DIY Christmas Planner

Make your own Christmas planner that can get you organised this year and in the years to come.

Christmas planning had to happen.

I couldn’t put it off any longer.

Seriously.

Out came a bright red A5 journal, a couple of my favourite pens in Christmas colours, a bundle of Christmas washi tape and some cute sticky note tabs I picked up at Daiso.

I started with a little washi tape on the cover to decorate. 

QUICK TIP: Any time you’re adding washi tape to a cover try to tuck any ends over the edge of the cover if you can. They will stick longer inside the cover where they won’t get as much wear and tear.

Then I set up a series of Christmas planner pages.

First up, a yearly record of where we spend Christmas Day and Boxing Day. We usually alternate spending these two days with my extended family and my husband’s family but I seem to always spend time each year trying to remember who we will be going to this year. This page will help me have that info available at a glance.

Next up, a page listing all the people we buy presents for each year, mostly family members that we will see. There are quite a few of them so it is good to have a list so no-one gets left out.

I also created a page for each person on this list so that I can note ideas for each person as I come up with them. I can also write down what I buy with the year so I have a record for following years. Much as it is tempting, I don’t really want to find myself giving the nephews gift cards every single year!

Next came some planning pages especially for this year. A page listing the extra people we need to buy for this year, such as teachers and work colleagues.

I also created a tick list for this year so I can actually tick off the gifts as I buy them and know where I’m up to with my shopping.

The sticky tabs help me mark the sections so I can find them easily. There are plenty of extra pages left to add more to the family gift idea pages should our family grow with marriages or babies, and I can continue adding yearly checklists at the end as the years go by.

I’m hoping this will be a planner that I can grab during the year as I find gifts or think of ideas as well as help me get through that Christmas rush.

I’m going to add an envelope inside the back cover to hold receipts for gifts just in case I need to have them to return or exchange gifts.

Summary of my Planner Pages

• Yearly list of where we spent Christmas and Boxing Day
• List of people we buy for every year
• Page per person on that list for gift ideas
• List for 2015: Extra people we need to buy for this year
• List for 2015: Checklist for gifts bought
• Envelope in back for receipts

Other Ideas for Pages

You could also include these pages in your planner:

• Christmas Party Guest List
• Party Food/ Drink List
• Recipes for favourite Christmas foods
• Recipes for favourite Christmas drinks
• Christmas games or activities for the kids
• Christmas traditions list
• Party planning checklist
• Phone list, E.g. if you regularly order certain items each year
• Christmas card list
• Budget planner
• Meal planner
• To Do Lists