Today I am sharing an oldie, but goodie!  I shared this post last year both on Lolly Jane blog and at The Organized Mama to help get organized for the holiday season.  So, as the holiday season is quickly approaching, I thought I would share my tips for getting your holiday gifts organized again.  I will continue to use the printable, along with the other printables I made for the holiday binder this year as I have made some tweaks to the printables.  But don’t worry, you will be able to print off the revised copy and start using it today!!  I keep this binder in my Thanksgiving holiday bin.  When I get out the Thanksgiving decorations, I pull out the binder and start planning for the holidays.  It’s a nice way to get me prepped without having to keep track of another binder.

With the holidays right around the corner, I need to get myself organized.  We have family and friends that we will be doing a gift exchange with, so I want to be as prepared as possible.  We also will try to get out a holiday card this year…I am notorious for being incredibly late with the holiday cards.  I really do try, but I somehow manage to either forget to order the cards, or do not have all the addresses I need.  This year, I will be on top of things with the holiday cards.

I have a holiday binder that I keep my gift organizer, holiday card organizer, cards from the previous years, and a space for all the supplies I need to send out our holiday cards.  This binder has been incredibly useful in keeping me organized with keeping tabs on all the gifts we have purchased for family and friends.  It is also really useful to keep me organized with my holiday cards.  I am determined to get our holiday cards out on time, so I am really going to be focusing on getting the cards ordered.  And I need to make sure I have stamps, labels, and envelopes.

To set up the binder, print all the pages of my HolidayBinderBundle!  (It’s all free because I just love you all so much!!)  Now, take your binder and attach the first page cover to the front of the binder.  I like to embellish the cover, so I use the pocket binders to cover my embellished paper.

Then, take five page-dividers to attach the five cover pages to each page divider.  I love to use Elmer’s Craftbond Double-Sided Tape because it is incredibly sticky and durable.

Finally, print out a couple of copies of the gift organizer and the card organizer.  I keep these organizers hole-punched, behind the page divider.  The other page dividers get a sheet protector behind it.  I keep the extra holiday cards in a sheet protector, along with labels, envelopes, and stamps.  Each year, the holidays cards we receive go into a sheet protector.

Last year, I created this gift organizer to keep us on budget with presents.  It’s the perfect way to keep tabs on all the gifts you have purchased for your family and friends.  I typically start with writing in everyone we need to buy gifts for.  Then, as I find gifts for the people on my list, I will write in what I got them, how much I spent and I will try to wrap the gift right away so I don’t have to worry about it later!

As far as the holiday cards, my plan is to get all the labels printed off before our holiday cards arrive.  To do this, I will be using the list of holiday cards we sent out from the previous years, along with checking who sent us a holiday card from last year.  I do this by pulling out the cards from last year, which are saved in a sheet protector in my holiday binder.  I label each sheet protector with the year the cards were from.  It’s really fun looking back at the cards from the previous years to see how the kids have changed and grown up!

I try to keep my supplies separate from the cards because I don’t want anything to get stuck to a card, like a stamp or a label.  I keep them in two different sheet protectors, just to be safe, which is why I have two different page divider labels.

Now it’s your turn to create a holiday binder using the HolidayBinderBundle I am sharing.  I hope these printables will be as helpful in keeping you organized for the holidays as it does me and my family.  Make sure to take some time to get yourself organized, as it will make holiday shopping easier.