Sunday 23 December 2012

Christmas Planning 2012

Thanks to some of my 101 in 1001 challenges, namely having my Christmas presents and cards bought and written out by the end of November, and using my Dodobook of Christmas to plan everything, the run up to Christmas has been a lot less fraught this year.


Using the Dodobook of Christmas has made things so much easier. This is a fab organiser and has dividers for sections Holiday Planner, Cards, Gifts, Festive Fare, Decoration, Children, Parties & Events, and Traditions, all of which are complete with traditional Christmas pictures. All the dividers have a handy slip pocket on the back for storing recipes, ideas from magasines, cards, receipts and a variety of other bits and pieces that you may accumulate on your Christmas planning journey. In true inimitable Lord Dodo style, each of the pockets is adorned with relevant quotes.




As well as these great dividers, the organiser includes Christmas Card List inserts. These are set up with five years of columns for received and sent, so each sheet lasts five years.


The inserts for all other sections are based on that classic favourite... quadrille paper, complete with a pic of Lord Dodo delivering presents in the bottom right corner of the page. It is just enough to give it that Christmassy feeling, while not being so intrusive that it distracts you, and it doesn´t take up enough space to get in the way either.

Lord Dodo and his team at Dodo Towers have clearly designed these inserts for long-term use. Not only is the card list template set up for five years, but all inserts are printed on a lovely, smooth, heavy-duty paper - in fact I´d say it´s thick enough to be classed as card. I was thinking of setting up a Filofax for next year for all events planning and adding Christmas planning to that, but then I think my normal Filofax inserts may get a major inferiority complex... oops!!!

The only sections I have really made much use of are Cards, Gifts, and Festive Fare, but maybe today I will use the holiday planner section to write out all the things that I need to do on Christmas Eve and on Christmas morning.

How do you plan for Christmas?

LJx

8 comments:

  1. I'm not very big on Dodo - admitedly I have never held a Dodo planner in my hands, but I have seen the pictures and they didn't really clicked with me so far - but this event planning sounds just wonderful!

    Every year this "communal" dates get me over my head: cards to write, presents to buy-wrap-give, people to meet, parties or gatherings to attend, appointments to fix... Usually something either gets crossed off the list (normally the cards) and presents are stretched until March thanks to the useful "just couldn't meet before!".

    I do make lists on Post-it notepads or notbeooks, where I write down the names and the presents I intend to give, so year after year I can check and make sure I'm not giving them the same thing over and over (like socks!), but my system is far from perfect. Now, what you've described here seems to be the Nirvana of Event and Festivity planning. Where could I check this out in more detail?

    Great post! ^_^

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    1. Hiya - here's the link to the product on the website. I love it, and if I combine it with a deadline of the end of November to have all cards written out and ready to send, and all presents bought and ready to wrap it really works :-) http://www.dodopad.com/shop/organisers-for-celebrations/dodo-book-of-christmas. Merry Christmas!!!

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    2. Thank you! I actually checked it out and it gave me great ideas to create my own event planning inserts including birthdays, present ideas and event checks for all major celebrations of the year. It was great!

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    3. You're welcome. I'm thinking of doing that for next year too, but will definitely have to use my Dodo Christmas inserts in there as I love them so much :-)

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  2. What a great idea, think i'll invest in one of those for next year or maybe create a Christmasofax, I definitely want to be more organised, i've been a lot better this year but I'm still on the last minute, just spent the last three hours wrapping presents after promising myself i'd do it as I bought them !!

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    1. HI Alison, I was thinking about setting up and events filo for next year and including Christmas planning in there, but I love these inserts so much that I'm not sure... :-) Have a fab Christmas :-)

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    2. Been out today and bought a Red A5 Chameleon which is perfect for the project, whether I actually get round to setting it up before next Christmas is another story haha :-)

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    3. Sounds perfect for Christmas planning :o)

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