This post is sponsored by my friends at Basic Invite.

The holiday season is here and if you’re like me, you want to prepare early! Staying ahead of the game has always been my plan. However, I won’t lie — last year, I was a bit late because I had just popped out Cannon and I just wasn’t in prep mode.

But, this year I’m ready.

Thankfully, I have some help from my friends at Basic Invite. Now, I love holiday cards. They are one of my favorite parts of the holiday season. Who doesn’t love to receive a holiday card? Certainly, you can feel the love when you get one. For instance, I love getting holiday cards from my fellow bloggers and my close friends — it brings me joy.

How am I preparing early?

Listen, I’m not a beginner when it comes to this stuff. To sum it up, I don’t take the holiday season lightly. I go all out and year after year, I add more and I just like to think of myself as Martha in Jim Carrey’s The Grinch when she decorated her house with the lighting gun.

If you couldn’t tell, I like to be early so I feel like I’m ahead of the game. That’s probably something I get from my mom’s side because they go all out for the holidays.

When it comes to Christmas — better late than never does not apply. You do not want to be late. You want to be early so your content can live for what feels like forever and you inspire.

Holiday Cards Ordered

My 2019 Holiday cards have been ordered and I love them. First, they’re from Basic Invite so I know the quality would be great. What I love about Basic Invite is that they are one of the few sites that let you order your custom samples ahead of time to see if you’re going to love your cards or not. To sum it up, you’ll know right away if you like your cards or not and the sample is free. There is nothing wrong with free!

Also, you get the option of envelope color which is amazing because I like red envelopes and want everyone to feel my holiday spirit. The best part? They offer an address capturing service to capture addresses from your friends and family plus address your cards for you at no charge! They’ve saved me from a hand ache. You can find all of their card templates under holiday photo cards 2019 on their website. Fun fact: You can get dog Christmas cards, dog parents. You won’t be disappointed.

Gift Shopping Early

The holiday season will not catch your girl slipping. That is to say that I’m ready and not going overboard on my spending. Holiday sales will not be my weakness this year.

This year, I started early. I’ve had gifts for multiple people in my family since September. Furthermore, Chase and I went crazy with clothes shopping for Cannon and were able to split the number of clothes for his birthday and Christmas. That little boy has a lot of clothes, there is no denying that. We spoil him and we know it.

Nonetheless, you want to get an early start because the sales aren’t always where it’s at. I find that shopping early helps me not overspend and I’m able to know how much I’m spending when I start shopping in October. Also, everything is not picked over when you start early as people aren’t bombarding stores yet.

Thank You Notes Ready

After having a child, I realized how important it was to have Thank You cards on hand. So many people want to help you whether it’s with a gift or giving their time. This is something I’m tremendously grateful for as mom and dad need help from time to time. Having Thank You notes at ready is great especially the ones that I had curated with Cannon’s face (thanks, Basic Invite!). I had these made with Cannon’s 1st birthday in mind as we are very blessed to have people that want to celebrate his little life which happened this month.

Not only did I stock up on Thank You notes with his cute face but I made sure to get holiday-themed Thank You notes for my brand as I’m very grateful to the brands that worked with me this year and took a chance on my writing.

Decorate Each Weekend

With a kid, things can get a bit hectic so I’ve taken from what I saw as a kid and applied it. My mom would slowly start decorating for Christmas rather than let her Christmas decor just pop up one day. She would do little things each weekend starting in November so she could have everything up by the start of the second week in December. This is a fabulous idea if you’re asking me.

Certainly, I’ve applied this learning to my own decor. Cannon is a busybody that keeps me on my toes and running around all day so I can’t just dedicate my day to decorating. I have to slowly bring things out of storage and just take time here and there when I get it.

Honestly, it’s nice not to rush and throw it all up because it gives me perspective on where things should go. Slow and early always wins the race in my book.

Now, I can’t wait for everyone to see our holiday card and how much Cannon has grown since last year’s card. I’m not lying when I tell you that our holiday cards make many people in our lives’ days. They love seeing Cannon!

Hurry, right now Basic Invite is offering 15% off with coupon code: 15FF51

What are your holiday prep plans for this year? Have you ordered your Holiday cards yet?