Despite how much I complain about winter (I still don't like it) and avoid acknowledging the arrival of the holidays, I'm pleasantly surprised by how far along I am in my gift planning and buying. I usually get ideas around late summer for the bigger gifts—my mom, close friends—so that I can include any bigger purchases in my budgeting for the last few months of the year. I use Google Docs to track holiday gifts, making a list of who I'm buying for this year and what, along with any other notes. It's also super helpful to make sure I don't get someone the same thing or something similar twice (I'm often pretty terrible at remembering what I've gifted after the fact).
So far this year, I'm just over halfway through my gift buying, and all the bigger ones are out of the way! Since my budget is a little tight this year for friends, I'm doing some DIY gifts like infused simple syrups and homemade sugar scrubs. I stocked up on holiday cards from Rifle Paper Company, and did the rest of my shopping at several of my favorites, from local shops to online, including Zappos, who has a killer selection of gifts for most anyone, and incredible shipping & customer service. Anything major for people at home or that I need to ship, I order online and send to my mom's house—she has a ton of great wrapping paper, and sometimes I can bribe her into wrapping a few for me (she's an expert, seriously…thanks Mom!).
