5 Top Tips For Pre Planning Christmas Gifts

I don't want to scare you away; but I am going to use a word that can put dread and panic into your heart.  Christmas.

Christmas you say?  It is months away, why are you talking about it now?

Quietly whispers to you, it's only 3 months....  

Well, my suddenly terrified reader, because I want you to be prepared this Christmas and not run around like a headless chicken, credit card in hand; buying presents the week before the big day.  I have been there.  I swore never again.

So here are my top tips for pre planning your gift buying for Christmas without making a mess of your finances with panic purchases.  If you plan ahead, Christmas doesn't have to be that stressful.  I promise.

Lists Are Your Friend

So you have had a (hopefully) lovely Christmas with friends and family.  A few too many festive wines, waaaay too much chocolate and the last thing you want to think of is next year's Christmas planning.  My first tip.  Have a break first, leave your planning till February.

Next, make a list of the usual family and friends that you will be buying a present for.  Add in a miscellaneous gift to the list.  For the person who invariably turns up with an unexpected gift that you want to reciprocate.

Alongside the name of each person, write an amount that you are happy to spend on them and will stick to.  Now you have a budget that you can save for each month.  Add another £50 to it marked Christmas.  Trust me.

Take Advantage of Post Christmas Sale Items

OK now I know I told you to wait a couple of months to think about Christmas, but buying some dirt cheap wrapping paper on sale and maybe a few cards isn't going to kill you in January, right?  I much prefer my money to go on the contents, not in its wrapping.

What Do Women (Men & Children) Want?

It's June.  You made your list a couple of months ago, you've started saving.  You are ahead of the game.  Now is the time to start thinking about things that you want to buy.  Write them on your list.  Check out the latest deals, find out when the sales are.  That watch you want to buy for your boyfriend for example sounds a lot better at £50 in a sale than £100 two days before Christmas doesn't it?

Live By The List, Don't Die By The List

It's September.  Hopefully by now your Christmas saving budget is going well.  You have bought a few presents.  You are on track.  But are you?  Sometimes you can plan all you want and then you might have a couple of rough months financially and your saving isn't quite where it should be.  Don't panic.  You have time.

People appreciate the thought of a present and the time spent coming up with a great gift more than the amount it cost.  If you need to make changes, reduce your budget or maybe have that conversation with a friend about maybe not swapping gifts this year, it is ok.  The world will not end.

Time To Wrap It Up

It's the end of November.  Finish your shopping, wrap your presents.  You are set.  

The next few weeks will be distributing gifts, office parties and impromptu "hey lets go for a drink, it's Christmas" invitations.   Things that you haven't accounted for in your Christmas saving budget.  That is what you will spend your extra £50 on.  You will, without a doubt, end up spending more, but at least you have a little buffer for some fun.

So that's it!  My pre planning for Christmas tips!  Let me know what your tips for Christmas planning are.

*Collaborative piece

Planning for Christmas

When it comes to planning for Christmas, I like to be ahead of the game and start my organising by the end of October.  I usually start putting money away for presents in September.

Whilst this may sound a very long time to be planning for Christmas, believe me, the alternative of buying everything last minute is not something you want to experience.

I have only done this once.  A few years ago I spent the last three days before Christmas buying all of my gifts and Christmas cards.  It was hell.  A twenty person queue in the card shop, daggers at dawn with the person who wants the same gift as you with only one left on the shelf; your bank balance telling you that you cannot afford to buy all of the gifts that you want.

I swore that the next year I would be ultra organised and I have been sticking to my plan ever since.

So what are my top tips for planning for Christmas?

"Have a Budget"

First things, first, before you even start to save up to buy gifts for people, plan your budget.  Decide how much you are going to spend on someone and stick to it.  Work out how long you will need to save for and add another £20.00 to it, for that one person you always forget to buy for.

"Print Your Recipes"

If you are going to be the one cooking on Christmas Day, why not print out some recipes ahead of time so you can start planning your food shopping.  This link for the BBC Good Food is brilliant.

"Be Savvy"

Once I have my budget in place, I tend to start looking a couple of months ahead for ideas of what I want to buy and for whom.  I create a document on my laptop with links to potential presents and check the sites regularly for any sales or discounts that appear.  For toys, electricals and beauty I tend to wait until Black Friday to get a potential bargain.  

"Post Early"

Did you know that accordingly to a recent study done by Datalabel, almost £750,000.00 worth of cards go missing every year?  In the study, found here, 15% of the respondents had had cards go missing that they had sent out.  So always label as clearly as you can and ideally, factor in postage costs into your budget so that you can sent parcels by Special Delivery to give you some insurance if anything does go missing.

"It Ain't All About the Money"

You can always tell when someone puts real thought into a gift.  It is the thought that matters, not the price tag.  A last minute "that will do" gift screams lack of thought a mile away.  Like buying bath oil for someone who you know doesn't have a bath (me).  

If you have a very small budget, how about making some Christmas cookies or making something that is personable to both you and the person receiving the gift?  The best present I have ever received is a homemade photo album filled with photographs of myself and my dad who died when I was young.  I will always cherish it.

How do you plan for Christmas?


*This is a collaborative post