Christmas in July

Hobby Lobby has their Christmas products out.  It’s full on summer and there are nutcrackers in the center aisle.  Crafters may love this, but the rest of us sure as heck don’t.

This summer I’ve also noticed several Christmas in July sales at furniture stores, clothing boutiques, and Bath and Body Works.  (candles, anyone?)  That Elf graphic crossed my news feed yesterday…22 weeks til Christmas!  Ya’ll (I’m borrowing authority from southern mamas using this word) it’s July.  Settle down.

At 11:37 pm when my body was tired and my brain was loud, it struck me- I’m also preparing for Christmas this July.  The difference is that I’m doing it financially, not with glitter and holly.  Remember when we talked about the budget, and thinking ahead for Christmas? We actually do that, and it makes the whole season more awesome (read: waaaaaay less stress).

Here are 5 ways we are getting ready for Christmas in July.

1. Set aside a little bit of CASH in an envelope labeled Christmas. We do this every month of the year, so December’s budget doesn’t even change for the holiday, and January doesn’t have a soul-crushing credit card balance.  If you didn’t start in January, have no fear!  You have time- I mean, it’s July.  Just start now.
2. Shop those Christmas in July sales. Use your saved cash to buy deeply discounted gifts.  Here’s the key: you actually have to wait until December to give/use them.  Don’t cheat future you out of Christmas money for something you wanted in August.
3. Amazon Prime Day. Enough said.
4. Keep a running list of gift ideas. Gift giving is a skill, and I don’t have it.  Once I traveled to Florida on a family vacation, and brought back a shark in a jar for my boyfriend as a souvenir.  He married me anyway, so there’s that.  For this exact reason (seriously, who wants a shark in a jar?) I keep a note in my phone of things my loved ones have mentioned they’d enjoy.  This gives me something to work with come shopping time, and plenty of opportunity to snag things on sale.
5. We have a gift tote. In the tote are objects we think others in our life would like and use, but we’re not sure who they are yet.  For example, when Amelia was born we received no less than 1000 pacifiers.  Please hear me- I am so grateful for these gifts.  I feel blessed and loved to have received them.  But unless she’s going to have a paci at graduation, we’re not going to go through them all.  Some of them ended up in the gift tote, and I know that a future new mom in my life could use them.  Is this re-gifting?   Okay yes, it’s re-gifting.  But it’s done with intentionality.

BONUS tips:

• Purchase Christmas decorations and wrapping paper at Hobby Lobby right AFTER Christmas- 90% off!
• If you prefer live Christmas trees (we do), wait until the first or second week of December to pick it out. Fewer needles in your carpet, and typically less expensive because all the other holiday-minded people took theirs home Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Do you have great Christmas prep ideas?  Drop a comment and share with the tribe!