1. Setting Dates

With just coming out of lockdown, last Christmas was such a blur trying to fit lots of things in and connect with people that we hadn’t connected with in a while. For this year, there are some new traditions we wanted to add – for example I’d really like to try Christmas Wreath making!

Last year me and my friends were so busy we didn’t even get a Christmas night out – so thats all booked in the diary and I have a few buffet idea and kids activites planned for the kids coming round too.

Another date I’ve added in my diary is black friday – I save a wishlist and do most of my shopping in the black friday sale, because this means people get more for their budget

2. Writing Lists

So far I’ve got;

• A list of cards I need to write – we only send them to parents, siblings and a few other people… but at least I know how many to order already!
• A shopping list for food – we’re hoping to host dinner this year if the home improvement plans stay on track, and I already know what our menu will be… every family has their traditions so most people could write this on any day of the year. If you were really organised you could probably already book your slot with the larger supermarkets… I like to shop small at Christmas so this is not for me but I know lots of people who shop at the larger supermarkets to make life easy.
• A shopping list for some traditions like stockings – we always buy scratchcards so they’re on there, peoples favourite toiletries or chocolates etc.
• A gift list – usually we buy for the same small group of people
• A to do list… I’ve started this is excel with dates and I’ll print it off closer to the time and add to it in pen. Things like buy cards, donate to homeless (we do this instead of sending cards to wider family), order final eggs and veg shopping… all things you need to do on dates closer to the time.

3. Start your Savings pot

Now that we know who we’re buying for and what we’re likely to spend, we’ve already started popping money to one side for Christmas. This helps to spread the cost throughout the year!

4. Homemade gifts and Christmas crafts

Some of my family like to receipe home made gifts like chutneys jams and pickles, so I’ve already bookmarked a weekend in November to make those so they’re ready to eat by Christmas. I’ve written a food shop for the ingrediants I’m likely to need and I have my recipies printed and folder inside my Christmas planner.

As you’ve already saw, I wanted to add to our marvel decorations and there’s really nothing out there which doesn’t cost the earth so I like to get inventive. I’ll take a warm sunny day to site outside and paint those so they’re ready to hang on the tree but there are other Christmas crafts I’d like to do too. One thing I want to try this year is making my own Christmas crackers. This means I can add personal touches (which I love!) and avoid the junk you usually get inside. I’ve already got the poppers, the cardboard sleaves and the paper hats… I just need to decide what I’m putting in them.

For some Christmas crafts, I like to make a start shopping for those in the sales after Christmas and its quite exciting when we pull the Christmas decs out of the loft and I find things I bought the year before.

5. Start a folder on your phone gallery

I already have a folder in my phone gallery with ideas for food, crafts, decorations, gifts and I’ll add to it throughout the year.

To Wrap Up

Excuse the pun! Given that we’re only in May… that’s as far as I’ve got with my Christmas planning! It feels so good to have made a start on the things I would usually do in September, so now I can enjoy our belated honeymoon and give the building site my full attention because at the back of my mind I know we’re already organised!