01 Sept.

[SummerLovingHadMeABlast]

I have given myself the deadline of 01 Sept. I cannot buy any Christmas presents until then. It is killing me as I have already seen some things I like.

Who's with me?

I plan on doing this year differently, but I am still mega excited about Christmas. That is mostly because I have whipped my DC into a Christmas frenzy every year and they love it, even though they are now teens. I also plan on being a bit ruthless as well though. No more fancy presents for adults who give no shits about my family and I am concentrating on the small people in the family. I am also dead set against hosting this year.

I will do what I usually do and have one lovely day shopping, including lunch, and possible meet up with a friend in Sept, one in Oct, and one in Nov with the view to having it all sorted by then, but a final dash in Dec, just in case .

As summer comes to an end, I am looking forward to Autumn and Winter and Christmas in the distance.

This is just perfect. We are definitely cutting back on the well thought out fancy gifts for people who don't bother about our family. This year with Covid and everything that's gone on has shown alot of people who make the effort to stay in touch and show they care as opposed to those who only bother when they want something.

I am really looking forward to the darker cosier evenings and getting the autumn winter wardrobes ready again. We had Home Alone on the other day at DD6s request and I'm starting to make lists for what is needed decoration wise and gift wise too. As soon as September 1st hits I get even more excited!!

We will just have a nice quiet day ourselves again, last year was a revelation not dropping off or collecting family or holding things off because people were running late and we just played games, went for a walk, watched movies and had a chilled out enjoyable day as opposed to the chaos and carnage of hosting and pressure to visit.

Yay this sounds perfect! I try and leave it a bit later too as I inevitably buy things early and then keep seeing things to buy the same people so I always go over budget. But I do keep a list throughout the year of everyone to buy for so whenever I think of something I write it down. If the list gets too long it can spill over to birthdays and also reminds me what I got people last year too.

I do love Xmas shopping tho. I usually put money into a specific present account every month which builds up nicely by October and do the same as you OP and book a day off to get everything done which includes lunch and coffee/cake breaks. Then I use another day off in dec to wrap everything while watching Xmas films and drinking baileys

I don’t necessarily spend loads on each person but I do try and put thought into each present to make sure it’s something the recipient would want. Someone once told me that people tend to buy presents that they themselves like which really got me thinking so I try and make sure I’m not just buying stuff I love!