We all know that one person who just sits there like a Zen master while the rest of us are struggling to get our Christmas preparations in place. You too can enjoy your Christmas without hassles if you start preparing early. Here are a few ideas you can implement to have a stress-free Christmas:
- Figure out what your children want
Your children may not want the things you think they want. Rather than shooting in the dark, just get them to make a list of the things they want. Just ask them, and be ready to go through long lists of possible kids presents for Christmas. Just pick the presents you think your children will still love to have once the holidays are over.
- Allocate Appropriately
Make use of the wish lists provided by your children to allocate their gifts appropriately. When your friends and family ask you what they should buy for your children, just allocate the smaller, inexpensive items from the lists. That way, both your children and the people gifting the presents are going to be happy.
- Avoid Last-minute Present Wrapping Crisis
Don’t wait till Christmas Eve to buy the wrapping essentials to wrap your presents. Pick up Christmas wrapping paper, ribbons, tags and sticky tape a few days before Christmas. And don’t forget to use gift tags to label your presents.
- Hide Your Gifts
Presents are supposed to surprise the people receiving them. So make sure you hide your presents properly. Keep them away from the prying eyes of your partner and children! If there is no space in the house to hide your presents, be creative – use the garage, or even your car’s trunk. If none of these options seem safe enough, you can also keep your presents at a friend’s place until just before Christmas.
- Make use of Black Friday and Cyber Monday
If you want to save money on your Christmas gifts, Black Friday and Cyber Monday will help you do that. But, when you wait till the last minute to buy your presents, you risk not getting what you want or at least paying a lot of money for the items. Make use of the deals offered on Black Friday to buy the items you want. If you get lucky, you can save quite a bit of money this way. If you are too busy to shop on Black Friday, try to buy your presents on Cyber Monday. As you do it online, you not only save money, but also a lot of time by shopping on Cyber Monday. Another advantage of Cyber Monday is that you can easily browse through items that are discounted. While browsing, you may find something you had earlier dismissed due to its high price at an attractive price. Moreover, you also get some brilliant gift ideas if you’re not sure what to buy for someone while browsing.
- Arrange a Secret Santa
Last minute Secret Santas usually end up being disastrous, especially in the workplace. So don’t wait till it’s too late to arrange a Secret Santa. That way, even if you draw the name of a person you don’t know very well, you’ll get plenty of time to ask around and find out what kind of gift they might appreciate. Even with friends, unless you already have a list of gift ideas for everyone, you will need some time to pick the right gift. Try to convince everyone to get the Secret Santa arranged as soon as possible, so that all of you will have enough time in your hands to meet up before Christmas and swap presents.
