If you regularly leave all your Christmas shopping till the last minute - why?

[hunkermunker]

Did you not realise when it was or something?

I would love to know, only thing i can think of is no time as to busy?

I would be mighty stressed out & i HATE shopping with the millions.

i am super organised.

my 18 yo wants something he cant have - so only him really and am at a loss as to what to get.

but managed to do extended family and friends with last months wages

i did all 3 children in first week of October and just bought a bottle of champagne for my parents on Saturday, that was the last thing i had to do.

Because I have to think about 2 birthdays, a wedding anniversary and other stuff before.

And it doesn't take that long to do Christmas shopping when you've only got £70-100 to spend on everyone.

See, this is it - I can understand too busy as a one-off.

But there are people who REGULARLY leave it all to the last minute.

Now, I'm a procrastinator and famous for last minute - but even I can manage Christmas.

I don't have mine done yet

Swore that after last Christmas (6 week old ds was rushed to hospital with bronchialitis on 22nd & only got out on Christmas eve afternoon) thst I would get it all done early this year but dh has huge sulks if the C word is even mentioned before 1st Dec so am just starting now.

Will order dd3's pink bike, ds's trike & dd1's boxing equipment tonight I promise

I used to super-organised then DS came along (lame excuse I know!). However, this year I managed to get most of it done by end of November. Only a couple more to get - the hardest people on the planet to buy for, i.e. DH, FIL and SIL!

Also Hunker maybe they don't think of it till december & then they have to wait for there wage pack so have to do last min dash?

I like to fly by the seat of my pants! I'm just starting to think about it now, I'm all calm about it all now, but in two weeks (when I start jury service and I can't go shopping!) I'll go into a flat spin about it all and fet it done in about 2 hours flat!

Cause I like doing it in that way. Near Christmas when it is well, Christmassy and you come home laden with lots of bags and open some wine and wrap them all up and it is fun!

I like leaving it to the last minute and go shopping with the swarming hordes.

I do shopping for big/expensive stuff online, so only go shopping for odds and sodds, wrapping paper, treats and stocking fillers. I always go shopping for that on Christmas Eve. It's actually really nice; shops are surprisingly quiet I find, because most people are in the pubs!

Also, I work full time, so only really feel in the Christmassy spirit once I have 'broken up' from work.

Its not disorganisation.

I never start until december - I like to do it all together - it gets me in the christmas mood iyswim.

I went to Lakeside one year on 23rd December. Everyone said, Oh, rather you than me!' It was wonderfully empty and loads of stuff was already in the sales!

DP does his xmas shopping on xmas eve - EVERY YEAR!! Unless he knows of things that are hard to get which he'll get earlier!

I don't know why, it drives me insane. I went with him once and won't ever do it again!!

because I never go shopping. So I only force myself once it gets desperate.

and nowhere to store the stuff where it won't be found.

Yes - the busiest places on Christmas Eve are the beauty and lingerie counters in department stores, filled with wild eyed and slightly tipsy men. Hence the receipt of 40DD Janet Reger bra sets by women whose boobs resemble Kate Moss's!

I think about it in plenty of time but almost always I am waiting for cash to actually do the shopping.
I also don't think that 3 weeks is last minute really either. I mean, yes the week before Christmas is last minute, but the beginning of December is quite forward thinking in my world.

But it's only just December!

Surely you don't mean now is last minute?

Because Christmas is in DECEMBER. I do bits and pieces in November, but most of it fairly late - I get hampers for grandparents and they're not available until December, often go to craft fairs and the like for my parents, and DD1 will change her mind 30 times about what she wants so the later the better! It's not a military campaign - just buying some presents for the people you love! [defensive? me? but if I meet one more person who tells me they've done all of theirs . . . !!]

DH used to proudly state that he left everything until Christmas Eve. Being such a spontaneous soul and all that. So...year after year he would give lovely things like blank video tapes, crappy boxes of chocolate from one of the petrol stations he used to run, whatever bestseller was still available in WHSmiths, welly liners (for me one year ) and such like gems.

So now I do all the shopping and I generally finish by end of November at the latest. And they presents aren't cr*p!

Depends what you mean by last minute.

I remember one year I was still shopping for presents at 5.55 adn the shop lights were being turned off.

Dh has to start shopping for his family in early/mid November so we don't feel like doing anymore until a couple of weeks beforehand tbh. Plus money is a factor!