Christmas Shopping with a Baby

Alrighty, we’ve made it past Halloween right?  It’s almost Thanksgiving, so I would say we are ready for Christmas Holiday talk (I see some of you rolling your eyes). Well, actually, normally I would be on the side of the “Let me enjoy my Thanksgiving and wake me up from my comatose food sleep sometime in mid-December” people, but this year requires a little bit more planning. I have found that planning ahead for things in mommy world makes everything run a little bit smoother so do not hate me for my haste in planning out my holiday shopping.

Several questions are burning in my mind as I run through my long list of family members, co-workers, and other close friends we are required to have presents for (I am kind of working toward taking a minimalist approach to gift giving but that topic will be saved for another time.) So now, I have to figure out when I will either have someone to watch Emma or how many stores/ sales I can hit up before we reach baby meltdown.

I have a lot to do and Emma, on a good day, with maybe a nap thrown in, will last approximately 1.5-2 hours in a store at any given time. As I have previously mentioned, my child does not like to be confined in any type of small space. She is a mover so keeping her in the stroller is like torture. Baby wearing is out as well. She will sit for short periods of time in the stroller which is why I pretty much need to know exactly what I will be getting from the store and where it is located. It makes for a less laid back shopping experience, but I know I will have to bring her with me at some point during this holiday season. Here is my game plan:

1.      Write down list of family members/ gifts they are getting

2.     Do research at home for which store has good sales on said items

3.     Plan out which stores I will hit when, preferably stores I am familiar with the layout

4.     Have list of each person/ item/ price I will be purchasing at which store– this also helps me budget!

5.     Pack some good toys/ a binky/ food/ anything else that will help us make it through an hour and a half at the mall

And now I bid thee a farewell from my holiday OCD planning and say good luck shopping everyone! Do you have a well laid out plan to tackle your holiday season shopping? Do you have any holiday shopping horror stories?