Mum-of-two finished Christmas shopping for her kids in MARCH and has bought them almost 70 gifts… and reckons she’s saved over £300
Caitríona Ní Laoi, 32, from Belfast, has spent around £550 on gifts for her one and two-year-old so far
AS the kids head back to school, the super organised among us will be starting to think about making plans for Christmas.
But one mum has already got it all wrapped up – literally.
Caitríona Ní Laoi, 32, from Belfast, has bought ALL of her two children’s Christmas presents, having started shopping for them last December.
Two-year-old Georgia and one-year-old Jude will be treated to 17 big toys each, plus four stocking fillers and 12 gifts from their annual Elf on the Shelf game.
Singer Caitríona has spent around £850 on pressies so far - £550 on the kids and £300 on her mum and fiancé Shane Bolster, 25.
She shops so far in advance she's already bought her daughter's next birthday present - even though she doesn't turn three until May 2019.
Caitríona told Fabulous Digital: “By February I had bought all of my daughter’s presents – her brother was only a newborn at the time - so then I started buying his, and by March I was completely done.
“My mum, dad and partner were all done by April. It’s good to buy everything early on so that you have money nearer the time to do Christmassy things like going to Christmas markets and seeing Santa.
“I don’t want to be stopping myself going out at the weekends or not getting my hair done because I haven’t finished my Christmas shopping.”
She added: “Trouble is, it is possible to over-buy because you keep forgetting what you’ve already bought!”
Caitríona reckons she’s saved herself hundreds of pounds by being an early bird shopper.
She explained: “I got a lot of stuff in the January sales - I bought a karaoke machine from Mothercare for half price, and now it’s gone up to £70.
“I’m afraid to go near Black Friday sales because of what I’ve seen on TV. There are so many queues and it’s so busy that I’d be worried I’d end up buying things that I didn’t really want.
"I prefer to reserve things in store or buy online, that suits me better.”
She admitted she always leaves her dad’s gift until the last minute.
“My daddy’s a bit of a Grinch, he isn’t really into the whole present thing,” she said.
“I end up having to buy presents for him to give to people. I’ve bought my own presents before, to give to him to give back to me! For his present I usually just give him tickets to a play or, you know, socks!”
Caitríona’s bubbling Christmas spirit stems from her mum and grandmother, who are equally organised when it comes to shopping.
“It’s always been drilled into me to be organised,” she said.
“If closer to Christmas, after I’d bought all their presents, and the children said they wanted something else I hadn’t bought, I would probably still get it for them, or ask a relative who wasn’t sure what to buy them.”
Caitríona has never used her credit card, despite owning one for five years. She earns around £10,000 a year working part-time in a bank and £150 a week from singing gigs, and saves up her wages to pay for her generous gifting.
She added: “I think as the kids get older I will have to start spending more money at Christmas, when they start wanting iPads and iPhones and things like that.”
One job many mums dread is the wrapping – but Caitríona says for many of her children’s gifts, she doesn’t bother.
“When they walk in on Christmas morning there will actually only be a few presents wrapped - the rest will just be sat out so the kids can see what it is,” she explained.
“Because they’re still so young I love to see their reaction when they see all the presents laid out. I film every Christmas morning, just like my mum filmed me.
“The house will be spotless and they’ll be wearing their Christmas day clothes, which I’ve already ordered - Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol outfits.
Caitríona doesn't bother wrapping most of her gifts and stores them in her attic“I’ve bought my daughter a big doll’s house, so that won’t be wrapped - it’ll sit out on top of the boxes so that it can stand out from the rest.
“The thing is, when you wrap everything it takes them ages to try and open it, and once they get inside the boxes they usually lose interest in about half an hour!”
Caitríona’s festive organisation doesn’t stop at presents. She also starts cleaning and preparing the house for Christmas at the end of November.
“I do a big clear out of all the old clothes and toys and give them to charity to make room for their new stuff,” she said.
“Then I decorate and make sure all the rooms smell of cinnamon. We have Christmas dinner at my mum’s house - she makes us all a massive roast dinner, with five courses including two starters.”
She said she sometimes keep presents over until Boxing Day, so that the kids have got something to open the next day as well.
Caitríona admitted she never stops shopping: “I’ve already bought big toys for the kids for the future, which they’re too young for right now.
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“I’ve bought Georgia’s birthday present already and she’s not three ‘til next May! I just think there’s no better time to do it than the present – no pun intended!”
We previously told how a mum-of-six bought all 240 of her Christmas presents in last year’s Black Friday sales.
So how many presents should you give YOUR kids this Christmas? One mum worries that ten gifts each isn’t enough… and others agree.
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