31 Days: How To Set Up Your Holiday Planner

This month we're creating a Holiday Planner to help organize all of the fall & winter holiday busyness! If you're new to this 31 day series, check out the original post...

Creating a Holiday Planner in 31 Days!

So why a Holiday Planner, you may ask. I don't know about you, but come the end of the year, between autumn festivities, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years (not to mention our Anniversary and second baby's birthday thrown in there!) things get a bit chaotic! Keeping track of everything can seem like an insurmountable task at times. So in comes the Holiday Planner. A single place to keep track of everything "holiday" related for the months of September/October through early January. So let's get started...

Setting up a holiday planner is really rather straight forward:

(1) Gather supplies

(2) Create your categories

(3) File all your ideas into your planner!

Step 1: Gather Supplies

• a binder
• dividers
• tabs
• printer paper (28 lbs- optional)
• scrapbook paper & decorations (optional)
• label maker (optional)

First, choose a binder to be your dedicated Holiday Planner. 

It can be something new, or I used an old binder that was no longer being used and dressed it up with some scrapbook paper & decorations. If you're like me, this binder will become a dedicated year-round to being a Holiday Planner. For example- throughout the year, I'll shop sales and clearances for gifts for friends & families. I keep track of everything I've already bought throughout the year in my Holiday Planner, so come Christmas time, I've already got a head start on gift buying! I also keep my "bucket lists" for each holiday in there and add to it throughout the year, as well as adding any new traditions our family plans on starting the next year!

Step 2: Create Categories

Second, choose the sections you desire and add them to your tabs.

Here's an example of the sections I decided on for my planner:

• Autumn
• Thanksgiving
• Decor (for Autumn/Thanksgiving)
• Christmas
• Advent
• Meals (for Christmas)
• Decor (for Christmas)
• Gifts (for Christmas)
• New Years

I actually did this step after I started collecting my printables and other ideas- once I had an idea of what papers and I had and what categories they naturally could be broken down into. We don't really participate in Halloween, but that might be another section you want to add to your planner.

Throughout the upcoming month, I'll show you what printables and such I've included in each section! Once I decided on my sections, I used my label maker and label punch to create some simple tabs for my sections. I chose a few colors to use too- doing all Autumn/Thanksgiving tabs in yellow, Advent in red, Christmas in green, and New Years in blue. 

Step 3: File Ideas

Lastly, start adding in your ideas!

In my planner, I have tons of printables (which I'll be sharing throughout the month!), calendars, lists (largely to keep track of ideas I've pinned on Pinterest!), magazine clippings, "bucket lists" for each season, fliers for local parties and festivals, and more! Whatever you need to keep track of the goings-ons of the seasons :) I personally prefer, when printing out printables and the like, to use slightly a thicker 28 lb printer paper. It will hold up better to the constant referencing, erasing, writing and everyday wear and tear it will probably see over the next few months and years!