7 Tips for a Smoother Holiday Shopping Experience #YourHolidayWorkshop #Spon

This is a sponsored post.

This week is always the beginning of a crazy busy holiday season for everyone. Coordinating the shopping, shipping, cooking, packing and traveling with a few school and other activities can make your head spin.

I’ve done this for over 18 years now and I’ve learned a few tricks for a smoother holiday shopping experience.

Smoother Holiday Shopping Tips

1. Ask for gift ideas in advance of the holiday season. I ask my kids and extended family for ideas before the season even starts. If someone mentions something they want or need, I make a note of it on my phone. If I’m at the store with my kids and they show me something they want, I take a photo of it so I won’t forget.
2. When traveling, buy gifts online and have them shipped directly to the place you are going. Office Depot and OfficeMax have another option that I love. You can shop in the store and ship the gifts before you leave the store.
3. Shop in as few stores as possible. You don’t have time to hit 14 stores to get gifts, holiday cards, wrapping paper, gift tags, tape, etc.
4. Wrap gifts as you buy them. When you buy gifts either online or off, try to wrap them as they come in. Have a weekly Friday night wrap fest. Pour a glass of wine and do some wrapping while listening to music. Make it fun. This helps those prying eyes you may go sneaking around to find gifts in the house and it doesn’t seem like such a big job when it’s done in pieces.
5. For those who are hard to buy for, make personal calendars or other photo gifts. Gifts that are personal are always loved because it shows you took the time to make that gift more personal for that person.
6. Don’t be afraid to give a gift card. There are some people who love gift cards. I like to save mine up and buy myself something really awesome.
7. Make it fun! I’ve learned that in the end, you will get it all done somehow. The more stressed you are, the more stressed your family will be. This too shall pass, so enjoy the journey!

Office Depot & OfficeMax Holiday Shopping Help

• Office Depot and OfficeMax are making holiday shopping a little easier with online store pickup and free shipping with $50 purchase*. This is available from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday (December 1.)
• Lots of great holiday savings online and offline.

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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Office Depot and OfficeMax. The opinions and text are all mine.