Can you already feel the craziness in the air? I’m trying to keep it simple this year. Way simple.
In an attempt to tackle holiday gift giving in the most efficient way possible I am dividing my gift buying into three categories:
{One}
Closest Family + Friends: I will take one day to go shopping for personal, meaningful gifts for the closest few in my circle.
{Two}
Friends + Colleagues: This year I am buying one simple gift for everyone else. I am thinking a glass votive holder and some home-made candies or sweets tied with a pretty ribbon. I will set aside one day to fetch the candles and another for baking and packaging with my two-year old. Done and done!
{Three}
Hostess Gifts: I always find myself racing around at the last-minute to grab a bottle of wine to bring to dinner. This year, I am going to make a list of all of our holiday events and buy my hostess gifts in bulk. I will purchase a variety of simple gifts that we can bring: Nice wine, hand soap, olive oils, etc. I plan to put them in a large basket by our front coat closet so we can literally grab + go!
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How will you simplify your gift giving this season?
Photo by Hedy Macferran
My son has a December birthday and that was really the tipping point. I HAD to get organized to survive. I made a gift list saved to my computer that I update each year (and refer back to). I make sure to buy gifts throughout the year when I spot something perfect at a decent price and keep a big storage tub in my office closet to store gifts in. I’ve been doing a lot of photo gifts lately too. Snapfish, Walgreens, and many others offer great products that you can personalize with photos plus they constantly have sales or free shipping. (Google the coupon codes before you hit the “order” button.) I’m a big shutterbug, so I usually have a lot of kiddo/family/nature images to choose from. I also started doing autumn cards rather than Christmas cards. I take pictures of my son in the pumpkin patch the first week of October and then make photo cards to send with a family letter along with a fall recipe. It is lovely to have it done so early, my family/friends like putting my son’s photo on the fridge all autumn, and we now get a lot more Christmas cards to enjoy because folks remember our autumn ones.