Christmas Gift Guide

The Ultimate Guide to Christmas 2015: Christmas Shopping Ideas

The Gift Of Giving

Some people have it, some people don't. 

Summer is now well and truly over. Halloween is fast approaching and, before you know it, we'll be opening the first door of our advent calenders. Yes folks, it's time to start thinking about Christmas. 

Despite the fact that Christmas comes but once a year - and it comes on the same day every year - many of us (myself included) find ourselves perilously unprepared as winter sets in and the lights start to go up on the high street. It doesn't matter how long you think about it or how carefully you plan: your Christmas work is never done. Whether you like to start your festive shopping in the August sales or are among the many people (again, myself included) that put off any retail activity until December 23rd - where you're jolted into action with the stark realisation that you haven't even got a carrot in the house for Rudolph - present-buying is always a tricky process.

For we are living in a material world - now more than ever - and the pressure is on all of us over the festive season to find the most fitting, most original gifts on the high street for our loved ones. What is more, with the rapid advancements in technology and advertising campaigns over the last decade, we are met with demands at every opportunity to keep up with the trends and purchase the latest, most expensive products in everything from mobile phones and tablets to kitchen appliances, clothing and accessories. 

High-street happiness can quickly dissolve into a headache as you find yourself contemplating whether you should take out yet another credit card as you stand in the middle of Marks & Spencer, being slowly crushed by the overwhelming sea of frantic shoppers (who, it seems, have all decided to come into town on the one evening that you have free): completely uninspired by the latest selection of woollen scarves that you were looking at for your Gran, but realising that to upgrade to the cashmere would send you into your unplanned overdraft. 

DON'T PANIC!

Hope is not lost! For the good of your 'elf (we had to get that one in there) we've compiled a comprehensive list of festive tips and tricks that will help you breeze through the Christmas pandemonium as effortlessly as Santa on his sleigh and leave you with more time for the things that really matter over the holidays. 

So whether you need help choosing your gifts, advice on how best to handle your money, time-management tips or cool craft ideas to personalise your presents (and cut your Christmas costs) then look no further - this blog has everything you need to know! 

After all, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. 

Managing Money At Christmas

This is the most boring aspect of festive spending and often the one that gives us the most trouble. But managing your money over the holidays is a necessary evil and is something that will save you a lot of hassle and unneccesary anxiety come January.

• Plan - annoyingly for most of us, it's important to plan ahead when it comes to your Christmas finances. Start by weighing up how much money you've got to spend and make a list of all the people you need to buy presents for. Try to roughly divide your total so that you're spending the right proportion of your money on the right people - you don't want to splash £50 on a bloke from work just to be left with £10 to spend on your Mum. This will help you to keep a rough budget for each gift in your head while you're out shopping. 

• Do your research - as soon as you get a gift idea for someone, check it out on the internet. Again, it's a bit annoying to have to think about this in advance, but compare that to blundering onto the high-street with 24 hours until Christmas Day and having to resort to a spree of full-price panic-buys, and price comparison could save you a small fortune. 

• Send E-Cards - of course it's nice to display printed Christmas cards around the house during the holidays, but sending some of your contacts a card by email is also a cool alternative that will really help you to cut costs down. Forget about the price of the actual cards for a second; it costs 60p for a First Class stamp and 50p for a Second Class stamp. If you email 30 people this year rather than sending them printed cards, that means you're saving between £15 and £18 on postage costs alone. That's the price of an actual gift! Plus, with cool sites such like Blue Mountain, you can make your E-cards interactive by including video - which makes the E-card, in many ways, more personal then its printed counterpart.  

Have a Christmas Clear-Out - sorting through all of your old clothes, gadgets and accessories will not only help make room for the new toys in Santa's sack; you can also sell anything you don't want either online or at a local Christmas fayre and get a bit extra cash in return. If some of the stuff that you dig up is in mint condition, then there's nothing wrong with sending a second-hand gift. Or, if you're feeling more creative, get cutting, glittering and gluing and create a brand new, hand-made present.

Time Management At Christmas

Between work, family, and social commitments, it's difficult to find the time during the run-up to Christmas to go out and find an original, personal gift for everyone that you want to buy a present for, without spending a fortune. But managing your time effectively goes hand-in-hand with saving you money: so here are a few of our top tips to help you make the most of your time over Christmas.

 Christmas Shopping Online - before you go out into the real world, browse online to get an idea of what gifts are on offer and to compare prices between brands. Most high-street retailers have well-maintained websites that are super easy to navigate, and a lot of online shops shorten their delivery times so that an order is more likely to get to you before Christmas Day, even if it's placed as late as the 23rd December. With an increasing number of brands investing in apps for iPhone and Android, you can shop on the go - even on your lunch break at work - which means you can apply the 'little and often' rule and not feel like you're spending all of your time looking at online shops. You'll probably find that you get a lot of presents sorted before you even step outside - which will mean that, even if you do have to venture out onto the high street, you've cut the time spent in the Christmas crowds down before you've even really began. 

• Group Your Gifts - when you're still in the planning stages of your purchases and are thinking about who it is that you need to buy presents for, try and group together the people that would like to receive similar gifts, or that are attracted to goods for the same shop as each other. It might be that you can sort out your little brother, cousin, best friend and boyfriend all in one shop. 

• Communicate - if an opportunity presents itself to share the load of present buying, then take it! Get together with your siblings and see if one of you can look for Mum while the other looks for Dad; or be firm with your other half and insist that you split the Christmas shopping evenly - or, at least, that you both go shopping together. Have a word with your friendship group and try out Secret Santa, so that you're each only buying one present instead of several. However you do it, once you have decided exactly who you are buying for, make sure that you keep whoever it is that you are sharing the responsibility with informed as to when you have made your purchase: it saves a lot of time if you all know exactly what has already been bought and what is still left to buy. 

• Plan Your Shopping Route - this may sound a little much, but you'd be surprised at how much time you can save in the Christmas crowds if you have planned your shopping route out in advance. This allows you to calculate the shortest walking time to each shop you want to visit (not to be underestimated when attempting to fight your way through the crowds of people on the high street), and leaves you with less opportunities to be distracted into going somewhere that you have not previously considered. You don't want to be left short on time in the shops that you really need to go into because you dawdled in the ones you didn't. 

How To Choose Your Christmas Gifts

Choosing gifts is a tricky business in today's society. Mainly because, with the wide range of advertisements across all forms of technology, it's quite difficult to come up with something that can be considered 'original' or particularly 'personal'. Of course, this doesn't always matter; some people are easy to buy for because they know exactly what they want and don't mind knowing what they're getting from you in advance. In my opinion, these are the best types of people. Others are easy to buy for because they are amazing at receiving presents and really appreciate the thought behind them; they will love whatever gift you give them, no matter how big, small, odd-looking or strange it is. But then, of course, we all know at least one person (and if it is only one person then you are very lucky) who is an absolute nightmare to buy presents for. Obviously this is nothing personal against their character, but they're the type of people that you rack your brains about for months and months with no joy. 

Whether you're struggling to think of a gift idea for someone that has either got it all already, has had it all before, or someone that you want to say something really personal to with your present, here's some of our top tips to choosing your Christmas gifts this year.

• How Well Do You Know Them? - And, more importantly, what can you remember about how they've received gifts in the past? If you've got a memory of them getting a green knitted jumper last Christmas that they absolutely hated on the sly, then maybe stay clear of woollen fabrics...and the colour green. Think about your relationship with them - would they appreciate a joke present, or would a more sentimental gift be more appropriate? Have you known them long enough to make a memory book or photo collage? Stay true to your relationship with one another and find a gift that you're happy to give them, as well as happy for them to receive. 

• What Do They Choose To Talk About? - You spend time with them throughout the year - think about what they bring to your conversations. Do they have a particular hobby or sport that they're involved with? Do they spend most of their time with their family? Do they love their job? Do they like to go out partying? Maybe they're a big fan of a certain TV show? People drop hints as to what they like and dislike all the time, so be receptive and really listen to them when they're talking; you don't have to be too obvious when hinting for gift ideas. Sure, you might not know what things you can get relating to a certain niche hobby or interest, but they will - indirectly pick their brains and see if a gift idea doesn't present itself to you. And if you're worried about getting it wrong (they are likely to be pretty knowledgeable about their chosen interest after all) then go safe and get them a themed present. If they're a keen golfer, for example, get them socks with a golf-themed print and some customised chocolate golf balls or something. Things like TV memorabilia also come with a whole host of great stocking-fillers that don't break the bank - such as key rings, posters, stickers and coasters. There's plenty of gifts out there, it's just all about finding the right one for you to give.

• 
  
• Upcoming Occasions - Life has a habit of throwing all sorts of different occasions at us all year round. Have a think about what's going on in your recipient's life right now: is there a wedding coming up, or a new member of the family to welcome? Maybe they're moving into a new house, or are looking for a new job? Do they have plans to go on holiday or go travelling next year? All of these occasions naturally lend themselves to useful and thoughtful gift ideas; photo decorations, keepsake boxes, house and garden ornaments, smart accessories (ties, cufflinks, briefcases, handbags, jewellery, etc.), backpacks or travel guides, the list goes on. 

• What If They've Got Everything? - It can be quite deflating when you think that you've come up with a really great, original, personal idea for a Christmas present that you know they will love, just to realise that they've already got it themselves or somebody else has already bought it for them. But don't be deterred - again, think about what you know about them and their hobbies - is there something that they've had for so long that it's perhaps wearing out? Is there a newer edition of something that is related to their interest? Or, as a bit of a quirky alternative, is there a cool vintage edition you could buy? Books are particularly great for this, as a first edition of someone's favourite book comes across as being a really thoughtful and personal gift. You could also see if you can purchase something that was released the Christmas of the year that they were born. You don't always have to get people something they've never had before, but try to make sure that your gift is special and unique in its own way. 

Handmade Christmas Gifts

Christmas is honestly my favourite time of the year. It's all the little extras that go along with this holiday season that make it so special; curling up in front of the TV with our big Christmas jumpers on watching old movies, snowball fights, fairy lights, mistletoe, mulled wine, Christmas songs and carols, hats, scarves and mince pies. It's the whole spirit of Christmas that is so magical. But what I love most of all? Spending quality time with my friends and family. After all, the gift of 'giving' isn't just about presents but also your presence.

So why not try something different with your loved ones this year and make the most of the run-up to the holidays by trying out some festive arts and crafts? Not only do they look great when they're finished, but they're also a great way to spend time together and share in the excitement of the festive holidays.  

Top 10 Christmas Gift Crafts:

1. Paint-Your-Own Hanging Decorations - you can get these from as little as £1 per decoration at Hobby Craft. 

2. Make Your Own Christmas Cards - chop up images from old magazines and leftover Christmas cards to create some really fun, personal cards yourselves. A glue gun and some glitter are the only real 'essentials' you're going to need here...

3. Snow-Globe Cookie Jar - keep your Snowball Cookies and other baked goods in a personalised, festive, snow-globe-esque jar with this tutorial from Country Living. 

4. Graphic Tea Tin Candles - simply recycle graphic tea tins by turning them into decorative candles. Full instructions can be found here. 

 5. Snow-Capped Tree - I love these! They look really effective and are so fun and easy to make. Simply adhere wood biscuits to papier-mache cones to create unique, free-standing tree ornaments. Check out the full tutorial at the Addicted 2 DIY website. 

6. Ginger Spice Biscuits - there's loads of tasty recipes floating round the net for this one, but I particularly like the one featured on The Food Network.

7. Make a Spa in a Jar - visit Netmums for a full tutorial on how to create a jar stacked full of little treats for a full festive pampering experience. Include bath bombs, miniature soaps and travel-sized goodies to make your loved one feel like a million pounds. 

8. Mix Tape Wrapping - put your own personal stamp on your gift wrapping this year with a design by Joy D. Cho; dress up Kraft paper with festive masking tape; alternating vertical and horizontal strips to mimic ribbon. To finish, simply fashion a snowflake from frayed candy-cane coloured paper straws. 

9. Elf Sewing Kit - this is another great option from Hobby Craft, with each Elf costing a mere £3 each. Perfect for all the family and ideal to hang on the Christmas tree when they're finished. 

10. Snowmen Spoons - easy as anything! Simply turn plastic spoons into tiny snowmen with pom-poms, tissue-paper, a clay pot and some felt. Crafts By Amanda has the full tutorial. 

That brings us to the end of our Ultimate Christmas Guide. Thank you so much for reading! While Christmas can sometimes be a little stressful, particularly when we're trying to find the perfect gifts for our loved ones, please try to remember that it is always the thought that counts. If you've put time and effort into the gifts that you give, then your recipients are bound to love them. Please let us know what you think in the comments section below, or if you have any other great festive ideas then please pass them along!

Oh, and Merry Christmas!