There’s always so much to do in preparation for Christmas: the parties, gifts, Christmas cards, and much more. Without a clear outline of what you want to do, when you want to do them, and how you want to do them, everything can get muddled up. Of course, you do not want that. If you know how important Christmas planning is, you already know why it is a good idea to have a Christmas Christmas preparation list. So, how about we share some ideas about things you should include on your Christmas planning checklist?
1. Create a Budget
When creating a Christmas preparation checklist, the first and most important thing to do is come up with a budget. As much as you would love to enjoy yourself during the holiday season, you should not put yourself in a financially-tight position in the aftermath.
Your budget should be feasible, and you should stick to it and plan your Christmas around it.
2. Create a Planner
Once you have a budget, you can begin planning around it. Your plan should include all the fun Christmas activities and the essential to-do activities.
To keep the activities from clashing, you could create a holiday calendar. A monthly planner calendar will come in handy here. If you cannot find one in your home, you can download free templates online.
On the calendar, write the activities planned out for each day in the corresponding box. Any time a new activity/event pops up, pick the calendar, and check if you are free on that day. If you are free, add the new event. But if you’re not free, you could add the new event to the calendar, depending on your scale of preference.
3. Create a Holiday Meal Plan
Once you have a planner, the next item on your holiday planning checklist should be to create your holiday menu.
Before you get into making the menu itself, you should make a list of all the foods you intend to serve, especially during Christmas dinner. And don’t forget about the Vegans in your family!
Once you have a list of the foods, you can create a menu around them. The list of foods can also serve as a guide for your grocery shopping list.
4. Plan Your Holiday Cards
At this point, you should decide on the details of the cards you need for Christmas. The type and the number of cards are two vital details you must conclude on early.
You should also decide if you want to make the cards yourself or buy readymade cards. If you choose to make the cards yourself, agree on the style you are going for. You could make a card with your family photo or any other great ideas you might have.
5. Plan Your Decorations and Christmas Gifts
Besides planning the cards and meals, another important part of your Christmas checklist should be the decoration and gift plan.
Your decoration plan should include the color scheme, theme, tree type, lights, and other Christmas decor you want. Then the gifts plan should include gift ideas, wrapping paper, and how many gifts to get for each person.
6. Make a List of the Christmas Supplies You Need
This is one of the most important parts of Christmas planning. You must get this right; you must ensure that you capture everything you need on the list. You must also get the essential items in sufficient quantities; you wouldn’t want to go short on supply during the holidays.
When coming up with your list, you could make multiple lists for different groups of supplies. For instance, you could have a list for food shopping, a Christmas decor list, and a Christmas gift list. The point is instead of creating one huge list; you can have multiple lists that sufficiently capture a group of related items.
Using multiple lists instead of one huge list can save you from holiday stress. Instead of buying all the supplies, you need at once, you can schedule shopping for each supply group on different days.
If you cannot come up with a comprehensive list on your own, you could brainstorm ideas with your family members.
7. Go Christmas Shopping
Start shopping as early as you can. If you intend to order some supplies online, start early. Doing all your Christmas shopping early can make the holiday season less stressful for you.
When filling out your planner, shopping should be one of the first items on the calendar. As Christmas day draws nearer, more and more people will start trying to do their shopping at the same time. This means the stores would be more crowded and possibly there may be empty shelves.
When shopping, start with non-perishable items. In other words, you may schedule food shopping for the last day of your shopping rounds. Leaving perishable items (like food) for the last day reduces the number of days you have to worry about preservation.
8. Make Your Christmas Cards
If you choose to make your cards yourself, you should start working on them as soon as you have all your supplies. This way, you can complete them and send them out early.
9. Get Your Advent Calendar Out
If you have an advent calendar, get it out as soon as you can so you can start your Christmas countdown early.
10. Put Up Your Christmas Decorations
When done with most of your outdoor Christmas preparations, you may start decorating your house.
It may seem too early to put up your Christmas tree and decorate it. But then, some people start decorating their house as early as Thanksgiving. So, you may not be too ahead of schedule.
Decorating for Christmas early gives you the chance to detect and get any forgotten items early.
11. Wrap Gifts
Start wrapping gifts. Gift wrapping may seem like something you can postpone till a day before Christmas eve, but that may not be the best option. Wrapping the gifts early gives you the chance to get a few extra gifts if the need arises.
Of course, when you wrap the presents early, hide them, so it remains a surprise to the kids.
12. Make a Christmas Playlist
After completing all the essential items on your Christmas to-do list, you could come up with a playlist for the holiday. The playlist should include Christmas carols and possibly other songs that you think will bring the holiday cheer.
13. Verify That Everything Is in Place
In the few days before Christmas, do a final check to ensure you did not miss anything.
14. Place the Presents Around the Tree
On Christmas eve, get the presents out and place them around the already decorated Christmas tree. Then on Christmas day, everyone can open their presents.
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