Stress Free Christmas + Checklist

Grab a cup of tea, download my Stress Free Christmas Checklist and get ready to plan a lovely and cosy holiday season!

Mariah Carey is now on all radio stations and you know that means one thing: Christmas is coming!

As a handmade business owner, Christmas is the most important season of the year in terms of revenue and brand visibility. But I am more than a maker trying to get their handcrafted products under your Christmas tree. I kind of also need some gifts to put under my Christmas tree, prepare dinners, plan family and friends visits… and so do you!

I always say that planning is the key to success for almost everything. So, Christmas couldn’t be any different. Here is my tip: set your priorities, what you really, really want to do, what would be nice to do and when you have to do it.

I will share with you my Stress Free Christmas Ritual and to make it even easier, you can download my checklist for a totally stress free holiday season. Shall we start?

FIND A COSY PLACE AT HOME AND FREE YOUR MIND

• Block 1 hour of your day: preferably in the evening, maybe on a Friday or during the weekend.
• Download my Stress Free Christmas Checklist and get a pen.
• Prepare a warm and delicious cup of tea. My favourite for this time of the year and perfect to get into the “Christmas spirit” is the green Christmas Star Tea by Yourdailyteacup.
• Extra: Ok, let’s play some music, you know all you want is… listening to Mariah Carey’s Christmas hit!

CATEGORIZE AND YOU WILL WIN

There is so much to do around Christmas! But if we divide all these to-dos up into categories and set a deadline for them, planning Christmas just gets easy-peasy.

So here are my 5 main categories or topics we will focus on:

• Buy and wrap

Whom do you want to gift this year? Do you already have some present ideas for this person? Is it a custom made gift that needs to be ordered on time? As a maker, I have to set deadlines for my custom orders to get all assignments done. So be sure that you take into consideration this and other delivery deadlines when buying presents.

And of course, don’t forget to wrap them! Go for a more sustainable wrapping alternative and use a furoshiki to wrap your presents. There is a handy tutorial here. If you still prefer to use paper, you can reuse newspapers, old maps, or even some packaging paper to wrap your presents. Personalize it with stamps, hand lettering or even Chalk Paint!

• Send Christmas cards

Who doesn’t love to open the mailbox and find a handwritten letter from a friend? Send some love and best wishes on paper this year! I created a limited exclusive selection of hand marbled Christmas cards you can check out here.

Block some time to write all letters, buy stamps and send them on time (especially if they have to travel thousands of kilometers before they arrive!)

• People to visit

One of the things I always loved when I was a child was welcoming family and friends at home (hum, I am wondering if that was just because there were always cookies and punch – just kidding!)

If you live abroad and are coming back home for Christmas, you will probably want to visit some old friends and family. Plan some time slots to visit them and enjoy a cup of punch together.

• Dinners

Office dinner, college/university friends dinner, friends of your boyfriend/girlfriend dinner, family dinners… it’s normal that our new year’s proposal number 1 is always joining a gym! From the end of November till the very last day of the year we will be quite busy with all kinds of Christmas dinners. Make sure you know when and where they take place and don’t mess up with the dates.

• Me time

Ok, most of the things that I listed above are related to people we love. But Christmas should also be about us, so don’t forget to think about what you need or want to do for you this holiday. Do you want to make yourself a special present? Or maybe you have a wishlist, share it with your family and friends! Maybe there is a Christmas market you want to visit? Plan time for yourself as well!

Download my Stress Free Christmas Checklist now and start planning your holiday season: get an overview of all your to-dos, deadlines and celebrate every time you get one of these things done!