On-the-Go Christmas Planner

This year I am bound and determined to be prepared for the Holidays! If you know me in real life….NO LAUGHING!…at least out loud. :-) Ummm..I tend to say this every year. Last year I found a great Christmas planning site: The problem is that I discovered it in December and their planning started back in October and some in August! I felt so far behind just looking at the planners that I gave up and flew-by–the seat of my pants again! This year I searched for another planner and came across  a sister site to Organized Home Christmas, Christmas Planner.com. My eyes were immediately drawn to the title: Dollar Store Delight. As soon as I saw it I knew that I had to make one of these:

Photo Album Holiday Organizer

Created by Janelle at Arizona Families Blog. She has a great tutorial there, so check it out!

I borrowed her awesome idea and customized it to fit my needs. I started with a 4x6 dollar store photo album with removable front and back cover inserts. I have  a couple of these albums that I bought on clearance for .50 each at Dollar General. I knew they would come in handy someday! They still have them again, for $1 and without the handy little snap flap. :-(

I cut out some Christmas paper for the new cover, that I already had, using the cover inserts for a template.  I have to admit that I didn’t take any pictures ‘til I was almost finished, so you are seeing the finished product here.

I also cut out a piece of cardstock in a coordinating color to give it a little more stability. I slipped this in behind the cover paper. 

Since I was having so much fun…these are easy to make… I made one for my daughter at the same time, so that’s why you are seeing pictures of two different planners! :-) I learned a few things making the first one and tweaked them on the second. Like not making the tabs so BIG! Compare the red tabs above to the green tabs below.

 

I only used 4 tabs: Notes, Calendar, Events and Gifts. Janelle suggested typing labels for the tabs, but I just hand wrote mine. She also used a circle cutter for the tabs, but I don’t have one. I used my Craft Robo vinyl cutter. A large circle punch would work too.

Since this is an on-the-go planner you don’t need all your Holiday info here, just what you might need to refer to when you are out and about. There is a glare in the picture  but that is a lined 4x6 index card for my note paper.

I put notes in the front so that I didn’t have to wade through everything else just to jot something down. 

The next tab is for the calendar and I borrowed the calendar pages from Organized Home Christmas . They are laid out for a typical pocket planner which is longer and narrower than the photo book, so I tweaked those a bit to make them fit.

There is  a calendar for October, November and December. The third tab is for Events. These pages are also from Organized Home Christmas and tweaked by me to fit this size planner.

The heading on these pages is Menu, with Event and Date underneath, but since almost every event over the Holidays includes eating, I used these for my event pages! The larger section is for the menu and the grey section on the bottom is labeled notes.

The last section is for the really fun stuff…gifts!! These pages I actually made myself!

You will probably want one card for every 2 people you will be buying gifts for. So when counting out pages in between tabs, be sure to leave enough for the gifts section! In the very back, I  put in a stocking stuffers card…also made by me…see I can be original once in a while! ;-)

Once I got going I couldn’t stop! I made a few more pages, one for Holiday baking (Who could use a plate of baked goods as a thank-you for service during the year?), stocking the pantry (Jot down spices and specialty baking items needed  for holiday cooking as you go through recipes.) and ministry/service opportunities (If you see a  need or place you or your family can be of service, jot it down as you see it and you will be more likely to remember to act on it.) These are other things that you might need to access “on-the-go”. I’m going to have to make more for tabs for my planner now! :-)

If you would like to make a similar planner and use the pages I’ve tweaked or created, you can find them here:

On-the-Go Christmas Planner Pages

I hope that having this in my purse will help me be able to remember ideas that I come across when I’m out as well as take lists and ideas with me from home!

Happy Planning!

Linking up to many of the fantastic parties in my side bar like: TheDIYShowoff, Met Monday @BNOTP,