Workin' It: Planning for the Holidays

Hey ladies!

It's a Workin' It Wednesday today with Erika and Shay. 

The second Wednesday of each month these ladies share a new topic. 

If you're interested in the topics so far this year or ones to comes, check out the graphic below.

This month we're sharing: 

Planning for the holidays!

I try to make Christmas as stress-free as I can, so I plan all throughout the year. 

It's sounds crazy, but I'm that weird person thinking about Christmas in every single month that leads up to it. 

With that being said, there are a few things that I like to do to help be organized and ready to go come December. 

Christmas Club

 There's a Christmas Club at one of our local banks, so I save money all throughout the year, and then I get a check at the end of October to buy Christmas presents. 

My mom started this for my brother and I way back when we were young. 

We had to save like $2 a week and then got $100 to spend on family for Christmas. 

It really taught me a lot about money, saving and buying for others. 

I truly enjoy buying and watching my family members open their gifts more than I enjoy opening gifts myself. 

There was always so much planning involved in getting just the right gift that I still feel that way to this day. 

The Christmas Club account helps me not feel like I'm stressed for money come December, and it allows me to stick to a budget. 

I only buy as much as I have available in the check I receive from my Christmas Club. 

My gifts are meaningful and not over the top. 

If I want to spend more $ here, then I spend less $ over here.

 Christmas List

I keep a Christmas List with gift ideas for everyone on my phone all throughout the year. 

That way when I hear something that someone likes I jot it down and have the idea ready to buy come October/November/December. 

Keeping a Christmas List all year helps me be better prepared to buy a meaningful gift. 

I'm not quick on my toes, so I need lots of time to think and plan and that running Christmas list allows me just that. 

 Menu Planning

Along with my running Christmas List on my phone throughout the year, I also keep a menu for our Christmas dinner. 

Last year was our first year to host Christmas dinner. 

It was an enjoyable time with family but also a ton of work, especially since we went to two places on Christmas Day before coming home and trying to prepare a meal for 18 people. 

I started way back in June with planning out our menu for this year. 

I cut out some things because we just don't need as much food as we had, and I was intentional on the menu items that I added. 

Some items will be quick that we can make the day of, and others will be made ahead of time. 

I love a home cooked meal, but I need to make something that's do-able come Christmas Day. 

I don't want to be hosting a meal when I dread all of the preparation. 

To this day I'm still fine tuning the menu, but for the most part it is set, and I'm already mentally preparing for when I will make the dishes that I need to make ahead of time. 

Christmas Cards

I tried to get some pictures of Alex and I throughout the year to use on our Christmas cards. 

Last year we used wedding pictures, so that made it super easy, but this year I wanted to use pictures from various vacations. 

I've put my request in for our cards to be made and am just awaiting a reply. 

I like to send cards out during the first week of December to get them done and out of the way. 

Christmas Games

I'm still in need of some help with a fun gift card game to play on Christmas evening. 

In the past I started a little tradition of buying various gift cards, covering up the $ amount with a sticker and then wrapping them up. 

So a person would choose a wrapped gift card, unwrap it and then it would move on to the next person.

 I did it where each person chose a card, and after the first person chose their card, anyone could steal a card that was previously taken or unwrap a new one. 

We waited until everyone went and then they got to uncover the sticker covering the amount of the card. 

This game was fun, but this year I've decided to discontinue that and instead am including a little blurb on our Christmas dinner invitation about bringing a gift card of your choice if you want to be included in the gift card game. 

Any ideas on a neat game to play with gift cards?

I'm all about organization and planning, so when it comes to planning and being organized for the holidays, I'm even more about it. 

I can't wait to read everyone else's fun tips!