How many days until Christmas?

Breathe. You’ve got time. This is the moment for the big-picture stuff:

• Start a gift list – jot down ideas as they come to you (that notebook by your bed is finally earning its keep)
• Book any travel – if you’re heading to family, sort it now before prices climb

Fun fact: 16th September marks exactly 100 days until Christmas. Some people celebrate this like a second New Year.

Things are getting real. The Halloween decorations have barely come down, and the mince pies are already appearing in shops.

• Tackle the big purchases – that new bed for the spare room? Sort it now so your Christmas guests aren’t sleeping on an air mattress in the hallway
• Start buying gifts – this will help you spread the cost
• Plan your Christmas Eve traditions – matching pyjamas? A special bedtime story? Now’s the time to start thinking about them

This is peak organisation territory. Future-you will thank present-you.

• Write your Christmas cards – yes, all of them, even the ones for people you haven’t seen since 2019
• Meal plan – decide what you’re cooking and who’s bringing what (delegate the sprouts to someone else)
• Prep the guest bedroom – fresh bedding, plump pillows, maybe a few festive touches
• Order online gifts – beat the delivery chaos before every courier is run off their feet

We’re in the home stretch. The Christmas films are on repeat, and you’ve probably already eaten a dozen mince pies.

• Put up decorations – the tree, the lights, the questionable tinsel from 1987. It’s time
• Start wrapping – a few presents each evening is far less painful than a marathon session at 2 am on Christmas Eve
• Prepare the kids’ bedrooms for visitors – cousins staying over? Make sure there’s space for sleeping bags and midnight giggles
• Stock up on cosy bedding – because nothing says Christmas like climbing into freshly laundered sheets

This is it. The countdown is real. Everything feels both exciting and slightly chaotic – and that’s exactly how it should be.

• Final gift wrap – locate the sellotape (again), find the scissors (again), accept that your wrapping will never look like Pinterest
• Food shop – brave the supermarket, dodge the trolley traffic, remember the cranberry sauce
• Prepare Christmas Eve PJs – whether you open one present early or simply want everyone looking festive for the morning photos

You made it. One more sleep until the magic happens.

• Stick to bedtime routines – even amid the excitement, familiar routines help little ones drift off
• Set out the milk, cookies and carrots – the reindeer work hard, they deserve a snack
• Transform your bedroom into a cosy retreat – candles (safely placed), fairy lights, maybe a mince pie for yourself. You’ve earned it