitude.

Regardless of the reason, my gifts are often received with a strange facial expression and the question, “What is it?” I’ll never forget the gift I got for my sister-in-law that drew the response, “This is such an interesting … uh … watering can?” It was a purse.

When I give a gift, I want the gift to be exactly what the recipient wants. I want it to be loved. I also want the gift to not end up as clutter or to cause stress. To avoid giving the imperfect gift or to cause stress, I’ve decided to follow David Seah’s suggestion in his post “Print Your Own ‘Re-Gift Receipts’” and create my own re-gift receipts to accompany my future gifts.

I’m not going to write mine up exactly like he has, but the principle is the same: a guilt-free return policy. It seems to be such a nice way to let people know that you will in no way be offended if they decide to return your gift.

Be sure to check out Seah’s template at the bottom of the post to save yourself time creating your re-gift receipts.

Posted by Erin on Jan 23, 2008 | 11 Comments | Tweet This

Reader suggestion: Cleaning ornaments

This is a little late for this year’s holidays, but I didn’t want to wait until next year to post it. Maybe the procrastinators can use it this year, and the rest of us will mentally store it away for the next 11 months. Thank you to reader Kerry for passing this along:

When I take the ornaments off the tree, I hang them on my wooden drying rack which is placed over a towel. Then, I use compressed air to clean the ornaments so they are ready for next year!

Great idea, Kerry!

Posted by Erin on Jan 15, 2008 | 9 Comments | Tweet This

Making your resolutions a reality

On either the last day of 2007 or the first day of 2008, many of us created lists of resolutions for the new year. If you’re like me, getting organized appeared in some fashion on this list. My specific resolution was to get my laundry mess under control.

Generating the resolution and committing it to paper or a hard drive is a terrific way to start the process. Unfortunately, though, the resolution won’t become a reality unless more work is done. (Wouldn’t it be great if just writing it down was really all it took?!)

If you don’t set a course of action and stick to it, then your resolution will be nothing more than words on paper. I want to walk through my process attack, which is loosely based on David Allen’s Getting Things Done method, to help you see how lofty goals can easily become experienced reality.

  1. Commit your resolution to writing. It doesn’t matter if you write your resolution on an index card, in a Moleskine notebook, or on a web page like 43 Things. Formulating your idea into concrete words helps you define your purpose and gets you started on your path to change.
  2. Reflect on your resolution and identify your motivation for change and where you see yourself once the resolution is complete. If you can’t see where you’re headed or why you want to get there, your resolution is pretty much destined for failure. There is no need to establish any other form of reward system, because you’ll see yourself succeeding! In my case, I need to imagine the calm I will have from not having piles of laundry cluttering up the floor of my laundry room.
  3. Brainstorm methods for completing your resolution. Even if the ideas seem ridiculous, write them down anyway. What are all of the ways that you could possibly reach your goal? What steps could you take? What is currently standing in your way? What resources could you obtain to help you get what you want? Empty all of your thoughts on the matter onto a piece of paper.
  4. Evaluate your brainstormed ideas and create what Allen calls “keys” to organization. “Identify the significant pieces. Sort by (one or more): components, sequences, priorities. Detail to the required degree.” This is the stage where you create your plan.
  5. Once your plan is set, make decisions as to the exact steps you will follow to achieve your goal. Without these concrete steps, you won’t know how to move forward. For my laundry resolution, my exact steps involve a lot of removing current barriers to success. (Buy light bulbs on Saturday morning at the grocery store to replace burned out bulbs in the laundry room.) If you’ve never written an exact step, or what Allen names “next actions,” you may want to read the entry on this topic on Merlin Mann’s 43 Folders GTDwiki here.
  6. Start!

Good luck to everyone with their organization resolutions! Feel welcome to tell us about your process for success in the comments section to this post.

Posted by Erin on Jan 11, 2008 | 7 Comments | Tweet This | Tags: ,

Happy New Year!

All of us at Unclutterer would like to wish you a great 2008! Happy New Year!

Posted by Erin on Jan 1, 2008 | 3 Comments | Tweet This

Celebrate!

Like a good chunk of the western world, Unclutterer’s offices are closed today. We wish everyone who celebrates Christmas a merry one, and the rest of you we wish a joyful day off from work! We’ll return tomorrow to share more Uncluttering insights.

Posted by Erin on Dec 25, 2007 | Comments Off | Tweet This

What to do with holiday cards? Recycle!

Two of our readers provided creative suggestions for how to recycle holiday cards in the comments section of Matt’s Holiday gifts: Out with the old in with the new post. Not wanting to have them lost in the shuffle, I wanted to pull them out to everyone’s attention.

From Jan:

I recycle my Christmas cards. They arrive in the mail, I read them, I cut the writing off the back, I turn them into a Christmas post card with a friend’s address, stamp and short message and repost immediatly.

From Kate:

Once the holidays are over, I “massacre” [cards] into gift tags for next year using a pair of pinking shears.

Great ideas!

Posted by Erin on Dec 15, 2007 | 20 Comments | Tweet This | Tags: ,

Holiday giving to others beyond your close family and friends

During the holidays, I would love to give something to everyone in my book club, my knitting guild, my neighborhood, my co-workers, etc.–but that just isn’t a possibility. See, I do not have bank accounts overflowing with cash like Warren Buffet or Bill Gates, so I can’t always give as much as I would like to give. When it comes to giving gifts beyond my close family and friends, I’ve discovered many ways to give that continue the generous spirit:

  • Baked goods. Easy to make, inexpensive, fun, consumable.
  • Secret Santa. Group members draw names and then buy gifts for only the person whose name has been drawn.
  • Homemade, useful, themed gifts. Book club members get homemade bookmarks, co-workers get homemade velcro cord ties to curb cable clutter, etc.
  • Group charity. Instead of everyone bringing gifts for each other, the group sponsors a needy family or gives a needed item to a local charity.

The list of ideas is seemingly endless. I’m identifying these ideas just to get your creative juices flowing. You’ll notice that I don’t suggest “white elephant” type gift exchanges because often they produce unwanted clutter. If you don’t want the singing, plastic, wall-mounted fish, it’s pretty likely your friends or co-workers don’t want it either.

Please feel welcome to post additional ideas in the comments!

Posted by Erin on Dec 13, 2007 | 16 Comments | Tweet This | Tags: ,

Holiday gifts: Out with the old in with the new

You will undoubtedly receive some gifts this holiday season that you really don’t want, but for the gifts that you do want make sure you get rid of the old items in your home that they replace. If you receive a new pair of jeans, get rid of an old pair. A new coffee maker? Get rid of the old one that hasn’t made a good pot of coffee since the ’90s.

Try and make the holiday season a zero sum gain in the accumulation of stuff. It is also a good idea to remove old toys from your child’s collection when the inevitable influx of new toys that come into the house.

This advice won’t apply to all gifts, such as one of a kind gifts and consumables. However, for clothing and toys, it is an easy way to get rid of old items that have been replaced.

Posted by Matt on Dec 10, 2007 | 10 Comments | Tweet This | Tags: , ,

Reader suggestion: Reduce holiday clutter and rent your Christmas tree

Reader Sillahee, in the comments to Uncluttered Holiday Decorations, tipped us off to an amazing holiday rent-a-tree program in Portland, Oregon, that we wanted to bring to everyone’s attention. From MSNBC:

“The trees are taken out of the ground, roots and all, put into pots, and delivered to families in the Portland area. Soon after New Year’s, Fogel [founder of The Original Living Christmas Tree Company] and his crew pick up the trees and deliver them to parks, school districts and other groups who pay around $10 to have the trees planted on their property.”

This is such a terrific idea! I was disheartened to read in the article about the program that this is the only known rent-a-tree company in the United States. If you’re an entrepreneur living outside of Portland, this is a definite niche that you could fill. No clutter. No mess. Good for the environment.

Thank you, Sillahee, for sharing the link!

Posted by Erin on Dec 7, 2007 | 9 Comments | Tweet This | Tags: , , ,

Reader suggestion: Weeding out unused holiday decorations

Reader John sent us the following tip:

Every year, when we get out all of our Christmas decor, there are always some items that don’t get put out, and just stay in the boxes. Last year, we realized that if it’s not worth setting out, it’s not worth storing either, so it got pitched or donated. This year, we did the same as we decorated.

A terrific idea, John! Thank you for sharing it with us.

Posted by Erin on Dec 5, 2007 | 18 Comments | Tweet This | Tags: ,

Uncluttered holiday decorations

If you decorate your home with holiday decorations, you probably have everything up already. But, if the decorating bug hasn’t yet hit, and you’d like to try and decorate without cluttering up your home, try to choose decorations that do not have to be stored away for eleven months of the year. Here are a few things to consider:

Buy real: Instead of buying an artificial wreath, tree, or garland, go for the real thing. When the holidays are over you can dispose of them instead of using up storage space. Conifers can be easily added to your compost pile.

Poinsettias: This traditional holiday plant can brighten up any room and needs zero storage space after the holidays.

Go easy on the knick-knacks: Don’t make the holidays an excuse to litter your home with dancing snowmen or a sassy Santa Claus. The holidays do not make it alright to clutter every inch of clear space. Instead, play holiday music when guests come into your home to set the mood.

Handmade: If you have children, take time to create some homemade edibles. Spending time with you children and creating something together is a good idea any time of year.

To achieve a comfortable balance during the holidays, try and keep your decorating to a minimum. If you do decorate to the fullest extent, you may spend most of your holiday season worrying about your decorations and how you will store them the rest of the year, and not enough time celebrating with loved ones.

Posted by Matt on Nov 28, 2007 | 35 Comments | Tweet This | Tags: , ,

Thanksgiving wishes

The Unclutterer staff would like to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving! On our lists of what we’re thankful for this year is you, our Unclutterer readers. We’ll return tomorrow, stuffed, with our regular postings.

Posted by Erin on Nov 22, 2007 | Comments Off | Tweet This

Wrap Wars: A New Hope

For a little while now I’ve had a note to myself to write a post on gift wrap clutter. Now I see that Erin has written an exhaustive entry with every solution imaginable. As these things tend to do, it sparked quite a bit of debate in the comments section.

So, being the resident insane minimalist, I thought I’d share a passage about wrapping paper from our good friend Peter Walsh’s book, It’s All Too Much,

There is a simple and elegant way to manage the wrapping of gifts. Remember this principle: More is not necessarily better! Purchase a roll of good quality brown paper and high quality ribbons of three colors–black, red, and white. Wrap all your gifts in this simple brown paper and decorate with any selection of the ribbons. Brown paper too dull for you? Use the same approach selecting your “signature” color.

Now, keep in mind this is advice from a guy clearly on the anti-wrapping side. “I am at a loss to understand when wrapping paper became such a national obsession,” he writes. For those of you who really love wrapping paper, brown paper won’t do. But it’s great for those of us who are always looking for the shortest distance between two points.

Posted by Jerry on Oct 20, 2007 | 42 Comments | Tweet This

Organizing gift wrapping supplies

Tubes of gift wrap are cumbersome and always find a way to cause a mess. If you don’t already have a designated storage system for your gift wrap, then you may want to consider putting one together or purchasing a pre-made system.

I use the Gift Wrap Organizer (pictured), which has served me well over the years. I hang it in my office closet and only pull it out when I use it. I purchased tape and scissors specifically to be stored with the gift wrap so that everything is in one spot when I need it.

I keep five tubes of wrapping paper in the storage sleeves: One roll of heavy, plain white (for wedding and anniversary gifts), two rolls of holiday paper (one with a snowman print and the other a solid gold), a conservative stripe (for father’s day and male birthdays), and a neutral with polka dots (for mother’s day, female birthdays, and baby showers). If I had children, I would probably have a sixth tube of printed, youthful paper. In the front pockets I have stored bows, ribbons, and clear scotch tape. The side pocket holds a pair of scissors. The top back pocket holds white, cream, pink, and blue tissue paper. Finally, the bottom back pocket holds 10 gift bags in varying sizes (most of these are recycled from gifts people gave to me).

I found other pre-made systems that look like they could work well, too:

Keep gift wrap from causing a mess in your home with a self-made or purchased organization system specifically designed for this purpose.

Posted by Erin on Oct 9, 2007 | 47 Comments | Tweet This

Birthday cards and reminder systems

I love my birthday. Honestly, it’s more of a birth-week celebration to me than an actual day. I schedule pomp and circumstance, and gather groups of people together. Knowing this about me, you would be surprised to learn that I am horrible about remembering other people’s birthdays. I have a friend I have known for more than 30 years and all I can recall is that her birthday is sometime in September. Sep. 15? Sep. 21? Your guess is as good as mine.

To solve my birthday forgetfulness issue, I opened a Plaxo account and requested that my friends update their contact and birthday information through it. There are a number of services out there similar to Plaxo (like Birthday Alarm), and all notify you of upcoming birthdays by sending you reminder e-mails. I chose Plaxo because it integrates easily with my computer’s address book program. With help from an online service, you’ll never be left apologizing for your disorganization.

In addition to a birthday reminder system, I also purchased a card organizer. At the start of the year, I print out a birthday list from Plaxo, buy cards for all of my family and friends in a single trip to the card store, and organize the cards in my organizer. I also purchase other types of cards for the year while on my trip to the store. Here is a list of what I usually buy:

  • Birthday cards for family and friends on my Plaxo list
  • Five extra birthday cards with one specific to a young child
  • Five blank interior, thinking-of-you cards
  • Three sympathy cards
  • Five baby cards appropriate for showers and arrivals
  • Five wedding cards appropriate for showers and wedding day
  • Three anniversary cards
  • Three get well cards
  • Two graduation cards
  • Five non-specific congratulations cards
  • Three boxes of 10-count thank you cards

Your needs are likely different than mine, so if you’re interested in setting up a similar system be sure to make necessary adjustments. You also might consider giving a fully stocked organizer to a home-bound family member as a birthday or holiday present.

These organization systems prevent me from having to run to the store at the last minute, and I don’t have to worry about forgetting anyone’s special day. If your cards are disorganized, this or a similar system might be for you.

Posted by Erin on Aug 29, 2007 | 40 Comments | Tweet This