Christmas Budget Planner 2026

Who it’s for

It’s made for anyone who wants to enjoy December without a surprise in January: families, couples, students and anyone buying for a long list of people.

It’s more than a gift list. Christmas dinner, travel and decorations often cost as much as the presents, so they share one total budget here. Each person, each category and the whole season is flagged as soon as it goes over, so you see it early rather than at the till.

What’s inside, tab by tab

Start Here

Three steps, one colour rule (yellow cells are where you type) and quick answers.

Setup

Currency, your total Christmas budget, an optional report date and people groups such as Family, Friends and Work, plus how much of your budget is still left to plan.

Gift List

Up to 80 people with group, budget, gift ideas, bought, actual cost, where from, order status and wrapped. “Left” turns red when someone goes over, and “Next step” says To buy, On its way, To wrap or Done.

Holiday Spending

Ten categories, from Christmas dinner and travel to wrapping and charity, with budget vs actual, % used, an OK / Almost / Over status and a 200-row spending log.

Shopping & To-Do

A dated checklist with 18 common jobs already filled in, with Late and Due soon flags. Change them or add your own.

Card List

Up to 150 names with optional address, group, sent and received, and a reminder when someone sent you a card you haven’t returned.

Dashboard

Total budget, spent, left, days to Christmas, gifts bought and wrapped, cards sent, the people furthest over budget, the next five to-dos and two charts.

Excel and Google Sheets

The workbook is an .xlsx file that opens in Excel 2010 or later, Excel for Mac and LibreOffice. For Google Sheets, upload the .xlsx to Google Drive, double-click it, choose Open with Google Sheets, then File > Save as Google Sheets. Formulas and dropdowns carry over; Google redraws the charts, so they can look slightly different. The quick-start guide walks you through it. Type your own currency symbol on Setup and the whole workbook uses it.

There are no macros and nothing to install. Every formula uses only functions that Excel and Google Sheets share, and before release the workbook was filled with a full sample season and checked by 243 automated tests. Apple Numbers can open the file but isn’t supported.

How delivery works

You buy on Etsy, with Etsy’s checkout and buyer protection. As soon as payment goes through, the download is ready on your Etsy Purchases page and Etsy emails you a link. You get one ZIP file containing:

• Christmas_Budget_Planner_2026.xlsx
• Quick_Start_Guide.pdf (4 pages)

Nothing is shipped. Because it’s a digital file, Etsy returns don’t apply, but if something isn’t working, send a message through the shop and we’ll help put it right.