Have You Forgotten These Christmas Essentials? The Complete Christmas Checklist

Forgotten Christmas essentials have a habit of revealing themselves at the worst possible moment – usually at 10pm on Christmas Eve when every shop within a twenty-mile radius has just closed.

From batteries that weren’t included to the brandy butter nobody remembered to buy, the same things catch people out year after year.

Whether you’re a meticulous Christmas planner or a last-minute dasher, run through this checklist before December 24th and save yourself the panic.

The Christmas Essentials Everyone Forgets

These are the ones that never make it onto the main shopping list because everyone assumes someone else has thought of them.

1. Batteries – and lots of them. AA, AAA, C and D depending on what’s under the tree. Check the battery requirements on every gift before Christmas morning and buy a multipack of each size well in advance. Nothing deflates Christmas faster than a pile of gifts with “batteries not included” and absolutely none in the house.
2. Sellotape – you will always run out. Buy at least three rolls. Shop 🔗 Duracell AA Battery Multipack at Amazon UK
3. Gift tags – the thing nobody thinks about until they’re wrapping at midnight. A multipack from any supermarket or pound shop, and you’re covered.
4. Tin foil – Christmas dinner generates an extraordinary amount of foil usage. Roasting, covering, resting — make sure you have at least two rolls, ideally heavy-duty. You can buy extra here.
5. Kitchen paper – similarly overlooked, similarly essential on Christmas Day.
6. Candles and matches – if you’re using candles for the table or mantelpiece, check you have enough and that the matches haven’t gone missing.
7. Extension leads – Christmas trees, fairy lights, phone chargers, the electric carving knife that only comes out once a year.

Christmas Food Essentials You Might Have Missed

The main Christmas dinner tends to be well planned — it’s the supporting cast that gets forgotten.

1. Brandy butter – the one condiment that only comes out once a year and is somehow never in the cupboard when needed. Buy an extra pot.
2. Bread sauce – same pattern exactly.
3. Cranberry sauce – for the turkey, obviously, but also for cheese and leftovers all week.
4. Cream – for the Christmas pudding, the trifle, the mince pies and the coffees. You will always need more than you think.
5. Christmas pudding brandy — for flambéing. Don’t heat it before you pour it — and definitely don’t add it before heating the pudding in the microwave. (See our full Christmas pudding safety guide for why this matters more than you’d think.
   

Last Minute Christmas Shopping Checklist

A quick tick-list for everything else that might have slipped through the net.

☐ Batteries — AA, AAA, C and D
☐ Sellotape — at least three rolls
☐ Gift tags
☐ Heavy duty tin foil — two rolls
☐ Kitchen paper
☐ Candles and matches
☐ Extension lead
☐ Brandy butter
☐ Bread sauce
☐ Cranberry sauce
☐ Double cream — two pots minimum
☐ Christmas pudding brandy
☐ Extra mince pies
☐ Coffee and tea
☐ Stamps for any cards not yet posted
☐ A bottle of something for any unexpected guests
☐ Paracetamol and ibuprofen — Christmas Day headache insurance

Print it off, stick it on the fridge, and tick as you go. You’ve got this.

The forgotten Christmas essentials are always the small things – never the turkey, always the batteries.

Run through this checklist before Christmas Eve, and you’ll sail through December 25th without a single last-minute dash to the petrol station.

And if you do forget something? That’s what Amazon Prime is for.

👉 Getting ahead of Christmas? See our festive freezer meals guide and take some of the pressure off December completely.