Introducing our Merry Christmas Planner!

Christmas truly is the most wonderful time of the year! Sipping hot coco by the fire, driving around in pajamas to look at christmas lights, spending quality time with friends and family...what's not to love?

But every year, as Christmas gets closer, much of that joy and holiday magic gets replaced with stress. Busy shopping malls, tight budgets, packed schedules and a stack of christmas cards that still need to be mailed can really turn your "Ho Ho Ho" into "Bah, Humbug."

But the holidays don't have to be stressful! With a little bit of early planning {and a super cute notebook or planner} you can avoid the holiday chaos and actually DO all the fun activities that make this season so magical.

The great news is that you can get started with your holiday planning RIGHT NOW!

The first step is to decide how you want to organize. If you like the simplicity of a plain notebook where you can jot down holiday notes, ideas and lists, our handmade shop has some beautiful fabric notebook covers in a variety of patterns, including limited edition holiday designs {COMING SOON!}

But if you are like me and you want your holiday planning to be as specific as possible, then our Merry Christmas Planner has you covered!

Our Merry Christmas Planner was definitely a labor of love to create, but I think all of the hours of work were worth it because these pages are SO MUCH FUN!!! We have all of your holiday organizing needs covered. The set includes:

Christmas Checklist: This handy list can serve as both a ToDo list and seasonal bucket list for you and your family.

Advent Activities Calendar: We LOVE filling out an Advent Activities calendar each year on Thanksgiving weekend. The goal is to have one fun activity or tradition each day of Advent. Our calendar includes things like:

* Donating toys, clothes and food to various charities in our community.

* Driving around at night to view Christmas lights.

* Visiting Santa at the North Pole (or shopping mall).

* Hosting a Girls Cookie Bake Day.

* Attending Christmas Programs at my kids' schools.

*Christmas Movie marathons.

* And more…

December Monthly Calendar: Every christmas planner needs a festive December monthly calendar to track holiday parties and events.

Holiday Baking List: Use this list to plan what you want to make this holiday season, and also keep track of the things you will be making for each occasion. This sheet also includes a handy supplies and ingredients list at the top.

Meal Planner and Christmas Dinner Schedule: For those of us that host dinner {or dinners} during the holidays, you can use these pages to keep track of your menu and who is bringing what, as well as plan our your cooking schedule for the day of the party. 

Christmas Card List: Another holiday task that takes LOTS of planning {at least in our house} is the annual Christmas card. Our list of recipients changes and grows every year and even though I keep addresses of our friends and family in our address book, I use these handy lists to keep a running total of the people we send to. This also helps tremendously when ordering or printing Christmas cards.

Gift Trackers: Depending on how you like to keep track of gifts, we are including two different Santa's Gift List pages. One is more simple and tracks all gifts, recipients and totals on one page, and the other is a better option for those keeping a Christmas budget.

Online Shopping Tracker: For those of us that primarily do our Christmas shopping online, this handy form will help you keep track of order numbers, online stores, shipping, and more.

Santa's Supply Inventory: At the end of every holiday season, when you stock up on wrapping supplies and decor for the next year, track the items on this inventory sheet so that you don't forget what you already have.

ToDo List: This set also comes with a basic ToDo list for all of your other holiday needs.

Cover Page: And because no Christmas Planner is complete without a matching cover, we've made that for you too :)

Are you ready to set up your Christmas Planner? Here's what you need to get started:

The first step in setting up your Merry Christmas Planner is deciding which size to purchase. This set is available in 3 sizes:

Large {8.5 x 11}: Prints on Letter Size paper.

Small {5.5 x 8.5}: Prints two-to-a-page on Letter Size paper and will need to be cut down the middle

X-Small {3.75 x 6.75}: Prints on Letter Size paper and will need to be cut on the guidelines.

Our Large size is by far the easiest to print. It doesn't require borderless printing, although we highly recommend it so that you can better utilize the space on the page and the beautiful colors and designs will go to the edges. Large planners can be bound or housed in a 3-ring binder or Large Disbound Planner. We prefer the ARC system by Staples, which works beautifully with our Fabric Discbound Covers.

Our Small Planners are slightly more work to print, only because they need to be cut down the middle after they are printed. But we LOVE the portable size, especially in an ARC Junior Discbound notebook {with one of our fabric covers}. This size can also be bound or used in a mini binder, Filofax A5, Kikki K, Daytimer Desk Size, Franklin Covey Classic or any other planner that can accommodate this size page. 

Our X-Small pages are the most labor intensive, as they require quite a bit of cutting, but if you LOVE personal size planners and the portability they offer, this size is for you. The will fit in Filofax Personal and Compact Planners, Kate Spade planners and Daytimer Portable planners. They can also be bound.

PRINTING YOUR MERRY CHRISTMAS PLANNER

Now that you've determined which size works best for you, here are some tips for printing each size:

Large: As stated above, our Large pages are the easiest to print. You do NOT have to print them borderless, however, we do recommend borderless printing because it will utilize the entire page. PLEASE NOTE that pages are NOT in print-ready order, meaning you will need to look at each page and determine if you want to print it, how many copies you want to carry in your planner at one time, and how you want the planner to flow. To give you an idea of what our planner looks like, we typically begin with our cover page, December Calendar, Advent Calendar, Christmas Checklist, etc. The GREAT thing about having each page individual means that YOU can decide how you want your planner set up and you can print only as many copies as you need of each page. That means no wasted paper, ink or time :)

Small: As stated above, our Small planner pages require a little extra work to print and assemble, but the portability of this size is SO worth it, in our opinion. The pages are designed and set up to be printed two-to-a-page on standard Letter Size paper. AFTER the pages have been printed, you will need to cut down the middle with scissors or a paper cutter. All single-use-per-year pages in this set {like the Cover page, December calendar, Advent Calendar and Holiday Checklist} are already set up in order for you to print front-t0-back. The rest of the planner, including gift trackers, holiday card lists, meal planners, etc. are set up double on each page so that you can print as many copies as you need of that particular sheet. So, if you print the same sheet front-to-back, it will give you 4 copies once printed. The great thing about having the flexibility of individual pages means YOU can decide how you want your planner set up and you can print only as many copies as you need of each page. That means no wasted paper, ink or time :)

X-Small: As stated above, our X-Small pages are the most labor intensive to print and assemble, but if you LOVE personal size planners, it is worth the extra work :) In order to utilize as much space as possible for the X-small/Personal planner size, the margins are set for one-sided printing only. What this means is that these pages are NOT designed for front-to-back printing, as that would require margin space on both sides of the page and would take away valuable writing space. But the good news is that the pages can be set up any way you want!! If you open the file using Adobe Reader, you can simply enter the page numbers you want printed, check "Actual Size" and under the "Multiple" tab, select 2 per page. If you need to print the same page multiple times, simply repeat that page number, separated by a comma. {For example, if I want 4 copies of page 6, I would select: 6,6,6,6}. Once all pages are printed, they are to be cut on the guidelines and punched for your specific planner. 

We really hope that our Merry Christmas Planner makes your holidays a little less stressful and a LOT more fun!!!

Be sure to check out our other great holiday downloads, like this FREE Elf Stationery Set!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!! Be sure to keep BOTH of our shops in mind for holiday gifts this year! And be sure to follow along here and on our Facebook and Instagram feeds for more freebies and fun this holiday season!!

{Some design elements, backgrounds and cliparts in this set were purchased from two of my favorite graphic designers on Etsy, Sugar Studios and Clementine Digitals.}