Getting Ready for the Holiday Season; Tips to a Fault-free Celebration

The holiday season is back again, the shiny lights are already up the malls, retailers have changed their pitch to ‘amazing discounts’ while radio stations have revised their playlists to cue in carols and other merry-making tunes. However busy you are, you cannot fail to notice that the festive mood is slowly creeping into the office hours, traffic and general mood. With this in mind, travel advisors have compiled some valuable tips to take you through the season, with your wallet and sanity intact. 

An attitude of gratitude

The holiday season is mostly associated with festivity, creating year-worth memories and self-rewarding for days and night put into our different life hustles. Amidst all the merry, it’s important to save a few moments just to say thank you, appreciate and also share with both loved ones as well as less privileged members of your society. This is also a great time to teach children and young adults empathy by scheduling acts of sharing, selflessness and self-sacrifice.

Do not shy from asking for help

Hosting? Travelling? Need help with the children? It’s very understandable, talk to friends and family who are in a position to help in good time to enable them to plan their holiday accordingly. This is also a good time to establish team spirit amongst the family by assigning age-favorable tasks to the children. Define goals and objectives, come up with a reward system and work together to achieve the larger family goal, which is a happy holiday for all. 

Be kind to yourself

Sometimes we put a lot of pressure on ourselves during this busy time. Give yourself permission to miss a party or two. Choose to be with family, to spend time alone, to see your child's Christmas choir concert at school, and enjoy the season. 

Shopping for gifts

Santa is on the loose, and the season makes perfect time for gifting and being generous. However, the art of gifting is not everyone's natural endowment, and even the best of us require a little hand here and there. Make a list of people you want to gift -kick off the list with your name and list the gifts against their names, and also the model of delivery. Once done, shop in time and organize delivery accordingly. Remember that some locations may not be covered by your local courier and therefore may need to make special arrangements for such. Gifts do not just have to be items, you can even consider buying your dear ones future holiday packages, shopping vouchers or even paying for a service such as a surprise spa treat. 

Playing the perfect host

Hosting can be overwhelming, but with a little planning and timely execution you are guaranteed to get your name on the Hall of Fame for super hosts! Top on the agenda is the need to send out invitations on time, and set a favorable RSVP date. This will help you and your expected guests to make timely arrangements for the date. Once this is ticked off your list, shop ahead to avoid last minute and to ensure that all needful are secured - imagine realizing your casserole is too small for your guests on the morning of their visit? Depending on your menu, pick foods that can be frozen and prepare them ahead of time, bake your cookies, bread, and other crudities ahead of the day to avoid getting overwhelmed on the material day. Order any home deliveries and supplies prior to the date. 

Your money and the holiday

Ever heard of the saying that no matter what happens, the sun will still rise? Well, replace that with January will still come! Do not get carried away by the seemingly ‘irresistible’ discounts, Christmas promotions and fairly lights on every corner of the street. Make a budget plan ahead of time, clear any pending bills or arrears and approach the festivity with your financial faculty alert. Remember just because you say no to some of the requests you’ll get from family and friends does not make you a bad person, instead, it makes you a reasonable fella.

Create or carry on a family tradition, save some time for them

From silly to sentimental to surprising, creating a family tradition or keeping up with one not only helps bring the family together but also keeps the family’s legacy protected. Also, this is a good time to spend time as a family; you can skip one or two parties to just cozy up at home with your closest.