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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

Learnings/reminders for 2021

38 replies

Mallowmarshmallow · 26/12/2020 18:31

I always make a list on my phone about now for things to remember for next year. Here's my first few thoughts so far:

My kids LOVE paperchains and making paper snowflakes (and the baker Ross type crafts which we need to stock up on next year)

They're not bothered about any of the stocking fillers and really just want the things they've asked for from Father Christmas so I should save myself and not waste time thinking/worrying/adding to those bits

If they have jelly tots in their stockings all the sugar will end up in our bed

I have plenty of wrapping paper, cards and name tags for next year and don't need to buy any more

OP posts:
nocutsnobuttsnococonuts · 28/12/2020 01:00

@bikingbear the many boxes of chocolates were from shared out gifts. We have over 50 families and they were very generous this year! And I had individual gifts too. I feel very lucky, just need to sort some out and put away in individual bags for movie nights or as puddings. Its too tempting in the kitchen for us to pick at!!

slithytoveisascientist · 28/12/2020 10:23

beauty advent for dd
fewer puddings
less chocolate for dc
paper bags for stockings but get the larger size
get tree down in november
mccain’s frozen goose fat roasties are
amazing
no books for ds
wind up toys for racing went down brilliantly
more toys in stockings
take photos of presents, wrap as i buy and chuck the packaging
no slime for dd
get a food warmer
i have enough wrapping paper

PhantomErik · 28/12/2020 11:32

Have a gift list app or memo on my phone.

Buy wrapping paper asap & start wrapping as I buy.

Stocking were perfect this year, lots of small but not necessarily cheap gifts with small special chocolates mixed in like mini lindt teddy bears, kinder egg, malteaser reindeer etc not wrapped. Stockings cost around £40 each but were brilliant. After opening them we had breakfast before opening tree presents. Then staggered opening presents from other people a few at a time.

Do Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve next year. I was too tired & not hungry enough to enjoy it. We prepped it early so less cooking etc but it wasn't worth the effort. We'll have pizza in the lounge next year!

Don't buy craft sets for my DC as other people bought loads (I had this on my list last year & should have stuck to it.)

Christmas decorations were lovely this year including our new tradition of building Christmas lego sets & displaying them. Now have the gingerbread house, nutcracker & father Christmas. I'm hoping to pick up a Christmas tree set during next year to add to our collection.

I would like a train for round the base of the Christmas tree next year.

Marsis · 28/12/2020 13:53

I thought I posted yesterday but these are mine:

Buy less for my DC and give up on trying to get others to. Let go of feeling they need ‘enough’ from us.

Wrap as I go!

Don’t buy biscuits or chocolate for the house. We get given plenty.

Save Amazon packing and use for wrapping with nice ribbon or string.

Thinking about smaller stockings or maybe a more practically sized sack. They stocking fillers wouldn’t be missed if they weren’t there.

ElfieElfington · 28/12/2020 15:33

Don't buy panettone without checking if it's coated in chocolate, you can't toast it, very annoying. Also buy a smaller panettone.

Don't buy so much food, particularly don't bother with a Christmas pudding it never gets eaten, ditto nuts.

If I do fill your own crackers again (big hit with individually chosen gifts) I need to think about the contents much sooner.

CoffeeChocolateWine · 29/12/2020 19:01

Wrap and label as I buy.
12 is the maximum number of little gifts for stockings - any more won’t fit so stop buying!
Get some things to make the table look prettier
Christmas with just the 5 of us is perfect and the kids think so too. It will never be ‘too quiet’ or ‘a bit dull’ without other people around.
Christmas baking with kids is no longer a disaster. They love it and so do I so do more!

AlexaPlayWhiteNoise · 29/12/2020 19:16

No pressure on DS1 to open everything in one go first thing. We just let him open ad he felt inclined and it was so much nicer and less stressful.

Buy a sparkly jumper for Christmas day and put some make up on. I actually like the photos because I look slightly put together for once.

CoffeeChocolateWine · 29/12/2020 21:14

One other:
DH and I will both be happier if we choose our own presents and say they are from each other. I’m damned if I’m putting time and effort into thinking of something I think he’ll like and value only to be told bluntly that he doesn’t.

RoomAtTheEndOfTheWorld · 30/12/2020 17:11

I complied a list of 'Christmas lessons learnt' last year as it was quite stressful for a number of reasons, and I swore never again and to be more prepared this year.
My key takings from last year were:

Which Christmas activities we missed out on because I left it too late to book a slot, which activities we did do and were worth doing again this year (Mostly not relevant as almost everything we wanted to do was cancelled!)

Book a Tesco home delivery slot for pre Christmas and in between Christmas/New year as I missed out on those last year

Do not leave any wrapped presents under the tree as the dog will rip them open, even if they are not food related!

Book a day off work in December just to wrap gifts. Most definitely do not leave wrapping of DS's presents until Christmas eve!

Tracklements Christmas Chutney is amazing, but hard to find in shops - buy a couple as soon as you see them! (Sadly couldn't get hold of any this year Sad)

Do not buy DS anywhere near as much stuff - presents from us and Santa coupled with gifts from big families on both mine and DH's side meant there were over 40 new things brought in the house!

I took all of this on board this year (obviously many things not relevant due to Covid) and it was the easiest most stress free Christmas I've had in years!

I still added plenty more learnings from this year too, so hopefully Christmas 2021 will be even easier! This years key points were:

Don't buy any wrapping paper again (Birthday or Christmas) just use brown parcel paper and paper tape, make homemade gift tags and wrap with twine. They look lovely and can be customised for the recipient, and far more eco friendly too.

I already have a standing order each month into a Christmas savings pot, so the cost of presents is basically taken care of, but need to increase this to allow for the 7 birthdays in Dec/early Jan where a few people get 2 gifts!

Buy all gifts on one credit card and pay off with the Christmas savings pot, this year I was purchasing on various debit/credit cards and constantly moving money around and paying different cards off!

Started buying gifts slowly in September, had almost all of them purchased and wrapped by early December which felt a huge weight off my shoulders!

Buy several of DH's favourite Christmas chocs as soon as you see them! Managed to get one box for his birthday in early November which he scoffed within a week thinking I'd get us more to enjoy over Christmas but never saw them again after that!

Ditto Christmas Jumpers/PJs for DS - just buy as soon as they hit the shops (even if that is September/October) as you can never get them closer to the time!

DH made ahead and froze gravy, red cabbage, carrot & swede mash for main dinner, which saved loads of time (and hob space!) and nothing tasted any different, so definitely do this again.

Made a list of any foods we really enjoyed and to look for again next year, and any that were horrible and not to buy again.

Finally, just go with one present each for Nieces/Nephews/friends kids from their wish lists. Usually I set a budget then try and buy as many things from their list for that amount, but I've realised this is not a good thing. DS ended up with loads of little bits this year, and the volume of new things is overwhelming for him, and also for me - so I don't want to inflict that on friends and relatives too, when we all have quite big families who are buying too.

Sorry that was the worlds longest post! I've added more ideas from this thread to my list too for 2021 Xmas Smile

mumontherun14 · 30/12/2020 18:00

Also to add in case anyone would find it helpful...
The Christmas Bargains threads on here weee great I got a few gems in October & was more on the ball with a list for Amazon for Black Friday & got some good ideas. I just found these threads this year but will definitely be following again next year
TOMM (the organised mum) does a Christmas countdown it’s fab for keeping on track for the 12 weeks before. I’ve done it for a few yrs now & will do again next year. Her aim is all to be bought wrapped & cards posted for 1st Dec so we can actually enjoy December rather than being a crazy panic xxx

Pansypath · 31/12/2020 01:10

That is brilliantly helpful @RoomAtTheEndOfTheWorld

Lellyo · 31/12/2020 08:12

Fab post @RoomAtTheEndOfTheWorld

JinglesWish · 31/12/2020 19:31

Happy with how this Christmas worked out. Started present shopping end of July and finished by end October, which was lovely and stress-free.

We ordered most of our Christmas Day food from Cook, so just needed to pop in oven (no prep) on the day. Delicious.

Bought kids’ Christmas bedding and pyjamas as soon as they were in the shops in early September.

Made sure that the stocking fillers weren’t wasteful (e.g. a couple of plastic tat things and the rest good toys, socks, pants, kinetic sand etc).

Things to do better!! Wrap before 23rd/24th Dec. No idea why I left it so late!! Buy matching family pyjamas in September (couldn’t get all sizes by November).

Another thing to remember is buy something when I see it in store and then return it if I change my mind later. I left behind some lovely Christmas sacks with our initials on them at B&M and then couldn’t get the ones I needed whenever I looked.

It was also nice only having MIL here for part of the day. Doubt we’ll get another just us Christmas!!

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