Getting ready to celebrate the New Year at the dacha: what's important to remember

Interesting ideas

New Year is a family holiday that dates back to childhood, bringing together several generations of the family, friends, acquaintances, and even colleagues around one table. To ensure a successful New Year's celebration, it's important to anticipate potential problems and take steps to address them. Furthermore, the White Rat, the patroness of the coming year, dislikes disorganized people, so pre-New Year's preparations can help you establish yourself as a diligent and responsible person.

Transport accessibility

Most summer residents visit their dachas during the summer, so the "winter hibernation" of a country cottage can catch them off guard. It's important to decide how you'll access the dacha. If you'll be using public transportation, you'll need to check the bus or minibus schedule for the New Year holidays. If everyone is arriving in their own cars, you need to be sure the road to the property is clear of snow and the alleys are cleared; otherwise, you'll have to leave your car far from your home or spend a whole day clearing the driveway.

Without visiting the dacha in advance, you can inquire about the road conditions from the chairman or the winter caretaker. Most often, if many families spend the winter in a dacha community, transportation accessibility is not an issue—the residents chip in to buy a tractor or grader to clear the snow. In garden associations with few year-round residents, the administration may hire equipment to clear the alleys on request before the New Year.

Heating

To avoid freezing in your summer house on New Year's Eve and during the holidays, you need to think about heating. If your summer house has an uninsulated roof, walls, and ceiling, and single-pane wooden windows, it will be difficult to heat even with a stove and electrical appliances. If your summer house is designed for winter visits, you'll need to bring and chop firewood well in advance of the holiday. the house is heated by a stove.

Please note!

Winter firewood is often damp and burns poorly, so it's best to bring several armfuls into the house and dry them by the stove.

If the power grid load allows for electrical appliances, you can take heaters to the dacha to be on the safe side. In any case, you can't rely entirely on electrical appliances, as a power outage can take a long time to restore power. Furthermore, during winter, dachas may not have power at all.

Products

A grocery list should be compiled in advance so you can shop and double-check your provisions while you're still in town. If the stove and oven at your dacha aren't convenient, you can prepare New Year's dishes in town, and only dress salads and reheat main courses in the countryside. To plan for emergencies, you should bring more than just food to your dacha:

Tablets for headaches, poisoning, hangovers.
Bandages, cotton wool, medical adhesive tape.
Clean drinking water.
Napkins and hand towels.
Toilet paper and personal hygiene products for women.

If the nearest store is far from your dacha, you should stock up on food to avoid running out of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, salads, or appetizers by the end of the holidays. You should also decide where to store the food if you don't have a refrigerator. In most regions of Russia and the CIS, New Year's Eve temperatures are below freezing, so food and prepared meals can be stored in a cool pantry, veranda, or cellar. It's important to seal food containers tightly to keep mice, rats, and stray animals out.

Jewelry and gifts

If you have a live Christmas tree at your dacha, you don't need to hang this symbol of the holiday indoors; instead, you can decorate it outside. Garlands, lights, window treatments, tinsel, and garland—all these festive paraphernalia should be brought from home so that your dacha is decorated for the New Year in the best traditions of celebrating the changing of the year.

Don't forget to bring gifts for your family and friends, too, to avoid any embarrassment when the chimes ring out—nothing to put under the tree. You can beautifully wrap your gifts at home so you have the necessary stationery on hand.