5 Tips to help you not ChristmaSTRESS

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Ever feel like the holidays are totally stressful and you’re constantly running behind and playing catch up?  Yep, I feel you.  No literally, this was me, every year, always.  I would dread the Christmas Stress even before turkey day rolled around. I finally took control of Christmas and started having fun again.  This might sound cheesy, but I seriously always got so stressed out, it wasn’t fun anymore.  I was essentially living  ‘A Bad Moms Christmas’ (haven’t seen it? You need to. You’re welcome.)  so I changed up a few things and now am looking forward to Christmas again.  

Holiday Stress Less


Here are my 5 tips that help me slow down, enjoy more, stress less, and be in the moment during the most magical time of the year. 

  1. Get your Christmas cards done right before Thanksgiving. If you love getting family photos done, I would highly suggest getting them done right after Halloween, allow shipping times and mail them out right when December 1 hits.  And if you don’t want the hassle of writing out addresses, send the mailing addresses online to the website of your choosing and they’ll do it of you.  Too late for that? New Years Cards ARE a thing, and you could do those to buy yourself a couple of extra weeks!
  2. Do ALL your Christmas shopping on Amazon Prime.  Some may think it takes away from the fun of Christmas shopping, but I think it’s genius.  You can find anything you want on Amazon, and with Amazon Prime it ships to you free within a couple days.  It’s worth it to sign up for Amazon Prime.  I like shopping online because I can window shop, not stress and enjoy walking around the store fronts.  
  3. Put together toys before you wrap them.  Have you ever realized you spend the whole day of Christmas assembling toys?  Us too!  We decided to put toys together beforehand, ready with parts and batteries, then gift wrap them (or put them in a giant bag. Or just one giant bow and call it a day). Why?  Hey, just another way to keep ’em busy and avoid an extra tantrum. Depending on how early you do this, and your kids’ ages (they start to get SO inquisitive! ), you may need some good storage to pull this off.  BUT, if your garage is messy enough, one extra lump covered in a blanket out there won’t even raise an eyebrow. 
  4. Get all your wrapping done before your kids are out of school.  Ever find yourself stressed because once school is out, when are you going to wrap presents?  Don’t stress about it.  Just plan for it.  All of my presents are wrapped, bows with post-its on them in the attic, ready to go.  (yes post-its, so I know what is what).   Every year, I have always stayed up till 1, 2 or even 3 in the morning making sure everything was perfect wrapping gifts and being way too tired on the happiest day of the year for my kids.  Getting your wrapping done ahead of time lets you enjoy fun Christmas activities such as ice skating, seeing the nutcracker, gong to see parades, seeing Santa, and any other fun holiday event.  
  5. Don’t forget batteries.  This is one I always forget.  Batteries are needed for most things.  What a parenting fail if you realized on Christmas Day, you forgot batteries and your child couldn’t enjoy their Christmas present.  I’m not knocking you, I’ve been there.  I’m just trying to save you a step.  I personally decide to open that gift before I wrap it, add batteries, and make it ready to go the minute the wrapping paper gets ripped off. 

Have any tips you want to add for a stress-free Christmas? Let me know in the comments!