Starting Early...

Okay, so it's never too early to start getting ready for the holidays, right?  Once October hits, it seems like time moves at a faster speed around here, and since this is Claire's first round of major holidays I can hardly wait to get started!  

I would love to know how other people prep for the holidays and get it all done.  Pinterest has been a huge inspiration to me this year in finding gift ideas, decorating ideas, etc. 

 I can hardly wait for...

Halloween

Thanksgiving

My Birthday

Christmas

New Year's

Claire's 1st Birthday

Valentine's Day

 I am writing my ideas for "getting it all done" in hopes I will accomplish them all. 

 I would LOVE to hear your tips if you have any you would like to share.

1-make printed labels for everyone's mailing address for Christmas Cards using a cute font and maybe some fun clip art- I can even get these typed and printed now to save time later!

2-switch to a Christmas Photo card instead of a letter or handwritten card--I love the photo cards so much more anyway, but I never got around to getting a good photo.  

3-I found a DIY gift idea on Pinterest so I am going to get started on those early and make a few extras so that will be good for last minute gifts and fit the budget too!

4-make a gift giving spreadsheet.  Every year I have to make a list of people to give gifts to, so this year I'm going to make a cute one that I can use again and again and update as needed.  This will help me to get all my shopping done early and stay within budget!

5-Decorate early---I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!  My goal is to get the whole house decorated the week before Thanksgiving so I can really enjoy it and not feel like I have to take it all down so soon!

6-have family photos taken in October so we can get them back and have cards made in time to send out maybe the first week of December!

7-I've got all of Claire's outfits planned for the holidays!!! Kids clothes are just waaayyyyy too much fun!  Why can't I have this much fun planning my own outfits?  We've got an adorable fall dress for pumpkin patch photos, Halloween costume, smocked turkey dress for Thanksgiving, 2 Christmas dresses (one for each set of Grandparents Christmas celebrations...hmmm, I might need another one for our family Christmas!!!) and Claire's 1st Birthday outfit!  I absolutely love to bargain shop for her.  I found all of these outfits from Zulily, boutique shops on facebook selling at discounted prices, or from last year's Clearance sales.  I have no idea what Kevin and I will be wearing though.  A friend of mine from high school  buys one nice outfit each holiday season that could be worn differently with various accessories and such, so I might try to do that this year.  

Here's a fun idea I wanted to share from Pinterest; wrap 24 Christmas books you already own- I'm sure I probably have that many from teaching. Kids get to pick which one is read that day. Stack under kids tree in bedroom. Half the fun of presents is unwrapping them.  Claire will probably be a little too young this year, but I love the idea!

Source: katherinemariephotography.com via Kelly on Pinterest

That's all I can think of for now.  

Any other ideas to get ahead for the holidays?