Steal My Strategy for Holiday Planning

The holiday season can be a beautiful time with loved ones, celebrating meaningful traditions. And it can also feel like a series of mini emergencies with last minute shopping, complicated recipes, and wardrobe angst. Instead of the dread, try a new strategy for streamlining your holiday prep. With a little advance planning, you’ll maximize your presence in the moments that matter. Set aside a little time this week to get ahead of the game by following my task grouping strategy, step by step.

Step 1 - Coordinate Your Calendar

December tends to fill up quickly on most family calendars. Don’t wait for the announcements to come to you; see if you can get dates for everyone’s work, school, church, and social events. Get in touch with extended family about times, locations, meals, and gifts. Be sure to check in with your high school and college students about exam schedules, and don’t forget to note any school parties or office gift exchanges. Do your best to get all dates on the calendar through the end of the holiday season. For me, that’s when my kids start school again in January. If you do this first, the remaining steps will be that much more effective.

Step 2 - Make Your Lists: Eating, Wearing, Gifting, etc.

I like to start planning on paper, and then transfer to a digital format later on. Grab several sheets of paper and title each: eating, wearing, gifting, decorating, hosting, travel, and add other categories as needed. You can be as general or specific as you like, but the key is to group all the “like tasks” together. Instead of preparing for each party or gathering as they approach, you can do all your food shopping, outfit planning, and gift wrapping at once. By grouping tasks, you can also notice where to duplicate your efforts—maybe you’re bringing pies to both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Double your crust recipe and freeze half, with a note on your calendar to thaw in the fridge the day before baking. If you’re traveling to a different climate and your kids need weatherproof shoes, you can shop for those at the same time as your own NYE party outfit.

Step 3 - Envision the End

While you’re compiling your lists, start at the last event of the season and work backwards in time. Reverse engineering your schedule allows for a proactive instead of a reactive approach. If you want your out-of-state relatives to be able to open your gifts on Christmas morning, what’s your shipping deadline? Write that date in your calendar, and keep working backwards to determine shopping and wrapping timelines. If you’re hosting overnight guests, when will you set up their beds and shop for extra groceries? Write that into your calendar so you are blocking the time needed to complete tasks that are important to you. Think about how you want yourself and others to feel at each event: calm, happy, warmly welcomed, celebratory. When you start with the big goal in mind, you can focus on the preparations that matter and outsource or skip the parts that aren’t moving the needle for your family’s holiday experience.

Step 4 - Work the Plan

Your plans are only as good as your follow-through! Even if you’ve been realistic with your time blocking, life will throw you some curve balls. So, adjust as needed, but don’t lose sight of slow and steady progress on your prep list. Try to front-load as many tasks as possible. If you’ve alreay planned your Thanksgiving and Christmas recipes, add all the non-perishable items to your grocery list and pick them up on your next weekly shopping trip. (Pro tip: if you have teens in the house, grab a sharpie and write “NOPE” on all items reserved for later meals, or you may need to shop those items again.) Try on any special occasion outfits ASAP to confirm everything still fits—adults and kids alike. Consolidate your gift shopping by bringing a list of all gifts needed, including hostess gifts, gift exchanges, teacher gifts, stocking stuffers. If possible, set up a holding zone for gifts to be wrapped all at once. If you’re doing a lot of online shopping, try to stay on top of recycling your boxes, and be sure you’re sticking to your budget. Your future self will thank you.

Step 5 - Enjoy the Results

Instead of scrambling to get things together for your events, enjoy the moments! Relax in the peace that comes from preparation and the ability to be present with your loved ones. Having a plan means you can give your brain a break. You’ve essentially acted as your own personal assistant. By spreading out your tasks and choosing what matters most, you can reap the reward of task grouping. You’ll know that the important things got done, and there’s time set aside in the future for other tasks. Bonus: having a plan allows you to delegate more easily—that way everyone can pitch in to help with the celebration and the clean up too.

Holiday planning can feel a bit daunting; there’s a lot of moving pieces to consider! But if you get it out of your head and down onto paper, it becomes a lot more manageable. By getting your calendar in order and grouping your tasks, you’ll be all set for your most peaceful and present holiday season yet.

P.S. If you’re looking for more organization tips you can implement at home, be sure to sign up for my newsletter.

Warmly,

Karina