Simplify your holidays with a D⋄I⋄Y Christmas planner

Plan It! Get Organized With Christmas Checklists

For many of us, having the tools, in the form of a Christmas planner, isn't enough. We need more: a road map to an organized Christmas. Enter Christmas planning checklists!

Christmas planning checklists help focus and zero in on holiday chores. Checking off each step of holiday preparations makes it easy to get organized for the holiday season.

Christmas planning checklists simplify the holidays by focusing preparations on one step at a time. Having a list-based road map makes it easier to delegate jobs to others, and seeing the visual reminder of the process prevents becoming sidetracked along the way.

Christmas Checklist: Decorate For The Holiday Season

Get organized for Christmas with this Christmas planning checklist based on the Christmas Countdown organizing plan by Cynthia Townley Ewer:

  • Collect decor ideas and add them to the Christmas planner.
  • Plan holiday decorating--interior and exterior--and schedule decorating sessions on the holiday calendar.
  • Inspect and inventory holiday decorations. Add needed or replacement items to the shopping list.
  • If using live tree, order or shop for Christmas tree.
  • Decorate interior.

Christmas Checklist: Plan Holiday Baking

Get organized for Christmas with this Christmas planning checklist based on the Christmas Countdown organizing plan by Cynthia Townley Ewer:

  • List holiday baked goods to make and give. Estimate number of baked items needed for the season.
  • Review recipes and research new ones.
  • Use a baking planner form to list each recipe or item, ingredients needed and number of batches.
  • Check food storage or pantry for ingredients. Start a shopping list for needed items.

Christmas Checklist: Create A Wrap and Mail Center

Get organized for Christmas with this Christmas planning checklist based on the Christmas Countdown organizing plan by Cynthia Townley Ewer:

  • Find a location for a wrap and mail center. Look for counter space, storage and privacy.
  • Locate all gift wrap supplies, and collect them at the wrap and mail center.
  • Assess storage needs. Purchase gift wrap organizers is needed.
  • Stock the wrap and mail center with tools: scissors, tape, postal scale, mailing tape.

Christmas Checklist: Stocking Stuffer Solutions

Get organized for Christmas with this Christmas planning checklist based on the Christmas Countdown organizing plan by Cynthia Townley Ewer:

  • Brainstorm stocking stuffer ideas.
  • Check the gift closet inventory for potential stocking stuffers.
  • Make a stocking stuffer inventory list. Add items to the list as they are purchased.
  • Store stocking stuffers in shopping bags, hung on closet hangers; one bag per recipient.
  • If your family wraps stocking gifts, wrap stuffers.

Christmas Checklist: Set Up A Gift Closet

Get organized for Christmas with this Christmas planning checklist based on the Christmas Countdown organizing plan by Cynthia Townley Ewer:

  • Find a storage location for gift storage. A closet, shelf, drawer or under-bed storage unit can all serve as a "gift closet".
  • Locate all saved gift items and place them in the gift closet.
  • Make an inventory of stored gifts.
  • As you add gifts to the gift closet, note new additions on the gift closet inventory.

Christmas Checklist: Organize Holiday Gifts

Get organized for Christmas with this Christmas planning checklist based on the Christmas Countdown organizing plan by Cynthia Townley Ewer:

  • Brainstorm holiday gift ideas. Use a gift ideas planner to record personal information.
  • Review holiday budget and master gift list. Establish spending limits for holiday gifts.
  • Plan any handmade gifts, and schedule gift-making sessions on the calendar
  • Place catalog or internet gift orders, and track packages as they're received.