Yep, you read right.
It's August... and we've officially started our Christmas shopping! Warren and I bought our first gifts for Christmas 2008 on Saturday as we shopped together. We came home and hid a large box in our garage just for collecting gifts in.
With five children, extended family and several family friends, we've gotta get a head start to make it a glorious affair.
I like to think really long and hard about what I give for gifts. If I'm going to give a gift- it's gotta mean something. I make some and buy some.
Also, trying to budget out Christmas would be next to impossible if I waited. We won't go into ANY debt for Christmas.
I'm half way finished with the handmade Christmas cards we'll be sending out this year. I'm excited to be on top of them. Of course, I have a couple girlfriends who are making Christmas cards for their families too...so we turn it into a party while we make them.
Last year I just bought cards...so it's not like I do this every year. Just some years. I was up for making them this time around. {And they're SO stinkin' cute! Maybe I'll post it later...}
Do you shop early for Christmas?
How do you plan and budget it out?
10 Royal Remarks:
i started mine too! i have "christmas tuesday" devoted for these kinds of things
*It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas* I am looking out the window, at this hundred-degree August day, as I listen with amazement to the song on your blog :-).
Our Relief Society has a Craft Saturday coming up soon. I reluctantly am thinking Christmas as I sign up for projects.
Wow, I think I remember you saying that you start early, which is sooooo smart!
I need to start now too!
I used to get my Christmas shopping done quite early in the year but I find as the kids get older it seems to get harder. I don't know what they want and they don't know what they want. Combine that with an extremely limited budget and we get pretty creative around here. I usually manage to get all the gifts done by the end of November. I don't like the crowds in the stores during December.
in my mind I always plan it out. BUt rarely do I actually do it. Unless I find something on sale that is perfect for one of the kids. But I mostly wait until October to really start thinking about it
AHHH this post just freaked me out. I'm just adjusting to school starting and now more work!! I like sharon's idea though, devoting a day to it.
I totally shop early. In fact every summer when I visit my family I deliver christmas gifts so I save on the shipping. Call me cheap, but it works. :)
Good reminder! I need to start looking into Christmas gifts... It's so much better to spend a little each month, than to spend one big, depleting chunk!
People that actually do this amaze me. My mom always does that and I just can't get into the spirit of it until Thanksgiving is over. I'm often shopping like crazy on December 23rd, but I love it.
I'm a last minute shopper. I usually have ideas floating aorund all year long, so that by Christmas, I know exactly what i want to get. Plus...I do a lot of my shopping online now. Sooooo much easier!
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