Festive Uses for Plastic Buckets
December 20, 2013 at 4:59 PM
As it’s the season of goodwill, here at H&O we thought we would provide you with some innovative and interesting ideas for using your plastic buckets. Elsewhere, of course, we have reported on transforming your plastic bucket into a Christmas tree stand, and we are pleased to say we have implemented that very plan is our own home - a bright yellow bucket, in our case. Not only does this hold the tree (named Terry, by one of the children) perfectly still and stable, it also perfectly contains a reservoir of water in the bottom, to keep feeding the tree and preventing needle drop. Red tissue paper around the outside instantly gives it that festive feel.
Elsewhere around the house here are some other ideas:
Present wrapping
This can be especially chaotic in our home, with four children under one roof, and an uncle who has decided to Amazon his gifts straight to our house (“you can wrap them, can’t you?” he asks, as if life isn’t busy enough). Well, we may well be able to manage just that…. if we are planned. Clear a space in the dining room, and arrange everything you need in separate buckets – the wrapping paper in a larger one, the Sellotape and scissors in another, smaller one. This way you will have a system: you will have everything to hand, and you stand the best chance of avoiding the embarrassment of last year, when you wrapped yourself up like an Egyptian mummy.
Warming things up… and (more importantly!) keeping things cool
Principally here we are thinking of the two key ingredients for the perfect Christmas – grog and grub. If you need to defrost the turkey, fill an appropriately-sized bucket with tepid water (as heard on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show!), and weigh the bird down, perhaps even floating it upside down to make sure it is fully under the water.
Then, when that job is done, fill the bucket with ice and use it to keep the lagers cool!
Opening presents
Christmas morning in our living room can resemble the very worst scenes from Apocalypse Now. “The horror. The horror.” However, with a decent sized bucket in the room, you stand at least some chance of tidying away the wrapping paper as you go, keeping at least some of the carpet visible. Then, once the Queen’s Speech is over, the sprouts have been consumed and the kids are looking mischievous… the bucket doubles up perfectly for party games. Use the wrapping paper already in the bucket for a fab family game of lucky dip!
Sewing
Come Boxing Day, the kids will have already put holes in their new socks, and Dad may well need his new jumper letting out (present from Aunty Mabel… every blummin’ year). Each year, Dad says, it seems these jumpers just seem to get tighter and tighter. Er hm. Whether nan has been good enough to help with the mending, or else you have Christmas crafts to fill the void of your holidays, smaller buckets can be perfect to organise yourself. Use different containers for tapes, threads, pins and needles and all will be easily to hand, so you can actually get on with the job, rather than spending the time looking for everything. That way, even nan will have time for a sherry before comparing herself to “Gangster Granny” (6.05pm, BBC1)!
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