How to Plan Christmas and the Summer Holidays on One Wall Calendar

Christmas 2026 lands on a Friday. Boxing Day is a Saturday, so the public holiday moves to Monday 28 December. School finishes between 11 and 18 December, depending on your state, and most students don’t go back until late January or early February.

That is a long stretch with a lot packed into it. There are work parties, family lunches, posting deadlines, leave to sort out and a few weeks of kids at home. Each piece is easy to manage on its own. The trouble starts when they overlap and nobody can see the whole picture.

This guide shows you how to plan Christmas and the summer holidays together on one wall calendar. It covers the dates that can’t move, how to map work and leave, what to add for Christmas, and how to get January sorted before the break begins.

Why Christmas and the Summer Holidays Are Easier to Plan Together

The challenge of balancing work, family and holiday commitments

The maths is the first problem. According to the Fair Work Ombudsman, full-time employees get four weeks of paid annual leave a year. Part-time employees get a pro-rata amount, and casual employees don’t get paid annual leave.

The summer school holidays alone run for about six weeks in most states. Queensland’s education department counts them as 46 days. Many parents also want to keep some leave for the rest of the year. Add Christmas hosting, travel and end-of-year work deadlines, and the weeks fill up fast.

Why December and January belong in the same planning conversation

Decisions made in December shape January. Where you travel, who takes leave and when the kids are in care all depend on dates on both sides of 1 January.

There is also a practical catch. Many yearly wall calendars run from January to December, so December 2026 and January 2027 sit on different sheets. If you only look at one, you miss half the break. The easiest fix is to hang next year’s calendar beside this year’s for the changeover and treat the two as one long run.

Start With the Dates That Cannot Move

Put these on first, in a pen if you can. Everything else fits around them.

Christmas and public holidays

• Thursday 24 December. Christmas Eve. Some states have a part-day holiday, and in South Australia it starts at 7 pm.
• Friday 25 December. Christmas Day.
• Saturday 26 December. Boxing Day. In South Australia it is the Proclamation Day holiday.
• Monday 28 December. An additional public holiday in every state and territory.
• Thursday 31 December. New Year’s Eve. South Australia has a part-day holiday from 7 pm.
• Friday 1 January. New Year’s Day.

For many people, that makes a four-day break from Friday 25 to Monday 28 December. The Fair Work Ombudsman lists the 2026 public holidays for each state and territory, so check yours.

School holiday dates and return dates

These dates are for public schools. NSW’s Western Division goes back later, and independent and Catholic schools can differ, so check your own school’s calendar. The Australian Government keeps a page of school term dates for every state and territory.

Work shutdowns and important deadlines

Ask your workplace early. Find out your last working day, your first day back and any shutdown dates. Write the deadline for handovers, invoices or client work separately, because it usually falls before the day you actually finish. If you work shifts, mark the days you already know you are rostered on.

Map Out Work and Annual Leave First

Work out who is available and when

Take a Victorian family as an example. The school holidays run from Monday 21 December to Wednesday 27 January, and students go back on Thursday 28 January. That is 28 weekdays.

Four of those are public holidays: Christmas Day, Monday 28 December, New Year’s Day and Australia Day on Tuesday 26 January. That leaves 24 weekdays when someone needs to be home or the kids need somewhere to be.

If two parents each use two weeks of leave, that covers 20 of those days. The other four need another plan. Seeing that number early gives you time to ask family for help, swap days with another household or book care.

Plan childcare and holiday programs

Many families use vacation care or holiday programs for part of the break. Check when bookings open for the ones you use and write down both the opening date and the dates you need. If a family member is helping, confirm their days now, not in December.

Then colour each weekday on the calendar. Use one colour if it is covered and another if it isn’t. The gaps will stand out straight away.

Identify the weeks that need extra planning

Look for weeks where several things stack up. In 2026, the week of 21 December has the last posting dates, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the first week of school holidays in several states. The week of 28 December has a public holiday on Monday and New Year’s Eve on Thursday.

Circle those weeks. They are the ones where you shouldn’t add anything else.

Add Your Christmas Commitments

Family gatherings and celebrations

Write down where you will be on the 24th, 25th, 26th and 28th. If you split time between two households, or relatives live in different towns, add the times as well as the places.

Late decisions can hold up everyone else’s plans. Pick one person to confirm each day and write their name next to it.

Gifts, shopping and postage deadlines

Australia Post publishes last sending dates for Christmas 2026. For cards and letters, the cut-off is Monday 21 December within the same state and Friday 18 December interstate. For metro Parcel Post, most routes close on Monday 21 December. Parcels to WA close earlier, and parcels to the NT earlier again.

Express Post closes on Wednesday 23 December on most metro routes, and on Tuesday 22 December to WA and the NT. Overseas dates depend on the country and the service. For example, standard parcels to the UK close on 11 December, while those to the USA close on 7 December. These dates are for metro areas, and regional deliveries need extra time.

Write the last date for each person you are posting to, not just “Christmas posting”. If you are buying gifts online, add each retailer’s delivery cut-off as well.

Events, bookings and social plans

Add fixed events as they come in, such as school concerts, presentation nights, work parties, carols and catch-ups with friends. Then add booking dates for restaurants, accommodation and tickets as separate entries. A booking that opens weeks ahead is easy to miss if it isn’t written down.

Use a pencil for plans that aren’t confirmed and pen for those that are.

Plan the Weeks After Christmas

Boxing Day and travel arrangements

Boxing Day falls on a Saturday this year, and the public holiday is Monday 28 December. If you are travelling, you have a long weekend to work with. New Year’s Day is a Friday, so for most people it makes another one.

Mark the day you leave and the day you come back. Check opening hours for the places you rely on, such as pharmacies and supermarkets, across the 25th to 28th and around New Year’s Day.

Leave room for rest and unplanned activities

Leave some days empty on purpose. Write “free” across two or three days in each week of the break. It stops them being filled by default and gives you space for hot weather, rain or a last-minute invitation. A schedule with no gaps tends to fall apart when one thing runs late.

Get January Organised Before December Arrives

Do this part before school finishes, while you still have the energy. Start with the return dates in the table above. Then add the first day back at work and the day the kids’ routines need to restart.

Other January items worth writing down:

• Uniforms, shoes, books and school lists.
• Appointments you want done before term starts, such as the dentist or optometrist.
• Australia Day on Tuesday 26 January.
• Bills or renewals that fall due early in the year.
• One or two things you want to do just for fun.

If you want to plan beyond January, our guide on how to plan your 2027 in one afternoon covers the next step.

How a Wall Calendar Can Make Holiday Planning Easier

Everything above can live on a phone. A wall calendar adds one thing, which is a view of the whole stretch at once.

See overlapping commitments in one place

On a phone you usually see a day, a week or a month. On a large wall calendar you can see December, January and the start of term side by side. That makes it easier to notice that the week you booked a trip is also the week of the school concert, or that two blocks of leave sit back to back with no break between them. We’ve covered what the research does and doesn’t say in what visual planning is and why it works. 

A yearly wall planner also helps with the changeover problem mentioned earlier. If your calendar runs January to December, hang next year’s beside it. MasterYourYear’s A0 wall calendar is 84.1 by 118.9 cm and shows all 365 days on one sheet. The A1 size is smaller if wall space is tight.

Use a physical calendar alongside digital reminders

A phone can send reminders and share events with someone in another place. A wall calendar shows everything at once without anyone opening an app. Using both works well. Keep the wall calendar for the big picture and shared plans, and use your phone for alerts, addresses and tickets. When something is added to one, add it to the other.

Make the calendar useful for the whole household

• Hang it where everyone walks past, like a hallway or kitchen.
• Give each person a colour.
• Let the kids write in their own events.
• Take two minutes each Sunday to look at the week ahead.
• Keep a pen next to it.

Frequently Asked Questions

When should you start planning Christmas in Australia?

Late October or early November works for most households. That is early enough to settle leave and travel and to catch the earliest posting dates. Australia Post’s 2026 deadlines for some overseas parcels fall in late November, while domestic deadlines fall in the fortnight before Christmas.

How do you plan Christmas and the summer holidays together?

Add the fixed dates first, including public holidays, school dates and work shutdowns. Then add leave and care, followed by Christmas plans and postage deadlines. Finish with January. Keep it all on one calendar so you can spot overlaps.

How do working parents organise school holidays?

Many families combine several things. They split annual leave between parents, use vacation care or holiday programs, ask family for help and swap days with other households. Full-time employees get four weeks of paid annual leave a year, so mapping your leave early shows how many days are left to cover.

What should you put on a wall calendar for the summer holidays?

Include school term dates, public holidays, work and leave dates, care bookings, Christmas plans, postage deadlines, travel, events and a few free days. Add the return-to-work and return-to-school dates for January.

Is a wall calendar useful for family planning?

Yes, for seeing shared plans at a glance. Everyone in the home can see it, and it shows overlaps across weeks. It doesn’t send reminders or update when plans change, so many families keep a phone calendar too.

Start With the Dates

You don’t need a perfect system. You need the dates in one place before the break starts. Set aside an hour this weekend, put the fixed dates on first and fill in the rest as plans firm up. If you want a physical calendar large enough to hold the whole stretch, MasterYourYear’s large wall calendars come in A0 and A1.