Is Christmas on your radar yet?
With just 6 weeks to go will you be doing a last minute dash to the shops on Christmas Eve or are you super organised and like Christmas sorted in plenty of time? For the savvy one’s amongst us Christmas shopping started in the January sales!
Check out Models Direct’s guide to planning Christmas to perfection!
For the Models Direct team the lead up to Christmas is a busy time with many brands finalising their Christmas campaigns and squeezing in last minute shoots to create the festive online content they need, so preparation is key for us agents; here’s our guide to a stress free Christmas (well kind of!).
- Plan Your Christmas Shopping
You may not feel the need to start buying gifts for friends and family in January, however to relieve stress and to save money it’s a good idea not to leave all your Christmas shopping to the last minute. Impulse purchases can be expensive and not thought out, try and spread it out over several months and be creative with your gift ideas, sometimes the thought means more than what you spend!
2. Set Your Budget
Finances are often strained at this time of year, children’s expectations are high and as a parent you don’t want to let them down. To take away this unnecessary pressure set yourself a realistic budget to cover Christmas. Be creative with your gift ideas, prioritise what you want to spend out on, whether it’s the gifts, the food or the decorations, whichever is of more importance to you. Overspending will take away your enjoyment and be another worry for you to deal with in the New Year.
3. Diary Management
If there’s ever a time of year you need to be super organised it’s now! To ensure you can do everything you and your family want to do it’s useful to make sure you write down all events, parties, shows, trips and appointments in your diary – you will know exactly what’s happening and when that way and won’t double book yourself!
4. Who’s Hosting Christmas?
Families can be complicated and who’s hosting Christmas may be a contentious subject, but it’s one that needs to be discussed and established early on. If you are host this year then it will be more important than ever that you are prepared and can enjoy time with your family and friends and not stuck in the kitchen the whole time.
5. Online Delivery & Food Preparation
Get your online food delivery slot booked in now! The best slots are already getting booked up and who want’s to face the mad supermarket rush two days before Christmas – no thanks! Do you your food shop online, you can spend more time searching out the best deals, working out exactly what you need for your favourite Christmas recipe and sit back knowing it will all be delivered to your door, bliss!
6. Feeling Your Best at Christmas
Don’t get to Christmas day and feel completely drained, make sure amongst all the madness you find time for yourself, do this by making sure the beauty appointments you want are booked in early on. Hair, nails, massage, tan….whatever’s your thing, take time out for you!
7. Stock Up on Batteries
May sound silly, but if you have children you will know how many batteries will be needed on Christmas day and there’s nothing worse than seeing their little disappointed faces when the latest new toy has no power – make sure you have a stash of batteries at the ready.
8. Decorations
If your anything like me than packing up the Christmas decorations is often hurried and they’re quickly stuffed away, so it’s a good idea to see what state your decorations are in and are they ready to be hung again? Do your Christmas tree lights all work? Does your singing reindeer still sing?? It’s critical stuff, so give yourself plenty of time to check them and add any new additions.
9. Real or Fake?
There are pro’s and con’s to both, whichever side of the fence you sit make sure you have the perfect spot for your tree decided and you know what size will fit! If you are going for a real tree this year, find out where’s good to get one locally to you and how you will transport it – choosing a tree can be a very lovely thing to do as a family.
10. Chill Out
Remember to chill a bit….Christmas means many different things to many different people, it is celebrated in a variety of ways and for some not at all. However you wish to spend your Christmas this year try to take a step back and focus on what’s really important to you and your loved ones….it’s unlikely to be what you might think.
To apply and get your ePortfolio set up in time for Christmas click here
