Tis the season to be merry – and also stressed if you are organising Christmas this year. At such a special time, you want to get it right, but many people race up to the big day and are then too exhausted or stress to enjoy it. There’s a reason why Christmas Eve is a peak day for people getting colds. Here are our top tips for making Christmas a breeze…
We don’t to add to your overwhelm so here are some tip on the build up and in a few weeks we will post part 2 which is to do with the day itself:
1. Organise your ‘to do’ list into categories to help you focus on what’s really important.
For example have ‘Must do’, ‘Want to do’ and ‘Nice to do’ actions and then you can sort and focus yourself.
2. When present buying, think about it from the receivers perspective not what you think they need.
Successful present buyers don’t buy presents they think people will need or that they would like them to have, they buy presents the receiver loves or didn’t even know they’d love. Stand in their shoes and think about it before writing the list.
3. Stick to your budget.
Post Christmas money troubles can bring people down to earth with a bang and can leave you struggling for months afterwards, so design a sensible budget and stick to it. There are lots of really wonderful inexpensive things you can do, the value of a present is not an indication of love, it’s the love you put into it that counts.
4. Let go of being perfect.
We all love the John Lewis and M&S adverts, but sometimes we forget they are not reality. We loved an ASDA advert a few years back where a lady was drowning in brussel sprouts – that’s much more realistic. Use TV programmes and adverts for ideas rather than setting your expectations too high. People who don’t get on throughout the year are unlikely to get on at Christmas and some people just won’t notice the flower arrangement you spent 5 hours doing!
5. Think about who you are entertaining.
Often people plan their perfect Christmas without thinking about the people they are spending it with. So if your guests don’t like games, don’t do them. If some people like TV and some people don’t can you have two rooms so that people can float between them rather than everyone being forced to do the same thing? Are you really going to make very active and excited children sit down to a long (albeit super) meal? Why not set them up a little Christmas picnic with all the bits so that they can enjoy their new toys? With a little thought the festive period can flow smoothly.
Unhappy boy image supplied by : https://www.freepik.com/author/asier-relampagoestudio
