So… Thanksgiving just happened – that came up super fast as it always does, right? Kids had 2.5 days of school last week and of course, after Thanksgiving came the mad dash to every store imaginable to try and fill underneath the tree.
Holidays 2021 are Going to Be Different
This year is definitely going to be a little different. I recently saw a segment on 60 Minutes which was about what is going on with the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. According to this episode, at least 40% of all US imported goods come through those ports. It covered the major backlog and why everything is taking incredibly long – if it ever actually gets to its destination.
And all of the experts along the way had said “Just wait, it’s going to get a lot worse.”
How It Affects Us
I don’t often go out to a lot of stores these days (but that’s gonna probably be changing soon). In the stores that I do go to, especially in speaking of the bigger stores, (mainly department stores like Target or Walmart), I have noticed that the shelves are a lot thinner than they have been in the past. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Some of us go into the holiday season by going out and buying a million things, because you know, we have small kids and we’re just ridiculous about Christmas. It won’t be as easy this year. I personally don’t run out and have shopping bags falling off of me towards the end, but I know it’s “a thing” to try to get it done all at once, and as close to the 24th as possible.
Even if you’re going to go out and buy just a few things for a couple of family members, it might not be there. So I would say, let’s get organized – right now.
Plan Ahead
One of the things that we did, or really my incredible virtual assistant did (she’s also an amazing designer, just love her to pieces) – she created this Holiday Planner downloadable, which complements our Spark Quarterly Planner. It’s a holiday planning guide, and a way to get organized and write down who you need to buy presents for and also a little space to brainstorm some ideas. We also have reminders of other people you might need to buy for, like I always forget to tip my mail lady, which is awful. Who else in your life do you need to think about? Teachers, staff, aunts, uncles, neighbors etc. This is a great way to remind you of who you might want to appreciate over the holidays with gifts.
Then there’s a budget column for those of us who are financially aware (hopefully you!) and some gift inspirations. We added some great ideas that inspired us. Some of them were inspired by our own clients – I love to promote our clients hence our Holiday Gift Guide we released a couple of weeks ago on social:
It highlighted some of our gift-conscious clients and what they’re promoting over the holidays (or what we found and LOVED on their websites). Beautiful candles, amazing flavors of popcorn, pretty jewelry, a super unique charcuterie board… our local businesses have amazing things to offer.
Other Ways to Shop Consciously
The other thing I wanted to mention is Etsy. Not a client obviously. But Etsy has really put some great things out this year – really creative and inexpensive. Employee appreciation, client appreciation, just unique, great gift ideas. And if you look into who the seller is and where they are, they’re usually somebody that literally could be down the street, or they could be in the middle of the country. It’s just the essence of shopping for potentially local and highly unique gifts. One of my favorite things to do is to go on Etsy and support those artists in addition to buying from our clients.
So my recommendation is to check out our Sparkle Guide, go to Etsy, or go to our website and look at our retail clients along with your running to the mall and late night Amazon escapades.
Other Spark Holiday Freebies
This year we’ve also added some recipes that are really good, and pretty healthy, and can buy you some time over the holidays – which we all need. And our gift guide is also a great download to help you get organized soon. As previously mentioned, the shelves are going to be pretty empty, and that is going to create a lot of stress as we come into the weeks toward Christmas and we DON’T need stress around Christmas time (or any time). It’s supposed to be fun and magical and relaxing and the most wonderful time of the year. Sometimes we gotta make it that way. So get organized. Get with it. And have a great Holiday Season!
