1. Your personal family Christmas comes first. Really. Jesse, James, and I truly wanted nothing more than to just stay home, open our presents, and relax in our PJs. Instead, we woke up at 5 in the morning to drive nearly a hundred miles to pick up my sister, have a Christmas, drive my sister to my mother's house, have another Christmas, and then drive even more to attend EVEN MORE Christmas's. So, put yours first and if you have to cancel others, hopefully the rest of your family will understand. If not?
2. Try to limit yourself to at MOST, three Christmas celebrations in one day. After going to seven Christmas's in one day, Jesse and I were both worn out, and ready for the day to be over with. We didn't feel like we were truly able to enjoy any of it. Three, though it still may seem like a bit much, would probably have been a lot less stressful in hindsight.
3. So we all have those family Christmas's that require you to bring a Secret Santa gift. In order to avoid scrambling for a gift within the three days before Christmas (EXTREMELY busy shopping days) Instead, put together the gifts months in advance. A great way to avoid costly gifts is to assemble them yourself! Those DIY mason jar kits? Yeah, that would be cool! Nail polish kits, spa kits, movie kits, there are tons of things that you can do, most of which will cost you no more than ten dollars! Doing these in advance will make it much more possible to avoid the stresses of the holiday season.
4. No one wants a Christmas sweater on Christmas. Seriously. When are they going to wear it? Next year? In fact, it's best to stay away from Christmas related Christmas presents all together.
5. We all have that friend/relative that is EXTREMELY difficult to shop for. Heck, I'M extremely difficult to shop for. Don't buy me clothes, don't buy me shoes, don't buy me anything pink, purple, or girly whatsoever. What would I want for Christmas? A gift card. Just get me a gift card so you can't screw anything up and I can get exactly what I want! Buy a gift card because you've thought about it forever and you still have no idea! Yes, I'll appreciate anything that someone takes the time to give me, as I'm sure anyone else would, but if you really wanna make me happy? A gift card will do juuuust fine.
6. I know plenty of people that honestly, shouldn't be allowed to have Credit Cards between the months of October and January. If you're not going to be able to pay the next three months rent because of how much money you've spent on Christmas, then you probably shouldn't have spent that much money. I understand that money is pretty scarce, especially during the Holiday Season, but to avoid this, BUY YOUR GIFTS AHEAD OF TIME. You don't HAVE to get all of the Black Friday deals, or Christmas Eve Deals, or Day After Christmas Deals, because there will ALWAYS be deals. If you have to go to any of the deals? Go to the Day After Christmas ones, all of the Holiday Decor, clothes, pretty much everything, is 50% off. At least that way, you can get your Ugly Sweater for cheap next year!
7. Start saving up BEFORE the week before Black Friday! Set goals throughout the year and try to make a savings plan that will fit your style. Set aside 20 dollars out of each paycheck, put all of your spare change in a jar and don't touch it! Do the 50 week saving challenge! Every week, you set aside that specific dollar amount. On week one, one dollar, week two, two dollars, week 17, seventeen dollars. It's that simple! That way, you aren't struggling to make ends meet come the end of the year.
8. So, we've all seen that moment where either your own child, or a child you bought a gift for, wasn't nearly as enthused as you'd hoped they would be. To avoid this next year, have Santa write a letter to them! (If the child is young enough). This way, you can get an idea of a few of the things they want WITHOUT them knowing that you're hunting around for present ideas.
9. You're the notorious gift giver, the thoughtful sibling that always finds the perfect gift for your five brothers and sisters, your mom and dad, the boyfriends parents, and even his brothers and sisters. And this year, you had a baby! Do you have the three hundred dollars it took every other year to get all of your family and friends the perfect gifts? Probably not... So take care of your own first. For the past several years, Jesse and I have always bought at least one special gift for each and every one of our family members. And this year... we really just couldn't do it. Instead, we bought gifts for James and James alone. If your a teen parent like me, I'm sure you're family will understand that the money truly just isn't there this year, and baby comes first.
10. A great gift alternative any year is one that doesn't involve much money, or thought, at all! Christmas cards are a GREAT way to be creative, and save money. Shutterfly.com (my life and savior) is a great site to use for all of your cards, prints, and photo decor needs.
Below is our Christmas card that I designed that features my oh so beautiful son, James. I bought the cute little outfit at Carters, a teddy bear that I've had since I was born, and seated him on an old vintage looking recliner. The card turned out GREAT and I loved how many options I had! There were tons of selections to choose from and I found this one, which fit my style perfectly. There are so many wonderful deals and ways to save on Shutterfly.com, including 50 free 4x6 upon signing up! Sign up! Get creative! And follow James and I at amazingjames.blogspot.com.
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