It’s already October, and the holidays are fast approaching. Canada will already be celebrating Thanksgiving on Monday! I know, it’s hard to believe!

Here are some weird, perhaps controversial, and hopefully somewhat helpful, holiday planning tips that I use when planning for the holidays:

1.  Forget about what others think.

Instead of worrying about what all your friends and loved ones think about how you should celebrate the holidays this year, do some things you really like doing, just because you like doing them! It’s OK to be WEIRD you know! 🙂

2.  Think about establishing a new holiday tradition.

Every family has traditions around the holidays. What is something that you’ve always wanted to do with your family, but never gotten around to it for some reason? Think about it NOW and make a few plans to do it. It can be simple, like reading Christmas Cards together at the dinner table, but think about how you’re going to do it, and GO FOR IT!

3.  Focus on your family.

Holidays tend to make us all think about our families. Be intentional with the activities you plan this year, setting aside special times with just your immediate family. It may mean NOT participating in some extra events. You can say NO to neighourhood and office parties! 🙂

4.  Take the fuss out of Christmas cards.

There are many ways to make the arduous task of addressing and mailing Christmas cards a bit less daunting. Homemade Christmas Cards can be a bit overwhelming, while being able to easily order unique  Storkie Christmas cards (photo cards and others) can be as simple as a few mouse clicks and you’re done! Some may prefer handwritten cards and addresses (see Tip #1!), but I always use sticker address labels that I print from my own home computer and printer or I order low-cost return address labels.

5.  Buy from local fairs and shows, before December!

I do the bulk of my Christmas shopping before December ever gets here. I shop a lot at Farmer’s Markets and early holiday fairs, or even in the summer at craft fairs and art shows. You can get lots of cool stuff that isn’t just ‘artsy fartsy’ at those shows! And I choose local retailers who support wonderful causes, like Wonkets, whenever I can.

6.  Be practical with teacher or staff gifts.

Teachers honestly don’t need ANOTHER mug. Consumable gifts are a great idea for your coworkers and teachers alike. Gift baskets with fruits or chocolates, gift cards to coffee shops (even in small denominations), movie tickets, etc…

7.  Don’t fret if you miss something…

So, this post goes up in October. And life happens, as it’s known to do, and you find yourself in December and still not as prepped as you’d like to be. Don’t worry about it! Do the NEED TO DOs and let the rest worry about itself! (See Tip #1!)

8. Buy extra replacement light bulbs (or new light strings) BEFORE you pull the Christmas tree out of the attic!

A little prep goes a long way, and there’s nothing more disappointing than having the tree all hooked up and ready to go, except the lights aren’t working! It takes an hour to run to the store and back to get the replacement bulbs, and by then nobody even cares about the tree anymore. Have those bulbs ready ahead of time, so you can pop them in when you find dead ones. You’ll thank me later, I’m sure!

9.  When you see mistletoe, let it be a reminder to K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Silly)!

Aw, the mistletoe, hung in doorways and dangling from chandeliers in hopes of soliciting a smooch or two. Whenever you see some of that weird green swag, let it remind you that it’s OK to NOT go ALL OUT again this year! I always need visual clues like this around me. “Keep It Simple, Silly” can apply to EVERY aspect of holiday activities, from gift buying to event planning to baking and meal preparation.

10.  Remember, life goes on before, during, and after the holidays!

A LOT of hype is built up around the holidays, and honestly, that can add a lot of pressure and disappoint a lot of people. Life still happens in this time leading up to the holidays – work, school, and family activities still will be going on. During the holidays, you’re adding more ‘stuff’ to the regular life stuff, and it can be wonderful or it can be frenzied – don’t forget about the regular life things at the expense of extras. And real life stuff can interrupt our fairy tale visions of the perfect holidays. If you remember, going into it, that life still happens, and real stuff doesn’t go on vacation just because the holiday stuff showed up, you’ll be doing good! After the holidays can be a real let down, especially if real life DID happen to interrupt your perfect holiday. In that case, See Tip #1 and Tip #7! 🙂

I’m terrible at check-lists and a lot of holiday pre-planning stuff, but keeping these tips in mind help me to keep my focus while navigating holiday prep, and help me stay a little more sane in the process!

I wrote this blog post while participating in the Storkie holiday blogging program. I received compensation for my participation. All opinions are 100% mine.