Happy December! It’s officially the most wonderful time of the year folks, and I’ve got plans to have the most festive of months (more on that on Saturday). Despite being the most wonderful time of the year, Christmas can also be pretty stressful, so today I’ve got a Christmas countdown checklist for you, a play by play of things to get done before the big day! At the end of this post there’s a free printable you can download + print out, so you can keep the Christmas chaos to a minimum!
WEEK ONE
The first week of December is where all the heavy lifting gets done, to make sure that the run up to Christmas isn’t too stressful. Ease yourself into the festive spirit by writing and sending out your Christmas cards! Make an evening of it, make yourself some mulled wine, or an orange hot chocolate, put on a Christmas movie, and write your cards! This year I’ve got beautiful cards from TAAB London, they’re beautiful quality and come in a whole bunch of different designs. Once you’re done, pull out a pen and paper to make a list of all the gifts you have left to buy, or at least who you need to buy for.
The first week of December is a good time to get stocked up on the things you need for the big day, make sure you’ve bought things like gift wrap, sellotape, gift tags, ribbon & that sort of thing. If you haven’t already, this is also the time you’re going to want to get the food sitch sorted. Order your turkey, and place an online food shop order to be collected the day before Christmas Eve. You can do a shop for non-perishables this week, but place an order for anything fresh! It’s also the best time to pick up any last minute decorations you might need, whether that’s a replacement set of fairy lights, a new wreath, or a whole new set of baubles for the tree. Get all of this out of the way this week, so you’ve got more time for the fun stuff later on.
And the other thing to fit in this week is a deep clean of your home. Yes, you’ll have to have a tidy up and run the hoover round between now and Christmas, but cleaning out your fridge, washing the sheets in the guest bedroom and deep cleaning your bathroom now will save you having to turn the house upside down the day before your friends and family start to arrive.
WEEK TWO
This is where things start to get really festive! Whether you’re buying a real tree for that authentic pine scent, or whacking out an eco-friendly artificial tree, get your tree up and dressed! While you’re at it, deck the halls with all your festive decor, hang fairy lights, bunting, stockings, wreaths, and pull out your Christmas candles. I like to dedicate a whole Sunday to this, put on Now That’s What I Call Christmas and a Christmas jumper, and get decorating!
This week you’ll want to get your final online shopping orders in too, to guarantee they’ll be with you before December 25th. I personally prefer to do my Christmas shopping out and about, I make a festive day of it (with lots of trips to Starbucks for Gingerbread Lattes) but there’s always a few bits to order from Amazon, a few one off pieces to pick up from Etsy, and something that’s sold out in every store within a thirty mile radius. Get these checked off your list this week.
This is the week to dive into that Festive DIY Pinterest board you’ve been frantically pinning to since September. Try a new mince pie recipe, spray paint pine cones from a Sunday stroll, make your own gift tags – whatever it is, indulge in a little festive DIY. Better yet, get your girlfriends over, a bottle of wine, order a pizza and try a few DIYS out together!
Have a think this week about the Christmas essentials you may need to stock up on but are likely to forget. Buy a multipack of batteries to make sure toys & electronic gifts can be played with on the day, stock up on soy milk for your lactose intolerant friend, buy an extra set of cutlery for the ever expanding Christmas day guest list. Add these to the trolley during your weekly shop, to make sure you won’t be going without for the day.
By the end of week two you’re going to want to have picked up most of your gifts, to save any last minute panic buying soap on a rope at 4.34pm on Christmas Eve!
WEEK THREE
Kick off your week by tackling your gift wrapping, and getting the presents under the tree to add to the festive spirit! Get all this out of the way so you don’t end up like me last year, still wrapping gifts at 2am on Christmas morning! Depending on how many gifts you have to wrap (and whether like me you end up wrapping for your boyfriend and your dad too) you may want to split this up into a couple of sittings so you don’t start to get frustrated with the sellotape!
Most of the rest of the week should be devoted to fun festive activities! Head to your local german Christmas market with your friends, make up a batch of mulled wine, bake cookies and gingerbread to share with tea on Christmas Eve. Go ice skating, go for a night time stroll around your local area to spot Christmas lights, and enjoy your work Christmas party!
At the end of the week assign a few hours to spruce up your house in time for entertaining!
Click here to download the printable!
Are you as excited for the month as I am?!