Holiday Gift & Budget Planner 2026 – Google Sheets & Excel + Printables

Know who you're buying for, what you've already spent and what's still left, all in one place, before the holiday rush starts.

This is a ready-to-use spreadsheet for Google Sheets and Excel, plus 10 printable pages for anyone who'd rather plan with a pen.

What it does

• Dashboard: days to go, your overall cap, total spent and what's left. It also flags anything that needs attention (late orders, people over budget, categories over plan).
• - Budget: set a cap and plan each category (gifts, food, decorations, travel, hosting, cards and postage, wrapping, charity).
• - People: a gift budget per person. The sheet shows when someone goes over.
• - Gift list: one row per gift with where to buy, estimated vs. paid price and an "order by" date. Status runs Idea → Ordered → Arrived → Wrapped → Given. Rows turn amber when an order date is close and red when it's passed.
• - Deal Watch: write your target price before the sales. When the best price you've seen hits your target, the row says BUY.
• - Other spending: food, decorations, hosting and more, totaled by category automatically.
• - Card list: addresses, sent and received.
• - Countdown: a weekly checklist from early November to the new year, including Black Friday (Nov 27) and Cyber Monday (Nov 30).
• What you get
• - Blank planner (.xlsx)
• - Example planner with sample data, so you can see how everything works
• - 10-page printable PDF (US Letter): budget, people and gift budgets, gift list ×2, Deal Watch, card list, hosting and menu plan, countdown, notes for next year
• - Quick-start README
• Good to know
• - No macros and no add-ons. Works in Google Sheets (File → Import), Excel for Windows, Mac and the web, and opens in LibreOffice/Numbers.
• - You only type your own entries. Totals, dashboards and colors update on their own.
• - This is a planning tool. It doesn't connect to your bank or store any data anywhere.
• - Instant digital download. Nothing is shipped.
• License: personal use only. Please don't resell, share or redistribute the files.
• Refunds: because this is a digital download, sales are final. If a file won't open or something is broken, contact me through the link in your receipt and I'll fix it or refund you.