Create a Family Calendar to Preserve the Moments That Matter

In a world where digital planners and smart phones direct our every movement, a printed family calendar is a way to remind your family about the people and moments that really matter.

I’ve made family calendars several times over the years and given them as Christmas gifts.

Creating a Family Calendar

These come together much like a scrapbook, using materials like photographs and embellishments to create an original design.

I have an aunt who approaches family calendars exactly as she would a scrapbook, creating a totally unique work of art for each family member with its own style and theme. She spends the month prior to Christmas putting them together using stamps, ribbon, specialty paper and photographs.

My approach is less crafty, but easier to build and reproduce. Online templates and artwork make it easy to create a family calendar that can be e-mailed, shared online and posted on the fridge with equal ease.

The hardest part of the job is already done for you. Just visit www.printablecalendar.ca to download the monthly calendar with dates already included. These are designed in Microsoft Word. If you don’t have Word, there are plenty of options in the free Adobe PDF format.

Gathering Photographs and Designing Pages

I start by putting out a call to my extended family for any pictures they want to share from the current year. After getting the photos in a digital format, I organize them by themes, months or seasons. I also have a overall theme for the calendar and sprinkle related thoughts, stories, and inspirational quotes throughout the months. One year, it was the “what family means.” Another time, it was simply “happiness.”

You can embellish your layouts with clip art from websites like www.openclipart.org. There you can find free clipart to illustrate birthdays and just about any other special occasion. If you’re looking for additional scenic photographs as background images, try Flickr.com and use the search feature.

You can use MS Word to start laying out your text and digital contents into layout pages. If you want a more flexible option, www.scribus.net offers a free page layout program that works on all computer platforms.

Printing and Sharing

When you’re happy with the layout, it’s time to share. If you’re going the online route, you can share the MS Word file via e-mail, or save the layout as a PDF and upload it to a service like Scribd.com or docstoc.com, which will preserve your layout. These sites also allow people view the calendar as they would a paper document, and print or download it themselves.

If you’re not into embellishments or design and want something quick, try the website calendarhome.com/tyc/. It will allow you add one photo to each page but creates a ready-to-print calendar in just minutes.

For a finished look, take your calendars to the local copy shop for inexpensive spiral binding. You can also use a hole punch and spare key rings for a folksier approach. The end result is a totally original gift that keeps your family close throughout the year. With all the notes they are sure to scribble on it over the course of a year, it will also make a good “yearbook” for family memories.