The Christmas gift checklist for big families
If you buy for a dozen people, Christmas is a project with a deadline. The deadline is the day everyone walks in, and every gift has to be bought, delivered and wrapped before then.
This checklist starts in early November and works forward. Skip any step you do not need.
Early November: write down who you are buying for
List every name, including the ones that are easy to forget: in-laws, the neighbor, the teacher, the cousin who only turns up at Christmas. Then cross out anyone you will not be buying for this year. Do that now, with a pen, so you are not deciding at the checkout.
Add each person to Wishmark with December 25 as a date. A reminder email arrives before the date, so December does not sneak up on you.
Early November: ask everyone what they want
Send the question now and ask for answers by the weekend after Thanksgiving. Ask for wishes, sizes and anything they can't have, because the last one prevents the most returns. For young children, ask a parent.
Anyone who has not answered by then gets one nudge. After that, go with what you know.
What about the people who say they want nothing?
Every big family has a few, usually the grandparents. Take the answer seriously and change the question: what do they run out of, what do they use every day, what did they enjoy the last time they went out? A good version of something they already use, or a plan for an afternoon together, goes over better than another thing for the shelf.
Pick a limit for each person
Write a spending limit next to each name before you look at a single gift. Add them up so you know the total before December does.
Late November to mid-December: buy in rounds
Do the easy ones first and enjoy crossing them off. Leave the people who gave you nothing for the second round, when you have had time to think. Keep the last round small.
- Round one (end of November): people who gave a clear answer
- Round two (first week of December): the hard ones, with time to change your mind
- Round three (second week): stocking stuffers and anything that fell through
When do things need to be shipped?
Anything that travels by mail needs a deadline, and it is earlier than it feels. The carriers publish their last recommended shipping days each December, so look them up and write the dates on your list. Far-away relatives and anything crossing a border need the most room.
If you are driving, put the gifts for the trunk in one bag by the door the week before, not the morning you leave.
Keep track of who is covered
The quiet disaster in a big family is forgetting one person or buying for someone twice. Mark each person covered the moment the gift is bought. In Wishmark the opposite shows as Needs a gift, so on December 10 you can see exactly who is left.
Wrap in one evening
Pick a night in the second week of December, put on something you like, and keep a trash bag by your feet. Write the name on a tag and again on the bottom of the box, because tags fall off.
Leave a buffer
Something will arrive late, broken or in the wrong size. Keep the last week free for that. It also helps to have three or four small gifts in a drawer, such as a good book or a nice pair of socks, for the person who hands you a present you did not plan for.