What can i do now to get ready for Christmas?

[Fibbke]

I hate Christmas. i always leave everything too late and it ends up being a stressful expensive nightmare.

I have four teens. Ive bought a few bits for their stockings. I'd love to get them done and finshed in the next couple of months. Anything else?

I buy stocking fillers.

One year my mum wrapped everything in October, but then my sister who was v young at the time found them and pulled off all the gift tags, so we had a fun time on Christmas Day trying to identify who the presents were for. Quite hard as she’d bought a lot of stuff that would have suited several different people.

I was going to say nothing just save, then i remembered that ive already bought 1 present for DS2 this week (playmobile that he desperately wants reduced from 52 euros to 35...)

This is a great time to have a good, clear-headed THINK before the stress, pressure and seasonal guilt take hold.

Jot down what you do, what it costs (nothing like totting it all up to get a dose of perspective) and then think about what you want (as against what you’ve maybe been steam rolled into) and where you can trim the excess.

There are good summer sales on and for anything that isn’t specifically seasonal, or a new release, I’d aim to buy it before September as prices go up after that.

If you can put a bit of thought into your budget, and your gift list now it makes it easier to spread the cost as you can pick things up when you spot a bargain.

After last Christmas I told myself (and have wrote it in my list so I don't forget!) that I need to have a good declutter in the house.

Didn't do it last year and was awful trying to incorporate all the new stuff from
Boxing Day to new year 🙄

So my plan between now and September (before my holiday) is to go through the DC's clothes and pyjamas and pass on/recycle anything that doesn't fit or is looking faded etc.

Will go through toys and take any they've outgrown to the charity shop or put on gumtree for a bargain for someone else.

@ChangesAt30 there are a couple of websites (I think one is called the Holiday Grand Plan) that give a week by week checklist for preparing each room in the house for Christmas. They are American based so you may find some items/terms are irrelevant to your home but taken as a "bigger picture" plan they can provide a structure for decluttering and preparing your house ready for the festive season.

Yes I always do a big declutter before Christmas, especially as ds has his birthday on 23rd December so that’s even more “stuff” we have to make room for.

You can buy tickets to the pantomime if you plan on going. They tend to sell fast. I start buying alcohol and store cupboard food September time so I only have to buy fresh and frozen a few days prior to Xmas day which meant to only spent about £70 on food for a week. Be weary of how much you purchase to stock up though! I ended up with way too much boxes of chocolates and crisps and crackers last year 🤦‍♀️ I might concentrate more on alcohol this year 😂 if you do xmas eve boxes you can buy the contents now and get it out of the way, same goes for stocking fillers. Also buy a christmas planner, I find an xmas planner super helpful so keep me organized so I dont forget things till last minute and get stressed.

I start making lists of what to buy everyone and menu ideas for the whole Xmas week so I can make sure I buy the ingredients. Meal planning/prep is a time saver all year round.

I also have £50 set up to come out of my account each month that I use purely for Xmas stuff. If I buy something on my card I just transfer the same amount from my Xmas account so when it comes to Xmas my ‘normal’ account hasn’t been touched (much!).

You could start writing cards now if that’s something you usually do if you have any leftover from last year?

I like buying stationery for presents too so look out for paperchase sales.

Agree with pp to start buying booze to put away.

I’m so excited for Xmas!!

I buy a small ( think £5 or £10) gift card every week when I do my normal food shop. Soon adds up and will start to spend them in the autumn as I start to see foodie and gifts

I feel guilty now for not enjoying it! I dont do new pjs or xmas hampers. I think its all the little non family gifts thst stress me, i am not a natural present buyer. Perhaps I'll just give nieces and nephews cash? I could do that now, write cards and stick cash inside. Boring though.

How old are your nieces and nephews? Mine aren't old enough to go to the cinema on their own so I buy them a whole family cinema voucher plus a small present like a book or a selection box to unwrap.

I save with Park each year - I know it's not the popular option on Mumsnet and I know I could just use a regular savings account but this works for me and I get vouchers to buy gifts with (I also have 4 children)
I have also been buying Abel and Cole vouchers every month to buy their Christmas Dinner meal box, a simple yet delicious Christmas dinner all bought and paid for and delivered to the door.
I have worked out what actually gets eaten and what doesn't and stopped buying all the excess that I used to get because I thought I should.

I scale gifts down a little each year and the kids haven't noticed. I use Christmas to get some good quality clothes for all of them plus one big ticket item and then a couple silly gifts and sweets.

This year we will be telling adults that's we're buying for kids only otherwise we end up swapping amazon vouchers with each other which seems silly (I'll still get each family unit a nice box of biscuits)

All teens now. Don't have any little children around this year at all.

I did my list out yesterday so I know what I’m getting for family & friends plus I had an idea to get tickets to wicked on the west end for myself & dd and tickets to an arsenal match for myself & ds so thosenwill be hit main gifts. . So far I’ve booked hotels for each of those trips.
Next week I’ll book wicked tickets & flights for each trip (we are in Ireland). Can’t book arsenal tickets yet as it’s too early (match is in March 2020).
I love having everything done early so that I can then enjoy Christmas. I hate being rushed.
Good idea to start decluttering.

I’m starting to save now as well. Might start buying the odd bottle of wine / Prosecco as well with the weekly shop, as we often give those out as presents and that gets expensive.

I give all nieces and nephews £10 )will become £5 if people don't stop having kids!) in a card taped to and a selection box and a stick a foil bow on it. You can buy selection boxes for less than £1 if you buy in bulk. It's not creative or personalised but it gets the job done when you have have lots to buy for.

Also I buy a case of wine/Prosecco from Aldi online to give out for gifts, buy a pack of wine bottle gift bags from £ land.

Buying a crate of wine is a good idea i just have to make sure i dont drink it!!

We cut right back about 4 years ago. DS is a December child and we aren't high earners. My Dsis and I agreed that now we have kids, we don't buy for adults. I make stuff for my parents (I'm a sewer).

With adult friends we meet up for a fancy meal, usually postponed until February when we've all received a paycheck that isn't going towards gifts/nights out/credit card bill.

We don't do anything like Christmas Eve boxes, December 1st boxes, Xmas bedding. Only DS has Xmas crockery which was gifted to him when he was a baby, which comes out for use when school breaks up.

We'll have brunch with in-laws (there's lots of them) between xmas-NY, we invite friends over for boxing Day lunch or we go to theirs. We're in Spain and St Stephens is big. And celebrations last until 6th January with Kings' Day, so we don't feel totally deflated by 27th and ready to box everything up.

There's no pantomime tradition here, so that's an expense saved. And DS us no longer interested in sitting on FC's knee, so no need for that faff either.

No ideas what to get him this year, probably Minecraft related stuff and a boardgame.

My family are in UK/Oz, so it's just the three of us. Da knows no different. We don't have massive shopping lists of stuff (gifts, food) to buy. Christmas is chilled out and blissful.

I love Christmas but hate planning 😂

I am just expected tondo everything. Dh has never bought a xmas present as long as ive known him.

I wish our Christmas' were a bit busier to be honest.

We buy for DC, MIL, my parents, my Dbro, SIL and nephew and that's it We live abroad so there's very little visiting to be done.

And we don't have a lot of friends (and hardy any that still live in the same city) so not a lot of drinks etc.

I would love to invite some friends round for Christmas drinks etc. but DH really hates that and none of our friends know each other.

So to get ready for Christmas I'd like to find some friends lol

@Fibbke my DH just gives me the money for DC and the food etc and thats about as much help as I get from him 😂 he even falls asleep on Christmas day old fart

Nothing wrong with giving teens cash. It’s absolutely the most perfect gift at that age! Don’t over complicate things for yourself

Personally, I hate shopping in December so I like to get as much bought as possible before then. I wrap as I buy, label clearly and keep it all in a box in the attic. I keep a meticulous list so once it goes in the box I don’t have to touch it again

I stock up systematically so that I only have to do one big fresh shop before Christmas. It means that December is a nice laid back, hygge month.

If you can afford it some treats for yourself can make all the difference between enjoying Christmas and feeling like a martyr. Things like cosy pyjamas, brushed cotton bedding, an advent calendar and a cheerful Christmas jumper that you can slunge about in while still looking like you made more effort than you did! Doesn’t have to be expensive - aldi and primark are great for this kind of thing.

The other thing I do is lay in a couple of bits for guests so I don’t have to brave the shops. Easy things like soup and rolls, mince pies and custard. It just removes another small stress so I can focus on staying cosy.