Christmas Planning for Busy Families: What to DIY vs. What to Buy
Christmas planning takes on a whole new meaning when you’re balancing working from home, Zoom schedules and school expectations alongside magical moments you hope to create as a family. There’s an element of guilt that sets in when you’ve always created things from scratch and now you can’t catch a break and social media tells you to handmake every last ornament or else. But what some busy families are learning amidst their increasingly hectic holiday seasons, however, is that this form of outsourcing is not depriving the family of a good, old-fashioned holiday – it’s merely allocating efforts to what truly matters to you where no one will miss it.
The best way to save time and sanity is to recognize what can slide in the season without anyone actually missing it as well as where the traditions truly need the extra time and attention. Some aspects of Christmas lend themselves well to outsourcing; others simply add stress to an already busy season.
The Food Equation
Food-related challenges at Christmas create the most stress during the holidays. Between office parties, family gatherings, and other celebration opportunities, cooking can get out of hand very quickly.
First things first: What is the primary Christmas meal? If you’re hosting a massive family gathering, making everything from scratch while also dealing with presents and decorations and family dynamics will make for a very stressful holiday. Therefore, assess what’s important between your guests to recognize the items that will have the most impact and those that will get barely recognized.
For example, that massive selection of appetizers that took countless hours to prepare: people appreciate them in passing, yes, but while they’re all distracted catching up with one another, little effort goes into such a selfless act. However, when it comes time for dessert, that’s when people line up and focus on the selected options. As such, investing in the best christmas cakes from nearby professional bakers makes the most sense for your mental health when more important holiday moments are occurring.
Be realistic and comfortable when it comes to your culinary skills. If you’re not an amazing baker, then forget making Christmas pudding from scratch. It will drive everyone insane if it’s burnt or just a horrible idea because you’re not skilled in the kitchen. There’s no shame in getting prepackaged versions of food you know won’t work out for your sanity.
The Wrapping Perspective
Wrapping gifts is such a ridiculous task that somehow ends up taking hours upon hours. While Pinterest-worthy cut-outs, hand-tied bows and cohesive wrapping paper seem like a good idea, for most families stuck with less time than they hoped, it’s more realistic to buy pre-wrapped gifts instead or hire someone to wrap them for you professionally.
Wrapping gifts may not be as necessary as you think. Kids don’t care what the outside of the package looks like; they just want to be excited about what’s on the inside!
If wrapping gifts is something you enjoy, then yes, absolutely do it. But if it continues to add to your stressors without others reaping the benefits, it makes more sense to allocate that time elsewhere during an otherwise stressful season.
Decoration Choices
As above, every holiday takes on its own threshold under which it must flourish – the more, the merrier! But children get just as excited about a tree strung with lights as they do about an elaborate chosen theme decorating scheme.
Instead, focus on what your family appreciates (and will remember). If your children love helping you decorate the tree, make that the focus and keep everything simple. If they have favorite ornaments specific to family traditions or memories they’ve made with your loved ones over time, those ornaments are far more important than how your mantle looks.
It’s easier to purchase store bought garland, have a pre-lit Christmas tree or simply hang lights up outside than spend November and December devoting every weekend to a massive DIY project that no one’s truly going to appreciate anyway. Save it for something your family will participate in and remember fondly.
The Activity Negotiation
Between school concerts, office parties, neighborhood gatherings, and family traditions, most families over-schedule every single day of December with Christmas-related events.
However, this is where saying no becomes effective. Not every holiday invitation must be tendered. Not every tradition must be continued if it doesn’t fit within your lifestyle anymore. Your holiday experience doesn’t have to be like anyone else’s family’s version!
Instead, appreciate what you deem necessary. If decorating cookies – or having elaborate cookie decorating parties – makes more sense than ice skating at the local rink because your kids hate being cold outside, then prioritize staying inside! Secure what truly makes sense for the cohesive family experience.
The Budget Factor
If it’s not enough pressure trying to do everything hand-crafted this holiday season in addition to busy lifestyles of working and managing children throughout school expectations, adding financial pressure means that families either need to scrimp or they need to find ways to save money and time!
Instead, consider a planning perspective that allows for compromise. Buying things during sales throughout the year – while inconvenient if you’re lacking storage – takes away from holiday stressors in December but also minimal costs if items are non-perishables (i.e., gifts purchased during pre-holiday sales, food items like stuffing mixes or decorations).
Furthermore, put a financial value on buying things vs. making them relative to how much time savings you’d gain if you bought certain items instead of challenging yourself and budgeting.
For example, if making cookies takes four hours worth your time but buying them for twenty extra dollars saves you from special ingredients or terrible stress and confusion – put a monetary value on such time wasted; probably purchasing them will work out better for your family in the long run!
Making Better Choices Appropriate For Your Family
The absolute best choices made during Christmas planning are made when they’re aligned with your family’s values and current situations (not what’s been popularized in social media or what’s worked for generations past who had entirely different ways of life).
Some families thrive based on homemade everything; others find fantastic memories using a hybrid version of purchased gifts/trimmings/resources fused with personally made items critical for success. Neither option is right or wrong; the only path critical for success occurs when people are honest about what works right now.
Ultimately Christmas planning for busy families comes down to where you allocate your time and resources that make sense without compounding guilt that it’s not enough because you’ve already overwhelmed yourself into crisis mode.
Children don’t remember the holidays where everything came out perfectly homemade. They remember the ones where their parents were present instead of overworked trying to accomplish the impossible!
