It’s 99 sleeps til Christmas! While it’s easy to think, ‘hey, it’s only September!,’ most of us can all flashback to a frantic Christmas Eve where all the presents aren’t yet wrapped, you still don’t have a gift for your siblings new partner, and the supermarket is all out of heavy cream. You’re just about ready to tell the kids that Santa got stuck in a blizzard.
But this sort of panic is easy to avoid if you get yourself organised – the main thing here is to PLAN! So, set aside an afternoon this weekend with a calendar or an excel spreadsheet, and make sure you’ve considered the following…
- Create a Christmas calendar
If you think this year has gone fast, well the next 14 weeks are going to go even quicker! One of the best ways to make sure that you are on top of all your preparations for the Christmas and the holiday season is to create a calendar of all the activities and tasks you need to attend to over coming weeks. You can do this in your online calendar or by simply writing it down in your planner or wall calendar. We recommend you first schedule all the fixed dates, the ones you know already, that can’t be changed like the kid’s school break up or Carols by Candlelight events that you love to attend. Then write in the key tasks like, putting up your tree, ordering any special food like hams and turkeys, wrapping your gifts etc. so you have an idea of when you are going to take care of these bigger tasks. After than you can slot in the smaller tasks and tie up all the loose ends. Having a calendar for all Christmas task and activities will really help you get on top of things early.
- Budget
It’s very easy to go wild with the credit card at Christmas time, so carefully planning of your spending is essential.
Consider everything you’d like to do this Christmas season, and budget for them individually. Be realistic about costings, and add a 10% contingency to each item. Prioritise these, so that if you can see money will be a bit tight, you know which to cull. Some things to consider include –
- Hosting Christmas events, particularly the costs of food
- A decor budget
- Gift (see below for tips on how to plan this)
- Travelling? Think realistically about tickets and accommodation, and cheaper alternatives to these.
- Consider the extras – do you have a birthday in the middle of the festive season? Do you normally donate to a specific charity? Will you need to fund a pet hotel or house sitter if you’re travelling to visit family? It’s better to consider all of these options now than be surprised with hidden costs last minute.
- Write a list of the names of people you’d like to give gifts to
This is a great thing to do well in advance, so that you can keep an eye out for deals throughout the year. Write down a list of everyone that you’d like to get gifts – consider family, friends, neighbours, colleagues, children’s teachers, and so on, perhaps put them in a spreadsheet so you can edit easily. Now decide on a budget for each person in the list. In the next column, you can write down a few notes for each person about what they like, or what’s going on in their life this year.
Keep your eyes peeled for presents for them throughout the year. Check out sales or think about where you’re travelling this year.
Once you have their present, you can highlight it a different colour, and adjust the budget accordingly, to ensure that you’re not overspending. Keep checking the list to make sure you know what you’re looking for.
- Make your own gifts
One of the benefits of being organised ahead of time is that less stress means more creativity. Homemade gifts are not only personal, they can really help you save money! Why not make a Christmas hamper ? Add a handmade card and you’ll be known as a Christmas angel.
It’s a great way to learn how to make soaps and candles, or hand knitted wares. Our personal favourite is filling tasteful jars with tasty treats – why not add to the hamper cookies, peppermint bark, homemade relish or jam, hot chocolate mix and tea? Yummy!
Sneak trick: get the children involved with these creative projects. By enlisting help, if the cookies don’t turn out quite as perfect as hoped, you can shirk the responsibility onto your littlest elves and it’ll be considered endearing 😉
- Share the load/love
Another benefit of planning ahead is it allows you to share the load, by giving plenty of notice, everyone can get organised.
A great idea for larger extended family get togethers is to map out shared responsibilities.
Start by creating a menu that can easily be share. Depending on how many people are gathering, determine who will bring what. You could perhaps break it up by salads, desserts, mains, sides, entrees, etc. Each family is responsible for one part of the meals.
Similarly, rotate who hosts Christmas at their home. This way, you’re sharing the travel between homes, as well as both the joy and responsibility that comes with hosting a festive soiree.
These 5 tips on how to get organised early are designed to help you enjoy this amazing time of the year and ensure that you can really get into the true spirit of Christmas!