Holiday Planner

As I said in this post, I want to be mindful of the things we do throughout the holidays. I also want to plan and add the most important events to our calendar. Well, in order to help me with this process, I've created a Holiday Planner.

I had seen this idea on several blogs last year, and decided to implement the idea for myself this year to help reduce the craziness of the season. To create my planner, I simply covered a composition notebook with patterned paper. Then I decided what sections I needed in my notebook to help with my listmaking. The idea is that ALL of my holiday ideas and notes go into this notebook. So, by adhering my patterned paper to the pages of my notebook, I created the following sections:

1) Calendars and general lists - because I'm bound to realize that I forgot a section so these blank pages at the beginning on my notebook keep me covered!

2) Gift Giving - This section is where I will record my master Gift List - who is on our gift list, what are we giving them, what supplies are needed to create the gift, where can I find the tutorial.

3) Decorating - This section includes decorating ideas/inspiration and lists of what to purchase

4) Food - my favorite section! This is where I'll plan our holiday menus, note recipes (even print them and clip them into this section), and write grocery lists

5) Crafts with Taylor - This section is where I will plan projects to do with Taylor to ensure that I have supplies on hand. If I add a project to our calendar for the weekend, I can look ahead and see what supplies we need, set up involved, etc. My key for crafting with Taylor is setting up in advance. I find as soon as I mention we're doing a project, she starts in on it, before all supplies are set out and before she even knows the instructions! So, to ensure crafting success with kids, I try to set up in advance.

So, that's it! That's my Holiday Planner. I'm really hoping this simple notebook keeps me sane this holiday season. I should add Holiday Planner 2009 to the cover and I really think the tree needs a star on top (how about you?). Also, I plan to use this as a bit of a scrapbook, adding pics of completed recipes, decorations, etc. So next year I have a visual reminder and a record of what I did this year.

Oh and, these altered notebooks make a really nice, inexpensive gift! Simply cover in paper that's the favorite colors of the recipient, embellish with a monogram or other little pretty and Voila! No need to include multiple sections, leave it undivided and the recipient can use the notebook in any way they choose.