In 1973, Wizard sang “I wish it could be Christmas everyday”, a sentiment that would be a dream come true for children, but for shoppers it brings long queues, busy shopping centres and sky high credit card bills. So how do you survive shopping throughout the festive season when it seems you’re surrounded by chaos?
Start Your Christmas Shopping Early
It sounds obvious that buying a few presents every month would be more beneficial than trying to buy them all at once, both for your pocket and your stress levels, but with the recession biting hard, this is one of the few ways that people can afford the festive season.
High Street shops cater for this method by starting offers earlier and earlier throughout the winter months to draw you in. So much so that Boxing Day sales have replaced the traditional January sales that would have had bargain hunters venturing out in to the cold in droves.
Christmas Shopping early in the day is worth mentioning too. Although shops are open until at least 9 p.m. on weekdays now, offering 12 hours of prime shopping time, some people can still only shop at weekends. In this case, get up early and hit the shops just after opening, even if you have a coffee before you start. The satisfaction of being all shopped out by the time the masses descend will be well worth not having a lie in.
Make a List of What Christmas Presents You Need to Buy
It sounds silly but you write a list for your weekly food shop, so why not Christmas presents? It doesn’t have to be typed onto a spreadsheet, it could just be scribbled onto a scrap of paper, but write the names of everyone you need to buy for and have a budget in mind of what to spend on each person.
That’s the easy bit; the hard part is jotting down ideas of what to buy for each one. If they already have things in mind, even better!
Another suggestion is to take advantage of three items for the price of two offers. Even if you don’t need three, it’s always worth having a backup put aside, whether it’s a box of chocolates or shower gel gift sets, in case unexpected guests arrive with gifts for the family.
Reserve Popular or Large Items or Buy Online
The key here is doing your research. Use the Internet to find out availability of large items, especially toys or electrical goods and compare prices. Some shops like Argos have a reserve service that will save your chosen item until the close of business the day after you reserve. This may avoid disappointment and save the hassle of searching for an alternative.
Another choice is to buy online and have it delivered straight to your home. This option is available from a wider range of shops, including dedicated web-based retailers such as Amazon. The previous point of having a list applies here too as the selection available on the Internet is far greater than on the High Street.
Although a word of warning would be to protect your bank details, sign up to Visa verification if possible as that offers extra protection against fraudulent use of your Visa credit card. Also there is no need to save credit/debit card details onto websites you’ve used unless you intend to use it regularly and don’t want the hassle of re-entering details for each purchase.
It goes without saying that you should only shop on reputable secure websites but if you do use auction sites, try and use PayPal as they can investigate and should be able to refund your money if things do go wrong.
Make Christmas Gifts Personal
All presents are gratefully received and the next two points shouldn’t undermine classic gifts but sometimes it’s nice to receive something unique. By this I mean personalise. The options are becoming more commonplace, and having their name on a gift makes it extra special to someone, and that doesn’t just mean filling in the ‘to’ and ‘from’ spaces on the gift card.
From notepads and pens featuring names, mugs or calendars with family snaps emblazoned upon them to classic fairy tales substituting main characters for the names of your family and friends, you are guaranteed to find something to suit everyone and every budget.
Think Outside of the Box for Christmas Gift Ideas
As with the previous point, when generating Christmas gift ideas, widen your horizons, try something different. The key here is listening to dreams, aspirations and favourites; most can be catered for.
For those interested in history, why not buy a newspaper from the day they were born or a subscription to a genealogy website so they can trace their family tree? Animal lovers can receive an annual adoption of their favourite if not always cuddly creature. Name a star, skydive, create a perfume, the list goes on.
Brave the Cold and Survive the High Street This Christmas
These aren’t hard and fast rules and may not appeal to everyone, they’re just a few guidelines offering options of how to go about negotiating the busy High Street this Christmas. So wrap up warm, get organised and try and enjoy it.
Phillipa Davies - I'm Phillipa, a 26-year-old journalism graduate, currently living in Leicester in the UK. My portfolio spans online and newspapers and my ...
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