Holiday Pre-Gaming: What I’m Doing & What I’ve Bought

Ready to get your jingle on? Here are some easy steps you can take to start your holiday planning without going overboard.

I like to plan ahead. I know that life happens, even with the best laid plans. So, I’ve been pre-gaming my holiday season.

While pre-gaming traditionally refers to getting hammered before a game, I’m using the term to “getting in the holiday spirit” before the real action starts.

You’ve seen it coming, you know I’m like this, especially if you get my emails or follow on Instagram. I am ready for the Holidays.

By which I mean: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.

This is not to say I don’t enjoy fall, but our weather didn’t get that memo. And since I really kinda don’t like what Halloween 👹 has become in modern culture, I’m okay with skipping it.

I still bought a Costco-size box of pretzels (60 bags for less than $10) to give to any kids that roll by, but last year there really weren’t that many trick-or-treaters. After Saturday night when I will watch my yearly Harry Potter and eat chocolate and drink red wine, well, then it’s game on.

Holiday Pre-Gaming: Getting Ready on a Budget

Here are the steps I’ve taken so far to get me holiday-ready:

✅ Complete the Sinking Fund

We have sinking funds for a number of categories, like our next trip, our next car, replacement appliances, and of course Christmas. Doing so many years ago was the biggest game changer for us.

Prior to developing these different savings accounts, one emergency would throw us into a big debt hole. Now, I know that Christmas is already paid for before I do a thing.

✅ Debrief Last Year’s Holidays

We’ve talked about this before. It’s so important to revisit past years to remind yourself of what worked and what didn’t. I have shared the holiday debriefing questions before as well as my answers to those questions: Christmas 2024 Debrief and My 2023 Christmas Debrief.

Apparently, I didn’t post my debriefing last year. Thankfully, I had it all in my Christmas Planner!

I spent an afternoon reflecting on past holidays as well as some time chatting with Bryan and the kids. This year I’m hosting Thanksgiving and have already invited my brother and my in-laws.

For Christmas, we’ll be heading to Sacramento. Bryan and I are doing a parents-only road trip next week up north so that will be a good refresher about what will make our Christmas Road Trip special.

✅ Find the Holiday Things I Already Own

You know when you go to the store and see all the displays? You see something cute and you think, I’ll get that, only to take it home and find out you bought one last year?

Maybe that just happens to me? But it happens! So I’ve spent a little time looking over the decor, supplies, and ingredients that we already have.

Things you could check:

• wrapping paper, gift bags, ribbons, tags
• containers for food gifts
• decorations (indoor and outdoor)
• Advent books and activities
• greeting cards and stamps

🟩 Organize the Pantry and Freezers

You know you’re going to be doing a lot of cooking over the next couple months, so get things shipshape! Organize your ingredients and equipment. Do a deep clean where it matters.

• organize your baking supplies
• organize your spices and herbs
• take notes of what you’re running low of so you have what you need for holiday baking
• organize the freezers
• make space in the freezers for holiday desserts, sides, and easy weeknight dinners
• find the lesser-used serving ware and linens

I’m still in the middle of this project. So far, I’ve reorganized the kids’ snack shelves, the spice cupboard, and the baking cupboard. I still need to tackle the freezers and the cooking utensils. We also cleaned the oven.

These things don’t seem like a big deal, but they are.

I found some pantry bugs in the baking cupboard. Taking care of it early meant I wasn’t dealing with that minor catastrophe in the middle of making the Thanksgiving pies!

Cleaning the oven was a more involved process than originally thought and required extra rinsing and a long baking off period to get all the cleaner residue and odor out. This is not something to leave for Thanksgiving week!

✅ Start Shopping While Selection is Good

This is the fun part, but don’t skip the other stuff! Having the previous items tackled makes this part so much more fun.

Here are some of the things I picked up this year:

• very cute Gingerbread mugs from Pottery Barn – you know I love my mugs!
• cute travel mugs to replace the janky plastic ones the girls and I have been using
• a holiday sheet set – I’ll use the twin flat sheet for a tablecloth and use the pillowcase and fitted sheet as fabric to see gift bags. I found my set at Marshalls, but linked a similar set for you here.
• new Advent candles for our Sunday Dinner table – I actually found some colors I liked on clearance to create a custom set.
• a few more holiday t-shirts – Over the years I have built a collection from the ones that Kohls sells. I really like the styles and fit.

🟩 Start Filling the Freezer

I’ll get more serious with this over the next week, but I know from my debriefing that I didn’t have enough room in my freezer to get ahead on holiday food prep. Once I’ve got the two spaces organized, I will likely do an eat-down-the-freezer week so that there’s more room.

I specifically want to prep:

• Thanksgiving Side Dishes, particularly gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, rolls, and stuffing
• Apple Pies ready to bake
• Pie Crust ready to roll
• Cranberry Scones
• A Buche de Noel

And since I’m leaning on the One-Dish Dinners Meal Plan Advent Calendar, I want to make sure I have these items prepped ahead:

• cooked chicken
• chicken stock
• white sauce
• Mushroom Gravy
• Cream of Chicken Soup
• taco seasoning
• Cajun Spice Mix

Since the kitchen has been mostly organized, this will be easy.

I’d love to hear what you’re doing to Pre-Game for the Holidays. We’re not getting hammered, just under the influence of the holiday spirit! 🎄