Planning for Christmas - Food & House Guests - Filofax Friday

So we are hopefully really rocking and rolling now with our Christmas planning, I am certainly getting there and feeling so much better for it. I am starting to feel really smug knowing that I have everything all under control. Well at least I think I do lol!

I was unsure as to what order to share my Christmas planning with you as for me a lot of it goes hand in hand in that I plan for various things for Christmas alongside each other yet they did need breaking down into weeks for the purposes of video and blog posts.

This week I wanted to look at planning for the food and also for house guests.

Food for me plays a major part in Christmas, it is a time when I get together with family and friends and indulge in one too many mince pies. I probably buy way too much food along with everyone else in the Country but that is part of the fun in Christmas. What would Christmas night be without the Christmas episode of The Good Life and a box of sweets, for me nothing that is what!

I like to plan what we are eating for Christmas fairly early so that I can start shopping. Christmas as we all know can be rather costly and I like to spread the cost a bit by getting one or two items with long shelf lives everytime I do my food shop from the end of September. I like to do this not only to spread the cost but also to make sure that I have got everything that I really want to. Some items do sell out and fast and I don't want to run the risk of not getting those items by leaving it to the last minute. I also find that nothing gets forgotten this way in the mad supermarket dash! I know the shops are only shut for a couple of days but once Christmas Eve rolls around, I have no intention of taking my slippers off...I just want to huddle inside and relax and not have to worry or care about going to the shops.

So what I do is meal plan what we will be eating over the festive period, obviously this is not set in stone, I am not that rigid with my planning but it is the basis. The we creatures of tradition in my family and what we eat on Christmas day rarely changes. For this reason I print out my menu on to a nice piece of scrapbooking paper so it is thicker and more durable and has a pretty design on the back. This will then last me for many years to come!

Once I have my meal plan I then translate this into a shopping list which I can work from over the coming months. Every time I buy something I just tick it off the list and this means that hopefully come Christmas I will just need to buy my fresh produce. I already have things like the cranberry sauce and stuffing in a special dedicated box in my pantry. I keep it in there seperate so we are not tempted to use / eat anything, especially the treats I buy!

Christmas baking has been a tradition ingrained in me by my Mum. I remember many Decembers sitting in a dark room with just the Christmas twinkle lights on watching the delights that are Delia Smith's Christmas and Fanny Cradock's Christmas. I love them so much, they just remind me of childhood Christmases and what Christmas is all about, pre ipads and other gadgets, you know, a good 'ole wholesome family Chrsitmas. If you don't know what the heck I am going on about, I have embedded two videos below for you...let me know if you watch them and what you think!






Aren't they just delightful, retro, non-fussy and terribly British...I love it!

I like to try new things and I very much enjoy a good Christmas baking session so this year I am making a note of all the recipes that I would like to try!

In the above photos, I mucked up my cutting and consequently my hole punching which is why it is off but I didn't want to waste ink and paper to print new ones off - yours will be fine, there is nothing wrong with the margins ; )

Also if you like the look of the stickers they are available to purchase in my Etsy shop here.

As I explained in my video at the top of this blog post, we have no idea if we have house guests this year or if we are going visiting, it is all a big nuts this year! Anyway there is a potential that we may have some of our friends up. This is quite a big deal for us as we live in a quiet family of just Mr B and I along with the fur babies and our friends are a loud family of 6! I need to have a think about where everyone is going to sleep and just think about things like bedding and towels, you know just to make sure that everyone is sorted!

Download
This week's download contains the pages as shown in the video as both personal size and A5. You will need software that can 'unzip' the folder to release the files as both pdf and jpeg.  To download the files for week 4 please click here. Please note that the inserts that I am offering as freebies as part of this series are different to the ones that I sell, so if you have already purchased a set of my inserts these are in addition for you. If you haven't purchased any of my inserts and would like to or just have a nose at them you can view them in my Etsy shop here. Please note: These inserts are entirely free and a gift from me and only the inserts provided are free, I say this because I know some people might prefer one of the other designs that I offer but it is only the ones in the freebie set on offer at this time.

Next Week
Well next week will be my very last Christmas in October post which kind of makes me feel a little sad! I will of course be continuing to plan for my Christmas. Next week I will be sharing about gifts giving and receiving but if there is anything you would like me to cover then please do let me know and I will try and incorporate that for you.

Giveaway
I am so pleased to have what I think is an awesome giveaway to go along with this series and I hope you will agree. The giveaway is brought to you by myself and the lovey Charlotte. Please do thank Charlotte for her kind generosity by visiting her:

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/CharlottesWeb86
Blog: http://therobinsnest86.weebly.com/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/handmadebycharlottevictoria

Charlotte has only recently started her blog but you will not be dissapointed, she has some lovely images and planner lovliness so please do go and have a look.

So what can you win....some lovely things that is what my dears! I have three prizes for you... the first prize is everything that you see in the photo below which is.... from me: a brand spanking new red original Filofax which retails for £60.00 on the Filofax website, Christmas sticker sheet, candy cane planner charm, washi sample card and your choice of Christmas printable inserts from my shop. From Charlotte: a Christmas fly leaf, dashboard, set of dividers and pen. Everything that you need to plan your Christmas this year and every year after!

The second prize is everything you see below...from me: a Christmas dashboard, washi sample card, sticker sheet, Christmas tree planner charm and your choice of Christmas printable inserts from my shop. From Charlotte: a set of beautiful Christmas dividers.

And last but not least the third prize is your choice of Christmas printable inserts from my shop.

You want to enter? 
If you would like to enter the giveaway to win the Filofax shown above please use the rafflecopter widget below.  To enter you will be asked to follow both mine and Charlotte's Etsy shop which is mandatory to receive your entry (this is just as a thank you for hosting the giveaway but you are not expected to make a purchase!). All other 'follow' options are optional so don't worry if you don't have those accounts, it just gives you extra chances to win.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
By submitting an entry to this giveaway you agree to the following Terms & Conditions:

• Open internationally
• You must be over eighteen years of age or have parental / guardian permission.
• I will package the item(s) and will send in good faith but I cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage to the item in transit.
• The prizes stated above are the only prizes - no alternative colours, no cash alternative.
• The inserts are digital for you to print at home and will not be supplied printed.
• Three winners will be chosen at random and notified by email. Winners will be announced on this page after the closing date.
• If the winner(s) do not respond to my email within 48 hours a new winner(s) will be chosen.
• Your email address will be added to my newsletter database - I will not sell this to anyone else nor will I constantly be spamming you and you can unsubscribe at any time!