How to plan your Christmas Gifts!!!! Blog Tour: poppyseeds!

Hey Guys!

I was invited to be part of a Christmas Blog tour by BetsyJane from poppyseeds! If you haven’t seen her blog before then you should check it out now before you do anything else!

(Funny story: I thought I was following her before she asked me to do the tour with her blog and when I realized I was not I freaked out and hit follow right away. Sorry about that Betsy! I have done that before and I hate myself for it.)

Anywayyy

Thanks a ton for thinking of me girl!

Here is the schedule:

(where you can check on everyone’s blogs for fun posts!) (*wink*)

Monday, December 5: DIY project or gift ideas- Rebekah  https://booksandhooks13.wordpress.com/

Tuesday, December 6: DIY project or gift ideas- Corrie 

https://miraculushomeschool.wordpress.com/

Wednesday, December 7: short story- AnnaKate annakatewrites.wordpress.com

Thursday, December 8: Betsy @poppyseeds

Friday, December 9: craft project- Diamond 

https://ihave12ofaplan.wordpress.com/

Saturday, December 10: family Christmas traditions- Jennifer 

https://caplingerfamily.blogspot.com/

Now on to the post!

Oh look! A GIF! I never use these but I thought it fitted the situation😂

Before I get into the meat of today’s post I need to talk about the most important reason of the season.

Jesus Christ!

It is His birth we celebrate and because of Him we even have a hope for a better tomorrow.

I am not a big fan of the Christmas holiday in general. I don’t mind if people decorate but I don’t like Santa or Christmas trees that much. I do love seeing holiday lights.

Probably my favorite part of the season other than celebrating Christ’s birth is coming up with presents for my friends and family (EVEN THOUGH IT’S A PAIN IN THE BUTT AND TAKES SO MUCH DARN TIME!!!)

So for this post I’m going to share with you what I do to get ready for presents and how I keep myself sane thought this season.

1st: NEVER wait till the last minuet!

If you do then you are hurried, stressed, and the presents don’t mean as much since you did not have as much time to think about them. I am a huge stressor. I stress about the most ridiculous things and when it comes to actual stress😬… Basically: “Look out world, here comes Corrie!” (no one wants to see that. I promise you.)

2nd: Decide who you want to give presents to.

You may be thinking: I want to shower everyone with presents! What do you mean?!?!

I mean, some people you don’t talk to a lot. Some adults would rater have a card, ect…

Also, decide who you want to buy presents for and who you want to make things for.

I use a chart to help me get all my ideas straight.

3rd: Make a present chart!

Seriously! You guys have no idea how helpful this is!

I use a word document and made my own little chart with everyone’s names, their hobbies, fave colors, fave animals, ideas, ect…

Here is what it looks like:

Kinda blurry, I’m sorry about that.

Basically, I put their name, then I input their favorite color, their fave animal, stuff they like and things they like to do, ideas I have and then in the last column I add what I finally decided upon so I have that as records and I don’t repeat the thing the next year. Sometimes the finished product is something I did not even mention on the chart.

I blanked out their names for privacy and Sawyer’s I kept since lots of you know her. (though that don’t mean you know what I’m making you Sawyer. I have not decided yet, don’t look to the chart for hints)

4th: Get your ideas down as soon as possible!

If you get the info and your ideas together a few months in advance then it helps immensely. You can go about your life and work on the presents as you go since you already have your ideas down.

And be sneaky about getting info from your friends. It makes the present gathering more fun.

5th: Don’t worry about going all out.

Sometimes the smallest things mean the most. A little card and something handmade means a lot to your friends.

Adults are easy since they love hand made cards and they usually have everything they want. If you want to make something small, like a homemade ornament, that is nice too.

Siblings can be harder than your friends. They don’t need cards, they know you love them and wish them a Merry Christmas. Candy, homemade trinkets, ect, those are good ideas for siblings.

Most of my Christmas presents are crochet items. I love crocheting and it’s really easy to find things to do that friends would love.

Maybe you are really good at art, writing, crafts, baking, ect…

Use your talent to write your friends a poem, bake them cookies, paint them a picture, whatever would make them smile. Whatever you decide to do they will love.

Theme what you make around their favorite movie, book, color, animal, ect…

6th: Pace yourself, but don’t slack.

Once you have your ideas down definite, not rush to get everything done in one week. Pace yourself. Work on one set of friends one week, family the next, and plan a day for shopping if what you need is going to be bought. Use a week to gather the presents together and package them.

Put the cards you will send out in an envelope. Post them.

7th: Can’t wait to show your friends what you made them but you also don’t want to spoil the surprise?

Show your siblings, your other friends, take pictures of them and make a folder of presents. It’s better to wait for them to get their presents. But if you can’t wait then show it to another friend who can be trusted to keep a secret.

8th: Enjoy yourself!

If this is going to make you stressed and miserable then don’t do it! What fun is giving like Christ gave for us if you are hating every step you take? Do little bits at a time. And if you are late on presents then just tell your friends what happened. They won’t be mad at you and they will be more excited when you finally give them their presents.

Have fun! Make memories!

That’s all for this post!

Don’t forget to go look at AnnaKate’s blog for her short story tomorrow!  annakatewrites.wordpress.com

Thanks Betsy for thinking of me! And thank you for reading this! What do you usually do to get ready for present making? Do you make presents by hand or do you buy them? Did this post help give you any ideas or planning tips?

Corrie.S.P.