How to make a personalised Christmas planner

Using a Christmas planner to keep festive plans on track is one of the most effective ways to get more organised.

Making lists is an essential part of getting Christmas Organised, but if your ideas and ‘to do’ lists are on scraps of paper or in multiple notebooks they’re easy to lose or forget about.

Honestly, if I don’t write something down, it’s in and out of my head in a flash! Are you the same?

But if I can easily grab my planner when I have an idea for a gift or want to know my Christmas-related tasks for the week, it makes me feel in control.

This is the key, really – a Christmas planner will only help you if you use it regularly, so it’s definitely a daily routine you’ll need to get into as the festive season approaches!

So what type of Christmas planner should you choose?

There are lots of ready-made planners you can buy – I’ve blogged about my favourites, if you’re considering purchasing one.

Or if you prefer organising on your phone or laptop, you can also try the app or spreadsheet route.

Use coloured pens (and festive tape and stickers if you’d like to make your planner festive and bright!) to create exactly the pages and lists you need for creating your perfect Christmas.

For example, you might include pages for your Christmas budget, decorations, traditions, a gift tracker, meal planning….whatever you like!

I’ve tried both of these methods and they’re brilliant – but now I know exactly what I need from a Christmas planner, I prefer to make my own.

One way to do this is to go completely DIY and simply customise a plain notebook.

Another option is a hybrid version of the ‘buying a premade planner’ and DIY routes – you can buy a Christmas planner printable template and customise it to create your own perfect planner.

I find the main advantage of this method is that not only is most of the thinking done for you, you can still add your own pages and print (or leave out) as many pages of the template as you need – so you never run out of space.

I keep everything together in a ring binder with dividers marking different sections, making it easier to find exactly the page I need.

This year – for the first time – I’m making available to buy the beautiful printable ‘70 Sleeps to Go (or less)’ Christmas planner that I’ve created, used and refined for myself over the years.

It’s a simple design that doesn’t use too much ink when you print it out (and if you want to save even more ink, you can leave out the full colour section dividers) – and you can add your own doodles, photos, stickers and decorations to make it completely your own.

It’s 63 pages of festive planning gorgeousness, including pages for:

  • Planning monthly and weekly ‘to do’ lists
  • Priority planning
  • Shopping lists
  • Christmas card and gift lists
  • Budgeting
  • Christmas decorations checklist
  • Things to book
  • Meals, baking and recipe planning
  • Table planning
  • Preparation for house guests
  • Detailed Christmas Eve, Christmas Day,
  • Boxing Day and New Years Eve schedules
  • Festive events and bucket list planning
  • Christmas fun and relaxation
  • Festive memories

The planner costs just £11.99 and is a really simple way to get organised this Christmas.

You can find out more and buy the new printable Christmas Organised planner in the shop on the website

I hope these ideas – and my new printable planner! – inspire you to be more Christmas Organised this year. I’d love to hear how you get on!

Alex x

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