Plan Early
As much as you may have been putting it off, Christmas without planning is like Madonna without Kabbalah, so make this the day where you sit down, discuss and write down everything that needs to be done.
The perfect Christmas comes with careful planning and concise list-making. Simply making a to-do list with the first point being ‘write a to-do list’ will not do.
Firstly plan yourself a budget, in 2007 the average family spent £840 on Christmas, this year stores are predicting a lesser turn-out, so be realistic about your spends.
Make a list of the people who you are buying gifts for, if your budget is especially low this year you could always make an agreement with other family members just to buy presents for the kids.
Make a card list, if you still have Christmas cards left from last year use these as the basis of your list and dig out that address book that you haven’t seen for a year while you’re at it.
The earlier you plan the food you will be eating, the earlier you can be on the lookout for the best deals, coupons, and vouchers.
This also means that you can decide what things you can buy now and what things you can buy nearer the time, and avoid the Christmas Eve isle build up down at your local Tesco.
Lastly, and most importantly, the alcohol list. Think about what you bought last year, what was used and what was left (probably nothing). Remember, alcohol can be bought and stored at any time, so it’s best to get this out of the way.
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