The Christmas season is no doubt a fun and exciting time of year. It’s when we get to share quality moments with friends and family, and it’s a bright and inviting event that helps keep the winter blues at bay. But it can also be an incredibly stressful time of year, especially if you don’t prepare in advance.
But fret not—we’re here to help! These ten simple steps will help you combat holiday stress, enjoy the holiday season, and perhaps even find time for entertaining activities like playing for fun online so you can put yourself into the Christmas spirit before the festivities begin.
- Start Preparations Early
One major stress-saving tip to implement when preparing for Christmas is to start early. Ideally, two months in advance, though some get started as early as summer. By starting early, you give yourself time to prepare without the last-minute rush, and it can help you more easily handle last-minute or unexpected changes.
- Make a Budget
Feeling financial anxiety around the holidays is a common experience. There’s a lot of pressure to spend beyond your means to give gifts to everyone in your life. Making a budget can help reduce this stressor by giving you clear spending boundaries to keep you living within your means.
- Schedule Events
Dinners, parties, Christmas concerts, plays, and more all add up quickly during Christmas. Taking the time to schedule events in a planner or calendar can help ensure you know when and where events are so that you don’t miss a thing. While you’re adding these events to your schedule, you should also consider scheduling out when you’ll do things like decorating the tree and setting deadlines for buying gifts, booking tickets (if you’re traveling to see loved ones), and when to do your final grocery run for Christmas dinner.
- Declutter and Deep Clean
If you are hosting gatherings or having houseguests over Christmas, taking the time to declutter and deep clean your home can make you feel more at ease welcoming visitors. If you have children, decluttering will help make room for the new gifts likely coming their way from Santa (or family). Doing a deep clean before you set up your Christmas tree or at the beginning of December can help you get a head start on your to-do list before people arrive. Doing this means you only have to worry about maintaining your home rather than scrubbing every nook and cranny as people are arriving at your door.
- Take Inventory of Your Christmas Supplies
Before stocking up on new decorations, wrapping paper, gift bags, gift tags, ribbons, or bows, sort through what you already have. You may find that you have everything you need or are missing something you might not have thought of buying while shopping.
- Make Lists (and Check Them Twice)
Lists are a helpful tool when preparing for Christmas because they help keep you focused while shopping and ensure you won’t miss or forget anything. Having a gift list is essential, but so is creating a list of everything you want to get done before Christmas.
You may even want to consider creating a list of holiday activities that make the season enjoyable, such as building a gingerbread house, watching your favorite holiday movie, baking your favorite holiday treats, or getting matching pajamas for you and your family. Lists can help you enjoy your holidays to the fullest; just don’t forget to check them twice!
- Shop Early
Shopping early can reduce stress by ensuring you have everything you need in advance, and it also saves you from dealing with crowded stores and allows you to take advantage of sales or spend more time looking for deals or discounts to stay within (or even under) your budget. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are major sale days that can save you a fair bit of money, and for many, they kick off the holiday shopping season.
- Wrap Gifts Ahead of Time
Instead of rushing the night before Christmas to get your gifts under the tree, wrap them ahead of time so that you only have to worry about placing them under the tree for Christmas morning. You can wrap gifts as you get them or have a dedicated wrapping day during the week leading up to Christmas.
- Meal Plan
Christmas dinner can be an intimidating undertaking if you’re hosting it. Creating a meal plan ahead of time can make it much more manageable. Consider what you’d like for the mains (for instance, will you do a classic turkey or ham or cook both?), sides, desserts, and drinks. It might help to brainstorm several possible recipes and dishes and then narrow them down. Don’t forget to consider allergies or dietary restrictions if you’re inviting dinner guests.
- Check Your Pantry and Meal Prep
Once you have your meal plan, you can create a grocery list of everything you’ll need for the big day. Many items may be shelf-stable items you already have in your pantry, so start there before heading to the grocery store. For shelf-stable items you don’t have, you can always buy them in advance to reduce how much you need to pick up on your final grocery trip before the big dinner.
As the dinner gets closer, consider what you can do ahead of time to streamline your time in the kitchen on Christmas day. For instance, can you prep a side dish and freeze it, or can you chop up all the vegetables you’ll need a day or two before? These small steps will save you a lot of stress and time, allowing you to enjoy yourself.
Conclusion
These ten tips will keep your Christmas holiday as stress-free as possible by preparing you for all the big and little needs that inevitably come up over the holiday season. By using them, you can reduce the last-minute scramble to get what you need and relieve some of the financial strain of the season at the same time. Most importantly, however, these tips will set you up to enjoy the holidays to the fullest.