Video: Working The System That You Already Have: Christmas Planning In Your Planner

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Whenever possible, I advocate using a system that you already have in place to plan.

For example, if menu planning is working for you when you jot the menu on a dry erase board on the fridge, go for it.

If it's not, consider using a dedicated space on your weekly pages.

I don't see any reason why the holiday season should be treated differently.

(Don't watch the following You Tube video in front of little ones. Safe for work, but involves Santa planning. :) )

Video of Giftie Etcetera's Holiday Planning

After all, planning for Christmas is just another project. And here at Giftie Etcetera, we use Project pages for planning projects. 

Another reason to use your planner for holiday planning, instead of a separate holiday binder, is that your planner always leaves the house with you anyway, so you can do Christmas shopping anytime and anywhere, instead of just if you have your bulky holiday binder with you. 

Also, holiday planner truly only takes a few sheets of planner paper, so it won't bulk up your planner too much. 

During the rest of the year, you can file away those pages, as there is no need to carry holiday planning pages with you.

Tip: Only buy purses or bags that fit your planner.

What works for me, using the system that I already have in place, is to make a Holiday Planning project (which includes Thanksgiving), to use my monthly calendar for dated events, and to note due dates on my weekly task lists (such as having all gifts wrapped by the night before the night before Christmas).

TIP: Use last year's holiday plan to create this year's project pages.

Some ideas for what you might include in a Holiday Planner:

*menus

*Elf on the Shelf ideas

*holiday traditions (Some of our favorites include an ornament chosen by the kids each year that will leave the house for them for their first college Christmas tree, wrapping Christmas pajamas for Christmas Eve morning so they look cute in Christmas morning in the pictures, and burning bonfires on the Mississippi River levee on Christmas Eve to show Papa Noel where to fly.)

*decorations

*gifts purchased list

*gift ideas list

*kids' wish lists

*spouse gift list (covered in a post-it with a "Do Not Peek" message)

*your own wish list

*cut-out swatches of wrapping paper for a gift code list of who is getting what and where they are receiving the gift so that you don't have to write names on gifts

TIP: Wrap presents based on where they are headed. Wrap in green for staying home, red for Grandma's house, and blue for gifts that need to be delivered, for example. 

Paste little swatches of the wrapping paper on the gift code list so that, when it's time to leave for Grandma's house, all you have to do is grab all the red boxes.

TIP: Use only Santa wrapping paper (or snowmen or reindeer) for Santa gifts. 

In my house, one kid gets the red paper and one the green, all with Santa on them, so that I don't have to write names on the gifts (and risk the second grader recognizing my handwriting).

Enjoy the video. A special shout out to my facebook friends who helped me improve the lighting in my videos. You know who you are. :)

Etcetera.