It’s the most wonderful time of the year, but it can also be the most stressful. I struggle to keep track of all of those extra little December tasks, so I’ve put together a few additional bullet journal spreads to help keep me extra-organised this festive season, as well as some fun ones.

First up, I thought I’d share my December cover page as I’ve used the same theme across all of my spreads this month, and I was particularly pleased with how it came out! I did a poll on Instagram stories to ask whether I should go with a pink and red or pink and green theme. I was secretly delighted that pink and green won, as it gives me Wes Anderson vibes. I used A5 dot grid papers in pastel pink and forest to cut the gifts and the dot grid markings came in super handy for keeping them square as I’m terrible at cutting freehand. Then I added details with strips of paper, metallic gold washi tape, and pink ribbon stickers. Super simple and super effective, if I say so myself!

I’ve been using double page calendar spreads for the last few months but figured I wouldn’t have as many deadlines and meetings to keep track of in December, and I wanted to make sure I had enough pages left over for all my extra spreads. As I mentioned in this blog post, I’ve been using a Neapolitan journal for the second half of 2022 and I’ve kept each month to a coloured section. I added a simple list calendar to the right hand side of my cover page, and marked the weekends with a gold Stabilo 68 to continue the gold theme. As I’ve mentioned numerous times, I really struggle with lettering so I actually printed and traced “December”, outlined with a Pigma Micron and filled it in with a black Stabilo 68.

Next up, I created a page to keep track of all the gifts I need to buy including: 

• Who I need to buy for
• Gift ideas
• When I’ve bought/made it
• When I’ve wrapped it
• When I’ve sent or given it

The magazine-style letters is a theme I’ve carried throughout this journal, and I thought it looked particularly cute with the pink and green papers. I used a white Gelly Roll to really pop against the dark green. I also added a few tiny gifts in the corner for a pop of colour.

The next page is for my own personal wish list! Sadly I don’t tend to get a huge amount of gifts as we’ve mostly phased out adult gifts in my family, but I do usually try and buy myself a little gift or two from a small business. If you’d like any suggestions, be sure to check out my Small Business Cosy Gift Guide.

Next up, I created a cosy winter bucket list with the following activities:

• Decorate the tree
• Make a wreath
• Bake gingerbread
• Send cards
• Wrap gifts
• Wear a Christmas sweater
• Make snowflakes
• Drink hot chocolate
• Eat mince pies
• Watch Christmas movies
• Light a festive candle
• Donate to charity

I added simple doodles with a Pigma Micron for each activity, and I’ll colour them in as I complete each one. You’ll be pleased to know that I’ve already worn a Christmas sweater and lit a festive candle since I took this photo!

On the next page, I created a movie list to keep track of all the festive movies I watch this month. As you can see, I’ve got high hopes! You could either fill in the movies you want to watch and tick them off as you do, but I haven’t decided yet and think I’ll just add each one in as I watch it. In case you’re wondering, Muppets Christmas Carol is my all-time favourite, closely followed by Elf. Last time I created a spread with this retro movie ticket design, I managed to fluff it up numerous times so I did actually sketch out the boxes this time and am pleased to say, I didn’t go wrong once!

Overleaf I’ve created a Christmas Dinner menu spread. I had high hopes for a Pinterest-worthy page with fancy lettering and images cut from the Waitrose food magazine, but lettering on kraft is much harder because of the texture, and all the images were far too big! I’ve kept the opposite page blank to make a timings chart as I thought that would be nicer than scribbling it on a scrap of paper as I usually do, and it means I can make notes and refer back to it next year.

Finally, what I like to call a “shut it down” list. There’s SO many things to think about to put a shop into holiday mode, especially if you’re selling across multiple platforms. I no longer run a product-based business so I know my own list will be a lot shorter, but here’s a list of everything I used to edit before closing Pink Coat Club at Christmas: 

Website

• Home page announcement
• Website banner
• Edit order confirmation - shipping timescales, closing dates, Christmas message
• Add pop up message at checkout with re-open shipping date
• Add note to contact page
• Add note to wholesale page
• Add note to shipping page
• Check stock figures are accurate

Etsy 

• Put shop in Holiday Mode
• Set auto-reply
• Edit shop announcement
• Move stock to website for low-stock items

Miscellaneous

• Email auto-reply
• Instagram post
• Newsletter

Ooft! I’m exhausted just thinking about it! The great thing about making a list in your bullet journal means you can just reverse the list when you re-open to make sure you don’t end up with any random “we’re closed for Christmas” messages on pages you’ve forgotten about!

I hope that’s given you a little inspiration for some festive organisation! Why not bookmark this page so you can come back to it next year too? If you’ve been inspired by any of the suggestions in this post, we’d love to see! Please tag @nikkissupplystore and #NikkisSupplyStore on Instagram, where you can find heaps more journaling and stationery inspiration. You can also follow me, @joy.margot, for more craft content and pictures of my cat.