Merry Christmas in July: 3 Reasons to Start Your Holiday Making Now

Do you make any Christmas gifts for anyone on your list? A follow-up question: Have you started your holiday making yet?

If you have said yes to the first question, I hope you have said yes to the second one. If you said no, let me give you three reasons why you should start your Christmas crafting now, whether you crochet, knit, or do something else.

1. It takes some of the stress off of you in November and December.
2. It always takes longer than you think it will.
3. Even craft stores are getting ready for Christmas now.

I’m going to briefly explain the reasoning behind each of these.

1. It takes some of the stress off of you for holiday making in November and December.

At least in the United States, the last three months of the year are the busiest with holidays, events, and family obligations. Halloween kicks it off and is followed quickly by Thanksgiving and Christmas. Once that gets started, the time you have available for making will decrease dramatically.

2. It always takes longer than you think it’s going to.

Honestly, it’s rare that a project goes perfectly to plan. If you want until October to start your holiday crafting, you’re not allowing for any cushion time to allow for mistakes, starting over, and slow progress or procrastination. Adding a couple months to your allowed time gives you the cushion that those issues require.

3. Even craft stores are getting ready for Christmas early.

If you go into any craft store, JoAnns, Michaels, and more, you will see Christmas displays. This is because they know that crafters need to extra time for their holiday making. When you see their displays going up, that should be your cue to start your making.

If you make things to sell for other people to give as gifts, you need to educate them to allow you — and them — time. In times of instant gratification, a lot of times people don’t want to wait. And they don’t like to. But you have to educate them that it takes time and they have to allow time for completion and delivery. 

For This Month

Throughout July, we will be celebrating Christmas all month. It starts now with this post. Next week, I will have a list of free patterns for you to make. The week after that will be a list of paid patterns. The last week of the month will be fast makes for those last minute gifts you forgot about. Closer to Christmas, I’ll include a list of gifts that your people can buy for you. If you h ave anything you would like to be included on that particular list, leave a comment or send me an email.

Meanwhile, happy making.