What we'll do differently for 2025 thread?

[Susiesoozie]

Has there been one? I found this so useful one year and it had great tips like the stint stocking . Food tips etc. if there's been a thread then if someone could link me I'll love you forever.
For my side I shall be buying the most difficult gifts first instead of blundering about o. 23rd !

Note to all those planning on buying gift cards to top up throughout the year not all gift cards are reloadable and you don't want 50 £5 gift cards to do your shopping with. Research before starting

For the saving idea - having a separate account, or section on your banking app (Monza do this I think) gives more flexibility on how and where to spend it.

I also have a space in the spare room
where all presents go in advance if the occasion. Our kids know where it is and choose to not peep (as far as I know!). I would definitely forget where things are otherwise.

Each year we make Christmas more simple and each year it gets better and better!

We see grandparents and siblings 23rd and 24th so 25th is just the 6 of us at home and it's lovely.

I buy bits of food from around early November to spread the cost. We have a Christmas cupboard in the kitchen to stash things in.

We only give DC a small amount of gifts (usually 3-4) although as they get older the gifts are getting more expensive. We have a £100 or thereabouts budget per child but realistically it's been pushed to more like £150 this year. We have 4 DC.

We buy all food pre prepared from m and s and local butchers so it's just needs putting in the oven no faff.

For years now the DC have hung their stockings in our room so we can fill them easily and then we open them in our bed on Christmas morning.

Next year I think we need to cut down the amount of treats. We've got a kilo box of biscuits that hasn't been opened yet and an entire Christmas cake.

This is really helpful reading thank you

We have 2 WhatsApp chats for Christmas for gift ideas.

One is for all of us (DH, DD, DS & Me) to put links of things we've seen that we might like. A bit of a wish list.

It's never abused. 😁 If anything they need reminding to put stuff on there.

The other is just for DH & I to put gift ideas for the kids that we don't want them to see. And to then check off the stuff as we buy it. I like to be able to check back.

We can add to these all through the year. Not just Christmas. Just as ideas come to us as we tend to go completely blank when asked what we want in Dec!

This year relatives went so mad in Temu we had to buy another suitcase to get home 😩. This was after we agreed to give the kids money and only a token gift such as a bar of chocolate.

I will hugely reinforce this rule next year even if it makes me the 'bad guy'. All my relatives have huge houses either so much storage, whereas mine is a third of the size and it will be a big headache to store all these one-hit wonder toys, even if they were given with a great deal of love.

Will suggest doing secret Santa for all adults, as buying gifts for everyone was just a waste and nobody really cares or wants anything!

Arrange to swap gifts with relatives at the beginning of December, rather than trying to fit it around a busy schedule the week before Christmas.
Buy Christmas paper bags from IKEA, so much easier and cheaper than gift bags or paper.
What was successful was booking a manicure for the 23rd which meant all wrapping had to be done before. Christmas Eve was far more relaxed.

I've reflected what has gone well and what was a failure. I think a simple Christmas where we have simplified has worked best and I'm just going to scale back.

Older kids will get money and a stocking, younger kids gifts up to value of £50 and a stocking. The older ones were very ungrateful, lack of manners, fighting, arguing and general horrible attitude, I've been ignored several times over the last few days and quite frankly the effort is not worth it as the magic has clearly gone for them. The younger ones had more than enough from us, plus stocking and loads from family members and it's too overwhelming for them.

Lucky dip for family members, gift cards is too expensive going forward. My sibling did a lucky dip which was nice this year so we will probably do this. Should be a fraction of the cost and a little bit of fun.

Nieces and nephews will still get gifts up to £20.

A family member insists on buying all couples hampers. I really wish they wouldn't despite them saying we bought all your favourites, which we've never indicated we like, think turkish delight or liquorish niche likes, or very cheap perfume/aftershave like boots or next own brand. I'm sure it's all well intentioned, and we always say thank you but they insist when we say lets not do gifts and it's such a huge waste. Next year I think we will do the same for them, as I'm guessing people generally gift the sort of things they would like. It will save money, and time just adding a few things to the general shop.

Also thanks to reducing the gifts, I wont need to buy wrapping paper as we had some leftover this year, we have cards leftover, all the decorations we need. Just a handful of stocking fillers and lucky dips to buy in the Januray sales, then I'm done until December.

Absolutely the same here. Although I said that last year too..

I eat them in the evening 😂

I'll definitely buy second hand again. I bought a soda stream off Facebook marketplace for £15 and it's been the hit present. Also most of the kids' books were second hand on the World of Books Black Friday offer and they arrived in such great condition.

Keep better track of stockings. I either over buy or under buy every year. And clearance shop them.
Second year eating Christmas dinner out. Again was so much easier so will continue that.
Next year we are away 19-23december so no last min wrapping. We say that every year but definitely will have to next year.

This year we got let down by both sides of the family, so next year I’m not inviting anyone and booking a holiday or lunch out. That sounds a bit toys out of pram, but they messed us around.

Secondly, both sides didn’t make any effort WRT presents, so next year I won’t be racking my brains over what to buy and will meet their efforts. Also, had a few family members say they were doing no presents after their kids received mine, so not buying next year.

On the plus side, I finally refused to invite over extended family members that make me uncomfortable in my own home. Result.

Kids presents went down well. Next year I’ll give my DH a list to buy me. We didn’t have too much food.

The above sounds all a bit moany but I see it all really positively. Christmas has been a ball-ache in the past and a lot of family members have just made it really easy to say no in future.

No dramas, just not doing it moving forward.

One thing I did differently was to stagger 'the big shop'.

I bought the booze one weekend in December.

I bought the snacks/Christmas pudding/biscuits another weekend.

It meant I didn't have as much to buy when I finally did 'the big shop'. It was just veg. and fresh stuff. It took the pressure off a bit. Not financially (it all has to be paid for one way or another) but in terms of what I needed to get and then unpacking it all when I got home.

It worked out really well and I will definitely do that next year. Might help someone else.

I’m going to start much earlier with the gift shopping because I’m just too menopausal to cope with a concentration of extra work. My dc are teens, so not likely to change their minds at the last minute. Next year I want wish lists much earlier.

And I don’t think I’ll wait until Black Friday for anything next year - in a couple of cases I missed out on better bargains for waiting or things were oos. And then I ended up traipsing around the shops far too much in December. I’ve bought the wrapping paper and ribbons for next year, so I’m good to go. And I’m saving a weekly amount into a Revolut pot so that I can dip into that whenever I need to.

I cooked and froze all the sides ahead this year which made for a very relaxing Christmas Day. I would definitely like to do that again except that next year we will be with the in-laws which brings a different level of stress because they won’t bloody decide who’s hosting where until mid December. Mil doesn’t believe in frozen vegetables 🙄 so there’s no point offering to bring the sides if she’s cooking.

I am streamlining the gifts I buy for friends and friends children - depending on how radio silent they have been since whilst simultaneously posting all over social media how ‘spoiled’ they were.

I like the idea of putting a fiver a week away to ease the financial cost. I used to belong to a Christmas saving scheme through work years ago and did similar which made such a difference. I will go more easy on food as I spent quite a bit on M&S food which tasted ok but I know other supermarkets do similar food at reasonable prices so I will certainly shop around and compare food prices/ reviews next Christmas. Also time off work - I will attempt to book time off either side of the bank holidays to make it an extended break otherwise it feels like it's all over in the blink of an eye.

I have pared things right down over the years , my DC are 25 and 22 so Christmas with Adults rather than children

I do Dec 1st Boxes for my DC ( Ha Ha Shoot me ) as they can use them in December .
Pyjamas ( winter not Christmas )
Loungewear for DS
Underwear ( I buy a years worth of trunks and white sport socks / black work socks for DS )
Make-up and toiletries for DD - she'd prefer to have this in December , especially nail polishes

Their Christmas presents are small and (hopefully) thoughtful . DD had jewellery . DS likes money .

Everyone has winter (not Christmas ) bedding , there's Christmas handtowels , drinking straws , shower curtain, Snowman LooRoll . No compromise on these !

We have Sainsbury deliveries , this is the first time we had a Christnas delivery , it made such a difference . I usually go into the shop IRL but the few times I have done in the year , I struggle with the Self Check Outs . I went in Christmas Eve for vegetables , there were no manned checkouts !
The Nectar Points are used for the Big Shop .

DH,DH and I went on a Christmas Market trip in December which was lovely . Short break, decorated ship, chance to dress up . DS doesn't do this sort of malarky , he was House and Cat Sitting .
Our Christmas was quiet , we'd done the festive bits but didn't need to force DS to get involved .
I did make epic roast potatoes and Yorkshire Puddings though

Christmas Clean-A-Long so you do a bit at the weekend it is good to get a job done that I;ve been putting off . Having a list is good incentive .

Wrap presents before the 23rd ( I did mine on the 21st )

I have bought myself a money tin again - used to put in £2 coins but this year I;ll put in £5/£10 a week and it is safe till I open it .

I work up to 23rd , then the week between . That way I don;t get the "Urgh back to work its January and I've been used to having a lie in"

Less chocolate

More cheese

Love this thread .

What I'd do differently

Give close friends quality cards - this year I announced no card charity donation following the lead of one set of friends . Other set were really disappointed and said how much they loved cards . This set will now get cards .

Went to panto followed by meal out this year on Xmas eve and loved it so will do that next year .

Cut down this year on social trips / events and kept it manageable which worked really well . Last year was exhausting being out virtually every night through December .

Went too overboard with gifts for a couple of people and now fear I have set the bar too high for next year . Awkward now knowing what to do next year .

Food volume we did well , enjoyed what we had in the right volume , bought enough for very indulgent Xmas and boxing days then back to normal .

I have bought some nice winter pyjamas for DD ( navy with stars so she can use right through the cold weather)

My £5/£10 jar had to be opened when I needed cash in a hurry ( bank card had to be replaced) I had some left over so I left it for the DC as food money .

We booked a city break (UK) for early December and a couple of theatre events in London .

I have a FakeyFiloFax to make notes in.

Otherwise I am 100% doing the Christmas Clean-Along . It really helped

I’m going to make more room in my freezer for leftovers.
I won’t be making the pud and Christmas cake from scratch - too much of a faff, there’s storage issues and the ingredients cost just as much as buying them ready made.
we won’t be buying the Christmas tree as early. It barely lasted til Boxing Day before shedding its needles.

I have a M&S gift card that I got for someone last Christmas but ended up getting them an email one so I will buy my Christmas cards from there this year. I’ve been putting £20 a month onto my Tesco Clubcard. I have over £120 with my usual points so I will keep up with that. It is so much easier now you can top up online. I think I also need a stash of nice treats/crisps for between Christmas and New Year as we didn’t really have any nice biscuits left and our 15 year old age all the crisps. Felt we needed something whilst playing games and watching tv.

@stayathomer are these the Love to Shop vouchers or do you mean just a generic Visa/Mastercard gift card which you can load as and when needed? Or a supermarket GC like Tesco or something? I’m thinking about doing this weekly gift card contribution idea as well.