The Christmas season and planning for it can be such a stressful part of the year. There is so much to prepare: decorations, festivities, and gifts just to name a few.

It can get so overwhelming that most people prolong Christmas shopping and leave many details until the last minute. This ultimately creates more stress.

With 4 weeks left until Christmas, there is still plenty of time to get it all done. Use the guide below to customize your Christmas planning checklist, stress less and efficiently complete all the to do’s this season.

Set Your Holiday Budget

• Create a realistic budget, one that you can afford. Holidays are not worth going in debt over. Communicate your financial expectations with those you celebrate with. They may be just as relieved to save some money.
• Consider everything from gifts, décor, cards, planned activities, holiday gatherings, outfits, matching pyjamas, etc. All Christmas related expenses should be accounted for.
• Smaller budgets are possible, they just require a lot more planning. Homemade gifts and baked goods are great money saving gift ideas. Take advantage of the many shopping promotions, including Black Friday (Nov. 27, 2020), Cyber Monday (Nov. 30, 2020) and Free Shipping Day (Dec. 14, 2020) deals.
• Many things can be purchased or made earlier in the year if you know what to expect. (Maybe not so helpful with 4 weeks left to go but now you know for next year. lol)
• Keep a spreadsheet of all your Christmas expenses to help stick to your budget. Excel formulae make it easy to update totals as you add in items. You can create a customized table by listing the category / person you need to buy for, the budget, what you are buying and the amount you actually spend.

Gather and Put Up The Decorations

• Take account of your existing decoration stockpile and consider if new items need to be purchased to work in your budget
• Look for deals to purchase new items needed
• Schedule decorating time blocks into your calendar
• Get lights and exterior décor up as early as possible before it gets too cold
• Christmas tree and interior décor such as garland, nativity scene and seasonal figurines can be done all at once or broken up into smaller blocks. Whatever fits your schedule.

Prepare and Send Greeting Cards

• Confirm your mailing list of family and friends who will receive a greeting card. Save a file to your computer or tablet and update it when needed to have it ready to go each year.
• Choose a family photo to send. With only a month to go, most photographers are booked up by now. Opt for taking the pics yourself and save big money. The kids can be all dressed up on the front porch or in their pj’s in front of the Christmas tree. Bonus points for the ultimate time saver option of mixing it up with different shots taken throughout the year.
• Create your Christmas card. Choose digitally printed cards over hand written. You can browse the many templates at online photo centres, upload your own photo(s), customize your greeting and print!
• Order the number of prints you need and pick them up once ready. Online photo centres typically complete orders within 24 hrs and they come with the envelopes.
• Purchase stamps and print mailing list labels at any point before pickup so you are ready to assemble the greeting cards.
• Plan to mail out Christmas cards 2-3 weeks before Dec 25^th to ensure a timely arrival to its destination

Purchase Gifts

• List of everyone to buy for in your circle of family and friends
• Consider gifts outside of your inner circle like teachers, colleagues, neighbours and event hosts
• List the budget for each person and some ideas of what to get them
• Stick to the budget by taking advantage of online and in-store promotions
• Rethink boxes of chocolates and purchase items that can be used to your benefit if they are left over come January – like hand soaps or gift cards.
• Record spending as you go on excel to keep track of your costs and avoid overspending

Schedule Holiday Events

• Planning Christmas events will be different this year now with Covid and social distancing however online events and activities planned among your household are just as significant
• Keep a master list of your holiday schedule on a calendar and add into your family’s digital calendar as you go.
• Mark dates or block out time for any online or physically distant gatherings, household activities, Christmas movie night, decorating, baking, in-store shopping and gift wrapping
• Set due dates for all checklist points and cross them off once complete to keep on track and have everything done before Christmas.