If you are super organised about Christmas, what do you do to be super organised.

[unlikelychump]

I'm super organised about a lot of things,but not normally Christmas, as for many reasons I don't really like it. But I have decided to embrace it this year. So far on my list I have got

• set a budget and plan what to get people, rather than run around wildly
• wrap gifts nicely
• get Xmas boxes out late November
• write a list of people to send cards to
• plan Xmas activities
• make a plan for my birthday which is the week before Xmas.
• write a plan (!)
• plan for the cooking (I'm ok at this bit tbh)

What else should I do?

Book a shopping slot right now and plan on when I’m also going to go shopping as I buy the fresh stuff myself.
Plan a day where I’ll be getting the last bits and wrapping stuff (I have young children so this helps give me time)
Give some tasks to DH - alcohol, buying a tree, his family’s presents are also his to buy
I’m trying to be more organised this year with the presents for people like the childminder and school as those are the ones I often forget
I try to be done with presents and wrapping at least a week before Christmas then focus on the food side

Oh, I just do the same thing every year so it's not stressful.

I... order the food after Bonfire Night, I make the cake on Stir Up Sunday, I go to the carol service at the church whenever it's on, I get an advent calendar on December 1, I buy presents and send cards on the 12th of December, I attend the nativity at the school when directed, I listen to the 9 Lessons on the radio while I put the tree up and prep food etc on Christmas Eve, then go to Midnight Mass, I do presents and turkey with my family on Christmas Day, on Boxing Day we go for a walk, I visit wider family between 27 and 30 December, I celebrate New Years with friends, I have quiet time for a few days, and then I celebrate 12th Night with friends and regift/finish all the stuff, and take down the tree, to be all cleared by Epiphany.

I like the tradition of it. The ritual feels meaningful. It's always the same so I don't need to organise or negotiate anything - and I don't buy loads of presents, which is probably the main thing people get overwhelmed with. I do not intensively celebrate Christmas for the whole month of December so I'm not bored of it by the day.

Over the 12 days, I cook two or three large roasts for +8 people: a turkey, a ham, and a beef, usually, but you see, this is also always the same. They are not complicated meals. The only labour is peeling the veg, really. It's fine!

Book my grocery delivery well in advance (already booked for this year). If there are specific ingredients I’ll need that may be out of stock close to Christmas I buy as soon as they are in the shops (eg buy cranberries and freeze)

Either book the meat with the main grocery delivery or separately. Book a cheese order from local deli.

When kids were small, letters to Santa were written early & no changes allowed! Ideally I have all my presents bought by a week before Christmas

I have kept a Christmas journal since 2005. Refer to it every year, even put 'Turkey in Turkey out' times.
Make a note of what foods I bought from where, what was a success, what wasn't, who had early bargains, the menus, what I bought in sales post Christmas like wrapping paper and gift bags/new lights etc. and what I need for the next year.
I'm not an organised woman so this is my Christmas bible!

This is great. I do most of the things mentioned but only at the last minute when they occur to me. I am going to mark up the calendar with things like - write Xmas lists, buy tree etc. I never remember school gifts until the last minute.

I like it!

I buy the majority of my Christmas food in October (check the dates !) things like crisps, cookies, nice biscuit selections, pickles, boxes of chocolates , Xmas cake, mince pies etc etc so that I don’t need to book a specific Xmas grocery order as can just do a couple of small regular ones.

I do a deep clean of the house on 1 November and 1 December. All the wrapping is done in November.

I have lots of lists. My late mother-in-law who I was very fond of asked me one year if I'd got my clipboard out yet. But as PP have said the lists go from year to year. The only Christmas dinner decision is what dessert to buy and how much of everything depending on who is coming.

My list of lists is
Activities - anything we need to book or coordinate with friends & family.
Cleaning & household top up shop. I like to overbuy in November to reduce the mental load in December.
School expectations list. Fortunately reduced for us now, but a nightmare during the primary years.
Put a day aside for decorating
Drink
Food to buy.
Cards - sadly this list gets shorter each year.
Food to make
Presents - ideas / bought / wrapped / delivered.
Films/TV to watch. That one's a hangover from the days when I used to video the blockbusters that were shown for the first time on TV over Christmas.

I'm a full time teacher working 60 hours a week and am also in the middle of a divorce so I've been super organised this year. Set a budget in September and started asking family what they would like then. Ordered everything online over the next few weeks and wrapped it all yesterday. Tomorrow I'm seeing family so will offload all presents and cards onto them. All shopping and wrapping is finished. Ex now shops for his family. Christmas food I will buy nearer the time but we never go overboard. Keeping it simple is key.

I plan everything in advance, and write lots of lists. I like to have everything for cards and presents done by the end of November so December is free to enjoy events, decorating, going out, hosting etc.
i have a notebook with Christmas card list in and I keep it in a box with the cards and address book, and buy stamps early in October, I have bought cards in the sales last year so I will start writing them soon, and stick stamps on so they are ready to go early December. I like to have the cards done by end of October (I do still send quite a lot, big family, friends and family overseas and older generation family friends).

I have lists of ideas for presents and stocking fillers and I buy things when I see them, eg stocking fillers in b and m or in supermarkets. I don’t but plastic tat just useful items for the teens like toothbrushes, skincare and makeup, fave sweets.
I wrap as I go along so if I have been shopping and I have a few things to wrap, I wrap them up as I go and write the item on the list or tick it off.
I write the name of the person on the back of the present as I don’t put tags and ribbons on until nearer to giving it out as I don’t like them getting squashed.

i buy easy presents like ones for teachers, hairdresser etc early and then are ticked off and done. The kids have a deadline of end October for their lists as they know I do their shopping in November. So pretty much all presents will be bought and wrapped by end of November. Also plan outfits for events and parties in advance, and do menus with other half for what we are hosting. Send DH out to do all the food shopping with a list as he enjoys it.

then in December I am free to do baking and food shopping and do the fun events. Doing everything in advance spreads it all out financially and means there are no last minutes stresses and purchases. But the thing is, I really love Christmas and hosting parties and family on the day so I enjoy it to be honest 🫣

Make sure I know where my highlighter pen is ready for when the Christmas Radio Times arrives😃

I might spend a couple of hours in about a fortnight with DH planning what we need to buy present wise. Most online, might need one afternoon at shops. He'll wrap as and when then arrive. Never done a marathon session.

Fruit for pudding needs to start soaking a week before Stir-Up Sunday so I can pudding on S-US so I need to make sure I've bought it.

DH will order a turkey at some point and then do one other big shop nearer the time. We did it when I was in labour one year which wasn't ideal but it was fine.

That's about it. We have DD's birthday too (product of aforementioned Christmas food shop in labour) but have booked a light trail for her and some friends so that's done.

I book a day off work usually 1st Dec or as close as I can get and I do a load of cooking prep for the freezer.

I've also started a Christmas book with all recipes / quantities / plans etc so I don't have to start from scratch every year. Write a note to myself about what worked and what didn't.

Use Santas Bag app (free) for gift planning it's really helpful.

Scale it all back as much as possible! We only do secret Santa for adults in both mine and DH family so that's just 2 people to buy for which used to be 8!

Bulk buy Costa vouchers and Aldi fancy biscuits for all teachers / helpers etc.

I set calendar reminders to book panto / father Xmas / light trails in September so I can mentally get rid of those early and whilst there's good availability.

I have everything stored in lists on a Trello Board which I reuse every year.

The best way to make Christmas easier is to ruthlessly scale back. So try to cut something out every year. Especially pointless presents.

Good example - for years we’ve had an expensive best quality turkey from the local butcher. Needed to go and queue to get it v near the day. During Covid there were fears about turkeys running out. So we swapped to the best Sainsbury frozen one that I can buy early. Cooked it (as always) the Nigella way, breast down for most of the time. NOBODY noticed the difference.

Lists.
Lots of lists.
All kept in a red 4 ring folder.

I try (but fail) to do Rudolf days. On the 25th of each month, do something Xmas related such as write down some pressie inspiration, what worked or didn’t last year, order Xmas cards, sew a personalized stocking for a new family member etc.

I also have a timeline. Again, frequently failed but at least it gives me something to aim for. Order Xmas cards in September, buy stamps in November, write cards on 1st December. Decorate first weekend in December. Tree down on New Year’s Day.

All the Xmas recipes are kept together. The menu is the same every year which makes things easy. I also have a timetable for the big Christmas meal working backwards from when I want to serve all the way to remembering to take the turkey out to defrost.

Have a very short list of people to send cards to, all elderly relatives. Spreadsheet with addresses, always have a supply of stamps in the bookshelf at home. Tend to have cards left over from previous year otherwise buy in October or November (as soon as I see them in the shops). Always write and post on 1st December.

I just have a cupboard with gifts, cards, gift bags bought through the year. I bought a very nice bag for my son’s GF half price for £75 months ago. I stopped wrapping presents years ago. Christmas food is just bought it’s very similar every year isn’t it. We go to Christmas light show type things , few stately homes round here do them and a carol service or two. The city is around 5 miles away so we visit the German Christmas market, have dinner out and celebrate MIL birthday as very close to Christmas. I do not find any of it a bother.

@AnnaDelvorkina we also have a spreadsheet, we have a lot of relatives overseas on both sides of the family so we do still send quite a few. Our American relatives send the photograph cards.

Oh I just don't make a big deal out of it 😆

I buy a bird in late November and stick it into the freezer. Shops have never been emptied of the seasonal veg or potatoes, so I leave them until the last minute. These days I tend to buy pudding rather than faff around with making it. There'll be a trip to the German supermarkets at some point for Christmassy sweets, but again, they don't tend to run out unless you try shopping on Christmas Eve.

I have a set budget of around £100 per child for gifts and follow the 1 thing they want, need, wear, read rule. It might be boring to others, but they get plenty of presents off relatives, and seeing as my side of the family are dead and I'm divorced from the other side, my list of who else to buy for is extremely small.

Decorations are reused every year, though we do buy a new ornament or two for the tree every year, with the idea that the children will have their own set collections by the time they're leaving home (they don't know that part and just choose one every year). I buy a tree early in December, care for it properly and it lasts until NYE, but we also have a plastic tree for the kids to decorate as they see fit.

We don't do December boxes/ Christmas Eve boxes or huge events like meet Father Christmas. We may go ice skating, but that's easy enough to book where I am. We will see the Christmas train coming round, go Christmas light spotting, bake and craft, have a refillable Advent calendar each, which gets stocked in late November. We're fairly traditional and chilled. The kids love every bit of it, even the adult teen.