Simplifying Your Christmas Shopping

I was determined to make Christmas shopping
FUN

STRESS FREE
ENJOYABLE

& SIMPLE this year.

I started much earlier than usual and did the majority of my shopping in November.

I wanted to really enjoy the month of December and not feel like I had to spend every day shopping for gifts or running errands.  I would much rather be making Christmas cookies, going to see Santa and doing many of our other Christmas traditions.

Tips for Simplifying Christmas Shopping:

1. Make a list of everyone you have to buy for and set a budget for them.

2. Write out some ideas for each person & ask your spouse to help.

3. Take advantage of on-line sales, free shipping and shopping at home in your pjs.  I found this especially true now that I have a little one and would love to avoid long lines, crowded stores and the holiday germs that are out and about this time of year.  Target, Old Navy & Amazon were my favorite hot spots to shop.

4. Document your shopping and keep a close tab on what you've purchased.

5. Delegate some shopping to your spouse.  I gave Kevin a handful of items to purchase.  He was happy to help and enjoyed doing a little shopping.

6. Highlight the items you've purchased for each person and then highlight their name when youa re done buying for them.

7. Buy early while the selection is still good.

8. I have a gift closet where I store presents until they are ready to be wrapped.  I've bagged them by person and kept them organized so wrapping should be really easy this month.

We also drew names this year so I'm only buying for one cousin instead of six, we opted to not give sibling gifts on my side and are just looking forward to watching the kids open gifts and we gave some couples gifts instead of buying for every person. 

Olive was really great to shop with.  We looked through magazines for ideas, shopped together on-line and had fun listening to the Christmas music in stores as we did our shopping.

I think Christmas is going to be really fun with her this year

so I'm thankful to have 95% of our shopping done.

How are you doing with Christmas shopping?

Do you shop early or shop late?

I've done both - some years I was shopping the day before Christmas to finish up my gift buying list.  This year I just happen to be a little more on the ball :)