I find in order to enjoy the Holidays here living in New York City the city that never sleeps I need to plan now!
If I take a few moments now to think through the Holidays for me and my family this special time of year is a time of joy and laughter not stress and frazzled nerves!
Vintage Decoupage Bloomingdales NYC Christmas Ornaments.
Very simply I do what savvy people do everywhere I make a list and I make it now!
I make note of all of our Holiday giving. I include not only family but also charity and Holiday tips for various service people that help me and my family during the year.
I like the free app Evernote for doing this as I can pull up my lists on my smartphone, tablet or computer.
Link to download Evernote
I then sit down with my list and go over our our budget with my husband and discuss gift ideas and amounts.I find commercials during football games are an ideal time for this!
Heidi Klum is on this large silver and pink Super Model tote bag from Victoria’s Secret.
Once our shopping and giving list and budget are done I then move onto planning our family Holiday activities!
I jot down religious services we may attend, family and office parties and any neighborhood activities we enjoy and find meaningful at this time of year.
Again during football game commercials I pull up my evernote list and go over our family activities with my husband.
Certainly if your children are at home depending on their age you’ll want to include them in this discussion.
Once our choices are made I log them into our family calendar. I use the free Google calender for this. I find their calendar super easy and it has fun color codes which make me feel more festive!
Link to Information and Tips on Using Google Calender.
So in under an hour we have our family gift budget done with everyone’s thoughts included in the process and the family Holiday activity calendar done!
We always leave a little wiggle room in the budget and schedule as it’s fun to enjoy and take advantage of unexpected events and opportunities!
NYC Holiday carolers on the streets of New York!
So plan, list and budget consulting the whole family now and you’ll be singing fa, la, la all during November and December!
And that’s what we love here in NYC a season of joy and rejoicing, don’t you?!
