How to involve your kids in Christmas tree cleanup

Steven's BRILLIANT tips for getting whole family involved in Christmas tree takedown:

My kids are almost teenagers now but we have a few family traditions that help when it is time to take down the decorations.

The first is the “Hidden Santa.” During the holiday season I bought about half a dozen, foil-wrapped, chocolate Santa Claus candies and hung them on the tree when the kids weren’t around. I did my best to hide these among the other ornaments on the tree so that they blended in well. They are a treat for the kids when the time comes to put away the ornaments. The kids end up scouring the tree looking for every last one. No candy may be eaten until all of the ornaments are off the tree.

Speaking of ornaments, each child has his own heavy-duty plastic storage box for ornaments. They are responsible for packing them up. Of course I double-check before storing the boxes in the attic, but this cuts down on a lot of “where is it?” arguments. This also leads to the last item, the tree topper.

Each year we take turns putting the Angel on the tree. In the past we sometimes forgot who did it last, resulting in an argument. Now, when taking down the tree, the person who put it on top gives it to the next person in line and they store it in their ornament box for next year.

Related: A bunch of Christmas tree hacks!