Easy ways to plan Christmas when you can’t be bothered

Let’s face it. By Christmas time we’re all a little worn out from the year and just when you thought you could relax – Bam! You have to organise an entire event, go to a zillion parties, make cakes, wrap presents, go shopping. OMG – the list goes on. If you are on the lazy side here are some interesting and yes, weird ways to organise Christmas when you can’t be bothered and you’d rather be doing something else.

Organise Christmas from your couch

Did you know Christmas can be organised directly from your couch? Put on a great movie, grab your fully charged phone or iPhone and settle in for some quick Christmas organisation. From the couch you can:

1. Buy groceries online for Christmas day
2. Buy gift vouchers for everyone
3. Send everyone an eCard

And really anything else you can think of!

Get other people working for you

There are plenty of people who love shopping. Is your mum popping up the shops? Get online and then ask her to grab items for you while out. There’s no point in everyone getting dragged up the shops is there? Be organised. Get clippings from junk mail so you can pass your orders to people easily.

Organise Christmas from bed

Actually, you don’t even have to get out of bed. I recommend grabbing a coffee and then going back to bed when you can happily tap away on your phone or tablet and organise Christmas. By the time you’re done, you’ll be all awake and ready for a nice day off!

Get other people to do the job for you

Jump on site like Airtasker.com and pay someone in your area to go do your Christmas shopping for you. Again – you can order your groceries online and get them brought in straight to your kitchen bench. Why waste all the precious energy you have left from a long year?

Shop using your junk mail

Spend time on the couch clipping items you’d like from junk mail. This is an extremely time-saving measure. Stick them all in a scrap book, write names of people against the items and then make a short list of where you are headed (shop wise). Read my article “How to smash out Christmas in under an hour” and you’ll get my drift.

Buy everyone the same present

If you aren’t feeling very decisive and just want to get to the part of Christmas where you can eat, drink and be merry consider buying everyone the same present. Here are some good ideas:

1. Buy all kids headphones or iTunes cards
2. Buy all adults a bottle of wine or the same book (i.e a cookbook)

You’ll be out of the shops so fast, you’ll barely even notice you were there. Oh, and you can do this from the couch too. You’ll save on postage by getting all the gifts send in the one parcel!

Try to get an invite to someone else’s Christmas lunch

If at all possible encourage others to have Christmas at their place. While you can still help the host on the day, you won’t be stuck with all that pre-planning work. You can pick your level of engagement on the day.

Get your kids to wrap presents for rellies

Kids love wrapping presents so get them working. While they’re watching telly drag a table into the room and set them up for a gift-wrapping session. Get them to write the cards too if you can. Give them all the tools necessary so they won’t ask you for things while they’re doing the job.

Buy gift vouchers for everyone

Online gift vouchers are another quick and easy gift. If you’ve been really lazy (or too busy) you can do these much closer to Christmas, print them off and put them in an envelope. If you want your present to look better you can always put the printout in a larger box (i.e cereal box wrapped in gift paper) to give the illusion of physically superior gift.

Get a quick and easy tree

If you’re too lazy to dress a tree simply purchase a small plastic electrical type one and put it against a window. You’ll still get that Christmas feel without the labour intensive part of the job. Plus – these are much easier to take down after the fact!

Or here’s an interesting and cheap approach!

Throw tinsel everywhere

Tinsel is a great way to decorate just about everything. Invest in some extra tinsel and start throwing around and on things. You can dress up gifts, tables, wine glasses, the dog and even the kids with tinsel. Go crazy with tinsel and it will look like Christmas at your house – instantly!

Buy a Christmas hamper

Christmas hampers are a super fast way to get Christmas sorted, especially for Christmas Eve when you want to get that Christmas feel happening ASAP, so you can enjoy a nice glass of Champagne!

Eat out on Christmas day or buy Red Rooster

Pre-organise Christmas lunch or dinner at a local buffet and save yourself the trouble altogether. Otherwise, you could go the seriously cheap and easy path and order roast chicken, potatoes and veg from Red Rooster. Just add cranberry sauce and you’ll hit the ground running with a quick Christmas lunch or dinner. Add salad and dessert or buy that too – and you’ll be good to go!

Got some great tips for organising a lazy Christmas? Share them on my FB page.