Yes, I know, Halloween has just passed and already I am writing about Holiday shopping. But for good reason! My family celebrates Christmas and we have dinners, get-togethers, gift-exchange, etc. And since I tend to be a little obsessive about giving gifts people will cherish (or at least like), I have to start early (at least by early November) to avoid undue stress.

This is the time I tend to do a lot of window shopping. Whether I am looking to order online, buy something at the mall ready-made and off the rack, or planning to make a gift by hand, I take some time to browse at lunch time or after work and get some gift ideas (and prices). It is also handy to have your gift list ready and with you at this time.

After a week or so I have an idea of what handmade gifts I am making so I buy the materials and I start creating them. As I create, I wrap and tag them so that I don’t forget what goes to whom. If I decide that I am making something edible, I carefully calculate and then buy as many of the ingredients as early as I can to avoid mad rushes at the food stores closer to the holidays. A day or two before our celebration, I can bake/cook without too much worry that an ingredient is missing.

Same goes for ready-made gifts. I tend to buy early for fear of not getting the right size or colour of toy, garment, gizmo, etc. or worse, not being able to get the thing at all for the “hot” items. And for the online orders, now is the time to buy them to make sure the gift arrives on time. You really don’t want to pay more for a last-minute gift!

Happy shopping, everyone. And for those looking for some gift ideas, I’ll be posting some articles on those in the coming weeks.