How to Make a Christmas Planner
When it comes to Christmas there are several different types of planners. Some people spend the whole year buying gifts here and there, creating DIY decorations, and taking family pictures months in advance for the perfect holiday card. There are also some people who buy everything the week before and order pizza for Christmas dinner. Neither one is better than the other, it’s just different personalities! I think I’m somewhere in between. I like to plan out my holiday, but I not super early. To help with the planning, the last few years I have used a Christmas Planner.
I start with a composition book, you can get them at most retail stores, drug stores, or even dollar stores. My kids use them for school every year but rarely ever use up all of the pages. At the end of the year, the books come home about a quarter of the way used. So, I ripped out the pages and re-purpose them for my planner! But, to make it a little bit festive I glued some printed paper to the cover and added some tabs to make it easier to organize. (Print: Christmas Planner Labels & Tabs)
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♬ Jingle Bells – Holiday Music
You can create your planner with whatever information you need, here are a few thought starters to help you decide what to include:
Gift List – Write out the names of everyone you want to give gifts to. You can dedicate a page for each family member along with the store you plan to shop at and the estimated cost.
Food/Dinner – Plan out your Christmas dinner menu, then write out your shopping list. You can also check this list often with local grocery store sales and buy non-perishable items in advance.
Baking – Everyone loves holiday baking! You can list out what you want to make, or keep copies of recipes you want to try. Leave an extra page to keep track of the ingredients you will need and make sure you purchase in advance. When it gets closer to Christmas many of the baking staples will be in low supply.
Event Planning – Add a calendar for the month of December and leave a few pages to write down holiday events that you plan on going to, or want to try and attend. Be sure to check out your local movie theater to see if they plan on showing old holiday movies, my kids love going to these!
Volunteer or Acts of Kindness Ideas – During the holiday season there are no shortages of volunteer opportunities. Check with your local food bank, churches, shelters, etc. to see if they need additional help serving those in need.
Handmade Gift Ideas – If you need “bulk gifts” for teachers, co-workers, or neighbors you can jot down a few easy DIY gifts such as hot cocoa sets, homemade treats, bath bombs, candle holders, etc.
To Do Checklists – If there ever was a time that you needed a to-do list it’s the holiday season! There’s so much that I want to do each year and often forget a few things if I don’t make a to-do list. These list could be for decorating, gift giving, cleaning, party planning – the “list” is endless.
Holiday Budget – When our kids were young we never made a budget and always ended up regretting it come January. Luckily for our wallets, we wised up and set budgets for gifts, Christmas dinner, even decorating. My husband tends to go full “Griswold” when it comes to decorating.
Christmas Card List – You might think that there’s no need to make a card list for your family members, but this is a time when you want to make sure no one gets left out. Also, you may want to make a list of friends, neighbors, school staff, or even local businesses you frequent that you want to send a card to.
Decorating – As I said above, my husband goes over the top with Christmas decorations so each year I have to make a plan for decorating so we aren’t ear to ear in pine and ribbon. I also like to write down ideas for DIY decorations that I find on Pinterest.
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