I need to start to organise Christmas.. Please help!

[mootime]

So, I LOVE Christmas. But for me half of the joy is doing it all in December. Last year I also did an advent activity calendar for DS where he opened a box everyday and it had a different Christmas activity in for us to do.
This year I am having a c - section in the last week of November. Even if all goes well I am not going to be able to run around doing everything in December. I have a ds aged 3.5 and a dd aged 20 months. However I feel so overwhelmed by everything I need to sort out before the baby I have no idea where to even start with Christmas organising. Also it feels so odd to be starting to think about it now!

Please help.

[raisah]

Order everything online now so it arrives in plenty of time.

Write a list & delegate as much as you can.

Unless somebody is cooking for you do not host xmas dinner. If possible book into a restaurant/cavery and eat out but it also depends on how well behaved your kids are in public! It might be more stressful so buy pre prepared stuff you can heat up.

Hire a cleaner for the week before & after Xmas.

Print out easy recipe cards, weigh out & bag up ingredients so all that needed is milk/eggs/butter for Xmas baking.

Instead of individual presents for extended family, how about a family hamper to save the hassle of choosing individual gifts. Buy cheap baskets from poundland & fill up with goodies such as chocs, coffee etc on offer. M&s have got good offers on now.

Alternatively, sign up to costco & buy catering/multipacks of food & drinks to divide up for hampers & to use for yourself. It is much cheaper esp. Loo rolls etc. They do deliver and you will find good deals for other things as well.

[raisah]

Start cooking double portions of meals & freezing the spare portions.

Keep your plans simple, do nice things for your kids but don't over complicate things.

Lots if dvds, craft projects, pop corn to string for the tree to keep them occupied while you are feeding baby.

Can you ask friend/relation to take dc out to a garden centre to choose tree/decorations/see lights & Santa.

Can someone take them to see a panto or a trip to museum as they often have Xmas activities just to give you a break.

[mootime]

Wow! You guys are good at this!
I've actually just started by booking to visit Father Christmas on my birthday just before Christmas as DH will be off and all being well I'll be over 3 weeks post op.
I just asked my mum if they'd like to come up, and she said that her and my sister had been talking and were going to ask if they could bring Christmas to us! Dsis works for M&S so they can bring up the main food. Brilliant!
I love the idea of stringing pop corn etc. I should def start making lists and start ordering presents ( not just for the dc either!). I'm really looking forward to a snugly December getting ready for Christmas! It's just so different to the manic running around kind of Christmas that I'm used to!

Great idea about a cleaner. Also about starting with food now. I will also book an ocado christmas delivery slot as soon as they become available.

Please keep the ideas coming.

[mootime]

And I think every family is going to get a hamper!

[raisah]

If you have decided on hampers then the cheapest way to do it is to buy tge stuff from a wholesaler like costco or jjwholesale.

www.costco.co.uk/

costco has membership options for the public now.

www.jjfoodservice.com/
you dont need to be a member for jjwholesale, you just order & pay online and collect at your allocated time slot or choose the delivery option. I bought 6 multipack of Dowe Egberts coffee for £9.99 to go in my hampers 2 years ago. You cant match that price in a supermarket BOGOF offer.