With summer now comfortably behind us and Halloween mere days away, it’s officially time to start thinking about Christmas. The same debate lingers every year – “When is it too early to start thinking about Christmas?” Whereas it used to be that Christmas effectively took up the entirety of December it now seems as though it takes up most of November too.

So, is October really too early to start preparing for Christmas this year? Of course not! The holidays are just around the corner, after all, and it’s never too early to start preparing for it if you want to avoid the stresses of the season.

Budget your gifts

You should begin by planning a budget to spend on each of your loved ones so you roughly know how much you need to save before you begin buying your Christmas presents. List everyone you intend on buying for and then work out exactly how much you have to spend. That way you can comfortably budget for every present. And then, if you have anything left over from the budget, you can always splurge on some extra stocking fillers.

Prepare for guests

If you usually host Christmas Day celebrations then make sure you prepare for your Christmas Day guests. Be sure to have clean bed sheets and towels for the spare bedroom so you’re not stressing about it the week before. In fact, hosting Christmas might be the ideal time to give that spare room a good makeover. You also need to be aware of how many guests you can logistically fit in your home and at your dinner table. The last thing you want to do is over-promise and end up with dozens of people sitting on the floor! 

Sort the bits and bobs

There are few things in life more sobering than sitting down on the one spare night you have in December to wrap your presents and realising you have no gift tags and no wrapping paper.

Get ahead of yourself by purchasing your wrapping paper, decorations and small gifts here and there. Stores begin filling their shelves with Christmas clobber right after summer so there’s plenty of time to pick your theme and stick to it.

Planning is everything

As we mentioned before, Christmas is no longer just about Christmas Eve and Christmas Day; it’s the whole of December. So, make sure your calendar is run with military precision, otherwise, you’re going to miss out on all the local events, Christmas light switch-ons and pantomimes. Christmas is not a just day anymore. It’s a season. And if you want to truly make the most of that season you’re going to need to run a very tight ship indeed.