This is a sponsored post for Woolworths.
A recent Galaxy Poll discovered that one-third of Australians start planning their Christmas main meal three months or more in advance. Hands up if you’re in that third? {By the way, my hand is up}. Thirty percent of grocery buyers who were surveyed said that they leave it until the last two weeks. Is that you? {That was me just last year}. Over the next 8 weeks I’ll be working with Woolworths and bringing you Christmas posts/recipes/ideas that will hopefully put you in that excitable, organised third of Australians. Believe it or not.
Did you know that it’s 55 days until Christmas Day? 8 weeks. This excites me {like a little school girl!} and scares me {like a mum with a looooong to-do list}.
I think there are two types of people when it comes to Christmas, the organised and the last-minuters. I have been a last-minuter, always leaving everything to last few days and then getting it done. And this year I vow to be an organised person. I started a few weeks back buying gifts for Lacey and putting them away. BUT I already gave two of the presents to Lacey because I was too darn excited. Oh boy I’m gonna be in trouble. {Hubby if you’re reading this, there’s nothing to see here – move on}.
I’m particularly excited because this is our first Christmas in a house, in our house. We’re having all the family over, from both sides, {minus my brother and one sister – who can’t make it} and we’ll be cooking up a storm, swapping gifts, drinking and no doubt having lots of laughs. This week I’ve even been working on the lunch menu. Did someone say excited much?
Here’s an 8 week countdown plan, so that you won’t be sent batty being a last-minuter. Promise.
8 weeks to go: Make the big decisions
There are decisions need to be made at Christmas time, like where on earth will you be celebrating the big day? For some families that decided well in advance and for others {ahem, mine} those conversations are just starting to take place. It’s time to start asking, “Where are we spending Christmas this year?”
7 weeks to go: Work that budget
With Christmas comes spending money. It’s kinda inevitable. We always have a budget and we’re never really extravagant. And we do Kris Kringle to keep costs down. My family only buys for one person and the budget is $100, and that’s it. Hubby and I have the same agreement between ourselves too. Perhaps you can afford more, or not as much. But it’s a great time to now start thinking about finances and how much you’re willing to spend.
6 weeks to go: Plan the gifts
Get it all out of your head and onto paper. Do you need to buy for teachers? Make foodie gifts for the neighbours? Figure who you need to buy for, how much you want to spend and what you’re going to bake for others. Just quietly I love foodie gifts {doesn’t everyone?}. This great FREE printable gift planner is a great place to start. Slowly buy gifts each week, and check out stores online too. Doing it gradually helps the budget and saves the stress too.
5 weeks to go: Plan the menu
This is my most favourite thing to do. I scour the web, magazines and cookbooks for the perfect recipes to make. I kinda really like entertaining. I don’t do fancy, but I do do yummy. If you’re not having people at your house this Christmas {lucky you!} then figure out if you’ll need to bring a dish, and start dreaming up what you’ll create {or buy}. We still haven’t decided whether we’ll do a hot or cold lunch.
4 weeks to go: Decorate mate!
It’s time to get the decorations out, put the lights up and dust off the tree {or buy one!}. Having lived in an apartment all our married lives we’ve never been able to decorate, and now watch out. We’ve promised ourselves to not get too excited with the lights – but seriously I think it’s doing to be hard to restrain ourselves. Don’t forget to get the Santa photo taken too.
3 weeks to go: Get wrapping & send out the cards
This might just be another of my favourite weeks, I love to wrap. Love it. Give me some gift wrap and sticky-tape and I might just be the happiest girl in the world. Now is a great time to wrap the gifts, write the cards and send them out. If you want to save the environment, Red Stamp has a great app where you can create easy photo Christmas cards and share them via email, text, Instagram, Facebook or snail mail.
2 weeks to go: Make foodie gifts
Crack out the flour and sugar, it’s time to get cooking. Make cookies, rocky road and other delicious goodies for loved one in your life. As I said, there’s nothing better than getting goodies that are made with love.
1 week to go: Eat, drink and be merry
You’ve done all the hard work early, so now it’s time to enjoy it. Get the grocery shopping done, enjoy time with friends and family, celebrate the end of another lovely year, and a beautiful Christmas. Cook up a delicious storm, open gifts and see the reaction from loved ones when you hand them their gifts too.
This year I’ll be counting down to Christmas each week here on my blog, and we’ll have company. Woolworths are coming along for the ride. My Ma has worked at Woolworths for the past 20 years, so it feels like home. They’re giving me yummy, fresh recipes to create and share, prizes to giveaway and a few little more surprises. It’s going to be fun. They’ve just released their new television commercial; you can check it out here.
Does the thought of Christmas excite you? Are you a last-minuter or an organised person?
If you’d like to read more about sponsored posts, you can check out my disclosure policy here.
