Christmas Savings Challenge Printable: 11 Free Designs

Every Christmas savings challenge printable works the same way underneath: you put a number on the holidays, break it into pieces, and tick the pieces off. What changes between them is the shape on the page and how long you have.

There are eleven designs below. Four of them are Christmas shapes you color in, a tree, a Santa, wrapped gifts and ornaments, and the rest are the practical ones: dated week-by-week charts, a version for children, one for people paid every two weeks, and the gift list that tells you what the goal should be in the first place.

Count the weeks to Black Friday, not to Christmas

This is the part almost every page gets wrong. Charts are built to finish on December 25, and by December 25 the shopping is done. The money needs to be there before you buy, which in practice means late November.

In 2026, Black Friday falls on November 27 and Christmas Day on December 25. That’s four weeks of difference, and it changes what you need to put away each week.

If you start	Weeks to Black Friday	Weeks to Christmas
September 1	12	16
October 1	8	12
October 15	6	10
November 1	3	7
November 15	1	5
December 1	none left	3

Find the row you are actually on. If it says three weeks, a twelve week chart isn’t going to help you, and pretending otherwise is how people end up putting Christmas on a credit card.

Work out the goal before you pick a chart

Every other page starts with “choose a goal” and then leaves you to guess. The goal isn’t a guess. It’s the gift list added up.

Write down everyone you are buying for, put a number next to each name, and total the column. That’s what you need. The gift list and budget sheet below is laid out for exactly this, with a column for what you planned and another for what you actually spent.

If you want a reference point before you start, the National Retail Federation found that shoppers planned to spend an average of $890.49 per person in the 2025 season, made up of $627.93 on gifts and $262.56 on food, decorations and cards. That’s an average across everyone surveyed, not a target, and plenty of households do Christmas well on a third of it. It’s useful mainly as a reminder that the food and the decorations are part of the bill too, and that’s the part people forget to save for.

How to use these

1. Print the gift list first and total the budget column. That number is your goal.
2. Find your row in the table above and see how many weeks you really have.
3. Divide the goal by the weeks. If the answer is more than you can put away, cut the list rather than the schedule.
4. Pick a chart. A dated one if you want the weeks laid out for you, a tree or a Santa if you would rather color something in.
5. Set the money aside somewhere separate. A savings account with no card attached is the easiest way to leave it alone.
6. Fill in a section every time you save, and write the running total on the “saved so far” line.

All 11 free designs

Every sheet is US Letter, 8.5 x 11 inches, and prints on A4 if you choose “fit to page”. The shapes are outlines, so they cost almost nothing in ink.

Gift List and Budget Planner

The sheet that comes before the others. Twenty-two rows for who you are buying for, what you are thinking of, what you have budgeted and what you actually spent. Add up the budget column and you have your savings goal.

22 rows · 1 page · black and white

Download the gift list (PDF)

Christmas Tree

Fifty sections that fill from the star down. Write your goal at the top, divide it by fifty, and color a section in each time you put that much away. At a $500 goal each section is $10; at $1,000 it is $20.

50 sections · 1 page · green

Download the tree (PDF)

Santa

Forty pieces of beard to color in. Same idea as the tree with a different picture, and it’s the one children tend to pick. At a $500 goal each piece is $12.50, at $1,000 it is $25.

40 pieces · 1 page · red

Download the Santa (PDF)

Wrapped Gifts

Forty-eight presents in a grid, each with room to write an amount underneath. Useful if you’d rather set a different amount for each one instead of dividing evenly.

48 gifts · 1 page · red

Download the gifts (PDF)

Ornaments

Thirty-five baubles hanging in rows, with the amount written inside each one. The roomiest of the four shapes, so it suits larger amounts and fewer deposits.

35 ornaments · 1 page · red and green

Download the ornaments (PDF)

Kids Version

The same tree at twenty-five sections instead of fifty, so a child colors one in for every dollar and finishes at $25. Small enough to be real to them, and it sits next to an adult sheet without either looking odd.

25 sections · $1 each · 1 page · green

Download the kids version (PDF)

9 Weeks to Black Friday

Every Friday from October 2 to November 27, 2026, with the date printed next to each week. Fifty dollars a week comes to $450, and the money’s there before the shopping starts rather than after.

Total $450 · 9 weeks · dated 2026

Download the 9 week chart (PDF)

13 Weeks to Christmas

The longer run, every Friday from October 2 to December 25, 2026. Fifty dollars a week is $650. Pick this one if you’re buying later or if some of the money is for food and travel rather than gifts.

Total $650 · 13 weeks · dated 2026

Download the 13 week chart (PDF)

25 Days of December

For a standing start in late November. Save $1 on December 1, $2 on the 2nd, and so on to $25 on Christmas Day, which adds up to $325. The amounts stay small right up until the end.

Total $325 · 25 days · 1 page · black and white

Download the December chart (PDF)

Biweekly by Paycheck

Twelve slots instead of weeks, one for each paycheck, with room for the date and the amount. You can type into this one in any PDF reader.

12 paychecks · 1 page · typeable PDF

Download the biweekly sheet (PDF)

Write Your Own

Forty blank slots for amounts and dates, for irregular income or for anyone who’d rather not be held to a weekly number. Typeable as well.

40 slots · 1 page · typeable PDF

Download the write-your-own (PDF)

Which one is for you

If this is you	Print this
You haven’t worked out a number yet	Gift list and budget
You want it on the fridge	Tree or Santa
A child is saving too	Kids tree
You want a date on every line	9 weeks or 13 weeks
You’re starting in December	25 Days of December
You get paid every two weeks	Biweekly
Different amounts every time	Gifts or Write your own

Compare all 11

Design	Total	Pieces	Set your own amount
Gift list and budget	you choose	22 rows	Yes
Christmas tree	you choose	50	Yes
Santa	you choose	40	Yes
Wrapped gifts	you choose	48	Yes
Ornaments	you choose	35	Yes
Kids tree	$25	25	No, $1 each
9 weeks to Black Friday	$450	9	No, $50 a week
13 weeks to Christmas	$650	13	No, $50 a week
25 Days of December	$325	25	No, $1 to $25
Biweekly	you choose	12	Yes
Write your own	you choose	40	Yes

If you are starting late

Most people find these pages in November, not in January. A few things that still work from a standing start:

• Shorten the list before you shorten the weeks. Four people at $40 is easier to finish than twelve at $40, and nobody’s counting.
• Take the December chart. $325 from a December 1 start is a real amount, and the big days land after payday for most people.
• Move the deadline, not the goal. Buying in early January costs less than buying on December 20, and a gift given in the first week of January is still a gift.
• Count what you already have. Gift cards, points, unused store credit. That’s money toward the total before you save a dollar.

A note before you start

These are tracking sheets, not financial advice. Christmas on a credit card you can’t clear in January is more expensive than a smaller Christmas, and if you’re already carrying high interest debt, paying that down will usually do more for you than saving alongside it.

If you want something that runs all year instead, the savings challenge printables page has eleven of them, the 100 envelope challenge is the one where you draw an amount at random, and the 52 week savings challenge starts in January and finishes in time for next Christmas.