Shout out to YOU for being wonderfully thoughtful (and also incredibly ambitious) with your handmade gifting. You’re brilliant and kind and dang proud of it BUT you experience stress, panic and anxiety around not being ready in time for the big day. Which kinda ruins the fuzzy buzz. So my gift to you oh generous one, is an Ultimate Guide to a Stress-Free Handmade Christmas.
Follow these 8 steps and you will be delighted at how much you can achieve while also prioritising your wellbeing and having time to enjoy the festive period! Now this may not be a sexy process but it is incredibly effective, very rewarding and tbh if anyone can make getting organised sexy, it’s you.
Before you start:
Please take a moment for this next paragraph to properly sink in.
Hand-making things for others is an incredibly generous and kind act, so PLEASE be kind and generous to yourself too! The warm feeling of pleasure of giving someone your hard work does NOT have to come at the cost of your loss of sleep or feeling frazzled. Your wellbeing is important. And take it from me, the feeling of pride is only increased by achieving the goal without the panic. It doesn’t have to be hard and exhausting to be a thoughtful and kind gift! So this Christmas, be kind to yourself, and plan ahead.
Now you have the mindset, it’s time to get your equipment together.
You will need:
- An hour in a peaceful setting
- A beloved notebook
- Your favourite pen
- Some coloured pens, pencils, crayons or highlighters
- Your diary/calendar/schedule/planner
- A delicious hot beverage (optional)
Ready? LET’S DO THIS.
STEP ONE:
Make sure your calendar is up-to-date
Have a look at your calendar between today and Christmas. Make sure everything you have planned is detailed in there.
Did you block out that hen-weekend? Oh and that birthday spa break you planned back in August, is that in? When’s your office Christmas party? You should definitely rule that night out.
Then get into the pre-emptives. Does your friend with the December birthday typically have a meal or party you’re yet to hear about? Pop that in your calendar, just in case. Town Christmas light switch-on is usually the first Saturday in December – block that evening. Hoping to get a mulled wine night with pals in before everyone heads off? Book it in.
Fill up your diary until you’re satisfied all your bases are covered. This is about setting realistic expectations of how much time you’ll have, so it’s always better to over-estimate your busy-ness. Your calendar should look like the inside of Josh Lyman’s head (full of stuff).
STEP TWO:
Calculate your available time
Create a heading in your notebook to keep track of your “Available Time”.
Go through your dairy and add up the free time you have. You could do this purely in hours, but I like to break time into: full days, half days, evening, journeys and then hours. Note: the hours are spare snatches of time, they’re seperate to the days, evenings, journeys etc.
According to your freshly populated calendar how many long train journeys, evenings and weekends do you have free for working on your handmade gifts?
Write out a little summary of the time you have to play with.
Pro tip:
Decide how many hours your full and half day sessions will be. As a guide I recommend a full day = 6 hours and a half day = 3 hours.Â
STEP THREE:
List it out
You knew it was coming, what’s an organisational system without LISTS?
It’s time to get all the things clogging up your headspace down on paper. This will be your brain-dump of EVERYTHING you need to think about to get ready for Christmas. And let me tell ya, having it all written down somewhere safe will instantly relieve your mind of the anxiety of forgetting something.
A good list of lists looks like this (say that five times fast!):
- Gifts for Family
- Gifts for Friends
- Decorations
- Christmas Day
- Food & Drink
Write down everything you can think of for each list. You can add more categories if you find you need them!
Tackle them one by one OR splurge everything you can think of onto whichever list they belong to – there are no rules here. You’ll likely end up doing a mixture of the two anyhow. And your lists don’t have to be totally comprehensive, you can always add things later, but do aim to be thorough.
Once you feel you’ve got everything down, take a few moments to re-read your lists. Jot down anything extra that comes to mind.
Don’t worry – I’m listing last year’s gifts so there are no spoilers for my family and friends!
STEP FOUR:
Schedule your shopping trips
This step is first about deciding WHERE all the things on your lists will come from, and then working out how much TIME you want to spend in each of these places.
Most items will fall into one of these four categories:
- Supermarket
- High Street
- Online
- Make it myself
Pick 4 colours to represent these categories and start colour-coding your lists.
Once your lists are lit up with colour, take a moment to consider how much time you’ll need to spend on each of the first three categories. e.g. half a day for the supermarket shop, 3.5 days for hitting the High Street and 2 hours of online shopping. Remember to always err on the side of caution and give yourself ample time. (I’m aware I’m old-fashioned for doing almost all my shopping on the high street, I just LOVE IT and will never stop).
Now update your “Available Time” page, as you’ve just used up some of your sessions!
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Top Tip 1:
I strongly advise adding a contingency shopping day (or two) – you’ll likely need it!
Top Tip 2:
Prioritise sessions which include getting things you anticipate selling out, or items you think might be difficult to find/get.
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STEP FIVE:
Plan your making time
With everything else now accounted for, it’s time to tackle your “Make this myself” category.
Taking a calculated guess, you’re going to be looking at a hefty number of items. Your ambitious, I love it, I love you for it. So, on a fresh page, start by creating a table with 4 columns: ITEM, HOURS, DEADLINE, DECISION.
In the first column, list all the handmade items you plan to make between now and Christmas (e.g. all the items in your category 4 colour). Then in the following columns, add:
- how long you think it will take you to make (it’s better to over-estimate here)
- a deadline (e.g. December 14th is when friends are exchanging gifts so that scarf for Luke must be done by then, December 20th for the office Secret Santa gift, Christmas Eve is when table settings need to be ready… etc.)
Next, add up all the hours in the second column. Then have a little sit-down cos that’s A LOT. But before we panic, give up or throw things, let’s look back at our “Available Time” page.
If you haven’t already, add up all your free time in hours (e.g. each half day is 3 hours, each full day is 6 hours plus all the other time you listed). Make sure you’ve deducted the shopping time you allocated in step four and you’ll be looking at the true number of hours you have to work on handmade items.
Compare it to the total hours in your table.
Do you have enough available hours to get everything done?
Here’s where things get excitingly “Pick Your Own Adventure-y”…
If YES
Take a moment to consider if you’re happy with how many hours you’ll have left over. Remember that’s how much free time you’re giving yourself between now and Christmas. Is it enough? If still YES and you’re happy to proceed – go forth to step six you merry maker! If you’re having doubts and think you may actually like a little wiggle time for mince pies and winter walks… continue reading the next paragraphs.
If NO
KEEP CALM. Everything going to be okay, you just need to rein in the number of projects you hand-make this year. It’s way better to know now and make alternative plans! It is not a defeat, it’s a triumph to be this prepared. Not only are we going to scale back because we HAVE to, were going to scale back because we WANT to. You can’t fill every single free hour between now and Christmas with hand-making! I mean, that’d be hardcore, but you gotta have some time for drinking mulled wine and watching the Muppets Christmas Carol. So joyfully and kindly scale back BEYOND what your available hours total tells you to. Read the next paragraphs, thank me later.
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It’s time to make some difficult decisions…
Not gonna lie, this bit can be hard. You have to cut some of your handmade items. Take your true available time, shave it down a bit to allow for spontaneous Christmas fun-times and work out how many hours you need to cull from your handmade projects list. (i.e. subtract your available hours from the total hours you calculated your projects would take. From my calculations pictured, I needed to cut 16.5 hours.)
Spend some time going over your list of projects to assess which could be delayed, bought instead or just plain cancelled. Could you make that hat for his birthday at the end of January instead? Could you buy a scarf for that friend this year? Do you really need crochet star bunting over the fireplace?
If you’re finding it difficult to cut down your plans, try categorising each item as “Absolutely must make this year”, “Nice to Have”, or “Fine for Next Year”. DO NOT PUT ALL ITEMS INTO THE FIRST CATEGORY – that’s cheating and won’t help you at all!
Immediately take out all the “Fine for Next Year” items – but write them down somewhere safe. Has that saved enough time? If not, work through your “Nice to Have” items. Rank them and then work from the bottom of your nice-to-have list, moving lowest ranked items to your “Next Year” sheet until you’re left with enough time this year.
BINGO!
You now have your final list of handmade items for this year! Take a moment to feel excited and proud of all these gorgeous things you’re going to make.
Green = Must Make This Year, Red = Not Making This Year. You may notice that removing my lowest ranked “Nice to have” item gave me 6.5 hours to play with! I’m going to enjoy having some buffer time in my schedule.
STEP SIX:
Schedule your projects
It’s time. We’re going to populate your diary with projects. This is my FAVE part because it’s a joyful jigsaw of satisfaction.
Use your deadline column to prioritise which makes to crack on with soonest then methodically fill in your free half days, days, evenings, journeys and spare hours with your festive projects. Ensure you give every item enough hours to complete it before the deadline. Also consider your preferences; will you love working on the same project for a full day or should you break that day up and instead progress three projects?
If your puzzle reveals that you’re not going to be able to meet a deadline (e.g. two six hour projects to complete in 10 available hours) consider dropping an item, moving to a less labour-intensive design or finding a quicker project. Pro tip: crocheting or knitting something in chunkier wool is a great hack for whipping a project up more quickly!
If this step doesn’t excite you and if it feels like a real faff, know that your future self will be SO GRATEFUL that you did it. I promise. From now until Christmas you don’t have to worry, you don’t even have to think, all you have to do is open up your diary/calendar and it will tell you which project to work on. You’ll know you’ll meet your DIY deadlines and you can kick back and enjoy the process. You floofing legend.
STEP SEVEN:
Gather your supplies
You’re going to need some BITS for all your making.
Write out ALL the materials you need to be able to complete each item on your make-list. Check your yarn stash, supply cupboard and pantry and tick off the things you already have. Simply order or shop for the things you need, and you are GOOD. TO. GO.
Is there anything you can get started on while you wait for your extra supplies to arrive?
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STEP EIGHT:
Keep track and enjoy your Christmas Countdown
I’m not sure this is really a step, but I like even numbers and this feels important enough to have its own section.
Without fear, panic or guilt, check-in with your schedule regularly. Are you on track? No worries if not, just take a pause and revise your plans. Do not let things run away from you – take action.
You’re not letting anyone down if you amend your handmade plans. In fact, you’d be letting yourself down if you continued down a path of getting behind. That path leads to stress and anxiety, and that is NOT the road to Christmas fun-times.
Simply make the necessary amendments to your plans and be proud of your flexibility and adaptability. Your sister will never know the cardigan you give her was supposed to be 15cm longer…
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Key take-aways
- Be truly realistic – and consistently challenge yourself on this point
- If in doubt, over-estimate how long things take and under-estimate how much time you’ll have
- Adapt, relax and ENJOY your crafty Christmas
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Now you’re ready to plan your Christmas crochet projects, see below for gift ideas and inspiration!
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Hampstead Produce Bag
£6.00 -
The Emsie Santa Sack
£6.00 -
The Clissold Market Bag
£6.00 -
The Gillespie Tote Bag
£6.00
Did you enjoy this blog?
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If so, I’d love you to tag me on Insta to share your process with me! @sarling.studio
Or even better, head here to do some feel good shopping, supporting my work AND my wonderful partner charity.
Written by:
Melanie Sarling
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