Argh my procrastination makes Christmas shopping a nightmare

[Chaotic45]

Anyone else?

I find it so hard to make a decision as to what to buy.

When finally make a decision I still then dither about which version of the 'thing' to buy.

It makes the whole thing so difficult and stressful.

Does anyone else struggle like this?

Yep, that’s me! I can’t decide whether doing it in advance (less pressure but more time to dither) or at the last minute (deadline can be helpful but panic tends to loom) is the better way...

Crikey you sound like my husband , consequently I do 99% of the shopping , he then dithers and quibbles about what I’m giving people on his side of the family , I tell him he’s massively overthinking things and they get what I decide .

I'm really bad for this too! I thought shopping earlier would make it less stressful but it just gives me more time to dither over everything or worry that I'm missing out on a better present/ deal! Arghh

This is VERY common. It’s the side effect of too much choice. Literally overwhelming.
Frankly I don’t think shopping early helps very much. It drags the stress into 3 months rather than just 1. It’s also easy to over buy or forget what you have already bought. Or in my case one dreadful Christmas, forget to buy it at all
I’ve found that an Amazon Wishlist is invaluable for those gifts out of your comfort zone - teen tech for example.
Also when buying generic gifts make them nicer versions of normal stuff ( bath stuff or candles) so it looks like a proper gift and everything else make them as quirky and cheap as possible so it looks like you put thought in.

I'm glad I'm not alone.

I also agree that if I start early o tend to take longer as I still have the luxury of time. I'm aware that I have been dithering for around 5 weeks over most of it, and need to make some decisions. I had a go last night, started around 10pm and decided to call it a day at 2.30am .

Thanks for the tips @Thewinterofdiscontent. I have seen that tip to upgrade to really lovely versions of things on mumsnet before and it makes a lot of sense. The only thing is that I then dither at how 'special' and 'luxury' to go as I need to try not to go overboard spending wise.

I sometimes think that people won’t actually recognise a good brand.

I remember being given an expensive Neom candle many years ago before they were “ a thing” and the giver being at great pains to tell me how expensive it was. Disappointingly, it didn’t smell that great. So I do think the brand needs to be relatively popular. I still prefer the smell of Next New York candles that I got last year.

That's interesting, and food for thought.