Christmas goes better with a list. Not because lists are fun, but because a job written down is a job you can stop thinking about at 2am. We have made four one-page checklists you can print, stick on the fridge and tick off.
They are free and there is nothing to sign up for.
What you get
- A week-by-week Christmas countdown, from six weeks out to the day itself.
- A gift list with columns for the person, the idea, the budget, bought and wrapped.
- A Christmas Day food plan: who is bringing what, and what gets done when.
- A Christmas Eve checklist, ending with the important ones.
The countdown, week by week
Six weeks out (mid November):
- Set a budget for presents and food.
- Write the gift list.
- Check the postal deadlines for parcels going overseas.
- Book anything that sells out: Santa photos, a Christmas tree, a table for a work lunch.
- Make fruit mince, and a Christmas cake if you are making one.
Four weeks out:
- Buy or make the first half of the presents.
- Order the ham and anything else from the butcher.
- Put up the tree and the lights.
- Post overseas cards.
- Plan who is hosting and who is travelling.
Two weeks out:
- Finish the present shopping.
- Bake shortbread and gingerbread.
- Start wrapping, a few each evening.
- Write the food plan and ask each guest to bring one thing.
- Book Santa's phone call for Christmas Eve.
One week out:
- Do the big supermarket shop for everything that keeps.
- Clear the fridge.
- Charge the camera and find the batteries for new toys.
- Wash the good tablecloth.
- Check the car for a road trip: tyres, oil, water.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day have their own lists below.
How to use the gift list
Write every person down first, then put a dollar amount beside each name before you write a single idea. Add the column up. If the total frightens you, change the amounts now and not the credit card bill later. Tick "bought" and "wrapped" as you go, and write down where you hid things. Everyone forgets one.
For ideas, see our gift guides for toddlers, ages five to eight, tweens, teenagers and babies, and our Thriftmas guide for doing it second-hand.
The Christmas Day food plan
A New Zealand Christmas lunch is mostly cold or cooked outside, which makes it easy to share out. The food plan page has a line for each dish and who is bringing it, and a timeline down the side.
- The day before: glaze the ham, make the pavlova, wash salad greens, chill the drinks.
- Christmas morning: new potatoes on, barbecue lit, cream whipped.
- One job each: someone on drinks, someone on the barbecue, someone on dishes.
Our Christmas baking ideas have a baking timeline that fits alongside.
The Christmas Eve checklist
- Presents wrapped and labelled.
- Batteries in.
- Stockings out.
- Ham glazed, pavlova in the oven.
- Camera and phones charged.
- Milk and biscuits for Santa, a carrot for the reindeer.
- The "Santa, please stop here" sign in the window. It is in our free decoration kit.
- Santa's phone call, booked for bedtime.
- Children in bed.
- Sit down. Eat the biscuits.
Printing tips
Print on A4 and choose "fit to page". The pages are mostly black and white to save ink. Print the gift list twice if your family is large, and keep it somewhere children cannot read it.
One thing to tick off right now
Booking Santa's call takes two minutes and you can choose the day and the minute he rings. Book the Santa phone call for Christmas Eve now and it is off the list.