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2025 is well under way, and Christmas 2024 is already beginning to feel like a distant memory. But just before it disappears totally from your radar, just stop and think for a minute. How was Christmas for you? Was it a happy time, full of peace and goodwill to everyone? Or were there aspects of it you’d rather forget?
Despite all good intentions, many of us end up having to rush around in the run up to Christmas to get last minute shopping and jobs done. And when you also add into the mix a calendar bursting with Christmas events, bad weather, and the many December viruses flying around it can all get completely overwhelming. If you got to the point of wishing Christmas could be cancelled, you were definitely not the only one!
So we have come up with a strategy to help ensure that Christmas 2025 is better. In this article we’ll give you tips as to how to prepare for Christmas gradually during the year so that when December comes you should be ready just to sit back and enjoy the season.
We’ll cover seven different areas:
Have a quick read through them all, and if there are ideas you’d like to try, get started straight away!
Christmas can become a huge issue within families. Perhaps you are in a tradition of always spending it in the same place, or rotating between different homes. And if you are happy with that, then fine.
But sometimes it can feel complicated to decide what to do at Christmas because you are waiting for everyone else to decide what they want to do. And this can result in everything being last minute, leading to the inevitable rushing around and probably also overspending.
So this year, why not make the decision early about where you are going to be, and whether or not this involves you hosting family or friends. Of course this can still be changed if there are any family emergencies or other unforeseen circumstances between now and then. But having things clear in your mind at this point will really help you to plan ahead for a wonderful stress-free Christmas.
Planning Christmas early also enables you to get on top of the finances. And the best place to start is by making a list of everything you are going to need to spend money on. For example gifts, cards, decorations, food and drink, parties and social events, travel and accommodation.
Now estimate how much money you will need to spend on each of the above. It’s good to do this whilst Christmas 2024 is still fresh in your mind so that you can be as realistic as possible. – and work out how much money you think you will need for each.
You may be horrified at the numbers that come up. But remember that because you are starting planning so early, you have time to sort things out. If it’s clear that you won’t have enough for everything on your list, you need to rethink. For example, are there things that you could either remove from your list, or save money by spending less on them?
It’s better to face the financial crunch early and decide what to do about it, rather than having to take out a last minute personal loan or run up your credit card.
Once you have settled on your budget, the next step is to start to save money for Christmas. It’s a good idea to set up a separate bank account or savings account for Christmas 2025. Then find different ways to start putting money into this account. Three ideas that may help are:
It makes sense to spread the cost of Christmas by putting some money aside every month. For example, if you are reading this in February, you could save money from now on until November, which is ten months. And if, for example, you had a target of saving £500 by then, you would need to save £50 a month to do that.
If this seems challenging, bear in mind that things may be just the same in December, so the sooner you start to save money for Christmas, the easier you will make things for yourself later.
If you think you will struggle to put enough money aside each month for Christmas, another idea is to supplement regular savings with a few savings challenges.
One popular challenge is the Penny Jar. The idea is that on day one you save 1p, day two 2p and so on. You can do this either with a physical jar and coins, or by online bank transfer, perhaps at the end of every week. The amounts are so small at first that you hardly notice them, but towards the end you are saving over £3 per day. And if you did the Penny Jar from February to November you would save over £460.
Another popular idea is a No Spend challenge, where you decide not to spend money on something for a set period of time, and save that money instead. For more ideas on this, check out our recent article Are you ready for a No-spend challenge in 2025?
It’s still very early in the year, so there is time to consider finding a regular way of making a bit of extra money. For example, are there any opportunities locally to offer services such as babysitting, pet sitting, or odd jobs? Another option would be to sell online either items that you have made, or good quality unwanted items.
If you are employed you can earn up to £1000 from a side hustle without having to pay any extra tax. And if you are not employed, you can earn up to the standard tax free allowance of £12,570.
One of the stresses of Christmas is getting the decorations sorted. Many of us leave this till the last minute then feel deflated when we get the same old tatty decorations out of the attic or garage. So why not up your game this year?
Even though you have missed the January rush of stores and private individuals getting rid of Christmas decorations, you can pick up a bargain at any time of year. Just keep an eye on selling sites such as eBay, Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree, and also free sites such as Freecycle and Freebay. People can decide to sort out attics and garages at any time of year, and at that point may just want their surplus Christmas decorations gone.
And the same applies to your own decorations. If you are guilty of just shoving them away, never to see the light of day until next Christmas, why not make 2025 the year when you have a really good sort out? Plan a weekend whenever it suits you to get them sorted. Yes it may feel a little odd getting them out in the middle of the year but why not? You can then take time to decide what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of. You can organise the stuff you are keeping so that it is stored and labelled properly. You can give away things that you don’t need, and also make a wish list of things you would like to find before Christmas.
So when the time comes to get the decorations out for real, you will know what you have and where it is and much of the stress of the decorations process will have gone.
Taking time to plan your Christmas shopping will make everything much easier. So start as early as you feel you want to. It’s a good idea to have a list of ideas that you add to throughout the year. Perhaps someone will mention a clothes or cosmetics brand they want to try, a hobby they want to take up, a musician or writer that they like, or an event they would love to go to. You can note all these ideas down and use them to help you find the perfect gift.
And if you are putting money aside for Christmas as we suggested above, you will have an ongoing fund that you can use to buy Christmas gifts as you see them. The important thing here is to keep a record of what you have spent – and how much money you will have left – so that you don’t end up running out of money at the last minute.
You could even get super-organised and wrap and label gifts as you go, so that you don’t have to do everything at once nearer the time. Set aside a drawer or shelf for your presents so that you know where everything is when you need it.
If you are hosting Christmas, it’s also a great idea to stock up with food and drink throughout the year so that there is to buy – and less money to spend – nearer the time.
Try and allocate a separate space for Christmas goods so that they don’t just get used up with everything else. Then every week, buy one or two items that you can use at Christmas, for example tinned, dried or frozen food, jars, bottled and canned drinks. Just check the use by dates to make sure that nothing will be wasted.
There has been a huge change in Christmas card habits over the last few years. Many people now don’t send many – or even any – due to the rising costs of cards and postage, and also the ability to send greetings online. So firstly you need to think about how many cards you want to send and how you will deliver them. And before you buy any cards, check whether you still have any left from last Christmas that you could use.
The main priority with Christmas cards is to get them done and out of the way. Even though writing a card is a fairly minor thing, it can be very frustrating if you leave all your cards till the last minute and are then having to rush to get them done as well as everything else. So why not set aside an evening or afternoon sometime in November to write the cards that you are going to send. Then get them posted as soon as December arrives and they will be off your hands. Job done.
We hope that this article helps you to prepare gently for Christmas 2025 and also save money in the process.
During 2025, we will be adding more “Be Prepared!” articles to help you be ready for some of life’s big events that you may face this year. So remember to check back here soon with us at Loans 2 Go.
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Be Prepared! Start planning for Christmas 2025 
