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Festive countdown

The festive season checklist

The festive season creeps up every year, and the households that enjoy it most are the ones that started early. This checklist counts down to the big day, so the gifts, the food, the travel and the hosting are all sorted in good time instead of in a frantic final week.

Use it here for free to plan your run-up, then open it as a guided pack in OneHaus so each task pops up at the right moment and the whole household can share the load.

Your countdown to the big day

  • Set your festive budget and gift list8 weeks before
  • Plan who you are hosting or visiting7 weeks before
  • Book travel and confirm dates6 weeks before
  • Buy and send greeting cards5 weeks before
  • Finish buying gifts4 weeks before
  • Plan the holiday meal and order anything special3 weeks before
  • Put up the decorations3 weeks before
  • Wrap the gifts10 days before
  • Do the food shop3 days before
  • Prep what you can the day beforeThe day before
  • Celebration dayThe day itself

    Enjoy it.

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In the app

Get the Festive Season pack in OneHaus

Open the Festive Season pack in OneHaus and set the date. Your gift, food and travel tasks are scheduled across the run-up, so you are nudged to book travel, finish the shopping and prep ahead without the last-minute panic.

  • Tasks spread across the run-up to the big day
  • Reminders so gifts and travel are booked in time
  • Share the hosting and food jobs across the household
  • Reuse it every year
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Front-load the decisions and the bookings. Setting your budget and gift list, planning who you are hosting or visiting, and booking any travel all want to happen early, around six to eight weeks out, while there is still choice and availability. Cards and the bulk of the gift buying follow soon after.

Save the perishable jobs for the final stretch. Planning the meal and ordering anything special can be done a few weeks ahead, but the food shop, the wrapping and the day-before prep belong in the last week. Spreading it this way is what turns the season from a sprint into something you actually get to enjoy.

Keep going

Related guides, tools and checklists

FAQ

Festive Season checklist FAQ

Around six to eight weeks before is ideal for the jobs that need lead time, such as setting your budget, planning who you are hosting or visiting, and booking travel. Gift buying, cards and decorations follow through the run-up, and the food shop and prep come in the final week.

The trick is sequencing. Get the budget, gift list and travel sorted early, finish buying gifts a few weeks out, then leave only the food shop, wrapping and day-before prep for the final stretch. This checklist orders everything by how far ahead it should happen.

Yes. In OneHaus the Festive Season pack is shared, so the hosting, cooking and shopping can be split across the household rather than landing on one person. Everyone sees what is left to do and can pick tasks up.

Yes. The plan stays the same year to year, so once you have set it up in OneHaus you can run the same pack again with a new date, tweaking anything that changed. It saves rebuilding your festive plan from scratch each December.

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