Christmas planner

Have you heard about Christmas pocket planners? Handmade from scrapbooking paper and a simple pocket file folder, these little holiday planners are inexpensive, creative and just plain fun!

The pocket planner concept is sweeping the scrapbooking and rubber stamping world, but there's always been one thing missing: a set of printable forms for Christmas organizing.

Until now! Introducing the latest Organized Christmas forms set: Christmas Pocket Planner Forms!

Long-time readers know that making and using a Christmas planner is the best way to simplify the holidays and prepare for Christmas.

We've got help! Announcing a new focus site from OrganizedChristmas.com: ChristmasPlanner.com!

To make easy to create and use your Christmas organizing power tool, our new Make It! Christmas planner section offers a complete guide to making a Christmas planner notebook. You'll find how-to articles and supply lists and divider ideas.

To help you fill your Christmas planner, we're gathering the Web's best free printables and resources in our new Print It! section.

Don't miss our new (and growing) list of Christmas checklists. Our Plan It! feature is designed to be a quick and easy guideline for holiday planning.

Most of all, our new site showcases you: the Web's best and most creative Christmas planners. In our Tour It! section, you'll find Christmas planner tours and tutorials from the Web. Whether it's a simple Christmas notebook or creative Christmas planner, you'll find inspiration to guide you as you make your own holiday planner.

Welcome! It's time to get organized for the holiday season ... with a Christmas planner!

As we get ready for Christmas, we’ll be making lists (and checking them a lot more than twice!), holding discussions with spouses, children and parents, and drawing up a holiday budget.

Too often, we record our plans piecemeal, consigning them to a confused clutter of scrawled envelopes, jotted notes and cryptic calendar entries—none of which make it to the shopping center with us when it’s time to buy gifts.

Organized people keep the results of their work in a central place. Try the tips below to create and use a Christmas notebook--your personal guide to relaxed and happy holidays:

Quick ... while the moment is fresh: write down the year's holiday memories. A Christmas journal will bring the moments to mind long after the New Year.

We make it easy, with a printable holiday memories journal page:

Holiday Memories Journal

It's every mother's Christmas morning list: a record of gifts received, to be used for the next day's thank-you note session.

If you're a Microsoft Word user (Word 97 or later), check out this free printable:

Free Printable Gifts Received Tracker Form

Shopping for gifts? Get organized for gift-giving with this free online service from Amazon.com!

Using an online interface, add gift recipients and track birthdays, gift ideas and gifts sent. If you're an Amazon.com power user, you'll find the organizer pre-stocked with your Amazon.com Friends list, and from any gift addresses you've entered in the past.

Once entered, you can check recipients' Amazon.com wish lists, track gifts sent, and record gift ideas for future use. The site will even remind you about upcoming birthdays. Neat!

Amazon.com Online Gift Organizer

Ready to gear up for holidays around the year? Do it online with GiftBox.com!

This Web-based Christmas planner allows you to track gift ideas, gift budgets and wishlists from any Web browser. You won't forget a birthday with their e-mail reminder service, and you can even send e-card thank you notes, and track gift returns!

The free service is limited to three holidays; a paid annual subscription (around $19) allows unlimited use. Get organized!

Clever blogger MechMom gives us her spin on a simple, downloadable Christmas notebook with these easy forms for planning, budgeting and gift ideas.

Read all about it:

Survive Christmas: Make a Christmas Game Plan

Just the thing to spark up your Christmas notebook: a 2007 US Holiday Calendar from Microsoft.com. An editable document, you'll be able to add birthdays, family celebrations and special days.

You'll need a copy of Microsoft Word 2003 (PC version) or better for this free downloadable template:

2007 US Holiday Calendar