As the holiday season approaches, you may be planning out jingle bells and twinkly light decorations. However, you may also be contemplating how to accomplish everything you want to do this holiday season.
Whether it’s picking the perfect gift for your loved ones or hosting a fun holiday party, you may be overwhelmed with thoughts on how to accomplish it all.
Planning ahead is the key to a smooth, less stressful holiday season. In this article, we share 10 important tips for planning ahead for the 2022 holiday season.
Save Online Gifts to Purchase on a Wishlist
Holiday shopping is a game of comparisons and price matching. No matter where you’re shopping, it’s important to save items you’re thinking of gifting so you don’t forget where you found your perfect gift.
Make a physical list on a Google or Word document with links to specific items. Indicate if you’ve purchased the item, are watching the price, or are still comparing it to another item from a different store.
The majority of websites allow you to save items for later viewing on a “wish list” or “save for later” section by making an account. You will also receive email notifications on deals and savings for specific items.
Collect Coupons and Search Online Deals
If you can’t wait for Black Friday or are a bonafide bargain hunter, make sure you start looking into coupons now!
Services like Honey and Groupon already have coupon codes stocked for thousands of sites and items so you can save money on your presents.
Many stores also send out physical coupons through the mail to folks that sign up for them. Don’t forget the old-fashioned method of cutting newspaper coupons!
Open Those Email Newsletters
As previously mentioned, stores are already thinking about holiday shopping too, and they’re preparing for their biggest deals of the season.
Look at newsletters or advertisements that your favorite stores send out so you can keep up-to-date on their latest drops and deals!
If you’re looking to shop at a local business this holiday season, follow any social media accounts that they have. Local businesses often post news and deals on their social media platforms.
Create a Holiday Master Budget
The holidays can be expensive. Between gifting, parties, events, and getting yourself a stocking stuffer or two, you can be overwhelmed with the thought of draining your bank account.
Take the time to sit down with a budget planner and create a master budget for your holiday spending.
Make categories for all of your forms of holiday spending. You may consider categories such as:
- Gifts
- Event/Party Planning
- Decorations
- Travel (if you plan to visit others outside of your home state)
- Emergency spending
- Any others you deem applicable
Keep track of your spending with that master budget and stick to it.
Share a Holiday Calendar
Coordinating with a bunch of different schedules can prove challenging when trying to plan a get-together.
An easy solution is to send a survey through a service such as SurveyMonkey or Doodle to establish availability so you can easily nail down dates and times for events!
After you establish availability, send out calendar invites through either Google or Microsoft Outlook so that everyone is on the same page and have those events placed on their schedule.
You can also create a separate section on your calendar that is highlighted specifically for the holidays so you don’t lose track of your holiday events and tasks!
Plan Your Holiday Events Before Thanksgiving
It’s important to have an action plan for any events or parties you are planning to host in advance.
If you’re planning to outsource for a location or food, have a game plan prepared sooner rather than later. Reservations and catering service fill up quickly and you don’t want to be scrambling to find resources for your events.
Planning food orders and/or reservations by the end of November helps ensure that you have all your ducks in a row before the flurry of the holiday season.
Create an Event Checklist
Whether you plan parties like a pro or you are navigating throwing your first big holiday event, it’s important to establish what tasks you need to complete and by when.
Creating an event checklist saves you time and energy by making sure all of your tasks are neatly aligned and you have a visual representation of what all needs to be done to make sure your holiday goes off without a hitch.
Don’t be afraid to add notes to tasks as you accomplish them so you can make sure you have all of the information in writing for everything. This can especially help with location reservations, catering orders, and booking outside entertainment.
Get Outside Catering
Let’s face it: cooking takes a lot of time, and if you’re serving multiple dishes in large quantities, you’ll want to be pulling your hair out instead of enjoying time with your loved ones.
A simple, yet effective solution is to order event catering. For example, The Refuge has the ability to provide catering for any of your holiday events (business holiday pirates, private family celebrations, etc.).
The Refuge can help with all your catering needs with a comprehensive menu and flexible options to make your event full of holiday cheer.
With menu options including appetizers, salads, pasta, pizza, seafood, sides, and even dessert, The Refuge can provide you with delicious options for any holiday event.
They even have a Refuge Family Dinner option that feeds four people if you want to celebrate the holidays with just your closest family or friends.
Collaborate with Others!
If you’re a planner, you may feel the urge to take over everything and do all of the tasks yourself.
Don’t do that!
You can work with other members of your family or with friends to lessen your individual load and still create successful holiday celebrations!
Whether you delegate tasks to individual guests or work with people as a team to make a celebration, you can accomplish multiple tasks simultaneously when you ask for help. by
Save Time and Stress with Event Catering!
Using the tips above, you can streamline your holiday season! Reduce your stress and never forget a gift when you implement the strategies above.
Get a head start today on any holiday parties with catering. Refuge is here to help with all of your catering needs, and we can’t wait to help you put on a party that your guests will never forget!
Take a look at our catering menu to get started.
We can’t wait to help you with all of your holiday parties and family celebrations this season!