Free Holiday Gift Planner: Budget, Stash, Order-By Dates

A holiday gift planner is one list of everyone you’re buying for, a budget for each person, what you already have, and the date to order anything you’re shipping. Split one total budget across everyone first. Check your stash before you buy. Do the hard-to-shop-for people next, then count back from the day you give each gift. For Christmas, USPS says to send Ground Advantage packages by Dec. 17.

My gift list is never balanced

We’re a last-minute mess most of the time, and I want to change it this year.

My problem is balance. Some people are so easy to shop for, I’m buying things for them all year. The tougher ones end up rushed and last minute.

Then there are the games. My sister and I plan games for our family parties, one at our mom’s house and one at our dad’s, so two parties full of games. One year we counted the prizes we needed, then decided a few extras would keep things fun. We had stuff everywhere, assumed we didn’t have enough, and ran around buying little gifts at the last minute. About $100 of them.

We had enough. I had a closet full of prizes from items I’d reviewed. If I’d had it all logged, the whole run could have been avoided. I’m guessing normal people would’ve handled it better.

What goes in a holiday gift planner?

Four stations, one ticket each. Stop after any of them and you’re further along than you were.

1. List everyone and set your budget: every person, and one total split between them.
2. Check your stash first: what you already bought, and who it’s for.
3. Do the hard ones first: the people who end up rushed in December.
4. Get your order-by dates: a date for every gift you’re shipping.

Station 1: List everyone and split one budget

Write down everyone you buy for, including the ones you haven’t figured out yet. Those are the ones this whole thing is for.

Then pick one number for the season and split it evenly. An even split is only where you start. Move money toward the people who need more and away from the ones who need less, and keep the total the same. The tool below does the math as you drag.

Put a mark next to anyone who’s hard to shop for. They move to the top at station 3. And if December is already a tight month for bills, your bill calendar shows which week the gift money has to come out of.

Station 2: Check your stash before you buy anything

The closet, the drawer, the thing you grabbed on sale in July. Write each one down and give it a person. Anything with a name on it is one less thing to buy.

If you host party games, count the little prizes you already have and write the number down. We didn’t have that number, and not having it cost us about $100.

Nothing in there? Mark the station done anyway. You looked, and now you know.

Station 3: Do the hard-to-shop-for people first

For me, hard means one of three things. They have everything, they have no hobbies, or we don’t like the same things.

For those people I like to give an experience, like ax throwing, or something random like an escape room. If I don’t know them well, a gift card is always the safer bet.

Both have one more thing going for them. An experience or a gift card doesn’t ship, so it doesn’t need an order-by date. Do these people first, while there’s time to think, and the easy ones will still be easy in December.

Station 4: When should you order gifts to arrive by Christmas?

Anything you’re shipping gets an order-by date. Start from the day you’re giving it, which is the party or the 25th, and count back. The tool starts at 10 days and you can change it.

Here’s what the carriers themselves say for 2026, for the lower 48 states:

Service	Last day to send	Arrives by
USPS Ground Advantage	Dec. 17	Dec. 25
USPS First-Class Mail	Dec. 17	Dec. 25
USPS Priority Mail	Dec. 18	Dec. 25
USPS Priority Mail Express	Dec. 19	Dec. 25
FedEx Ground and Home Delivery	Dec. 17 to 23, by distance	Dec. 24
FedEx Express Saver	Dec. 21	Dec. 24
FedEx 2Day	Dec. 22	Dec. 24

Two things to know about those dates. FedEx’s are for arrival by Dec. 24 and USPS’s are for Dec. 25. And they’re the day the package leaves, so an online order also needs the store’s time to pack it. Ordering on the carrier’s last day is cutting it close.

Mailing cards too? First-Class Mail has the same Dec. 17 date. There’s a free Christmas card list tracker in my pink Christmas cards post on Jen Tried It.

Plan it with the gift planner tool

The tool walks the same four stations. Add your people and your total, drag the sliders, log your stash, add gift ideas, and it gives you an order-by date for everything you’re shipping. At the end you see who’s covered, who still has nothing, and what to order first.

Your list saves in your own browser, so you can come back to it on the same device. There's no account and no server behind it, and "Delete my list" wipes it.

The printable holiday gift planner

One page, free, no email required. Your total budget, gift day and order-by rule at the top, the four stations with a date line and a box each, 14 rows of who's getting what, a stash list with a count of game prizes, and the 2026 carrier dates.

Two rules to keep gift shopping balanced

Log it the day you buy it. Every gift and every little prize goes on the list the day it comes home, with the name of who it's for. The receipt goes on your receipt and warranty log, in case it has to go back.

Look at who has nothing yet. The easy people fill themselves in all year. Check the list for the empty names instead, and start there.

Finish all four stations and you've earned four tickets and Tinsel Tony, the prize on this one. Nothing expires and there's no streak to lose, so a list you start tonight and finish in November still pays the same four.

Not financial advice. The shipping dates above are quoted from each carrier's own page, and carriers change them. Check before you count on one.

Frequently asked questions

Related

• The bill calendar, and the week money gets tight
• The receipt and warranty log
• Things that expire, the renewals list
• Admin night, for the pile you've been avoiding