Hello everyone and welcome back to the Easy English Podcast.
And today we are getting very festive, very Christmassy with a fun topic, Christmas shopping.
Whether you celebrate Christmas or are just curious about how people prepare for the holiday season, this episode will give you an idea of how to talk about it in English and also about how shopping becomes a very important part of Christmas, especially here in the UK and also many other countries like the US and more around the world.
So let's explore why Christmas shopping is such a big deal.
Some traditions and even a few tips from myself about how to navigate, so how to survive or get out through this busy time of year.
Okay, so let's get started.
So what about in the UK where I live?
I would say Christmas is one of the biggest celebrations here and actually probably the biggest celebration.
And giving gifts is a key tradition.
People spend weeks, or sometimes even months, buying presents for their family, friends and colleagues.
And all around the UK, shops decorate their windows with lights, snowflakes and some festive scenes.
When I say festive, I mean it's holiday themed.
It's a very holiday feeling or a holiday vibe, we could say.
It's not just about buying things when you go out to get gifts.
They want it to be an experience.
So you're hearing Christmas songs playing around the stores to maybe getting a hot drink at a Christmas market while you look for a gift.
It's all part of the holiday spirit, the holiday magic.
For me personally, I don't like shopping so much, but I'll talk about that a little bit later.
So where do people do their Christmas shopping?
Where can you do Christmas shopping?
Let's learn a few phrases and talk about these.
So the most popular places are kind of free areas, I would say, coming up to Christmas.
Number one, we call high streets, high streets.
Every town and city has a high street with lots of shops.
A high street is a busy street that has lots of shops and also department stores, like maybe John Lewis or Marks and Spencer, and they are especially popular for Christmas gifts.
And this would have been the traditional way to do your Christmas shopping.
You would go in for a trip and maybe make an entire day trip out of it.
Going to different shops, picking different gifts and getting a coffee or a hot chocolate and really making a full day out of it.
But of course, with changes of technology and how people do their shopping, this has started to change.
But we will look at this a little bit later.
The second way that some people do their Christmas shopping is through Christmas markets.
Christmas markets are outdoor markets with lots of little stalls selling handmade gifts, food and decorations.
They try to make them feel magical with lots of lights music, warm drinks like malt wine or hot chocolate, for example.
Christmas markets are in pretty much every major UK town or city.
They are quite common now, I would say.
But of course, they can be very busy this time of year, especially at the weekends.
This year we have went to a couple of different Christmas markets.
We went to one in Edinburgh in Scotland and it was quite a big market this year but there were so many tourists.
I mean, we had to stand in queue for ages, but it was a Saturday, so it was very busy.
People were off work and they all went to the market.
But you could barely move.
There were so many people.
But the location of the market and how it was designed and looked was amazing.
It was very beautiful, very pretty.
We then went to a Christmas market in my city, Belfast.
And it was during a weekday and it was a lot quieter.
So it was quite pleasant to walk around and look at the different items and stalls and get some food without too many people.
However, we didn't have the best weather and, because most markets are outdoors, we did get a little bit wet, with some rain that decided to start after we stopped to get food.
A little rain never hurts anybody.
So we survived and continued to do our shopping.
And we had a great day.
So what is the third way that most people and I would say, in 2024 and 2025, The majority of people, particularly young people, do their shopping?
Yes, you guessed right, probably.
And that is online shopping.
Online shopping.
So online shopping has been growing so quickly.
Websites like Amazon or Argos are very popular here in the UK and great for last minute gifts.
People really love nowadays the convenience of shopping from home.
They absolutely love being able to sit on the sofa, maybe beside the fire, and just pick what you want online and it will be delivered right to your door, maybe the next week or in a few days, and with services like amazon, you can even get the products, the gifts, the very next day.
So, of course, more and more people are doing this, rather than having to go to some stressful shops where lots of people are running around trying to do their shopping and i'll be honest, i really prefer to do my christmas shopping online.
But of course, if everyone shops online, then the shops start to suffer.
So they are having less business, making less money in the town or in cities.
And as a result, many shops are closing.
But okay, let's talk about, I suppose, the experience of shopping.
And to be honest, Christmas shopping can be quite stressful.
Shops are very crowded and, in my opinion, it's very hard to know what to buy.
People know.
Especially if you have a large family, you're thinking hmm, what can i get dad, or what can i get my grandfather um, or my mom or my sister?
There are so many different people often that we have to try and find a gift for and sometimes, particularly in my case if you leave it too late and you forget about your Christmas shopping, it gets even more stressful.
So the shops become even busier because lots of people have forgotten to do their Christmas shopping in advance.
So a good tip, and it's something I wish I did this year, is to start early.
So to make a list of gift ideas and to buy it in advance, so that you're not trying to do it all at the last minute.
Okay, so let's talk a little bit about the changes with Christmas shopping over time.
So I mentioned earlier about how years ago most people shopped in physical stores.
So real buildings in the town or a city or a shopping mall.
But with time, online shopping has changed the way that we buy gifts and this was, in my opinion, quite gradual, so it happened over many years.
But one thing i have noticed is that after the covid 19 pandemic, online shopping seems to have became even more popular.
It just people got used to it, so you couldn't go to shops during maybe, lockdown or the pandemic time, so people started to buy online and they realized hmm, this is quite nice, it's quite convenient, it's the word quite easy and quick.
So they've.
Since the pandemic has ended and the shops have opened again.
Not everyone has returned back to shopping in person.
But I know many people that really prefer shopping in person.
So they like to maybe try on clothes, maybe to hold the item before they buy it.
And I know that you can do that online too.
So if you order something and you try it and you don't like it, You can also return that item, but of course then it takes a little bit longer to get what you want.
But many people I think do both.
They mix both.
Buying some gifts online and also visiting stores, maybe for that festive atmosphere or just even a little day out with family or friends.
So really quickly, before we continue, if you are enjoying this podcast, like the video, or follow and subscribe.
And also there is a Patreon link in the description below if you would like to support me and this project.
I make these podcasts and videos completely free to help you to learn English.
So if you would like to support me for just a small price, you can get access to bonus episodes.
You can ask me questions and I will help you with your English learning.
Okay, back to the episode.
So I was reading some tips to make Christmas shopping easier, because perhaps I could benefit from reading and learning some of these tips.
And the first one is to set a budget.
A budget is how much you want to spend in advance.
So maybe a maximum for each person or a total budget, a maximum price that you want to spend.
And that will allow you to not spend too much and to buy random items and crazy random stuff.
And it's probably better to as well make a list of things that you want before you go.
So to know what you're looking for.
The second tip I would say is to shop early.
So even in November or even October, and this will be quieter and you'll also probably get better deals.
A lot of shops increase the price in December, before Christmas, because they know that so many people will be trying to buy and order last minute gifts.
So gifts which are very close to the time, very close to the holiday.
The next point is maybe with shopping early, it's good to look for sales like Black Friday.
I did an episode or I made an episode about Black Friday a couple of weeks ago.
If you want and you haven't seen it, you can listen to that episode after this.
And the final point, of course, this is important, is to buy thoughtful gifts.
So it's not always about spending a lot of money.
It can be just something that you know that that person will really appreciate.
But buying the gifts is only just the start.
Of course, we have the next step, which is sometimes my nightmare, and that is gift wrapping.
This means covering a gift in some pretty paper, and sometimes people use gift bags too, and that's when you just put it in a nice looking bag.
Some stores do offer gift wrapping, so when you buy the product, they wrap it for you, and that's really nice.
That saves a bit of time, but for many they don't.
And then before Christmas you have to sit down and try to wrap the packages and presents and make them look very nice.
I'm not very good at this.
I feel like whenever I wrap gifts they look very messy, but I know many people who are very good at making it look pretty and neat.
Neat is the opposite of messy, when it looks very well done, very tidy, and nicely done, perfect.
So gift wrapping is not something I enjoy.
And then usually, if you're at home with family, you place the gifts under the Christmas tree.
And on Christmas morning, people will open the gifts up.
There is also another very popular activity coming up to Christmas with gifts that people will often do with their colleagues.
And this is called Secret Santa.
Have you ever heard of Secret Santa?
So Secret Santa is when you get given someone's name one of your colleagues and they don't know that you are their Santa.
And you have to buy them a gift with a certain budget.
For example, 10 pounds.
So you have 10 pounds and you have to buy them a gift.
Then everyone opens their gifts, but they don't know who got them the gift.
It's a secret.
And that's why we call it Secret Santa.
So the idea is that everyone is a Secret Santa, almost like a Santa spy.
But again, this can be difficult.
For me, I often get given the name of a colleague that I don't really know.
So it can be very hard to buy them a thoughtful gift because I don't know them.
So you have to then maybe come up with an idea that is quite generic, quite general.
It's not very special.
And maybe it can be disappointing for people when they get gifts from people that they don't know.
And of course, it's just another gift to buy as well.
Ah...
So, in general, Christmas shopping can be nice.
It can give you really thoughtful gifts.
Some people love it, and some people hate it.
For me, maybe I just don't really like doing shopping.
I like giving gifts, but I don't like shopping, so online shopping is very well suited.
Let me know in the comments if you like shopping and if you do Christmas shopping or shopping for another holiday.
Because of course there are many other holidays apart from Christmas.
Like for example, New Year's is very popular in Eastern Europe, in Russia, in Ukraine.
It's a very popular holiday where people also give gifts at this time of year.
So let me know, you know, do you like shopping?
So another phrase I would like to teach you is a funny phrase that people say around this time of year and it's shop till you drop.
And this is a phrase that means shopping so much that you're very tired.
So we can say at this time of year, many people shop till they drop.
They are shopping for a long time in a busy town or a busy mall trying to find the right gifts.
And I guess if there's one thing that we can learn from shopping and the topic of Christmas shopping, it's to start it early and to not leave it to the last minute, like I have.
This year I've got about half of my Christmas gifts ready, but there are still some that I need to try and find and try to buy.
Because there's always one or two people I think that are very hard to buy for.
Because they don't really want anything, or maybe they don't have an idea of what they want.
I know that some people like to ask or say what they would like, and that way they don't get any unwanted gifts.
I think this is a good method for many people.
Because they end up and they receive a gift that they will actually use and that they will enjoy.
So some people make something called a wish list.
And this is a list of potential gifts that they could receive or that you could buy them.
There's even websites for this where you can make your list and your friends or family.
They can reserve or take one of these options and then it removes it from the list so someone doesn't buy the same gift again.
I think it's a good method because, of course, if people receive lots of gifts they don't want, sometimes they just don't use them.
They sit around their house or apartment and sometimes people even re-gift.
So that's when you get a gift that you maybe don't want or you don't like, and the next year you keep it and you give it to someone else.
I've never done this, but I'm sure there are many people that have.
And I wonder, have you ever done this?
So let me know as well, maybe what you think about this wishlist idea.
For me, I struggle to maybe think of gifts that I want at this time of year.
So I just take any surprise because as long as I... I think I prefer experiences.
Like I like spending time with people and maybe going somewhere.
And for me, the gift is not the most important part.
It's more the time that you spend around Christmas with family and friends.
So at the end of the day, anything extra is a bonus and very nice to receive.
So, that's everything I want to talk about for today.
Thank you so much for listening to this episode.
Again, if you enjoyed, please leave a like or a comment.
Maybe share the video with other English learners.
And check out the Patreon link below in the description if you want to support me and this project.
Have an amazing rest of your day, and I will talk to you very, very soon.
Goodbye.
