Thank You Notes and Holiday Gifts

Sometimes at the holidays it may seem that you are inundated with gifts and little tokens of affection.  And it can seem the prospect of responding to each of those with a hand written note is a daunting task.  According to Emily Post's Etiquette, thank you notes are always necessary unless you've thanked the giver in person.  Personally I think (and Post encourages this too) its always better form to follow up with a note even if you've thanked the giver in person.  So get to writing!  See one of my favorite plan ahead tips here.

Holiday Party Season

Good Morning!!  Anybody still nursing a turkey hangover?  I LOVE Thanksgiving and I'm sorry to see the weekend end, BUT, I have lots of holiday cards and other special orders to work on, so I'm happy to get back in the office (OK lets be honest....I was in there for most of the weekend too ;).

It's holiday season and that means invitations for those holiday parties will start pouring in.  I thought this week we could talk about different parties you may go to and situations you might find yourself in.  We'll cover hosting a party, attending the office party and the typical holiday/dinner party.  If you have any specific questions, please email me this week at ab@ashleybrookedesigns.com and I'll do my best to get them answered on the blog :)

Looking forward to diving into this topic this week--check back for helpful hints!  Don't forget you can follow me on twitter @abdesigns and keep up with me during the day :)

Travel Plans

The holidays are a time to be with family, but that doesn't mean getting there is always easy, here are some tips for helping create a smooth travel plan.

As a newlywed, I'm already thinking about accommodating my family and my husband's family during the holidays. Talk with your spouse or significant other about what they would like to do for holidays in regards to visiting their family.

Maybe you are splitting the holidays and doing Thanksgiving with one family and Christmas with the other or perhaps you are just having work out a timing issues. Whatever it is, decide early and make the appropriate travel plans early to get the best deals on flights, etc. If long distance travel is not the issue, deciding on a plan will ease everyone's minds as the days creep closer and no one will feel any undue pressure the day of.

Gift Buying Prep

I don't know about you but this is about the time of year I start thinking about what to buy the special people in my life. I may not actually start buying but I believe in preparing as fully as possible so that I can enjoy the holiday season and avoid being stressed out by trying to remember last minute gifts. Here are some tips:

• Create an excel spreadsheet and list all the people you need to buy gifts for
• Come up with an overall budget or a budget for each recipient or category (i.e. friends, family, service people)
• When you see something you think will be a good match for someone on your list, make a note on the spreadsheet or include the link to the website.

Hopefully these tips will keep you organized as we head into the holidays!