6 Easy Ways to Prepare for Christmas in November
It’s always good to be over-prepared than under-prepared!
In fact, most people do not enjoy the Christmas Season because of the rush of getting everything done in time. Avoid being one of them this year by doing all your Christmas planning early.
We have put together six ways that you can start preparing for Christmas in November to help reduce some of the frustration and panic that accompanies the holidays.
1. Make a Budget
The most difficult part of the holidays – apart from time – is making sure that you have all the money that you need to cross all the plans off of your to-do list by the end of the Christmas Season.
Apart from the cost of all the gift-giving and festivities, there is still all the Christmas decorations and ingredients to keep in mind which is why the easiest way to make sure you have enough money for everything is to draw up a budget.
Major things to include on your budget should include:
- Presents and Stocking Fillers
- Christmas Cards and Gift Wrapping Supplies
- Ingredients for Christmas Eats and Desserts
- Festive Plans
- Miscellaneous
It’s always good to set aside some extra cash in case anything pops up – the last thing you want is to miss out on something because you didn’t account for it in your budget!
2. Black Friday Shopping
A great way to save some money on Christmas gifts is to shop the sales and what better time to shop for sales than on Black Friday. This year, Black Friday takes place on 26 November so be sure to mark it off on your calendar!
Whether your friends and family are into bake wear, fashion, gadgets or tech there are dozens of Black Friday specials that will pop up so be sure to scour the deals to make sure that you can find the perfect gift for your loved ones – at a reduced price!
If you are not one for the Black Friday hustle and bustle, then do your Christmas shopping during the year. How often do you see something on sale that you just know one of your loved ones would cherish?
When such a time arises just buy it and put it in the cupboard to wait for Christmas and, as an added bonus, once you have bought the gifts you can get straight to wrapping them if you’d like to save on even more time!
3. Test New Recipes
If you feel like spicing things up in the kitchen this Christmas then be sure to test any new recipes well ahead of time. The family will never say no to delicious eats and can serve as the perfect guinea pigs for your new Christmas recipe ideas.
This is a great way to plan out your Christmas meals well ahead of time and to make sure that you have perfected them before you present them to your lunch or dinner guests.
After all, the last thing you want is to make a mistake on Christmas Day!
4. Plan your Meals
Planning your December meals involves much more than just deciding on the dishes and desserts you plan to serve on Christmas Day; it involves doing meal prep for the whole of the holiday season!
When you are out and about doing shopping, decorating, spending time with family and friends then there is little time left to decide on what to feed the family for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
This is why we suggest that you do some meal prepping.
When you have the spare time, do some cooking and, when you do, double the ingredients so that you have some food leftover for another day. There is no harm in freezing your meals to reheat and eat another day.
This is a great holiday season time-saver and will enable you to spend more time with the people that you care for.
5. Stock up on Ingredients
There is nothing worse than doing your Christmas cooking or baking and realising that you are missing a crucial ingredient especially when most of the stores are closed on Christmas Day.
This is why we suggest that you stock up on your non-perishables and meats as early as possible to avoid the Christmas shopping chaos.
Meats like gammon, roasts and chicken can easily be frozen ahead of time so that you do not need to worry about missing out. The same goes for non-perishables – they are non-perishable for a reason after all.
This step goes hand-in-hand with your budgeting and will help you keep a level head during the festive season. Be sure to add your favourite Kerrygold Butter and Cheeses to your shopping list!
6. Do some ‘Christmas Cleaning’
The most dreaded part of Christmas has got to be the cleaning but it is something that cannot be avoided. Break your cleaning schedule into bite-size chunks to avoid having to do everything in one day.
Also do not hesitate to rope in the family to help you – everyone gets to enjoy the Christmas foods together so that means that everyone needs to do all the preparation together.
While there will still be polishing, sweeping and mopping to do right before the big event you can get larger tasks like rearranging furniture, cleaning the carpets and cleaning all the special crockery and cutlery ahead of time.
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How do you prepare for the Christmas season? Be sure to share your tips and tricks in the comments on our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages. for our followers to see – that way we can all be extra prepared for the holiday season!
