When to Go Christmas Shopping

Your shopping list is complete, and now you must decide WHEN you want you to want to shop. This may sound like an easy task, but you should take some time to plan it out because if you think about it, there are most likely days you do NOT want to shop and, with a little bit of planning, you can make your shopping trips more enjoyable, quicker and more productive.

One question to ask yourself is, do you want to do all your shopping quickly or do you want to do year-round shopping? For those who want to get it over with, I encourage you to set a deadline on your calendar when you want your gift shopping completed. Once you know your end date, look at your calendar and select a day, weekend, or week specifically to do your shopping. Also check with stores, web sites, and catalogs for specials during the holiday time.

If you enjoy purchasing gifts year-round, you still need an end date, but the trick here is to keep a copy of your gift list and those you still need gifts for with you at all times because you never know when you will happen upon a perfect gift for someone. Mark dates on your calendar to look over your shopping list if you shop year-round, so the Christmas season doesn’t sneak up on you, causing you to have to do panic gift shopping, which will cost you more in time and money. While I do my shopping year-round, I use “Black Friday” as my finishing date for gifts I am purchasing.

When deciding on when to shop, consider the following:

Do they have early hours for shopping? Off hours, early or late, often have fewer people.

Can you place your order ahead of time and pick up and pay at the store?

Is free shipping available during certain dates? How long is the shipping time?

If attending a special event for shopping, call the organizers and ask if they can tell you their non-peak times to shop – there are usually lulls during the day.