This is the third post in a year-long series all about taking baby steps to prepare for a stress-free Christmas next year. Here’s what to do in March to prepare for next Christmas!
Can you believe it’s already March? We’re in month three of our year-long plan to prepare for Christmas ahead of time and after this month we’ll be 25% of the way through! We’ve made some great progress so far at getting a lot of little things out of the way. Our steps so far may have seemed really simple and insignificant, but they’ll really save us a lot of time when they’re all added up together! I can’t count how many times during the Christmas season I end up having to run out to the store to grab “just a few more little things” and now I won’t be doing that because I’ll already have all those little things in the house! If you’re just joining us and you’d like to get caught up, you can find the previous month’s lists here in my Monthly Christmas Countdown archives page. So let’s talk about what to do in March to Prepare for Next Christmas!
How This Works
Every month, I’ll share a short list of three to five actionable items. These will be little baby steps that you can take care of to get some of the tasks you might normally find yourself doing in December done well ahead of time. The goal here is to free you up to actually enjoy the holiday season as much as possible and to leave some time for things like spontaneous baking, winter walks with the family, fun decor projects, and things like that without making you feel stressed out about all the stuff you’re putting off doing, because all of the “have to do” stuff will already be done!
Of course, I’ll be doing all of these tasks right along with you and reporting back about how it all goes.
How I Did in February
If you remember, we were in full lockdown in our area for all of January and it kind of threw my plans for a loop. I’m happy to report that February was quite a bit more successful. 🙂 Here were the items on our to-do list and how I did with them:
Shop for next year’s Christmas pyjamas: I didn’t buy all of our family’s pyjamas, but I did buy some, which I still consider to be a big win. I wasn’t able to find exactly what I was looking for for everyone, but I usually end up buying all the pyjamas from different places during the Christmas season, so this will at least save me a couple of stops on my pyjama buying day.
Find a good place to hide gifts as you buy them: Did it! I had to come up with a new spot, since I’ll have so many more things in the house this year and I found a great one that I’ll be able to keep nicely organized as well so I won’t lose anything.
Buy scarves: There were so many great scarves on sale this year! I guess manufacturers probably didn’t sell as many this year because no one was going anywhere. I might be tempted to steal one or two from my stash for myself next year if things are open again.
Catching up from January: I just have to report that I also managed to pick up a few more pairs of cozy Christmas socks for next year after dropping the ball on that one in January. Pretty proud of myself. 🙂
Also, it’s funny how this preparedness mindset is starting to expand into other holidays as well. I even found myself ordering fun socks for next Valentine’s Day!
What to do in March to Prepare for Next Christmas
Here’s our list for this month! It’s another super simple month for us, so let’s get these things done and just enjoy feeling super organized and impressed with ourselves. 🙂
Buy Stamps
Easy-peasy! Stop by the post office and buy yourself enough stamps for your Christmas cards if you do them, as well as your thank you cards. One less errand to run later! Tuck them away with your Christmas stuff so you don’t use them up throughout the year, or buy yourself an extra pack or two for the months between now and November if you’re running low.
Buy Two New Packs of Thank You Cards
If you love searching for the perfect hand-painted cards on Etsy, then by all means, enjoy this little task to its fullest. If that just sounds unnecessarily complicated to you though, don’t fuss with it too much. A couple of pretty packs of cards from the grocery store card aisle say “thank you” just as well as any other card!
I prefer to buy non-Christmas-themed thank you cards so that the leftovers can be used year-round and also because when the recipients get them in the mail in January, they’ll be able to enjoy them on display for awhile without feeling like they need to file them away right away in the name of de-Christmas-ifying the house. Something springy like these ones shown here works well. 🙂
Buy Slippers
This might prove to be a little more difficult than other “buy ahead” gift items because you almost need to know who the slippers will be intended for before you buy them because of specific shoe sizes often being involved, but cozy winter slippers are a good thing to think about buying now, none-the-less. They’ll be on sale right now and they’ll be much-appreciated by whoever the recipient is next Christmas. You can go a couple of different routes here: You can either buy the cheap ‘n cheerful one-size-fits-most type of slippers and just use them however the mood strikes when Christmas season rolls around, or you can be really planned about it and buy good quality slippers for a specific person in their shoe size right now. If you have a family member in your household who has a pair of raggedy slippers, or a pair that doesn’t quite work for them, now is a great time to buy for them for next Christmas because their specific slipper needs will be fresh in your mind.
So that’s what we’re going to do for March! Wishing you luck with all your planning and preparations this month!
PAST MONTHS’ LISTS
- What to do in January to Prepare for Next Christmas
- What to do in February to Prepare for Next Christmas
- The Monthly Christmas Countdown Archives
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.