Christmas To Do List - 6 weeks to go !

I get very excited about Christmas so I'm launching a series in my blog to help you plan for the perfect Christmas. I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year as for lunch it will just be me, my husband and the children. We will then be having my parents, grandma, aunt and uncle over for a cup of tea and turkey sandwiches in the afternoon. I admit that I am a total control freak so I like it when I have everyone over to my house as then I am in charge and they all have to do as I say. So here is a warning...this plan is not for the spontaneous!

I really don't want to end up like the hapless ladies in the Morrisons and Asda adverts this year. I want to be sipping champagne and relaxing over the Christmas holidays so I am doing a 6 week countdown to Christmas which will include the things you should be doing each week, some cheats tips for those with not much time and of course some thrifty tips to make the most of your money.

What You Should Be Doing This Week:

1. Make your Christmas cake
I admit that I am not massively keen on fruit cake most of the year but I do love Christmas cake. The trick to a good Christmas cake is making it well in advance to give the flavours time to mature and of course to allow lots of time to feed it with alcohol. Here is a link to my Christmas cake recipe if you are looking for some inspiration!

2. Buy gift wrap, sellotape and cards
Its good to get all your wrapping paper in stock early so that you are not left with a few old rolls that say things like happy retirement or have pictures of golf clubs on. Also make sure you have lots of rolls of sellotape in. There's nothing worse than getting half way through wrapping and then coming to the end of a roll! (this did actually happen to me one year and I had to use blu-tack)

3. Plan your Christmas events
Tickets for plays, pantos and ice rinks get booked up quickly. Now is a good time to book tickets and get dates in the diary to avoid disappointment. It's also good to get organised about when you are seeing friends and family over the holidays.

Thrifty Tip
Scour the sales for freezable bargains. Most food keeps in the freezer for 6 weeks so its a great time to look out for some bargains that you can freeze and use for Christmas. I got some smoked salmon at half price and froze it for a Christmas breakfast. You can also freeze posh cheeses, breads and veg. Many supermarkets are also selling Champagne really cheaply at the moment so stock up on this too!

Cheats Tip
Buy an un-iced shop made fruit cake. You can then feed it with alcohol at home and add some icing before Christmas for a homemade feel.