My holiday shopping tips can make choosing gifts easier, less time consuming and may even help you save money!
Top Holiday Shopping Tips
Divide your list into sections for ease
Your holiday shopping list can be divided to include:
- Holiday gifts for friends and family
- Gifts for December and January birthdays
- Gifts or tips for those who provide a service to you (hairdresser, cleaners etc)
- Clothing, shoes etc for special events
- Host/hostess gifts for dinners and parties you will be attending
- Food/ingredients for holiday baking and entertaining
Set a holiday shopping budget
Use the list you have created above to set an overall budget. Be realistic about what you can comfortably afford, and don’t give into pressure from the media, advertising and social media. No one wants a gift that makes life difficult for the giver when bills start arriving in January.
Gifts don’t have to be extravagant to be meaningful. Think about ways you can be creative instead – homemade treats make wonderful gifts that are always well received. Christmas craft fairs are fun to visit, a great way to support small businesses and they are often an excellent source of inexpensive handcrafted gifts and ornaments that make beautiful presents.
When it comes to food and entertaining, it is so easy to over-buy, especially with the pressure advertisers and shops place on us. Be as strict as you can about sticking to your list.
Shop Early
Not only is it less stressful to shop early, but it can also be less expensive. As much as the extended version of Black Friday frustrates me as it is just so commercial, I have had found some very good deals in early November.
Many credit cards are offering interest free, pay over time options if spending more early on is a problem. However, do not let this encourage you to get carried away – be sure that anything you spend fits into your budget and that you can pay everything off before you have to start paying any interest.
Beware of impulse buys
There is always something new and different, the latest, greatest thing that retailers want to tempt us with. Be careful not to be lured by the latest shiny things – they are often expensive, and can even lead to duplicate gifts as someone else will likely have had the same idea.
Do as much of your holiday shopping as you can with local businesses
While online shopping can be convenient, it is important to patronise local shops and businesses where you can. Consider giving gift certificates for local restaurants or day spas to your local friends and family. Many florists, like my favourite local florist Green Parlour, also offer flower subscriptions.
Get to know your local retailers. Some will even ship gifts directly to the recipients. This can save you time that might have been spent queuing at the post office. For example, Ninos Italian Deli in Pangbourne offer beautiful pre-selected and bespoke hampers, which they will also ship nationwide. Last year, we purchased several for family and friends, some of whom live far away. Nino’s made my holiday shopping very easy indeed!
If you giving books as gifts but cannot shop at your local bookstore, consider Bookshop UK. They provide online shopping convenience but support local bookstores. Not sure which book(s) to choose? Why not send a gift card? (affiliate link).
Give the same gift to more than one person
Or as I like to think of it – shop in reverse! Instead of matching the gift to the person, match the people to the gifts.
If you find a lovely, affordable gift that will suit several people on your list, buy it in bulk. One year, I found a neutral but gorgeous makeup palette that would suit just about anyone. Bulk buying can also work with things like cosy scarves and mittens. If you are on a budget, buy woollen scarves and mittens. Splashing out? Go for a cashmere scarf and/or leather gloves – or mix and match!
Other gifts that will work for more than one person include hampers, stationery, candles, hand wash and lotion sets etc.
Take advantage of free in store gift wrapping when holiday shopping
Many cosmetic counters and speciality stores offer free gift wrapping to make holiday shopping even easier. I almost always ask – the worse thing they can do is say no! Just be sure to write your gift tags on the spot to avoid confusion. I sometimes write gift tags before I go shopping and tuck them in my handbag to take with me.
Make holiday shopping and all year round task
If you see something that would make a great gift for someone – be it a holiday or birthday gift – and it is affordable, buy it on the spot. If it is not practical to purchase it right away, write the idea down before it disappears and refer back to the list every month or so.
I keep a gift drawer containing presents labelled with the recipients names and occasions, as well as a list of gifts to purchase later with links for ease. This is great way to spread the cost of holiday shopping as well as shopping for birthdays and other occasions.
I sometimes even wrap the presents in advance too. Just be sure to label them and keep them somewhere safe (and remember where that somewhere safe is!!).
Holiday Shopping Tips – Gift Ideas
Give an experience
Afternoon tea, a spa treatment, restaurant gift certificates and travel or activity experiences can make holiday shopping easy and they are all welcome gifts. You can also buy courses and lessons to help your friends and family fulfil their dreams. With so many things happening online these days, location is no object. You can give singing lessons, cooking lessons and more!
If you are not a hundred percent sure what the person would like, you can often give gift cards that allow them to choose for themselves.
Give flowers and plants
A pretty flower arrangement or planted basket makes a wonderful gift any time of the year, but especially at Christmas. Get in touch with your local florist for great ideas. If you live near Reading in Berkshire, I highly recommend the wonderful Green Parlour. For friends and family further afield, I have had good experiences with Bloom and Wild.
Give to a charity on the gift recipient’s behalf
The perfect gift for the person who has everything, a donation to charity in their name can be just the thing. Many charities, like World Vision offer schemes where you can receive a small gift package to commemorate the gift for the person to unwrap. Some charities also sell gifts. Holiday shopping is easy with the gifts on offer at the Poppy Shop UK and The National Trust.
Buy a couple of emergency cards or gifts that will suit anyone
Every year I choose a few gifts to have on hand ‘just in case’. Last year’s holiday shopping included two small sets of pretty cheese knives tucked away along with a couple of bottles of wine and a bottle or two of champagne in gift boxes. I also keep spare boxes of chocolates and a couple of gift cards on hand. Basically, there is something for everyone. If don’t use them all at Christmas, they will come in handy another time – and it is such a relief knowing you have something to reciprocate with if you are given an unexpected gift.
Giving is supposed to make you feel good too, and using my easy holiday shopping tips may even help you transform holiday shopping from something stressful into a task you actually enjoy.
Comments & Reviews
Great tips! Especially the reminder that it isn’t like you see in movies or magazines. Well, not much is really like that. Maybe if I had a staff of 50 people working for me. Hee hee. Thanks again for the tips. I know they’ll help me!
Oh, to have staff! That would make Christmas shopping so much easier 😉 Hope my tips do help, Debi 🙂
I love the idea of shopping in reverse – it actually sounds so much simpler so I might be trying that this year or the next!
Emmie xo
Unsigned, Me Blog ‖ http://www.unsignedmeblog.co.uk
It really can make things easier, Emmie! Hope it works for you as well as it does for me! xo
Dear April, Thanks a lot for dropping by. Glad you like my recipes.
Your holiday tips are very useful and interesting. I’m going to read all of them.
Cheers from Valencia.
Thank you so much, Marisa! It’s lovely to hear from you. I really appreciate your support of Hearth and Soul each week. With very best wishes!
What a wonderful reminder that magazines and stores manufacture an experience they think we should covet, instead of something authentic and heart-felt. There’s a fantastic shop here, The Container Store, and I admit I was unsettled recently when I visited and saw all the amazing (and expensive) products which were purely to wrap gifts in… and then be thrown away.
And what a great tip about being careful where you hide gifts, if you buy and wrap in advance. I just had a funny conversation with my Dad, trying to prompt him into remembering where he’d put something for Mum. We bought it in May, so I suppose “losing” it was fair enough. The errant present has, happily, been found!
Thank you so much, Pauline. I adore the Container Store but I agree, it seems a shame that pretty gift wrappings and containers are simply thrown away. I still save gift wrap, although it drives everyone nuts!
I’m very glad your Dad managed to find his gift for your Mum! The tip about hiding gifts came about as my husband’s late mum almost always ‘lost’ a gift for someone or other every Christmas, and would be quite upset she couldn’t find it on Christmas Day. It was very bittersweet when we found one she had wrapped up for my husband recently when we were clearing the family home after my father-in-law’s death. She’s been gone nearly two years now and I must admit, we all had a little cry!
These are great tips April. I hate spending too much money at Christmas!! Thanks for sharing at the weekend blog hop.
Thank you, Claire 🙂
Hello there April. Thanks for sharing these holiday shopping tips. They will come in really handy for me.
Visiting today from FF#19,20&21
I’m so glad they will help, Paula! Thank you for visiting 🙂
ON it and Ready for the festivities. I Have Been Working And Training A Lot Of New Faces And The Kitchen Is Calling, I Have Two Of Your Cakes On Order, and I just finished off cooking boneless prime Rib!
Take care and love the beautiful Family Photos!
Thank you so much, David! Take care!