Christmas Present Buying: Fun or Chore? #OneLessWorry

I don’t know about you, but this year Christmas seems to have started earlier than ever before. I live in Liverpool, and the Christmas lights switch on was literally a week after Bonfire Night, with songs started in shops and the standard German market Instagram posts appearing on my timeline already. I’m not a Scrooge though, don’t get me wrong I absolutely love it, but it made me a little unprepared…

Working in an office you hear all sorts, and the one thing that shocked me recently was that the majority have already started their Christmas shopping, with some already finished!

The guys at Contact Numbers UK, who are a directory of customer service numbers, have just released their #OneLessWorry campaign in the lead up to the big day, taking a look at some interesting stats on how much time is wasting fixing delivery problems, the average UK household spend and how much money is wasted on unwanted presents a year…. 😱

I’m a bit of a last-minute guy myself, and that’s why i’m taking part in the campaign. I quite enjoy the actual buying of presents and stumbling upon little ‘stocking fillers’ in the shops, it’s always nice finishing off the experience with a hot chocolate and Christmas film once back home. The things I don’t enjoy though, is the nerve-wracking feeling of wondering whether the gift you have bought is correct, the fact that you’ve got the wrap the whole lot neatly and hoping someone else hasn’t bought the same thing.

John Lewis in particular, is one of the shops I buy a lot of gifts from. Buying for family, with all ages, it has everything. I like the fact that I can contact John Lewis to find out about services that bring ease to Christmas shopping through gift wrapping, gift receipts and extended returns policies, making it a lot easier for people like me to not mess the whole thing up (let’s be fair, does anyone really enjoy wrapping?).

What’s your top tips for Christmas shopping? I’ve got 4 weeks to pull this all together so all recommendations needed.