Are you an early Christmas (or Holiday) Shopper? I used to start thinking about and  buying gifts starting around October, finding a few things each time I went to a store for something, but in the past few years, I have become a last minute shopper. Buying presents for boys that are past the Hot Wheels and Legos stage is not easy! With 5 sons ages 14-27, I’ve graduated to the “giftcard and candy and clothing gifts” stage. Thankfully a few of them have graduated to the “buying their mom and dad gifts” stage. I’m personally at the “I want to go on a trip somewhere cold that has restaurants and maids” stage. I think my husband is in the “Can we skip the presents?” stage.

But I have friends who really enjoy and work hard at buying and hiding gifts all year long for their families. They carefully make a wish list and then vigilantly watch for items to go on sale or look for them at thrift shops or garage sales. Finding an unopened or like new item is a major score! Early shopping can be a necessity if you are buying for a large family. But this method requires some self-control and a good memory or method of keeping track of what you’ve bought, or you could end up overspending. Since I am not the organized type and have a terrible memory, I do not do very well with buying things along the way.  I have actually forgotten about some gifts that I bought in advance!

Last Christmas my original thought was to purchase a bigger TV on Black Friday for the family room. We have a vintage 32 inch Vizio that was given to us years ago by the Make A Wish foundation for my daughter . It’s nice and we are glad to have it, but it’s hard for us over-40 year olds to see such a small screen way across the room. But Black Friday is just too much work and I was worried they might not like having presents to open. I ended up coming up with a couple of good ideas and  bought each kid separate gifts. The top gifts of the year, according to them, were GPS units for their cars. Two of them do not have smart phones so they have no GPS on their phones. And my favorite gift was a Nikon D3500 camera, a huge surprise from my son. I also ordered some custom made funny t-shirts for the whole family that were not that popular, but they humored me and let me take a group photo. The year before I surprised my two youngest with a trip to Utah, maybe not the best plan for their first time flying to be a surprise trip. But it worked out okay.

I

If you are the early shopper type, you may also be an Amazon Prime user. If so, you may be aware that Prime Day is coming July 15! Never heard of it? This is a great 2-day opportunity to find some super deals on anything and everything.

The countdown to Prime Day is on! It’s going to be an epic 2 days of great deals and opportunities for you to earn, and it all starts at midnight PT on Monday, July 15th and runs through July 16th! https://amzn.to/2LJ3qqC

And other websites will be offering special deals during this time and before. Competition is a good thing! The great news is that even if you are not a Prime member, you can sign up for the 30 day free trial and take advantage of the Prime Day deals! So make your list now and get ready for the big day! Only 7 more days!

Have you started thinking about Christmas and the holidays? How early do you start buying gifts? Or have you stopped buying them? Are you okay with getting and giving cash or gift cards? Do you shop on Amazon/ use Prime? What are your best shopping tips for the holidays? 

Click  the link below to learn all about Prime Days. If you buy anything from Amazon through this link or any other Amazon link in my blog, I will get a commission. Thank you!

Link is below this line. If you can’t see it, you may need to turn off Ad Blocker and refresh the page.
Christmas in July on Prime Days!