Already started thinking of the festive season?! Want to? Share your top tips to beat Christmas stress with Lidl: chances to win vouchers NOW CLOSED

[EmmaMumsnet]

We KNOW it's early but lots of you (and Lidl) are already thinking ahead to December and we're sure MNers have a whole wealth of fab Christmassy tips to share. As great as Christmas is, we know it often comes with a world of stress, whether that's the pressure of entertaining, avoiding cooking disasters, or managing it all on a tight budget! So please share your top tips for beating these battles.

Tell us what do you do to ease the stress of Christmas? Is it the art of preparing early, finding those great value-wins or quick cheats like great tasting and great priced party food?

Add your tips to this thread and you will be entered into a prize draw where 5 MNers will each win a £50 Lidl voucher.

Thanks and Happy Christmas

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

Keep it as simple as possible. (I am on a tight budget). We have family traditions.
2 new tree baubles a year.
Make sure the fridge and freezer are full but based around foods we all like so no waste.
Christmas CD's playing softly (which I sing to!)

As the kids are older i top up presents with things they need (clothes mostly).

Sounds daft but I engineer warmth and Christmas cheer with jokes, a silly suction Santa that can turn up anywhere in the house... Christms Candles....

I start buying presents in October

Start buying Christmas food goodies now in regular shops and keep an eye out for 'early bird' savings....

1 - Start as early as you can.
2 - plan plan plan plan plan. I write lists (food / present ideas / activities / to do ). We have a budget so planning early means I can make the most of the sales and spread the cost.
3 - make sure you find time to actually enjoy the season! Me & DH are busy and his family are all over the place so I usually book myself a few evenings / days where there isn't anything that needs to be done so I can just enjoy (I have posted before about my wrapping night - me, festive films, Christmas lights and working my way through all the wrapping. We also spend one day going to the Christmas market in our nearest city).
4 - prep the veg and lay the table on Christmas Eve
5 - Remember that it's just one day - a lovely enjoyable day, but just a day, not worth a huge stress over.

Prep veg the night before - I recruit someone else and we get it all done while relaxed with a drink and some music on.

Stick to tested recipes. This is not the time to try something new you saw a celebrity chef do!

Chill out. If it doesn't go to plan don't stress, try to laugh. It's a day to enjoy and celebrate, not a marathon test of your baking, decorating or multi tasking abilities!

start to buy things in the sales, if you have lots of presents to buy. Make lists of things to do, so that you do not forget anything.

The first of December is celebrated in my house with lidls Irish whisky. It's about four quid a bottle and not that much different then baileys.

We basically have an amazing run up to Xmas, go to all the events in our city that we can make, always go to the German Xmas market and have a quiet ish Xmas.

I stopped going out to family early and now do the same thing every year. Xmas morning me and the dc open our presents, we eat chocolate, muffins, croissants, Turkish delight and shortbread for breakfast. We then get dressed, put our new stuff away get dressed up and go to my mum's whenever we're ready. I did Xmas dinner at home a few times and stayed home once but as a single parent it doesn't feel very Christmassy if it's just the three of us.

Going to my mum's Xmas day but not early is great as we get dinner and company although I feel like a spare part since everyone else is coupled up. I see my nan on the boxing day at my aunts and we have a nice buffet there. I know some people complain about being stuck in a rut at Xmas but I like going to others for the festive bit and it means I can leave when I want instead of having people out staying their welcome at mine.

My best tip is to wrap the living room door. My dc get so excited to tear the wrapping off and to then see their faces when they see the piles of presents is my favourite feeling in the world.

I buy through-out the year in sales etc. I have a Christmas box on top of my wardrobe and I add to it throughout the year so that come November, I don't have to buy it all in one wage packet! I also save my supermarket points for the food shop every year :)

if one of the kids mentions they like something throughout the year I write it down in a notebook - so when the relatives ask what they can buy for them I can turn to my list and hopefully pick something that will actually get used!

Agree with someone in your family to buy really small gifts. We agreed with DB and DSIL to only buy £5 presents for each other and the kids. The rules are that you can't cop out and buy a bottle of wine and that you have to put some thought into it. The Lidl weekly offers are a great place to start (my DB calls this the aisle of dreams). We've often found these the most fun presents!

I start present buying in January sales and keep a spreadsheet so I don't over buy or duplicate. This helps keep the budget down and means we're prepared.
We host Christmas with three dgps coming over. Now we say that they have to come Christmas morning so that we get some time with DD on Chrismas eve without competitive grandparenting.

I've been saving vouchers and points! I am on a tight budget so any vouchers offers or extra point bonuses are used to spend on Christmas. It takes a lot of the stress out of buying presents and the Christmas shop.

Make a present list early and start shopping now! Getting little bits here and there helps to spread the cost.

save 50pences all year round then in december , change in to notes and buy a lot of my presents etc with it you dont miuss bit of change, i empty my purse every day and look for them helps spread the cost

Christmas is more than just pressies. For the past 7 yrs I have started buying a little bit extra food from Lidl every week from September on and putting it away for Christmas.
Their mince pies don't keep that long so I buy them last, but chocolates, treats, cake and stollen all last until December. It really helps spread the cost and makes me feel like I can cope with any crisis, cos I have some festive food in!

My top tip is to put your Christmas tree in a playpen to keep your rowdy toddler from climbing it.

I love Christmas! We do secret Santa for the adults as it can get pricy and non of us know what we want. We set a budget so it's all fair.

I live Christmas and I like December to be about fun, eating, drinking, being merry, and not stressing about Christmas shopping.
So my tips for this are:
I use a present tracker app. I use No More Socks but there are many to choose from. I make a list of all people I need to buy for and then i enter their gift when it's bought.
I start in January. It sounds crackers but for small presents and stocking fillers, it's the snow stick that will come out in September but cheaper. And it spreads the cost.
I get a lot in the January and Summer sales. I shop online and look at the department store and supermarket sales.
I track prices on Christmas ware online - it's often cheaper in summer!
I buy non perishables such as crisps/snacks/nuts from October onwards - checking eat by dates :)
That spreads the cost too.
I plan our Christmas trips early - pantomimes and meals out.
And I make we we have some pyjama days over the Christmas break to play with all the new things.
I start wrapping in spare mornings or afternoons from September. I buy plain paper in red/silver/gold or brown paper which can be used all year round but accessorise for Christmas.
This year I bought lots of Christmas boxes 70% off in the Han sales and I'm going to use them with tissue paper to save time.
Ho Ho Ho!

Try to remember it's just a big roast dinner. The more you relax the more everyone else can too

Keep it simple and make it easy on yourself, better to have and enjoy a simple meal/event than resent, mess-up and stress about a fancy over-complicated one - stay away from cookery programmes over December so you don't get lofty aspirations. Get 90% of your stuff done first week December so you can ENJOY doing the rest of it, no pressure and enjoy the season rather than running around between shifts.

Buy anything that is not perishable very early to avoid crowds later on - snacks, condiments, frozen veg/yorkies/roasties and drinks. Oxtail soup added to gravy is great.

Be flexible with your traditions if you're on a budget and shop late at night for reductions to freeze, make your own traditions

Buy prezzies, gift wrap etc throughout the year to save money in sales, I can only afford xmas by taking a bit out of each monthly wage

Plain baubles can be jazzed up with sharpie pens and can become a cool tradition (we made stormtroopers out of cheapo white baubles)

Xmas Eve picnic is nice with a film

Do a 'Random Act of Kindness' Advent Calender over the xmas period - it will help keep you grounded and merry and is a good counter balance for the kids and the stuff they get.

I like to spend my rare days off over xmas enjoying it with my son not dashing around to find the latest thing to coat your roast potatoes in

I used to be super organised with Christmas & have all the gifts bought and wrapped way in advance. Since meeting my DH, who is unfortunately too generous than he can afford and also likes to buy presents "when it feels christmasy" despite many disagreements, we've never really got in control of the spending, then the overspending because DH doesn't have a clue what to buy half of his family

It also doesn't help that those who he never has a clue what to buy for celebrate their birthdays all after September

Yes it's nice to be generous, but we end up skint!

Ideally I would like to have started buying those "token" gifts now, but with our holiday looming I know it's not going to happen & yet again we're going to have a 10 week and 2 payday mad dash

Put money aside each month and buy little bits throughout the year to prepare early!

Well normally I would have bought all my gifts already but we're cutting down on stuff this year...

I will also be buying all ready made xmas food Thisbyear so I can relax and enjoy my time

We have large families and are lucky our own two are too young to ask for specifics eldest is 6 and says Lego or playmobil so can stash on offer sets through the year, youngest will be two in Nov so we have brought some wooden farm bits in sale n he will have some happy land for Xmas that was his brothers.

We buy throughout the year on offer if we see suitable bits for family. All children get an item of clothing and a toy. I usually manage to spend £10-£15 but as sale price full retail would be £30ish.

For little children second hand is fine if own child or you know the parents of child will be fine with it - my sister is completely fine with it.

Food wise we do a normal shop with some extra treats, we do an online meat shop few companies available now use new email address get new customers offer and usually get nice big chicken free range corn fed within a bundle.

We start buying little bits very early on - we tend to only give toys at Christmas and birthdays so things get bought if on sale and then put away for Christmas. I buy a lot of stocking gifts cheap online and sometimes it can take weeks to arrive from abroad, so it's good to plan early. I keep track of what I've bought in a spreadsheet so I can keep to a budget and also know what I've got and where I've hidden them!