Christmas gift shopping gets complicated when you're buying for several people at once. You might find a great gift idea in October, order it in November, and forget whether you've wrapped it by December.
This free Christmas Gift Tracker for Google Sheets helps you keep gift ideas, recipients, budgets, shopping progress, wrapping, and delivery details together in one easy spreadsheet.
It includes an automatic budget dashboard, pastel-colored sheets, example entries, and a beginner-friendly guide.
↓ Jump to Free Christmas Gift Tracker
Use a Christmas gift tracker to record who you're shopping for, gift ideas, planned budgets, actual prices, purchase status, wrapping, and delivery. A ready-made Google Sheets template can calculate your gift spending and help you keep track of what remains.
What the Christmas Gift Tracker Includes
Record who you're shopping for, gift ideas, categories, and notes.
Enter your planned budget and the actual amount spent on each gift.
Keep track of gifts at different stages of the buying process.
Mark gifts as wrapped and delivered when those steps are completed.
The workbook includes four tabs: Dashboard, Gift List, Start Here, and Settings. There are example entries to help you get started and space for up to 150 gifts.
Step 1: Plan Your Christmas Gift Budget
Before you start buying gifts, decide how much you can comfortably spend on holiday presents. A spending limit makes it easier to plan ahead instead of making every decision while shopping.
In the Gift List tab, you can assign a planned budget to each gift or recipient. The dashboard summarizes the gift budgets and the amounts you've actually entered as spending.
This $300 budget is an illustrative example, not a recommended spending amount.
Step 2: Add Everyone to Your Gift List
Start by listing the people you're planning to shop for. Then add a gift idea for each person.
For example, your list might include parents, siblings, friends, coworkers, teachers, or people in a Secret Santa exchange.
If you're buying multiple gifts for one person, you can use separate rows so each purchase has its own budget and progress information.
Add gift ideas as soon as you think of them. Even if you don't buy the item right away, keeping it on the list can make December shopping much easier.
Step 3: Track Planned Budget and Actual Cost
Give each gift a target budget before buying it. Once you've made a purchase, enter the actual amount you spent.
This helps you notice when a few expensive gifts are taking up more of your holiday budget than expected.
The amount you intend to spend before purchasing a gift.
The amount you actually paid for a gift.
The spreadsheet's dashboard summarizes your recorded gift budgets, actual spending, and remaining amount automatically.
For a more complete spending picture, include shipping, sales tax, and wrapping costs in the amounts you record, where appropriate.
Step 4: Update Gift Purchase Status
A Christmas shopping list becomes much more useful when you can see which gifts still need attention.
The new template uses status selections rather than asking you to type an x into different spreadsheet cells.
Update the status as your shopping progresses. The spreadsheet does not connect directly to stores or automatically detect orders.
Step 5: Mark Gifts as Wrapped and Delivered
Buying a gift is only part of holiday preparation. Some gifts still need to be wrapped, mailed, or delivered in person.
The Gift List includes simple Yes / No fields for wrapping and delivery.
Select Yes when the gift is wrapped and ready to give.
Select Yes after the gift has been given or delivered.
This makes it easier to review your unfinished Christmas tasks without sorting through separate notes.
Step 6: Review the Christmas Dashboard
The Dashboard tab brings the most useful information into one place.
The sum of the gift budgets recorded in your list.
The actual gift spending you've recorded.
Your planned budget minus recorded spending.
A quick count of gift entries in your spreadsheet.
Reviewing the dashboard regularly can help you keep holiday spending organized, especially during the busiest shopping weeks in November and December.
Use Priority to Decide What to Buy First
One helpful planning habit is to decide which gifts deserve your attention first. You can organize your shopping decisions around three simple priority levels.
Gifts that need early decisions, preorders, or longer shipping times.
Gifts that are important but allow some flexibility.
Optional gifts or items that are easy to buy later.
Use the Notes field to record priorities or shopping deadlines.
The current template does not need a separate Priority dropdown to use this method. You can simply write notes next to each gift.
How to Use the Free Google Sheets Template
Use the green template button near the end of this guide to open the Google Sheets file.
In Google Sheets, choose File → Make a copy and save the file to your Drive.
Follow the included English guide to understand the spreadsheet's main features.
Enter your own recipients, gift ideas, budgets, and purchase details.
Update shopping, wrapping, and delivery progress as you go.
Use the summary to review spending and holiday preparation.
Tips for Staying on Budget at Christmas
Start with a realistic gift budget and avoid changing it simply because you find more things you want to buy. You can also compare prices before purchasing and plan gifts early enough to avoid expensive rush shipping.
A good gift doesn't have to be expensive. Thoughtful, practical, or handmade presents can be meaningful without requiring a large holiday budget.
Check your gift list once a week during November and December. Look for unfinished purchases, gifts that haven't arrived, and presents that still need wrapping or delivery.
Download the Free Christmas Gift Tracker
Ready to organize your holiday shopping? Open the free Christmas Gift Tracker below and make your own copy in Google Sheets.
Christmas Gift Tracker
Organize up to 150 gifts, compare planned budgets with actual spending, and manage shopping, wrapping, and delivery.
Open Free Google Sheets Template ↗Free to view · To edit: File → Make a copy
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. You can view the shared template and make a personal copy for free.
Yes. Use separate rows for multiple gift ideas or purchases.
Yes. The workbook includes automatic spending and budget summary calculations.
Yes. You can also adapt it for office exchanges and other gift-giving occasions.
The template provides space for up to 150 gifts.
No. It is a planning spreadsheet, not a shopping or delivery service.
More Free Templates from Egglover Desk
Discover more easy Google Sheets tools for your budget and everyday life.
See the Free Google Sheets Templates Library for more helpful tools.
A Christmas Gift Tracker makes holiday shopping easier to manage. By keeping gift ideas, budgets, purchases, wrapping, and delivery together, you can spend less time searching through notes and more time enjoying the season.
Egglover Desk · Updated October 2026. Example gift ideas and prices are illustrative.