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It may only be November, but many of us are feeling in the festive spirit already. Who can blame us? The stores are stocking festive themed products, festive adverts are filtering through the television and across the airwaves, and it’s not all too long until we start blaring Christmas tunes of our own accord. While it may not be time to start putting the tree up quite yet, you can start making advance preparation for the holidays. This will help you to maintain organisation, save money by finding special deals in the lead up to the shopping season, and ensure that you don’t miss out on anything or have to rush around excessively trying to find bits and bobs last minute. Here are a few steps that you should start incorporating into your routine now to reduce stress and maximise productivity this festive season!

Start Baking Your Christmas Cake

Baking may seem like a bit of an odd and specific step to start with when it comes to planning your festivities, but if you intend to bake a traditional Christmas cake, you’re going to have to leave yourself a whole lot of time to make sure that you carry out the process properly and according to plan. Some people start preparing their cake up to three months in advance, as it will require time to mature in order to take on its full flavour. But not to worry if you haven’t got started yet! Now is a great time to start and you can still expect a delicious cake at the end of the process. You can find some great advice on baking Christmas cakes here.

Make a Card List

Each year, we tend to send out Christmas cards to the people we love. It lets them know that we are thinking of them and hold them in high regard at this time of year. Sure, a card might not cost all too much, but it’s always warming to receive one. The problem? We always end up forgetting someone in the process of trying to get cards out to all of our loved ones. So, start drawing up a list now so that you are ready to go when December rolls around. Make sure to list your family members. Take a look at friends who you’ve messaged or spoken to on the phone recently. Scroll through your social media to see if there’s anyone you engage with on there who you want to send a greeting to. This will also give you time to gather addresses so that cards can be sent out promptly and to the right place. Never assume people you haven’t spoken to in a while live in the same house – they may have moved on and you don’t want to waste a card sent to the wrong property. You should also use this time to look out for good deals on multi packs of cards. While cards might not cost the world, they mount up when you’re sending multiple out at once.

Plan Presents

You’re likely to purchase presents for a much smaller number of people than you will send cards too. Presents remain unique to the nearest and dearest in our lives! It’s extremely important that you plan presents well in advance. This will help to ensure that you offer something unique to each individual you buy for rather than a last minute gift that hasn’t been thought out at all. Make a list. This will help you to tick things off and will reduce your chances of forgetting anything. It’s generally best to have a couple of different ideas for each person. This means that if something is out of stock or no longer available, you will have another idea to fall back on.

Create a TV Schedule

We tend to watch a lot more television over the festive period. It provides us with a great opportunity to gather friends and family members round and enjoy one another’s company with some great entertainment. Producers also bear this in mind – many will save their best shows until the end of the year when they know there will be bums on seats in front of the tv and when they can gain the highest ratings if they offer something good. You don’t want to miss out on particular programs, you should take a look at UKAirDates.com and come up with a television schedule to stick to.

Plan Your Food Shopping

There are certain food items and snacks that you can start stocking up on now. These tend to be well preserved items that have much longer sell by and use by dates. Some items to consider purchasing sooner rather than later could include:

• Crackers
• Pickles
• Chutneys
• Sauces
• Dried Gravy Granules
• Tinned goods
• Bottled drinks

These items will still be good to eat when Christmas comes around and you can save yourself carrying a lot of heavy or bulky items home in one shop by picking individual items up as you go along. Having a longer period of time to collect these items also means that you can keep an eye out for offers and miss last minute rushes where they can quickly become out of stock and unavailable. When it comes to other food items with a shorter shelf life, you might want to wait until closer to Christmas itself. Pates, meats, cheeses, and other fresh foods will need to be purchases nearer the time to prevent them going off before you have a chance to eat them. You can be particularly prepared by placing advanced orders for high-demand items, such as turkeys. This will allow you to pay well in advance and simply collect the items once they are ready, saving you time and guaranteeing that you will have all of the major ingredients for your Christmas day feast.

These are just a few steps that you can take in order to be as organised as possible in the lead up to the festive season. Start incorporating them into your routine sooner rather than later to reap the benefits!