I confess – I absolutely adore Christmas.
There is so much I love about it: the decorations, lights, carols, Christmas movies, catching up with family and friends, the feelings of anticipation and goodwill – I love it all!
And I truly love gift giving! Now I know not everyone loves this part, and it can be especially stressful if you don’t know what to get people, if you have budget constraints, and even simply finding the time to shop can be hard.
Whether you are someone who tends to leave all the shopping until 5pm on December 24th, or you like to try and get organised a bit earlier, here is the way that I approach my Christmas shopping (with a few extra tips thrown in for good measure!) to make it as stress free as possible!
Write your Santa list.
I like to do this in a spreadsheet (nerdy, I know!) but whether you use an app, a piece of paper or some other method, the first thing I do is write down everyone I would like to buy a Christmas present for.
I actually do this at the start of the year, and then tweak it along the way, but you can really do this at any time.
Make sure to include any family, friends, pets (!), colleagues, secret santa/kris kringle, sports coaches, school teachers – basically anyone you can see yourself wanting to buy a gift for, no matter how big or small.
For any couples or families you are buying for, do you usually give a present to each person, or one group/joint present? Make sure you capture that, so that you don’t get caught out down the track.
Don’t forget to include a section for the extras that need to be covered but can be forgotten about, such as Christmas cards, wrapping paper, postage, and other bits and pieces.
Add in your ideal spend.
Sometimes it’s hard to know where to start when working out things like this, but one thing I do know is that it’s much more fun to realise you have extra money left over than to have to find more funds! So having a budget is really important.
Next to each person’s name on your list, write down how much you would like to spend on a gift for them. You don’t have to go crazy, but there may be a family member you would love to spend $100 on, and you may expect the work secret santa to be $30.
At this stage, don’t get bogged down in what you can afford, this is the “ideal” stage.
Add it all up at the end (this is where a spreadsheet or app comes in handy, so you can easily tally it all up).
Your final total is what you would like to spend on Christmas presents. This is the starting point to work from – the next step is to make it work!
Time to set limits – add in the realistic budget!
You may look at the total and thank “Brilliant, I can manage that!”. If that’s the case, yay for you, and you can skip to the next step.
If you look at the total and think “There’s no way I can afford that!” (honestly, this is usually me!), this is also a great outcome as it’s already shown you that you’ll need to make some tweaks to avoid any budget pain down the track.
Now you need to realistically work out how much you can spend on Christmas presents. For me, I look at my household budget and work out how much I need to save per month to make my Christmas spending happen the way I want it to.
So, I take what I can save each month and multiply that by twelve (for the months of the year) – and that is the amount I will have available to spend on Christmas presents.
(If you are doing this later in the year, you can take the same approach, just with less months. Or work it out fortnightly or weekly – whatever works best for you)
Once I have my realistic budget, I compare it against my ideal spend for everyone. If I won’t have enough to meet the ideal, then I reduce the ideal spend until it matches the budget.
There are lots of ways I do this that don’t sacrifice my love for Christmas or my ability to give thoughtful presents:
- The family member on whom I had hoped to spend $100? Maybe I can only spend $75 or $50 on that person. Now my challenge is to find the best gift I can for $50 (and I do love a challenge!).
- Gift a voucher for an experience to a family, rather an individual gifts for each person.
- I am not at all creative or a good cook (seriously, ask my husband!) but I have managed to make gifts that have been appreciated – and don’t forget there are plenty of recipes that don’t require expert baking skills! A yummy slice is always welcomed!
- Can you get others to go in on a joint gift for someone?
- Keep in mind, a gift doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive to be special.
Brainstorm gift ideas
Once I have my budget sorted out, I brainstorm present ideas. These could be general ideas, such as movie vouchers, or more specific ones for particular people. Make note of people’s interests:
- Who are the foodies? Do they love cooking at home, or eating out? Do they have favourite restaurants?
- Who loves movies? Do they like the cinema but haven’t been able to go in ages? Do they have Netflix, and would a voucher help them to save some money on their subscription? These are expensive times, so gestures like this can be helpful.
- Are there any readers on your list? As well as books, there are all kinds of quirky reading accessories out there to purchase.
- Do they have favourite sports teams? Or hobbies they love?
- Are you buying for any kids (other than your own)? Ask the parents what their current interests are – this will save you having to guess!
- Do you have friends or family who live in another town, state or even country? What experiences are in their area that they would love?
- Is there anything unique to your area that you could share with others? For example, there is a very delicious chocolate factory not too far from where I live, so I have definitely purchased gifts from there to share with people who may not otherwise get the chance to go there. And yes, I do normally get myself a treat from there at the same time!
- Are people you are buying for socially minded? How about a charity donation in their name, or an item that supports a charity they feel attached to?
Start shopping!
Yes, that’s right, anytime is the right time to get the shopping started! Keep an eye out for special deals or items on sale. They may not be on sale in December but could very well be cheaper earlier in the year. Unless they are perishable or will expire soon, there is no reason not to start buying and putting things away. Keep track on your list who you have bought presents for, as well as what you’ve spent.
Knowing how much you have to spend takes the stress out of wondering what you can afford, and you may find that with some savings you can actually get more than what you were expecting.
By Christmas, you should feel well in control of your shopping, and be able to enjoy the Christmas season. And that’s really what it is about!
Bonus tips:
- Set yourself a deadline to get all of the shopping done. For me, I always aim to have everything by the end of November. Inevitably, there will be a couple of gifts I still need to get in December, but that is way less stressful than having all of my shopping ahead of me!
- If you have to post gifts interstate or overseas, make sure you check the cut-off dates for posting for a guaranteed pre-Christmas delivery.
- Ask for help! While there are the slightly crazy people like me who enjoy all of this, if you find Christmas shopping to be overwhelming, don’t feel that it’s a burden you have to take on yourself. Get friends and family to help, either by asking them for ideas, getting them to come on a shopping day with you, or dividing up the buying list. Gift giving can be a shared experience!