Best Christmas Tips - all in one place

[Kirst26]

I thought we could have a tips thread where we could share tips relating to Christmas budget, planning, food, household things etc all in one place that help remove stress and hassle!

Mine would be:

• Parboil the potatoes a day or 2 before Christmas and then keep them uncovered in the fridge, they develop a starchy crust that roasts up beautifully
• Stock up on bin bags, toilet roll, ibuprofen, ketchup etc before December, its an expensive enough month without having to get too many basics in as well
• Sign up for newsletters for places like Clinton Cards and you usually get 10% off your first order
• Start buying things like peanuts etc before the Christmas stuff hits the shops, it'll be cheaper if they aren't in Christmas packaging
• If you start buying non-perishable food early make sure to have a list where it can easily be ticked off so you don't end up duplicating things
• Plan the Christmas dinner out as soon as you know the weight of your turkey with resting time factored in - you'll soon notice if that would mean getting up at 4am and would be able to move eating time to later on in the day with no fuss. I have a full timetable typed up that I just amend the time I need to start putting things in depending on the turkey size - keeps me calm :)
• Check how long the meat will need to defrost as it always takes way longer than I think it will
• if gifting choccies etc, best tell the recipient not to keep it next to the fire/radiator

If anyone has any other top tips please share them here!

Write a budget and stick to it. I often suffer from last minute buying urges and remembering the budget makes it easier to resist

Start buying gifts as soon as possible. I intend to begin the process on my next pay period.

Make a note of each gift bought and where you placed it. I have spent too many Christmas Eves frantically trying to remember exactly where I hid that perfect gift

Budget for down time each December. I often get so caught up in shopping and festivities that I don’t make time to just enjoy the season. I try to spend time listening to music and having coffee by the tree. ( it seems early morning is the best time for me)

Great idea. It's our first Christmas with the little one this year and so I feel Christmasses will be a lot different then they used to be - this will be a thread I will need to follow!

Download an app like 'Gift List'. You can put ideas in for different people and then link them (that way if you can't buy them now, you can order ASAP via the link) and you can tick off when you buy them.

As my dad has always done and I will from now on. A few months before Christmas budget an extra £10-£20 in your weekly shopping bill. One week you get lots of nuts, Christmas choc tins etc. The following week you get a bottle of gin for example. That way you have your Christmas goodies purchased without having blown all the £££ in one go.

Really good tips here! Not environmentally friendly but I admit to using disposable roasting trays for Christmas dinner. The thought of washing up something the turkey has been sat in for a few hours is enough to push me over the edge...

Ensure you have plenty of easy and simple meal options for the days in between when you want something simple.

I have several gneices/nephew to buy for. When they were younger I kept a chart with what I'd bought, how much and what it was wrapped in. This so I could balance spending across all of them and also on a year to year basis. It also means I don't duplicate gifts from year to year.
I tended to revisit this chart as Christmas approached so I could adapt to extra little things I might have bought.

For Christmas lunch I tend to prepare and par cook veg the day before, or even earlier if freezing. On the day, microwave what you can - sprouts, cabbage etc. Swede and carrot cook, mash and freeze - it's then ready to put in the oven for a while to heat through. Shredded sprouts cooked for a minute or two in the microwave, then toss with crumbled crispy bacon - wonderful

You can freeze parboiled peeled potatoes, then roast as usuaI. I do mine a few weeks in advance, before the chaos of Christmas starts.

Love this! My best tip is to budget throughout the year. I usually put £50-100 a month away into an old savings account then come September when I’m starting to buy presents and stuff, whatever I buy I transfer the cost from my ‘Xmas’ account so it doesn’t impact my normal spending. I use it to pay for all presents and Xmas lunches/drinks/nights out and it usually means my normal wage goes untouched (which is handy as we get paid early in dec so have to make it last till the end of Jan which is a struggle!).

I’m also a big fan of lists so I have a rolling list throughout the year for present ideas for the people I buy for. If they happen to mention that they like something in July for example it goes on the list (helps to remember what I’ve bought for birthdays too). Anything I buy I colour code green so if I have a few ideas it can go to the next year.

Buy cards and wrapping paper in the sales after Xmas to put away for the following year.

Agree with a pp to spend time enjoying it! I always book a day off to do all my wrapping, watch Xmas films and drink baileys once I’ve bought everything. Love getting it all done early to enjoy the rest of the build up!

Speaking of wrapping presents, get one of those sellotape dispensers that fit on the back of your fingers - makes it so much easier! And write the labels before you start so once something is wrapped you can stick the label straight on.

Wear my Xmas pyjamas/jumpers/socks etc throughout December (ok, from September for me ) instead of saving them for Xmas itself - once Xmas day is over I find it hard to get in the Xmas mood so like to make the most of it beforehand!

I buy cards and wrapping paper in the sales the previous January!
I put money for Christmas aside into Premium Bonds
I buy stocking fillers if I see something good from about September
YY to Christmas jumpers and socks from the start of December
Both dc have autumn birthdays. When they were little and had big birthday parties, I would sometimes save presents for stockings if they had loads.
About 10 years ago, we made a family rule of presents for children only. Obvs partners and parents csn do what they want for their partners and children, but we don’t do loads of gifts for every brother in law and cousin that we never see
Tree goes up 3 weekends before Christmas, and we watch each of the Nativity movies a weekend each before Christmas. Now there’s 4, we watch that in the holidays…. I’m not starting Christmas any sooner!
I start adding a bit of non perishable food to the weekly shop after October half term. Otherwise it just gets eaten at Halloween/Guy Fawkes/Half term.

DH and I do all the wrapping at once, whilst watching Sports Personality OTY. We have been known to use pillowcases !

I got so inspired by this thread that I bought my first two 🎁!

My husband reminded me that shipping was very slow last year due to COVID. I anxiously waited for two big gifts to arrive in the days before Christmas.

Remind myself that the idea of Chritmas Shopping , wandering about and buying interesting little trinkets , is a lovely Victorian Gentlewoman Fantasy .
Rea Life :
Shops are busy , you cannot get past people to check the things on the aisle
Constantly watching my handbag to keep it safe , then when I do get to the till and retrieve my well hidden purse to hear people "tutting"
After visiting three shops my hands are full so if I want to go to the next shop I either have to wrangle the bags or take things back to the car remove reciepts from the bags . Someone will try and poach my parking space (nope)

Easier to do it online but I love the idea of shopping

So book a day off , take DH , he will happily carry bags .Bribe him with lunch .

Make a list of what I Don't Need

Christmas cake . Doesn't get eaten
Christmas Pudding . Still got last years
Fairy Cakes -no-one eats them. chocolate chip cookies go down well . And Cinnamon Buns .
Christmas Magazines - I will only buy 2 this year , they're pretty much the same every year .
Book an evening out - theatre , show
Find a spooky film for Christmas Eve
Don't imagine I'll spend two hours bathing and having a face pack on Christmas Eve . Brush my teeth and if I'm lucky some face cream

When I buy something take a photo on my phone

I store gift bags from each year. In 2020, I had such a big collection that I didn’t need to wrap any
presents.

Get a tape dispenser for wrapping, it makes things so much easier.

I'm trying to be more environmentally friendly this year so have bought lots of brown paper, plus some festive stamps to jazz up the wrapping. You can now get biodegradable tape and I cut pictures out of Christmas cards each year to turn into the next year's present labels.

Buy presents from July onwards and keep a list of gift ideas somewhere then add notes of what you've bought. I aim to have all my presents bought and wrapped by the start of December so I can just relax.

Make ahead what you can for Christmas dinner. I make up pigs in blankets, braised red cabbage and stuffing balls weeks in advance and freeze them so there's less prep on Christmas Eve/Day.

When I make the stuffing balls, I take sausages out of their skin and squash a packet of sage and onion stuffing mix (made up with half the water stated on the packet) into the meat. Roll into balls and flash freeze. Always make double the mixture and use the second half of sausage/stuffing mix to make sausage rolls.... I just use ready made puff pastry then freeze those too.

I'll post again when I've thought of some more and will be following with interest!

Top tip for new parents -
When your child starts doing stockings, hang them downstairs, or anywhere other than in their bedroom, so you don't have to wait for them to fall asleep on Christmas Eve to fill them. You could get really organised and get two identical stockings, one to hang and one that you can fill at your leisure in advance and just swap over on the night.

Put things you fancy into your online shopping basket but don't check out. You'll often get an email reminding you to check out with a discount voucher. Or put things in your Amazon basket and keep an eye on the price changes as amazon tells you when basket items change price 😊

Buy a little bit every month.

i loove this thread.

I have 3 young DC and as the older 2 get old enough to "get" Christmas it gas become more apparent each year that I need to up my game.

Although last year I have did way better at planning, budgeting and gift buying, I am still pretty lackadaisical about timings so I was still wrapping all presents late on Christmas eve and I still spent a large portion of the day in the kitchen.

What I've been doing to plan is:

• I have a dual Christmas planning strategy - I have a word doc to write down ideas, plan menues etc then I have a spreadsheet to keep track of all actual decided things. I also have columns on the spreadsheet that denote where the item is from, whether it has been delivered, and who it is for, so I can keep track of deliveries and keep sight of who has what
• I'm making a list of housework and decorating jobs that I would like done and getting them done over the course of December, making sure they are all done by the 20th at the latest.
• I have cooked everything from scratch each Christmas dinner so far but I have worked out what I am happy to make the day before and what I'm not, so I can do much more prep in the lead up days this time
• I'm organising dedicated present wrapping days so I can get everything wrapped well before Christmas eve and I have figured out the perfect place to store presents

That's all I can think of so far but will also be going through the thread and adding useful stuff into my plan :)

Pare down the buying list: we buy for our DC, niece, nephew, 2 godchildren of DH's and that's it. We don't buy for each other, pointless.

Therefore wrapping is a doddle. DC's gifts are wrapped in fabric and ribbon, and fabric drawstring bags, I have made many in different sizes and shapes. I made initials out of air drying clay one year, a whole heap, so they're attached to the ribbon as they're wrapped. Takes about 30minutes tops!

Christmas cake is made at the end of September. As are Christmas cards (I'm an artist), so when October hits and we get really busy, I don't have to worry about making and then posting them (we're abroad, things get posted December 1st).

We don't do a traditional British Christmas lunch, so I'm no help there.

We don't try and cram in every Christmas thing going: panto, visiting FC, Xmas market, nativity play, watching the town lights go on etc. We'll do one or two things, but not all of them, too exhausting.

RACKing is also something we do: Random Acts of Christmas Kindness. You can choose anything you want, take your DC's lead.

Even when we did do big Christmases, I found just jotting down stuff in a notebook was organisation enough.

I would suggest, however, having a separate purse (or make up bag, whatever) to keep receipts in for things that could be faulty, duplicates etc. I use it religiously and it's so handy to have things in one place.

...BATTERIES! You can never have too many batteries!

Make the most of your store cards ie.

Tesco club card gets you money off toys food gifts etc. For example barbie doll and car sets are usually half price, you get certain branded foods cheaper.

Stock up on boots points throughout the year, use it on the 3 for 2 xmas gifts which come out from September. If you have the app and let them know your birthday you get double points during your birth month.

Menu plan and do a food shopping list in excel/google sheets. That way you can simply print it the next year without having to rewrite it and can easily make amendments.

We always do a post-Christmas what did we like what didn't we like and keep these notes so we can amend the next year.

Bike's duplicate stocking is genius!

Brilliant tips on here, making note of all the cooking ones. Mine would be to soak the turkey in a brine bath, I never bothered until last year and it honestly made such a difference to the taste and texture of the meat.

Agree what food you want in advance. If having guests, consider asking them to bring things, particularly if they have specific requests. Don’t get drawn on additional things if not agreed, particularly if only bought because they are traditional and nobody really likes them.

Pare down the list of people you buy for and agree a budget in advance.

Already started my Xmas shopping.

I buy all my wrap in the sales after Christmas, same with cards. I put them in with the decorations to go away so I know where they are.
Start buying non perishable things in September but keep a list to prevent duplicates.
I recycle unwanted gifts - but again, keep a list of who gave the gifts in the first place so you know you're not giving it back!
Always have a few spare emergency gifts in bags - even if it's just a nice bottle of wine or chocs.
Keep and recycle gift bags.

I love threads like this! 🎄🛍️🎄

I try to get everything ordered/bought, cards written and gifts wrapped by 30th November- then I can relax and really engage with Advent and any Christmas events, without being distracted by a 'to do' list running round my head-

-it took me 30 plus years to get this organised but the difference its made is immeasurable!

yay! to people mentioning lists/spreadsheets- I'd be utterly lost without mine- have kept one for a few years now, all on one document,so I can scroll down to previous years and avoid repeats where necessary - and include repeats where they've been a success

Sainsbury's double up event in November. You can double your nectar points to use on certain things - toys, clothes, kitchen stuff, electricals. Perfect for presents. We spent last year's vouchers on wine though

They've just listed xmas organisers here www.yours.co.uk/life/home/christmas-planners/