Welcome back to the next step in the 2016 Holiday Planning Series. If you’re new here, you might want to go back here and read the 2016 Holiday Planning Checklist. After you’ve made your plan for the entire season, you’re ready to start on the gift shopping. Today, I’m going to tell you my system for getting this part of the season organized and ready. This part of our plan is usually the most stressful and time-consuming. Honestly, it is for me too. That’s why I’ve come up with a plan to make it easier and more fun. So, put on some Christmas music and let’s get organized!
Christmas Gift Shopping Guide
1) Set a gift budget. Set your amount on what you can realistically afford without going into debt. I usually use the same amount from year to year. You probably do this too, but remember to make adjustments if you’ve got more people to buy for this year. If you haven’t learned to save up for Christmas throughout the year, make that part of your new year’s plan. Next year, you’ll be ready with cash in hand.
2) Make a list of everyone you need to shop for. Buy a special notebook for this, preferably one small enough to carry with you as you shop. On the first page, list everyone, starting with your immediate family. Then list everyone else. Remember to include people that you buy small gifts for such as friends, co-workers, neighbors, and teachers. Beside each person, write the amount you plan to spend on them. After you have this list, make a separate page for each person. Put their name at the top with a dollar amount beside it. Then list gift ideas for them, where to look, and approximate amount for each.
3) Plan out your shopping schedule. This is how you get the shopping done without getting stressed. Most of us can’t realistically get it done in one day. So, my strategy is to start with this week and hopefully get it done by Saturday, December 3. That gives me four weeks to get my shopping done. The reason I like to finish that early is because some things need to be ordered and need extra time for shipping. That also means that if my schedule gets really crazy, I could still finish the following weekend and have enough time.
With four weeks to get all my shopping done, I divide up the list and try to get a fourth of it done each week. I write shopping days on my calendar. I usually plan on about two shopping days each week. One shopping day is during the week and then another on the weekend. It sounds like a lot of shopping but, hey, it’s that time of year, right? Besides, I really don’t like to do long shopping days. I’d rather do more frequent shopping. If you don’t really like to shop, try to make it fun. Plan on getting lunch out or hot coffee, and enjoying the music and decorations. Some shopping can even be done on your computer in your pjs. Even better!
4) Shop the sales with a strategy. There are tons and tons and tons of sales this time of year. It actually gets a little overwhelming trying to keep up with what’s on sale and what store it’s at. I now use a file system for keeping track of the sales and coupons. It’s really simple. I just use a folder, add dividers with pockets, and then whenever I get sales flyers or coupons I put them in the folder. I keep them separated by category such as clothing, electronics, home decor, and things like that. Within each category, I try to keep them in order of the date. Also, whenever I get a sale flyer or coupon, I make a note of when it needs to be used on my calendar. Then on that day, I look at my gift list, see who I could buy for at that particular sale, and make a point to go there and pick it up.
Black Friday Shopping Strategy:
- Get all sales flyers or look online for sales.
- Make a list of the stores that will have sale items you need to buy.
- Beside each store, write the times of the best sales.
- Beside each store, write what specific gifts you want to look for.
- Make a game plan for what stores you will go to and in what order. If you can’t get to all the sales, go to the ones where you get the most gifts and the best deals.
- Organize your coupons according to the order you’ll be using them. Remember to take your small notebook with your gift list.
- Decide what time you’re leaving in the morning, put on comfy shoes, take snacks and water, and go out there and get shopping!
5) How to pick out gifts when you run out of ideas. Try to get specific ideas for family members, but for others, you sometimes just need to get creative and do your best. Here are some ideas for people such as co-workers, neighbors, friends, and teachers.
- Homemade food items
- Gift cards, especially for coffee houses and restaurants
- Gift baskets with an assortment of items
- For women: lotions, scarves, jewelry
- For men: tools, hats, t-shirts
- Books, notebooks, stationary
- Christmas tree ornaments or other small decorations
- Classic movie DVDs
- Tickets for local events
For gifts that are more personalized, think about what that person likes, and then surprise them with something that would be unique or something they probably wouldn’t buy for themselves. If you know their hobby, a gift basket with items pertaining to their hobby is always fun.
That’s the plan for the gift shopping. We can get started on that now. Next, we’ll take a break from the Christmas planning and focus on our Thanksgiving week. I’ll have lots of ideas for getting through the week and having a great time with our family and friends.
See you soon. Happy shopping!