Hello, Christmas fans. We all know the secret to a stress free holiday is to plan early. That's why I start planning the minute the season is 'over'. I'l admit, part of it is selfish: I want to be able to tell people that I absolutely do not celebrate Christmas early--I just don't stop. I have a collection of short sleeve Christmas shirts so I can wear them all year long!
Jokes aside, especially if you don't want to waste time trying to find the perfect gift or worrying about budget or scrambling on your DIYs, you want to start early. I recommend for the budget, especially, to start putting a Christmas fund aside as soon as your tax return comes in. Commit to about 3-5% of your income to gifts and you'll be in fine shape for the holidays. When you think of something someone might like, add it to an Amazon wishlist. Adding it to a list will also show you price drops if you check it once a month or so.
Here's my calendar--and don't worry! I'll post reminders throughout the year so you don't forget. Feel free to alter my plan so it fits your family!
Mid January: make a list of people I know and divide them into tiers (I have a three tier system that determines the time/effort/money I put into your cards and present. Mor to come on that later). Also buy clearance cards, decorations, and stickers.
Jokes aside, especially if you don't want to waste time trying to find the perfect gift or worrying about budget or scrambling on your DIYs, you want to start early. I recommend for the budget, especially, to start putting a Christmas fund aside as soon as your tax return comes in. Commit to about 3-5% of your income to gifts and you'll be in fine shape for the holidays. When you think of something someone might like, add it to an Amazon wishlist. Adding it to a list will also show you price drops if you check it once a month or so.
Here's my calendar--and don't worry! I'll post reminders throughout the year so you don't forget. Feel free to alter my plan so it fits your family!
Mid January: make a list of people I know and divide them into tiers (I have a three tier system that determines the time/effort/money I put into your cards and present. Mor to come on that later). Also buy clearance cards, decorations, and stickers.
February: Go to hobby lobby and buy cardmaking supplies
Monthly until September: make 1-3 Christmas cards a week, enter notes in my master Christmas notebook and review tiers to see if they need to be updated. Christmas movies weekly for inspiration. Update how I felt about the movie in my Christmas movies notebook.
September through November: Make any light up cards needed, order and wrap gifts. Tree and decorations go up on black Friday. Explain over and again it's not possible for me to be early for Christmas because I never stopped.
First week of December: Christmas baking for tier 3s
Second week of December: card and present distribution at work
Christmas: yay!
Boxing day through mid January: Fight with my mentor over decorations at my desk until she hides them.
There you go! A very basic and definitely NOT all inclusive guide to Christmas. Now, if you think the day after New Year's is too early to think about Christmas, well...you're welcome to stay but this blog is pretty much Christmas all year round.
There you go! A very basic and definitely NOT all inclusive guide to Christmas. Now, if you think the day after New Year's is too early to think about Christmas, well...you're welcome to stay but this blog is pretty much Christmas all year round.
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