If you have a large family, events such as birthdays and Christmas can become difficult. Not only do you have to come up with creative gifts for everyone, but you also have to buy, wrap and afford all these gifts. So why not plan all year round for such events?
Begin by making a list of family members who need a gift. Add a column for the events such as Christmas, Easter, birthdays, Valentine's Day and so on. Add a final column for likely ideas and to track what you have bought. Keep this list in your wallet or purse and take it out every time you go shopping. Once you get into the habit of checking the list it will quickly become second nature.
Here are some good reasons why buying gifts all year round is a good idea.

Plan your finances

Beginning the year with a list of events and gift requirements helps you assess just how much you're going to need to spend. Buying gifts all year round means you can spread the cost of the purchases across the year rather than having to rely on the credit card at Christmas.

Save money

Planning also helps save money. You can target sales, benefit from post-New Year reductions or take advantage of bargains throughout the year. A well-planned gift strategy can save you a lot of money!

Creative gifts

Having to come up with ten or twenty gift ideas at once is almost impossible. Spreading that creative process over several months makes for much better gifts. It allows you to refine ideas, buy something as you see it or even make something as a gift. Inspiration comes from everywhere and quickly recording your ideas on your list stops you missing opportunities.

Impulse buys

Knowing who you need to buy for and for what occasion helps you visualise when out shopping. If you visit a craft fair or farmer's market and see something particularly good, having your list in hand allows you to decide quickly for whom and for what a particular item might suit.

Time management

We all know what it's like to walk frantically down Republic Street in Valletta the evening before Christmas. There are always lots of people looking for a last minute gift. Avoid all that by planning it all throughout the year. Buy at your leisure and enjoymore free time before the event.

Emergency gifts

While there are many predictable events where you might need a gift, there are occasionally surprise ones too. Weddings, pregnancies and life events are just three of the many times having a gift on hand can be very welcome indeed. Even if you have allocated a certain gift to a certain person, having the luxury of time and money to replace it allows you to respond quickly.

Buying gifts all year round takes a little organising but once you're in the habit can save you a lot of time, money and frantic searching. We don't know how we survived before we did this!