Your Christmas Budget: “It won’t budge if you won’t budge-it!”
The Christmas aftermath of massive, larger-than-life credit card bills to celebrate the New Year with can be a little too sobering so it is imperative that you set yourself a budget! Calculate how much disposable income you have between now and Christmas and dedicate a certain percentage each week to covering your expected xmas costs. Other tips to help you out if you possess a big heart and a small budget:
· For a cheap xmas, cut down on expenses by purchasing family gifts for friends, neighbours or relatives instead of selecting individual gifts.
· When it comes to gift ideas, be creative and consider personalized homemade gifts, cookies and ornaments.
· If you have a large circle of family or friends to buy gifts for you could suggest some changes in the way you give presents that is more cost effective (don’t worry about sounding cheap, you can blame everything on the economy these days).
For example: everybody could just buy presents only for children. If you know your child wants the most popular toy out there, hit the toy stores early – early is not 4:00am in the morning of December 24th…but as early as November (or even earlier if you really want to secure the deal). Checking for the gifts online can save you half a day of searching for that one specific toy in that special colour.
Over at Hamleys you can actually search for toys by name or price and all sorts of other convenient categories that make life that much simpler for the inexperienced but determined toy shopper.
And then off course there’s always the classic Toys R Us with their dedicated fun and interactive website, where you can also browse by age, brand and even find gift lists! Truth is there probably isn’t a toy your child could want that isn’t on that website (they even have Babies R Us). If you don’t find that special toy in any of the other websites, you can never go wrong with Duncans Toy Chest… these guys really know what they’re doing!
· Another alternative would be to have a system where everyone draws out of a hat and buys a present only for that person (and if you pick out your least favourite relative, suck it up…)
“What to buy, what to buy???”- The thing about xmas shopping:
Traditionally, shopping means going from shop to shop, or mall to mall, looking for things you need in the best prices. Unfortunately when it comes to Christmas shopping, it also means long queues and clustered crowds. The elaborate task of choosing and buying presents, decorating items and general food supplies that will last the entire holiday season’s get-togethers and parties is an art, perfected only through careful planning, that can account for much stress. The alternative? The Internet.
“Click here, click there…and voila!” 
Internet shopping provides all the options with the best visuals of the products, name of the company and the price ranges. In fact, for Christmas it is the best alternative as everybody in the family can get together in front of the computer and go through the items and gifts they need for the holiday season. Click here, click there, and bang! The order’s in. No hassle…no parking episodes …all there’s left to “do” is to wait for the delivery to arrive (along with the credit card bill a little further along). Some companies will even gift-wrap and post your presents for a small additional fee… (It’s like having your own elf people, it’s incredible). Just make sure the delivery date is not mid-Feb or sometime after Christmas day.
Visit sites like Liberty: you’ll find a range of products varying from teapot sets to jewellery to swimwear (not that you’d be looking for swimwear this time of the year, but it’s good to know you got options right?). On a more relevant note, their distinct Liberty Gift Coins come beautifully packaged in a velvet Liberty pouch that makes ideal for Christmas giving!
Other sites you really should check out: Harrods (leaders in luxury gifts), Marks & Spencer (top notch), Selfridges (they just have the best of everything), and of course the incredible John Lewis.
“Early bird gets the worm”
If you still want to go for traditional shopping to ensure the quality of the products and their availability, start shopping early. How early? As early as yesterday- early! That’s right you’ve heard it before: it’s never too early. In fact, some people do their Christmas shopping gradually throughout the year, starting with post-Christmas sales, like buying Christmas lights and ornaments and even artificial Christmas trees. Not only does the once-off purchase of a fake tree saves you money in the long run, some of them look better than the real thing (and plus, if you do a good job at decorating, no one has to know ;)
“Do it like Father Christmas”
One of the most time consuming tasks is finding the “perfect gift”. Multiply that by the number of people you want to give presents to this year, and we’ve gone from looking for the “perfect gift” to finding the “perfect problem”. Here’s the “perfect solution”: make a list! Santa Claus needs one, and so do you! If you wait for inspiration to strike, you could end up aimlessly wandering around shopping centres for hours before coming home in a zombie-like state…and not a single purchase for your efforts.
If you’re really stuck, ask people to give you a wish list ahead of time so you can get an idea of what they want. Again you’ll need to search malls (or even better: the Internet) much earlier so you can easily buy all your gifts at discounted prices.
These gifts can range from books that are of the interest of the person, or music that they love, Santa or angel figurines ( by the way you’ve got to check out Harrods for some awesome Santa figurines), photo albums, flowers, personal gifts such as a pair of earrings...animated Christmas stuff…that sort of thing. Even a simple cuddly Christmas bear makes a highly collectable gift for children and adults alike (the best cuddly bear in the world? Harrods’ 2009 Maxwell…check it out.
If you’re worried your friends might request things that are a little off the radar when it comes to your wish list (e.g.: a brand new yacht, a Lamborghini etc…) then ask them to fill out a mini questionnaire, with categories of items they might like for Christmas to tick off your list. At the end of the day anything you present with true Christmas spirit will be priceless and appreciated!
“Buy more, spend less”
If you plan on offering employee gifts or would like to buy gifts for all your work colleagues you can go in for bulk Christmas shopping for a couple of different items. This will save you some money (and time). Some popular business gifts include a basket of cheeses, condiments and a couple of bottles of great wine. Since Christmas is the season to relish wine, a variety of cheese to go with it would make it a delectable treat! Don’t worry if you’re not sure what wine to combine with what, the companies that make these incredible gift baskets will find the best combinations.
Mind you, these gift baskets are not specific to the corporate environment alone; they make excellent family gifts of gift baskets for teachers, neighbours or groups of friends!
Whether it’s your turn to cater for the office Christmas party this year, or think that the festive season might be an excellent opportunity to motivate and/or reward staff, attract clients or set up incentive schemes Marks & Spencer offer tailored solutions and a personalized service.
Decorating
When it comes to decorating your home: have a focal point that starts you off visually and will lead the eye into the various parts of the home.
Decide on a colour scheme and stick to it. Be consistent! Most of the time when decorations look off it’s because people try to put up just about everything that has ever had anything to do with Christmas, regardless of size, colour or shape.
Again, make a list. Don’t go to the ONE store and wrack up all the Christmas decorations in a furious attempt to achieve this ONE look. If something catches your eye, you don’t have to ignore it, but seriously consider how good it would actually look in your place, by taking into account the design and layout of your home.
Make decorating your home an event! Have a decorating party with friends and/or family. Stop stressing and get everybody involved (at least that way if the décor still turns out disastrous, you’ll have some merry memories with your family and friends J)
Don’t ‘expect’ miracles, ‘live’ them
Christmas is meant to be fun and exciting for you and your loved ones. The most important thing is not how well you’ve decorated the front porch, but that you had fun doing it. The perfect Christmas is not really the one where your home is the brightest on the street or where you’ve sent out and received the most greeting cards, or even where the kids got the latest toys on the market. No. The perfect Christmas is the one YOU enjoyed the most – where you can look back and maybe even laugh at how overdone the turkey was…or how crazy that party turned out to be…it is the Christmas you will look back on years from now and still chuckle a little as you share pleasant memories of love and togetherness. That’s the true Christmas spirit! It’s the best kind of gift you can give yourself – and others. And it is as perfect as they come.
HAVE A GREAT ONE!