Blogmas Day 3 - How to Survive Christmas Shopping

I approach Christmas shopping like a military attack. It’s all about having a plan! Depending on how late you leave it, the shops will be full of panicky, stressed out people trying to decide what the perfect gift for their loved ones will be, and the queues will be snaking along for seemingly miles. Meanwhile it’s cold outside, so you are wearing all your stylish winter clothes, which means you are sweltering in the overheated, overcrowded shop. So you want to spend as little time as possible inside the shops. It’s all about getting in, getting what you need and getting out again as quickly as possible. 

This is where a plan comes in! Don’’t be afraid to make a specified list of what you want to buy for whom and how much you want to spend. The list is your friend when it comes to Christmas shopping. It will make sure you don’t forget anything and it will help you stick to your budget. It’s easy to accidentally overspend, because you haven’t really thought of what you want to get a certain person, and this thing is a bit expensive, but you are beginning to feel stressed so why not. You’ll save on something else. But you never do save on something else, and if you buy all your gifts this way, you’ll find you have to live off oatmeal for the rest of December (and possibly January). 

I like to write a list of what gifts to buy for everyone, and I do prioritize it. You might know just the perfect gift for someone, but if you can’t find that, you will want some back-up ideas. And if you don’t really know what to get someone, write down a few ideas, so you will at least have something to go on. I like to condense my Christmas shopping and get it all done in one day (or pretty much all done), so a specified list is important to maintain a cool head in the midst of the heat and press of shoppers.  

As for budget I usually pool my money with siblings, parents and friends where possible, so we can buy a bigger gift for a person we all need to buy for anyway. This gets the person better value for money, and especially kids’ presents can get expensive with X-Box games, computer gear and brand clothing. I’m not saying it’s all about the money. Some people will appreciate a homemade gift or a smaller gift with a special meaning more, but let’s not kid ourselves. Sometimes you need to fork over some cash to get the perfect present. I find it helpful to settle the budget and who is joining in what gift beforehand. You don’t want to be standing in an overheated shop blaring Christmas music yelling down the phone trying to settle on how much money you should spend on a person’s gift. So coordinate with your family and friends as to budget, get ideas for the present from them, maybe delegate some shopping to them, and hit the shops!

As for logistics, where I shop is pretty much one long street of shops, so I park the car at one end, walk to the other end and start my shopping there. This way I only have to carry the bags down the street heading to my car. Make sure you get enough time on your parking slip if you need one of those, as you don’t want to stress about shopping AND getting back in time to avoid a ticket. 

And of course try to do your Christmas shopping well in advance. This will eliminate a lot of the stress factors, but somehow Christmas has a way of sneaking up on you and suddenly you only have a few days to buy all your gifts. In that case I hope these tips will help you to achieve (almost) stress-free Christmas shopping while getting perfect gifts and staying within budget.