There’s nothing quite like experiencing Christmas stress to take the fun out of the festive season!
Ah, Christmas. The time of year when normal stress becomes Christmas stress. With added pressures, commitments, and expectations. While in days gone by it meant time off work, festivities, and fun, the modern representation of Christmas can be far from it.
5 Ways To Reduce The Christmas Stress.
Don’t leave everything until the last minute.
We’ve all been there. You get caught up with work, family, and the daily grind, and then it’s December twenty-fourth. Suddenly you’re rushing to buy gifts, struggling to get a turkey and your tree is still in the loft! But who can blame us? It can feel impossible to stay on top of things under normal circumstances, never mind during the festive season.
In the last number of years, I’ve found myself suffering from extreme Christmas stress. I find myself panicking about what to buy, about finances, what to do on Christmas day, work rotas; You name it! In the last number of years, however, I’ve started to get prepared for Christmas ahead of December.
As someone who prefers Halloween, I’ve always felt repelled by the hustle and bustle that this time of year promotes. But I’ve discovered that this only increases the Christmas stress tenfold, and instead I should be facing it head-on in order to reduce the mounting pressures.
If like me you’re struggling to get motivated, here are a few ways you can get and stay prepared!
- Pick up presents throughout the year and create your own ‘present’ cupboard. Not only does this help reduce the rush during Christmas, but this can also help with birthdays, anniversaries, and similar events.
- Wrap presents early.
- Ditch the cards. While it might be a tradition for some, it can be time-consuming and a waste of paper!
- If you can, get the bulk of your Christmas day food shop done before the rush. Pick up cranberry sauce and any long-life items as soon as they appear on the shelves, and gradually continue to stock up ahead of time. As the big day draws nearer things will become even harder to get, and no one wants a disastrous dinner!
Create a budget!
It’s all too easy to get caught up in the moment during Christmas. Whether we’re natural gift-givers or not, we can find ourselves getting into financial trouble to try and please the ones we love.
In order to determine how to avoid debt this Christmas, you first need to create a budget plan. You may already have a budget set out for your monthly spending. If so, you’re already one step ahead! Without a firm idea of what you have coming in and going out, it can be easy to get caught up in the festive spirit. After all, it’s all about giving, but if you’re left deciding between paying your mortgage and buying a series of expensive presents, it’s time to prioritize.
Once you know how much disposable income you have for Christmas, you can come up with a plan that matches your budget.
Take time out for yourself.
In days gone by Christmas was a time to spend with family and friends. Now it’s become so commercialised, that quite often we’re left feeling burnt out before December even begins! And as someone who works in retail, believe me when I say it’s far from ‘merry and bright.’ But while your to-do list might be miles long, that doesn’t mean you can’t take a break! Constantly moving forward may help shift those tasks, but it’ll only make way for exhaustion and burnout, leaving you unable to enjoy the festivities.
Here are just a few ways you can create time for yourself.
- Delicate tasks where you can. Ask your partner or family to bear some of the weight of the Christmas preparations, and even get the kids involved!
- Want to relax but don’t know how? Add ‘take a bath’ or ‘watch a movie’ to your ‘to-do’ list. However, you relax, schedule it! By putting it on your active to-do list, you’re prioritising relaxation alongside everything else! Me-time is just as important as preparing for Christmas day!
If you’re struggling to cope with season, here is a wonderfully detailed guide for surviving holiday depression.
Set clear boundaries.
I talk about setting boundaries a lot and that’s because it’s one of the most important life lessons I’ve ever had to learn. During the festive season, I find that boundaries become increasingly weakened and therefore broken. In years gone by my husband and I would travel home to spend time with family. While this might sound lovely, it became a chore! Often we were left with very little time to ourselves, and exhausted by the end of the evening. And, considering both of us were likely to be at work the very next day, it didn’t feel like a break at all.
However, last year we put our foot down and had our first Christmas at home. It was just us, our cats, and a warm fire. The door remained locked for the entire day and we didn’t get out of our pajamas until boxing day! It was heaven!
But sadly we don’t always have this option. So, here are a few things you can do to help enforce your boundaries in various situations.
- If you’re stuck making Christmas dinner or hosting a party, set time-sensitive boundaries. Let people know when dinner is starting and stick to it. Likewise, don’t be afraid to set a leaving time.
- Ask others to bring various courses or dishes to reduce your workload.
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help with the cleaning afterward.
- Think before saying ‘yes’ to things. Don’t say ‘yes’ just to please others if what you really want to do is the opposite. If you often feel pressured into doing things to please others, remind yourself that you matter too!
- Don’t be afraid to say NO! Or, say it in a way you find more comfortable such as ‘I’m unable to attend but thank you.’
Ask for help!
Christmas can be a difficult time for many people. There are those struggling with grief, those who’re alone, those in financial difficulties, and those suffering from mental and physical health issues. And the festive season can only exacerbate these feelings.
As we approach December, it’s important that you’ve got a support network in place. It can be friends, family, work colleagues, or even medical professionals. Ensure you have the numbers you need on hand such as helplines, as not all of your network will be free to talk on Christmas day. If you’re working with medical professionals, why not sit down and come up with a support plan for use over the coming weeks?
Here are just a few helplines operating on Christmas day in the UK and Ireland.
- Samaritans – Free phone on 116 123
- BEAT (Eating disorders) – Operating 9 am – Midnight during the week. 4 pm-midnight during weekends. All numbers are available here.
- CALM (Men and male-identifying) – 5 pm until midnight. 0800 58 58 58. Webchat is also available.
*This will be updated as more opening hours develop over the coming weeks.
Have you any additional coping strategies for Christmas Stress?
If you have any additional tips or even helplines you’d like to share, please let us know in the comments! I’d like to offer as much help to my readers as possible. Therefore, this post will likely be updated in the future to include more helpful advice, phone numbers, websites, and more!
Hi! You can take all you’ve learned and use it this year! Even get started now. There is no time like the present sales to help boost Christmas 2023!! Have a lovely new year!
I should have seen this blog earlier before last year Christmas. I WAS REALLY WORRIED OF selecting the gifts. But now this year atleast by referreing these kinds of blogs will help me to choose a better gifts.
These are great tips, thank you for writing this.
I totally agree with saying ‘no’ to commitments that will leave you stressed and exhausted. Since I had children, I’ve said no to big family Christmas gatherings, as it’s just too much for my neurodiverse kids. It’s much better for us to spend Christmas at home, with our familiar surroundings and no pressure!
Thanks heaps, and wishing you a wonderful Christmas 🎄
Pippa
Lots of great and useful tips especially for this time in the year:) thank you for sharing
What an incredible post! I absolutely loved reading this and found myself nodding along with so much of it. My eldest birthday is 23rd Dec so I’ve been planning extra early today and it’s been really helpful. So far so good. We’re hosting this year so I’ve started getting the foodie bits in too. We’ve got a packed couple of weeks now so I’ll definitely be indulging in any me time I can grab. X
These are great tips. I’m really struggling with overwhelm this year – I think a lot of it is not sleeping well but I am really trying to take some time out for myself and just trying to chill and I have decided to ditch the cards this year too – I don’t need the hassle and it seems like such a waste xx
These are some helpful tips here! Not being afraid to say no is a big one for me. I used to cave to people a lot. I appreciate this article🤗
We have gone with being much more organised this year, buying only for kids and buying mostly secondhand and it has been so much better all round
Opting out of the unnecessary extra burdens and putting my effort into only the people who I actually care about all year round definitely helps reduce the stress for me, that way I can just focus on having a great day with my loved ones rather than sending cards to zillions of people I don’t even speak to
Great post – am really feeling the Christmas stress right now so needed to read these tips! Every year I intend to start earlier and be more organised but it never happens!!
Love this post, such helpful info. I keep saying every year that this will be the year I get everything organised in advance, but unfortunately I’m naturally a last minute kind of person. Reading this however has spurred me on to get through some of my Christmas to do list right away – thanks!
I think as parents, we work so hard to try and make Christmas magical for everyone else, we sometimes forget to enjoy it ourselves!
Great post! I’ve definitely taken soem of these onboard this year with my first baby due in January. I love Christmas and usually go mad with presents, fretting over what to buy everyone, but this year I’ve had a far more relaxed approach and realised I can still love all the festivities and be more relaxed at the same time.
Great tips and well done for remembering that some people find Christmas extra difficult. I used to work in a nursing home and Christmas was the hardest time for many of our residents.
great tips and advice for the festive season. I will definitely be saving these for later.
These are some really helpful tips, especially for those mothers who really make it a point to organize everything for the holidays!
Ah yes, I recommend each and everybody to take off time for themselves, this season…to avoid doing something they might regret!
Awesome! Such a very timely post as we’re fast approaching the Holiday festivity! Definitely be a big help to everyone, as this will be a busy month for all of us! Thanks for sharing this with us!
Great things to do and I’m working on myself and setting time apart from others. Setting boundaries is something to work on it. Thank you for sharing!
I totally agree with you. Christmas, when I was growing up was so simple. Here in the US, it has become so commercialized that it takes away from the true meaning of Christmas and not to mention the stress of having to run up your credit card or deplete your savings to buy very expensive gifts. This post is great reminder to take time for ourself, spend tine with loved ones and enjoy the spirit of Christmas.
The one thing I’d add to the suggestion of picking up presents throughout the year is to keep track of what you buy. One year when my girls were daycare age, I didn’t keep track and it looked like I bought for 9 kids not 3.
Thanks so much for sharing these helpful tips to reduce Christmas stress! I am implementing some of these like preparing everything in advance and don’t leave for the last minute. Also, setting boundaries and taking time for myself. This definitely helps reduce stress.
Great tips, wrapping is always my downfall lol! I just can’t bring myself to do it.
I am a big fan of doing things ahead of time. I love these tips for reducing holiday stress, especially the do-ahead ones. Great ideas!
Amazing Tips. Christmas can be very stressful. It’s great you shared these tips. I know I needed them.
I do tend to get a bit crazed around the holidays – so reading this article was helpful. A great list of ideas to keep myself on track! Thanks.
Eek! I know that not leaving things until the last minute is bad, but I do it every time. Thanks for the reminder to get on it now so it’ll pay off in the future. I love Christmas!
So many great ideas! Christmas is such a special time and I never want stress to get in the way of that. Thank you for all these helpful tips!
I love all these ideas to reduce stress at Christmas time. I usually tend to get very stressed out so this was a perfect post for me to read!
These are some really good practical tips to help reduce the stress over Christmas. Taking time out for yourself is so important. As I know I get so carried away with wanting to do everything that I can forget to take a breath and then I wonder why I am stressed and exhausted. Asking for help is another one I have actually used recently, but I am very much wanting to do everything myself, so I am learning to let go of certain things to make my life easier too. Thank you for sharing this great post.
Although Christmas is an occasion for family time giving and sharing it can get overwhelming, Your tips are useful and setting boundaries is a great idea.
Budgeting is key to keeping the stress level of the holiday low, if you ask me. There’s nothing worse than spending more than you intended.
Thanksgiving and Christmas time is incredibly stressful for me! I’m a photographer and this time of year is extremely overwhelming. These are all great tips and I’ll remind myself of a few of them.
Yes those are ways to reduce the stress for sure, if we will just implement them into our lives.
Fab tips lovely! I’ve already done all my Christmas shopping – that’s one definite way I can avoid stress this time of year! I also have a little solo spa trip booked for next week, so I can have some alone time during this time of year!
I am going to remind myself of these great tips
Love these tips, definitely saving these. I too prefer Samhain/Halloween too.