Hey there, Friends! It’s Sarah here from SHEdesignsKC on Instagram and the Archer & Olive Ambassador Team. It’s finally the holiday season, which is my favorite time of the year. While there are countless things to enjoy about the season, it’s also easy to get bogged down in the stress, chaos, and bustle the holidays can bring. Today, I’ll share some spread ideas for organization during this season of giving. So, if you plan on giving gifts, or sending cards, let’s explore some trackers for holding all the information and helping guard our sanity!

SUPPLIES

Supply round up time! I’ll be using the following supplies to set up my spreads:

• Archer & Olive notebook
• Archer & Olive notepad
• Archer & Olive Calliograph pens
• Archer & Olive Acrylograph pens
• Archer & Olive stencil
• Pencil and eraser
• Adhesive
• Scissors

If you’re shopping for any Archer & Olive products, be sure to use my affiliate code to save on your purchase! You save 10% and I get a small commission too. Always much appreciated! SHEDESIGNSKC10

GIFT TRACKER

I’ve been using a gift tracker spread for a number of years and it is such a game changer!! This is where I’ll list out gift recipients and track the status of their gifts. Does a gift have a status? Yes, it sure does. For my trackers, I include multiple checkboxes for the status, including “Purchased”, “Total Cost”, “Wrapped”, and “Mailed”. So no more forgetting what gifts I’ve purchased, losing track of how much I’ve spent, or trying to remember what I’ve mailed and what still needs to be mailed. This is such a stress saver!

SET UP

I decided I wanted to do a dutch door for my gift tracker, so to begin, I decorated the page that would be my header page. I used my Archer & Olive Acrylograph to outline some festive looking leaves and berries and write out my lettering. This black Acrylograph was from the glitter pack and the shimmer is such a pleasing little pop for this spread! A moment for the shimmer:

I used A&O Calliographs to color everything in. Since I wanted the tracker itself to be a dutch door, I cut down the next two pages in my notebook to my preferred size. For the page that will be behind the dutch door, I will continue the leaves and berries. I wanted my dutch door to stand out a bit, so I used some kraft paper from my Archer & Olive notepad, cut it down to size, and used an adhesive to stick it onto my dutch door pages. Since my family does look around in my notebook from time to time - especially during the holidays, since I have our advent in there too - I put a sweet little note, “NO PEEKING!” on the front side of my dutch door. Okay, it’s maybe a bit more menacing than sweet, but I added some adhesive velvet ribbon from last year’s Archer & Olive advent box, and I think that softens it just a bit, don’t you? 

To set up my tracker, I created columns for each tracking point for my gifts. I have a column to list each gift, a checkbox column to indicate that it has been purchased, an area to list the total cost, a checkbox to indicate that it has been wrapped, and a checkbox to indicate that I have mailed the gift. The “mailed” checkbox is obviously not always applicable, but very handy for those out of town family and friends. I will label the rows with the names of people I’m buying gifts for. Some will have multiple rows, because I will buy more than one gift for my children, for example. And that’s it! I did a lot of fluff and extra stuff because I like fluff and extra stuff, but this can be a very bare bones and simple spread. It will save you time, ease your stress, and probably even lower your cholesterol. Okay, not the last one. But definitely the others!

RECEIPT KEEPER

A bonus item I included on the back of my gift tracker spread is a receipt keeper. I’m all about finding ways to stay more organized, and one thing I find myself struggling with repeatedly is keeping track of receipts. Especially during the holidays when I’m buying multiple gifts. I created a simple sleeve with some flaps to fold over and adhered that in my notebook. Now I have a designated place to store all my receipts as I’m buying gifts for the holidays. Then, after gifts have been given, if an exchange or return is necessary, I can easily locate the receipt for that item. And it gets bonus-ier! I made a printable version! Be sure to grab your own free printable receipt keeper!

CARD TRACKER

If you send holiday cards, you need this spread! This is a great one because you can set it up once and use it for years to come! I love to send holiday cards, but it can be tricky to stay organized. This spread holds all the necessary information to knock out those cards and get them to all the intended recipients.

SET UP

This is a simple spread with a column for the name/address of the recipient, and then columns for each year. Under each year, I split that heading into “sent” and “received” columns. I can see at a glance, who I am sending cards to each year and who I am receiving cards from. If I get a card this year from someone who isn’t on my list, I can add their name/address and check the “received” box. Next year, I’ll see that they sent me a card the previous year and maybe I’ll decide that I should reciprocate. Now I have their address handy and can easily send one. Name and address changes can easily be amended by putting a sticky note over top with the updated information. I love the look of this final product in its simplicity, and how much it helps me keep on top of so many contacts!  

Thanks for joining me today as we looked at some spreads for holiday season organization! I hope there are some ideas here that you can incorporate into your notebooks or planners that will help make your holidays more simplified and fun. We love time saving strategies so we can spend more time drinking eggnog and watching Rudolph, and less time making last minute trips to the store in all the holiday madness because we forgot to get a gift for Grandma. :) 

If you recreate any of these spreads, please be sure to tag Archer & Olive (#aoshare & #archerandolive) and me (@SHEdesignsKC) so we can admire your work! I’d also love for you to check out the YouTube video where I set all these spreads up! You can find it here!

Wishing you all the very best this holiday season. I hope it’s full of love and good things for you and yours. Talk to y’all soon!