To NOT have done ANY Christmas shopping yet and I have 4 DCs??

[LastMinuteLouise]

I am starting to feel irrationally worried and don't know why!

The DCs always find the presents before Christmas so this year I have decided not to get anything until the 22nd (DH's last day off before the Day so I can go on my own). I will get the food then as well. I know what they want and they will get it together with stocking fillers. I also have my mum and dad and a few nieces and nephews to buy for. The DCs are not getting expensive presents this year as most of the stuff they got last year (i.e. £50 each Toy Story figures, laptop and mobile phone) has already been broken.

We don't have a lot of money to spend so I will have £450 (together with £70 in Tesco and Sainsbury's vouchers) which is what I have calculated we can spare this month and I can spend that on all of it in one go. Surely it is better to do it this way rather than spending weeks panicking about it and buying loads of stuff that is unnecessary and in the end spending way too much?

I am actually looking forward to a day of retail therapy to myself!!

I bought and packed my son a couple of weeks ago, after a retrival session from around the house- the downside to trying to be organised!!

Have just done my daughters stuff (cramming it in before she comes home from school at lunchtime) She has more than I thought!

I salute you braving last minute- I thought I had started late this year in September!
Im definately going back to picking up a few bits through the year- and keeping it in one place in a box next year!!

sniggers at foof shopping

ha ha see christmas already taken it's toll on me, can barely type - I'd be arrested in some kind of shopping rage incident if I had to go out now and do it all ..

I'd be a nervous wreck if I delayed too long, but then again a) DC's have confessed to collaborative pressie hunting over the years, and b) I invariably buy a fab pressie for someone in sept, hide it and promptly forget where!

Go for it though, you'll get some good bargains (perhaps ring ahead to get see if the shop will hold specific items for you?) and a fun, if hectic, shopping day!

Oh I'd never leave the foof shopping as late befuzzled. I'm very fussy about my foofs.

arf

I have 3 children , and I have done nothing towards Christmas...and I am not going till the 23rd!

Woman I know with a very large family - did all her Christmas shopping in one go. She went straight onto the Argos website reserved everything she wanted or found an alternative then sent her DH down in empty car to pick it all up.

Seemed a very stress free way to do it all.

Wouldn't work this late for food though as all the slots will have gone.

I finally went out this morning at 8am ........ I may have to venture out on Thursday.

Booked my shopping slot for food way back when, and filled it with champagne to ensure I kept it - am now going through what I need, but I am a bit crowd phobic so........or have the dc with me which makes me more crowd phobic

I wish I had the guts to do that. I did it all too early and spent too much (though I don't regret anything I've bought, it's all fab and I saved a lot on RRP).

I bet you'll get loads of nice stuff. But YANBU only if you come back and list what you've bought.

Figgyrolls that's the reason I don't have the guts to do last minute shopping - in my teens I had very severe agoraphobia/social anxiety etc... Barely left my bedroom in the worst phases. I'm ok now and can manage day to day (even with the DCs ) including in my public-facing job, but Xmas does test me to my limit because it is so crowded. I've been into town a few times just for the odd last minute gift etc but there's no way I could do all the shopping under that pressure.

I am determined to leave it a bit later next year, but still, I bloody love amazon and ebay :)

Oh god I can't imagine anything worse than leaving it all until the last week.

I am a bit of a Monica and like to be organised, so I've done all the shopping and wrapping and the food shop is booked for delivery on Thursday evening.

The pressies that FC will bring (i.e. from us) are hidden at the back of our built in wardrobe and luckily DDs aren't snoopers. We have pressies under the tree and have done for nearly a week now and the girls haven't touched them!

I am working until 1800 on Friday so leaving it until the last minute isn't really an option for me anyway.

I was in asda today and they had all their Lego sets at least half price they had Harry potter, ninjago, the aliens one and Lego city, the great big sets not the wee boxes. I was pleased! I also got half price power rangers and half price dressing up outfits. They had a lot of other stuff as well. Tesco also have a lot of toys half price. I wish I'd left more of mine until the last minute!

I went into town today but got there early and it was fab, by 11.30 when I had finished it was getting a bit scary but manageable - it seems quieter than usual though.