INSIDE: It’s Day 11 of the 30 Days to a Stress-Free Christmas challenge! You’ve spent the last week brainstorming who you’re going to buy for and what gifts you’re going to buy them. Today we’re going to take it one step further. You’re going to finalise your Christmas gift list – and I’m going to show you how! Let’s dive in!
Wow! How can we be on Day 11 of this Christmas challenge already?!
That means we’re a third of the way through! How are you finding it? I hope it’s helping you to make your Christmas planning LESS stressful and MORE enjoyable. I’d LOVE to know what you think…head on over here, drop me a line and let me know!
Hopefully, by now your list of gift ideas is nice and long and you have plenty of ideas to choose from. Now it’s time to make a decision about exactly how you’re going to do your presents this year and finalise that list! And that’s what today’s challenge is all about…let’s dive in!
Challenge #11: Finalise your Christmas gift list…
How to finalise your Christmas gift list…
Now you have a list of amazing gift ideas it can be tempting to head straight to the shops – but don’t! Not just yet anyway. Before you do, there’s something you need to do first. And that’s finalise your Christmas gift list. You need to decide exactly who you’re going to buy for, what you’re going to buy and how much you’re going to spend.
The Christmas gift list you’ve been working on up until now has just been a mind dump of ideas. Now it’s time for you to make some decisions. It’s time to go through that list and finalise it.
Why? Because you want to make sure you have everyone on your list you want to buy for. That you’ve not forgotten anyone – and that you’re not buying presents for people you don’t really need to buy gifts for.
We can’t buy for everyone…
I always have far too many people on my gift list and I’m sure it’s the same for you. And as much as we’d like to buy gifts for everyone we know, it’s just not possible. We don’t have the time or the money. And so, before we go shopping, we need to cull our lists.
We need to identify who we need and want to buy for first. We need to figure out who is top of our gift list and what we’re going to buy them. Once we’ve done that, then we can see who else we want to add – as long as we have the time and budget.
Being intentional about the gifts you buy…
Taking the time to finalise your Christmas gift list not only helps you to be intentional about who you buy gifts for. It helps you to be intentional about what you buy them too. Just because you have a gift idea on your list doesn’t mean you have to buy it. And if you don’t get it, you can always save the idea for another time – like for their birthday or next Christmas!
Need help finalising your Christmas gift list?
Ask yourself the following questions…are you:
- Making your gifts or buying them – or a combination of both?
- Buying for the adults in your family too or just the kids?
- Buying separate gifts for you and your spouse or a joint present?
- Doing stockings for the kids (and adults!)?
- Doing a Secret Santa?
Then, based on your decisions, scroll down your list. Look at each person listed and the gift ideas you have for them. Ask yourself which gift idea:
- You like the most.
- You think they would like best.
- Is easiest to get hold of – you want to make your life as easy as possible remember!
- Will help you to stay on budget.
Highlight every idea that appeals, then make your final list. If you can, include a note of where you’re going to buy each one so that you can see at a glance which gifts you can order online and which you need to go to the shops for. And that’s all there is to it! You’ve just finalised your gift list…congratulations!
Still struggling to decide?
Don’t worry! Deciding what to get and how much you want to spend can be tough! Just ask yourself how much you’re prepared to spend per person and what you want to spend in total. Use your Christmas budget from Day 4 to help you. And if you’re really struggling to narrow the list of gift ideas down, try adopting the four gift rule.
The four gift rule…
We’ve been doing the four gift rule for the last two or three years now and it really helps to keep the number of gifts we buy at a sensible level. It helps your kids to appreciate all you buy them too. It’s been so popular in our household that last year my youngest even wrote his letter to Santa using the four gift rule!
So, what is the four gift rule? It goes like this:
Pretty cool, right?! Not only does it make it easier to come up with ideas for gifts but it helps you to be more intentional with your Christmas gift list too. It also helps you to keep the clutter at bay after you decluttered their bedrooms on Day 6. Fewer toys means less clutter remember!
One thing to keep in mind whilst finalising your Christmas gift list…
When Christmas shopping, it can be tempting to want to get lots of presents for everyone. Knowing when to draw the line can be hard. It goes without saying that you want to make Christmas great for your family, but the key is to not go overboard.
Try to remember that a great Christmas isn’t determined by how many gifts there are under the tree….there are SO many other ways to make Christmas great too.
So unless you have a very large budget, try to resist the urge to splurge! And, even if you do have a large budget…remember you don’t have to spend it all either!
Try to keep things simple too…
Think back to the promise you made to yourself on day one….that you’d be realistic about what you could do with the time you have. Keep this in mind as you start sorting your gifts and finalising your Christmas gift list. For instance, if you like the idea of baking or making gifts but you really don’t have the time, it’s okay not to do it.
Now go finalise your Christmas list!
That’s it for today!
I’ll be back tomorrow with challenge #12 of 30 Days to a Stress-Free Christmas challenge…so be sure to check back! In the meantime, good luck finalising that gift list! And don’t forget to check out the rest of the posts for this challenge if you haven’t done so already too!
- Day 1: Let’s Get Your Christmas Planning Started!
- Day 2: What Gifts to Buy?
- Day 3: Get Organised for Christmas.
- Day 4: Write Out Your Christmas Budget.
- Day 5: Take a Break and Have a Well-Earned Rest!
- Day 6: Declutter Your Child’s Bedroom.
- Day 7: Winter Prep Your House and Car.
- Day 8: Start a Packing List.
- Day 9: Do Your Christmas Decorations on a Budget.
- Day 10: Spend Money on Experiences Instead of Things.
That’s it for this post! Have you finalised your Christmas gift list yet? Let me know in the comments!
Until next time…
P.S. Get all of the Christmas challenges by email!
Want a little more accountability? Don’t forget that you can sign up to receive each challenge by email! Every day for the next 30 days I’ll land in your inbox with the next Christmas challenge. A great way to remind you to take action, you’ll also receive my FREE Ultimate Christmas Planning Checklist too!
In it, you’ll find checklists for your Christmas budget, Christmas shopping, meal planning and prepping, family traditions, planning your travel and so much more. With every Christmas planning step you can possibly think of listed, no stone will be left unturned and nothing will be forgotten!
Simply enter your email address below and I’ll send it to you right away along with the first challenge!
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