Christmas in July 2021........... July 4th!

[sweetpumkinpye]

Thank you Mary for getting us started with CIJ 2021.

I am hosting the next 7 days. My name is Katrina, most people call me Kat. I live in Australia so the dates will be slightly out as I am one day ahead of you all in the Northern Hemisphere.

I will be talking planning. I am a planner, I love it. I often think that I like the planning better than the event....

Remember, Christmas does not have to be perfect, this is real life, not a movie. What works for me may not necessarily work for you, all we can do is try our best to give ourselves and our families a great experience and create lots of amazing moments and memories. As they say, a little planning goes a long way.

Anyway, I hope you join me over the next week as we plan Christmas 2021.

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

Day 1 of planning week.....Christmas Notebooks/Binders.


Do you have a Christmas notebook or Binder? How do you plan and make notes for Christmas?
There are many ways to create a Christmas notebook. Some people use a binder or a purpose made notebook, others use a school subject book and some of the tech savvy amongst us use Excel spread sheets or phone apps. It doesn't matter what medium you use, just grab something and get started. MHH has a wonderful thread in the Notebook and Planners section about setting up a Christmas Planner.
Drop by and have a look Starting a Christmas Notebook - A Beginner's Guide

Start by entering the dates of events that you already know will be happening around Christmas. School events, dinners with family, work parties, friends visiting from out of town. Once you have those in place start adding all the other things that you would like to take place.

Some events may include,
Christmas card photo session, Santa photo at the mall, Christmas concerts, add a reminder to book and pay for tickets well in advance especially if the event is a popular one. Don't forget to schedule time for hair cuts, a massage or to have a manicure, lunch with friends. Self care is often neglected if we don't make time for it. Are you going out of town, do you need a pet sitter?
When are you picking out the tree? Add it to the planner. Do you need to schedule a day to decorate the home? Add it in.

Think of other things that may go into the notebook. There are many, many printables to source.
Do you want to add a cookie exchange list, Christmas card list, budget planner, gift list, menu plan and ingredient list?
All of these can be sourced now and added to the planner. You may want to add a page with sizes of clothes for your children or others that you are purchasing for. Maybe add a small envelope to store reciepts from purchases in case of returns.
Blank pages are useful for those adhoc notes and what I call ramblings.

Your planner is your own, create it to suit you. Enjoy the process and hopefully having your trusty planner with you will help make life a little more stress free and enjoyable.

Please share how you have your planner set up and what makes your planner work for you.

 

[ChristmasPir8]

Happy Christmas in July. I am a list maker. I use an app on my phone usually and my planner. Christmas is pretty low key for us. We don't have parties or events to attend. I usually like to bake cookies for the neighbors and I do a Christmas movie quote daily on FB so I use my calendar to track that.
I use a note opp on my phone to track gifts (also don't have a lot of people we shop for) and gift idea.

 

[MrsSoup]

I used to do a planner in the way past, but as my kids have gotten older I kind of got away from using one. I keep lists in my app and on a spreadsheet or Word doc on my computer, or in a small notebook in my purse. We don't have parties or events to attend usually.

Now that we are back home and I will be working as well, those things may change. I've never been good at keeping up with planners and such though unfortunately. However, we are hosting our big family Christmas get together at our house this year so I will be planning that with my mom.

 

[housewife2]

i use a planner to schedule dates christmas gifts bought for whom etc grocery list for the holidays menu planning

 

[Holiday_Mom]

Oh, the thought of planning Christmas makes me happy. I have been using spreadsheets for keeping track of things. I use a word document for my party planning timeline checklist. With that said, I find that when I want to think and dream about Christmas, I use paper and pen. I have used the printable sheets from Organized Christmas in the past and put them into a binder.

As the family dynamics change, so does Christmas. You've given me some things to think about...

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

Happy Christmas in July. I am a list maker.

Shannon, I do love a good list. My go to is still paper and pen and there is something very satisfying when ticking off an item.

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

I do a Christmas movie quote daily on FB so I use my calendar to track that.

This is such a fun idea. Will look into this

 

[Myron's Mom]

I pretty much use my regular planner, it’s my life. I start right after Christmas writing reminders and actual dates if I have them. Reminders for everything - when to start looking for the Christmas shows and tickets, making reservations for dinner out with friends, when to order the ham, etc, literally everything single thing I need to get done or want to do before Christmas. That includes house cleaning plans and wrapping dates from here.
My phone has my gift lists ( things I want to buy/ make or things I’ve already bought) and photos of the things I have bought. I also keep a list of ideas for the next year. There are post it’s and a pen on my night stand so if I have a brilliant idea for a gift or I remember something I need to do I can write it down. Otherwise it’s gone by morning.
I love being organized. And yes, it is so satisfying to tick off an item!

 

[Lana]

I also like pen and paper list. And like all love seeing the items marked off.

 

[luludou]

I have a Christmas notebook, but mostly now I use it to put the yearly list in there once it's over . I love to use a september to december calendar where I can jot down my Christmas to-do's, housechores, etc..

 

[halimer]

For the past few years I have been writing down everyone's name and the gift I gave them in a plain, red spiral bound notebook so I don't do repeats.

Perhaps I will put a pretty cover on it this year!

I also have a binder of holiday information that I read over each year but really don't use for notes or current lists.

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

I have kept all my planners for the past few years. It is interesting to see what I have bought over the years and how peoples tastes have changed.

 

[AnnieClaus]

I bought this planner last year off of Amazon. Not only does it have planning pages, it also has journal prompts, Christmas budget sheets, card list recipients. A lot of good stuff!

 

[AuntJamelle]

I love the look and feel of a physical planner but in reality I just do better with keeping everything digital. I use Google drive to save various documents. I have a folder for the current year's set and once that Christmas is over I move it to another area where I keep all the years past. I have documents going back to 2004!

Each document gets resaved to a new copy for a new year - the data blanked out but the structure remaining - saves time.

Google Word docs I use include:

- Advent Calendar Fillers (to keep track of what I'm planning on getting, do I have enough?)
- Christmas Baking Planning
- Christmas Dinner Party Plans
- Master Gift List
- Counting Down to Christmas (high level summary of all the to do's, events and extra's for the season)
- Holiday Menus (Halloween to New Years)
- Holiday Grand Plan (list of planned to do's week by week)
- Christmas Decorating plans (broken down by room/area)

Google Sheet docs include:

- Black Friday Shopping Planning/Budget
- Christmas Dinner Party Timeline (To do's leading up to the party/day of party broken down into steps)
- Christmas Budget
- Master Crafting List (item to be made, for whom, by when, supplies needed, etc.)
- Master Shopping List (non food)
- Make Ahead Meals (freezer cooking planner)
- Master Holiday Grocery List (info on all ingredients needed for planned holiday meals, broken out into perishable vs. non perishable)

 

[Holiday_Mom]

I love the look and feel of a physical planner but in reality I just do better with keeping everything digital. I use Google drive to save various documents. I have a folder for the current year's set and once that Christmas is over I move it to another area where I keep all the years past. I have documents going back to 2004!

Each document gets resaved to a new copy for a new year - the data blanked out but the structure remaining - saves time.

Google Word docs I use include:

- Advent Calendar Fillers (to keep track of what I'm planning on getting, do I have enough?)
- Christmas Baking Planning
- Christmas Dinner Party Plans
- Master Gift List
- Counting Down to Christmas (high level summary of all the to do's, events and extra's for the season)
- Holiday Menus (Halloween to New Years)
- Holiday Grand Plan (list of planned to do's week by week)
- Christmas Decorating plans (broken down by room/area)

Google Sheet docs include:

- Black Friday Shopping Planning/Budget
- Christmas Dinner Party Timeline (To do's leading up to the party/day of party broken down into steps)
- Christmas Budget
- Master Crafting List (item to be made, for whom, by when, supplies needed, etc.)
- Master Shopping List (non food)
- Make Ahead Meals (freezer cooking planner)
- Master Holiday Grocery List (info on all ingredients needed for planned holiday meals, broken out into perishable vs. non perishable)

I do things very similar to you, AJ. I like your idea of adding Make Ahead Meals to the sheet. I think I'll do that to my 2021 spreadsheet. This is what I had for 2020:

Christmas 2020 Sheets:

• Family Gifts (Includes Budget)
• Black Friday/Cyber Monday (Stores, Hours Open, Items of interest in the store)
• Gifts to Make
• All Other Gifts to Buy (Teachers, Bus Drivers, Trash/Recycling Crews, Additional Family)
• Holiday Supplies to Buy (Wrapping, Decorations, Mailing Supplies, Wardrobe)
• Spruce Up Ideas (from HHP - Home Improvement ideas through out the year)
• Holiday Menus (Thanksgiving and Christmas)
• Baked Goods Shopping List
• HHP (Each week gets a column.)

Christmas 2020 Google Docs:

Thanksgiving Timeline -

• Menu
• Shopping list
• Make Ahead side dish timeline
• Cleaning Timeline
• Week of Timeline
• Notes on what worked and what didn't work

Christmas Preparation Timeline -

• Includes Thanksgiving Weekend To-do list
• Early December
• Mid-December
• Week leading into Christmas
• Day Before
• Evening Before
• Day of
• Notes on what worked and what didn't work.