Tuesday, November 1, 2016

How to Prepare for a Successful Holiday Season

Happy November 1st, friends!!

You can shout "too soon" at me all you want for writing a Christmas post on the first day of November, but it is OFFICIALLY the Holiday season in my opinion. I love this time of year. From October 1 through about February, I am SO happy. Some people get the winter blues - I am not some people. My love of these seasons means that I want to actually enjoy them!

We have SO much planned over the next couple of months but I'm already worried that we'll be so busy that I can't actually enjoy the season. As a result, I've already started getting things together so I can really live in the moment.



ONE// Gift lists.

I've already started a list of who I'm actually getting gifts for and then I have a little list of ideas for a few (okay, most) of them. For my immediate family members, I've even starting asking if there's anything they're really wanting this year. Christian has started a list on the fridge that he keeps adding to when he thinks of things (he's the hardest to buy for! Last year, he only asked for an Xbox game...)

By having ideas and lists now, I can keep an eye out for these items going on sale and prep for Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals!

TWO// Shopping.

As I just mentioned, I haven't jumped head first into shopping, yet, but I do already have some things purchased. During the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, I grabbed a couple of items for my sisters-in-law (and quite a few more for myself...). Anything that I know won't really go on sale, I'll go ahead and pick that up now! For example, my mom wants a certain book that I can only get online and I'm 99% sure won't go on sale.

THREE// Collecting packing supplies.

For this one, I don't mean actual wrapping paper yet - I'm not ready to commit to my Christmas theme quite yet (can you tell I love Christmas?!) But, as other packages come in the mail, I've been stockpiling some boxes to wrap gifts in so I don't have to buy any!
FOUR// Crafting.

For my team at work, I want to make them coffee mugs (I'll share a tutorial soon because I made one for my newly pregnant friend a couple months ago!). But, I know myself well enough that when mid-December rolls around, I'm going to have myself so busy that I don'y get them done in time.
By crafting now I can make sure that A) I get a good deal on supplies because Michael's is constantly running sales and B) everything gets done on time.
This doesn't just go for gifts, either! Want to make a new wreath this year? Get to it now so it's ready to go up on Friday so you can spend more time watching Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.

FIVE// Planning.

I'm a planner. My Outlook calendar at work is color coded (as is my new bullet journal that I just started) and I'm already planning 2017 so of course, I'm already planning the holiday season.
By planning events now, I know that I will get to do everything I want to do and still have time to just enjoy the little moments.

 I LOVE cuddling up on the couch with Christian and the pup, with the twinkling Christmas lights on and watching Elf or The Grinch or The Santa Clause (I watch these three an excessive amount of times...). I want to make sure that I have time for both the Christmas events - our annual trip to the Biltmore House, a trip to see lights in McAdenville, NC, seeings the lights at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden - and all of the snuggly nights by the Christmas tree.
Do you plan in advance for the season or do you wait until Black Friday to begin everything Christmas-y?

2 comments:

Simple As said...

Love this post!! You're such an organized holiday planner/shopper! I am so that last minute shopper, but I actually kind of love it!

Carly said...

I'm definitely with you on being ready for all things holiday as soon as November hits-- and I may have started a little bit earlier this year, haha. While I've started gift lists this year, we usually end up waiting until the last minute to do a lot of our shopping-- which is never a good idea, so I'm hoping to be a little more on top of it this year.