Get Holiday Ready With A Christmas Planner

We all know how stressful the Christmas countdown can be.  Even with the best of intentions, at times it can feel like trying to juggle glass baubles in a North Pole blizzard.

So, if you’re desperate to do better than endless post-its, random phone notes that once made sense, and envelopes with half legible scrawl on the back, a Christmas Planner could become your new best friend!

And we’ve got some fab free Christmas planner printables for you to download too!

Table of Contents

Why Use A Christmas Planner?

Using a Christmas planner means everything will be written down and kept together.  No more scraps of paper all over the place, or fear of shaking your head in case a job you’re thinking of falls out!

• You’ll know where to look for all your Christmas prep and ideas.
• You can keep track of your progress and easily prioritise.
• No need to worry about forgetting important details.
• Keep a close eye on your Christmas budget.
• You just have one thing to grab when you’re heading to the stores.
• It’ll encourage you to get prepared earlier and keep organised throughout the Christmas countdown.
• You’ll end up with a wonderful memento of your holiday season.

Christmas planners are great tools for a stress-free holiday season.  And it has to be said that a beautiful Christmas Planner will immediately elevate your reputation for being organised amongst friends and family 😉

You don’t need to be a Christmas perfectionist to have one.  Just tailor the planner to what you need and the parts of the season which are important to you.

No pressure to do everything to the full – the planner’s job is to stop you worrying about forgetting things and help maintain that bird’s eye view of the plans.  It’s there to help you have an organised Christmas, not to add extra stress!

What Should Be Included In A Christmas Planner?

It’s worth taking a moment to think about which aspects of the Christmas celebration you want in your planner.

Of course there are some universal topics that almost everyone will find helpful:

• A calendar to keep track of key events and dates.
• A countdown checklist to help you decide what to prioritise when.
• Gift lists to jot down wish lists, as well track ordered and sent presents.
• Christmas card lists to ensure you don’t miss or duplicate anyone on your list.
• Menu planning to set out all the meals across the festive period, not just Christmas dinner!
• Budget tracker to ensure costs don’t accidentally spiral.

But there are plenty of other sections you may find helpful.  Check out our list of 39 Christmas planner ideas if you want to ensure you’ve included everything important to you.

Where To Get A Christmas Planner

So, how do I get myself a Christmas Planner we hear you ask…!

Four options:

1. Buy One
2. Make One
3. Print One
4. Use An App

Whether you want to buy a beautiful keepsake planner, make one from things you already have at home or simply print out our ready prepared printable Christmas planner, we’re here to help!

With pros and cons to each option, let’s explore more and see which Christmas planner you prefer.

Buy A Christmas Planner

+  Makes the planning extra special.

+  Great keepsake.

–  Can’t be tailored.

A gorgeous bound Christmas Planner book can make you feel like you belong in a Hallmark movie!

Holiday preparation is often a big part of the celebration.  Jo and I love mulling over festive ideas and plans.  So a beautiful book in which to keep everything recorded feels appropriate for such a special part of the year.

They make great keepsakes too.  Hold on to the Christmas Planners from years gone by and you’ll love reminiscing about what you did each year, and what gifts you shared.

The main downside to purchased Christmas planners, aside from the cost, is the lack of flexibility.  You may find there are sections of the planner that aren’t relevant to you, and areas which you’d like to include.

So finding the right Christmas Planner will be key – check out our recommendations here.  

We’ve rounded up our favourite Christmas planners on the market this year. Click here for the lowdown.

Make Your Own Christmas Planner

+  Easily tailored.

+  Can be as elaborate or simple as you wish.

–  Takes time.

Don’t fancy spending the money or want a planner tailored precisely to your needs?  Then make one! 

A simple notebook is all you need.  Go to town decorating it, or just add a few post-it sections and start planning! 

Yes, it takes a few minutes.  But the peace of mind you’ll get from keeping everything jotted down in one place will surely outweigh the small investment in time. 

Plus again the planner itself could become a keepsake for the future.

How To Make A Christmas Planner

Any blank notebook can be elevated to Christmas Planner status with very little effort.  And let’s be honest, a few minutes of simple Christmas crafting can be great for the soul (especially when it’s just for personal use so there’s no pressure!)

• Add a festive front cover with some leftover wrapping paper, magazine cuttings, washi tape or just a simple pen design. Or print out a favourite Christmas quote or photo.
• List out the various sections you’d like to include in your planner (and how many pages you’ll need for each).
• Use small post-its to create the sections. Write the section name on the far edge of the post-it and position on the appropriate page, with the writing jutting out slightly to form a tab.
• Decorate the section front pages if you’d like. You could always colour code each to make them stand out more, and then use a matching colour pen to write in that section.
• Consider adding an envelope (with the flap folded back) to the inside of the front and/or back of the notebook to store receipts and other paperwork.

And there you have it!  A Christmas planner ready to go.

Printable Christmas Planner

+  Pick between the pages you need.

+  Create a planner for free.

–  Needs to be assembled.

A great combined option of buying and making can be to use free printable templates.

Create a special Christmas binder:  add a front cover page and simply print out the pages you need to build a truly bespoke, flexible Christmas planner.

We’ve created a few printable planner pages to get you started. 

Download Our Free Printables

Download and use our free Christmas Planner printable pages below.  Plus you’ll get access to all our other free resources in the Jolly Festive library.  And you’ll even join the newsletter for latest festive news and inspiration direct to your inbox.

Choose between:

• Christmas Planner Countdown Checklist
• Christmas Card Planner
• Christmas Gift Planner
• Christmas Meal Planner

Or feel free to use them all!  If there’s other planners that you’d find useful, send us a message and we’ll see what we can do!

Use A Digital Planner

+  It’s always with you.

+  Easy to keep it away from prying eyes.

–  It’s functional not a keepsake.

If pen and paper isn’t your thing, try a digital Christmas planner instead.  There’s some great products on the market, both bespoke to Christmas and more general which will work just as well. 

A few apps you might like to try are:

• Santa’s Bag: Santa’s Bag is a free gift planning app. It allows you to create a gift list, set budgets for each recipient, track gift ideas, mark items as purchased or wrapped (and even which are going in stockings), and monitor your total spend.
• Christmas Organizer: Christmas Organizer is a low-cost Christmas planner with gift tracker and menu manager. Keep on top of gifts, grocery shopping, menus, and budgets with lists, links, photos and text.  There’s also a general notes section to record any other information.
• Cozi: Cozi is a family organising app that includes a holiday planner feature. It enables you to manage your Christmas calendar, create to-do lists, manage meals, recipes, and food shopping. Plus all the information syncs with other family members’ devices.
• Trello: If you don’t need a specialised digital Christmas planner, Trello could be a great option. A popular project management app, it’s highly customisable.  Create your own perfect Christmas planner board with lists for each different section of your choice. Add task cards, set due dates, and collaborate with others if needed.

Finally, you could of course just create a simple spreadsheet with tabs for each category.  Save it to your google drive (or equivalent) and you’ll have it on you wherever you go.