Uncle Enis is Coming To Town (Tips for Organizing Christmas)

Member Name: marandina

Product:	Tips for Organizing Christmas
Date:	29/11/07 (198 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Being organised is so cool

Disadvantages: Being disorganised can be stressful man

Well Christmas is finally here with millions of us fretting over what to buy Uncle Enis this year and how *do* we manage to keep dear, old uncle Frank (Incense) happy seeing as he's the man that has everything already. Of course, what we really need is someone to tell us how to organise Chrimbo seeing as we are mostly hopeless at planning these kind of events and with a fee slightly less than Lynne Franks would charge at a "How to Make and Keep Friends in a Jungle Environment" seminar, here's Mara's top tips to stay sane this Yuletide.

Tip 1: Don't talk to your family at all. Y'know, those people that don't speak to you all of the year round and then expect a pressie and card from you as though it's some kind of obligation. Pish and pah: don't give in to their emotional blackmail. Ach, you can't bring yourself to disassociate with Auntie Freda with the curious foot fetish and slightly obvious rash on her right cheek? Well, in that case if you feel compelled to invite them round on Christmas Day then first things first, make sure you know which programmes you want to watch and either set the recorder to catch them for you or tell the recalcitrant rabble that you defo want to watch the Doctor Who Christmas Special at 7pm or great aunt Dorothy doesn't get any Xmas pud. The most contentious part of Chrimble Day is usually the morning so do agree what time you would like folks to turn up as some parents like a wee bit of privacy when the kids are opening their presents whilst others have an open door policy.

Tip 2: Make sure you write and dispatch those Christmas cards in time as per this schedule: Friday 14th December - Standard Parcels/Monday 17th December - 2nd Class/Thursday 20th December - 1st Class/Friday 21st December - Special Delivery (Saturday delivery)/Saturday 22nd December - Special Delivery. That last thing you want is your bestest ever friend calling you up on the 27th December to tell you that they've only just got your card and didn't realise that you had thought so little of them all these years that you couldn't even make the post box in time and they'd always assumed that you were best buddies and now they want their tickets to the Kylie Re-Union gig back and...and....oh you get the picture by now. You could always do what my good lady does and buy the cheapo cards sold off in sales from Boxing Day and start writing them a good 364 days in advance (at least it feels that way although I could be exaggerating.... WILDLY).

Tip 3: For those strange souls that pound the high streets in a vain search for the only *WII left in Western Europe then there is an easier way y'know. Needless to say, it's online shopping. Amazon are offering a last minute delivery service on December 24th and with UK online shopping traffic up 5.8% based on page hits during the fortnight commencing November 11th, it looks like many people plan to shop from the comfort of their armchairs. The trade body Interactive Media in Retail Group expect internet shopping in the festive period to exceed £13.8billion, up 42% on 2006 and with trusted retailers like Ocado, HMV and the like all touting for business then it's so much easier working your way through your present list with a coffee perched on your desk top than risking the sharp elbows of seasoned campaigners in Oxford street like 80-year old Ethel Ready from Camden who has two convictions for ABH following rather nasty instances of aggravated shopping.

All the advantages of online shopping are there like price comparison sites [Kelkoo is being sold off by Yahoo but shouldn't affect anything just now], online ordering and delivery and plenty of independent advise from sites like Martin Lewis's www.moneysavingexpert.com which is running articles on tactics to save money on Christmas shopping this year. The rider on all of this is the risk of online fraud with statistics suggesting that up to 50% of us run scared of ordering online. With most sites asking for credit card payment, card fraud for 2006 totaled £428million according to Apacs. Fraud involving "card not present" where the fraudster clones a victims card and uses it to make purchases over the phone ran at £154.5million last year so the threat is very real. Things you can do to counter the thread include: check the company out by making sure that it has a valid address and phone number or even call the company first before ordering (try http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk if you want to check on a company's authenticity). Look for the padlock symbol on the website as this indicates a secure ordering mechanism via encryption and websites with "http://" means that companies have an extra layer of security between them and the Internet. Nothing is ever 100% secure and most of the big banks offer a refund policy for the victims of online fraud. You are just as likely to be diddled by some shop assistant writing your credit card number down and leaving it lying around so you can only ever do so much to avoid being the victim of fraud.

Tip 4: If you are bordering on the criminally insane and do insist on hitting the high street shops then try and avoid weekends as these will always be the busiest times and hunt down the bargains on offer. Boots routinely offer a 3 for the price of 2 and their gift range is usually pretty generic with something for everyone. For those members of the family who you don't want to spend to much of your hard-earned on there are plenty of bargain stores to pick presents up from like The Pound Shop as well as the usual BOGOF deals that proliferate the stores most of the year round. Don't forget to try and avoid shopping on Christmas Eve otherwise you'll join the legions of men looking for a list-minute gift to placate their other halves having realized that a potted plant and a small box of Ferrero Rochet probably isn't going to guarantee a pass out to the pub on Christmas Day lunch time.

Tip 5: Avoid all of this by going away for Christmas and not buying anybody anything. As my father-in-law said last night (jokingly...I think), if we turn up at his house on Boxing Day then we'll be greeted by a note pinned to the front door saying "Gone to Scotland" as the dust settles in the wake of their new caravan. There are plenty of companies offering packages abroad to avoid the festive period although I can't see me ever getting away with something like that and having to settle for hiding in the airing cupboard with a handful of chocolate liqueurs and a tumbler of whisky for a few hours.

Tip 6: Having organized your Christmas, relax and be smug in the knowledge that everything will now be hassle free or uneventful. Alternatively, get real and expert things to go wrong; chill out, take deep breathes and just enjoy the melee and arguments that Christmas brings remembering that once everything is over and done then you'll have next year to do it all over again!

Well, there you have it; the sum total of my worldly wisdom for organizing Christmas. I may even take my own advice and order some stuff today from the comfort of my executive chair positioned neatly in front of my pc. Then again, I might not. I'll leave that to your imagination and hope that your Christmas goes swimmingly.

I hope someone, somewhere find this useful and thanks for the read.

Mara

*If you want a WII and can't get one, try Amazon.de. If you can negotiate the online order pages which, spookily, are in German then you will bag one. Last time I checked you can buy a WII for the sterling equivalent of £179 + sports bundle (+ 20Euro p & p)

Summary: Organising Christmas: tips