Do ‘Secret Santa’ rather than buying individual gifts
Save yourself mountains of stress and money by organising a ‘Secret Santa’. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, this is where members of a group of people are randomly assigned a person to secretly give a gift to. It’s also best to set a spending limit, and some ground rules if anyone’s unclear.
Divide up the pre-Christmas chores
Try to let go of any perfectionisms you might have, and allocate some of the chores on your list for others to tackle. As the saying goes, many hands make light work!
Set expectations with family
If you’d rather the Christmas lunch preparation duty be shared, or you don’t have enough beds (or patience) for people to stay the night, plant the seed well in advance so that no one is disappointed.
Make guests feel welcome (by giving them a job to do!)
It might seem a bit cheeky asking your Christmas guests for help washing the dishes, or give you hand setting the table, but having them contribute to the occasion is a handy way to make them feel welcome!
Don’t underestimate the power of naps
Christmas is exhausting; there’s no further explanation required!
Take turns choosing music
Rather than putting ‘The Best Christmas Album in the World… Ever!’ on repeat, nominate each person to choose a song they’d like to play during the day. You could do this in advance and make a playlist, or with the beauty of music streaming and wireless devices you can choose the songs as you go.
Create more space if you’re having guests
If you think it’s going to be too cramped, or the weather forecast isn’t looking too flash, create more space by using the garage as an extra room or activity space. Waterproof gazebos and make-shift verandah canopies can also provide more places to hang out, even if the rain decides to make an appearance.
Accept you can’t control everything
There are only so many hours in a day to buy, wrap, decorate, cook, and clean, so if all you can do is sit back and enjoy a glass of bubbles, embrace it!
5 Festive Facts
- Listening to Christmas music can trigger stress.
- The highest-grossing Christmas movie of all time is ‘Home Alone’.
- Santa has 223 microseconds on average to deliver gifts to every household in the world. That means he needs to travel at around 10,000 km/h!
- Last December, Kiwis spent an extra half a billion dollars on credit cards, with an estimated 63% of that incurring interest.
- It’s often claimed Coca-Cola is the reason behind the colour of Santa’s suit because of a successful advertising campaign, but it’s argued the red colouring pre-dates this link to the fizzy drink.
The information contained in this article is of a general nature and should not be taken as advice. It reflects the opinions of the writer only and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of New Zealand Home Loans (NZHL).
