Planning your Christmas presents now, almost two months before the actual holiday, might seem a bit obsessed but definitely has its merits. It’s good for your budget, helps you come up with more creative gifts and definitely makes things less stressful during the holidays, all thanks to the fact that you won’t have to run too many errands. But let’s take it from the top, shall we? Here’s why it might be a good idea to start planning your Christmas presents in advance:
Planning your Christmas presents before all hell breaks loose allows you to browse shops on your own terms and really get the most out of your money. You won’t find yourself in a checkmate position and have to buy and overpriced item you can’t afford, simply because there’s nothing nice yet more affordable to opt for. You’ll be the one snagging those super-priced items first, thus making sure that all of your friends and family get the gifts they want or need at a price that won’t force you to live on bread and water for a month.
Raise your hand if you can’t stand Christmas shopping! I mean, come on – lines everywhere, people fighting about who saw what first… I’d call it a bustle except that bustle is defined as energetic movement and there’s absolutely nothing energetic about moving at a snail's pace, trying to elbow your way out of the crowd before you faint from a lack of oxygen! No thanks! I'd rather spend the last week before Christmas hiding in the deepest, darkest pit of Mordor.
Rule number one of Christmas shopping: You snooze – you lose! Popular, trendy or nicely-priced items are going to be sold out in a blink and you’re going to have to buy something else or show up with empty hands. To make things worse – neither of the two is such a hot idea when you have teenagers or little children counting on that one particular item known as THE present.
DIY-ing gorgeous gift baskets filled with lovely trinkets you’ve found at a dollar store is possible to do in a short time... sometimes. Take note – Christmas is not one of those times. You see, even if you find enough time to get crafty with all the shopping, decorating, cookie-baking and work, you can’t actually presume you’ll be the only one trying to stretch a buck this way. Not in this economy! Start collecting your supplies now… you’ll thank yourself for it.
If wallets could dream, Christmas season would probably be their worst nightmare. Ours, too, because we’re often forced to dish out crazy amounts of cash in just a few short days. If you, on the other hand, choose to do your Christmas shopping in stages, you won’t be caught with nothing but dust bunnies in your wallet right around Christmas time. The expenses will be much easier to deal with, making both you and your family happy campers.
If you tend to purchase your Christmas presents online, you certainly understand the concept of delays due to high demand. If you’ve never purchased Christmas presents online but now think that’s a pretty cool idea – you’ve been warned. You may want to order your items a whole month in advance – just to make sure it will arrive not only on time but early enough for you to replace it should anything go wrong.
Let’s leave money issues and savings strategies aside and just focus on what Christmas is really about, shall we? It’s about giving, about making others happy and just feeling good for making someone smile just a little bit wider. We often see Christmas shopping as a chore and rarely have enough time to really enjoy all of those great feelings associated with gift-giving. But hey, start now and you’ll basically have months to remind yourself what the joy of giving really feels like.
Do you take a serious approach to planning Christmas presents every year, is this a brand new concept you seriously want to try or do you believe planning spoils all the fun of last moment shopping?