This Year’s Must-Have Gift: A Memorable Family Photo Calendar

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Capture the moments, gift the memories

Why Give a Photo Calendar as a Gift?

September comes, the leaves start to change colors, the kids get excited about Halloween costumes, and the countdown begins for the holidays.
I was the one who was responsible for making sure that everyone got their “hello, we are thinking of you this year.”

With family, we wanted more than a card, more than a letter, something that had meaning, but something economical as well.
When I stumbled upon the photo calendar, it checked all of the proverbial boxes!
And the family loved it!

To create and mail an amazing calendar, it cost us approximately $30, for each family we sent it to.
That was something we could afford, if we looked at that as an option in advance.

The best part was, it brought joy to the people who received it for the entire year!
Most of them kept the images from year to year to remember major milestones in my children’s lives.

This is a guide to why you should create a photo calendar, how to involve your children in the process, how to create one, ideas for personalizing your calendar, and finally options to print it.

Extended family members often appreciate receiving photo calendars as gifts for several reasons:

1. Personal Touch: Photo calendars are often customized with family pictures, making them a personal and thoughtful gift.
   Honestly, I was bad at sending photos and I never put my kids on social media.
   These 12 photos were basically the best, but also the only, photos family got of our kids.
2. Memories: Each month featuring a different family photo allows them to relive memories throughout the year.
   Sometimes we forget to “catch” everyone up on our lives, giving glimpses of the important happenings allows our loved ones to be right there with us.
3. Practicality: Calendars are useful items that people often need, so receiving one as a gift serves a practical purpose.
   A lot of our relatives, especially our elders, simply don’t need more crap cluttering their homes!
4. Sentimental Value: The effort put into selecting and arranging photos can convey a sense of love and closeness, which resonates well with family members.
   I love the sentimental value of these, especially when you put the time and effort into the personalization ideas.
5. Longevity: Unlike some gifts, calendars last for a whole year, providing a continuous reminder of the giver’s thoughtful gesture.
   My dad would never look ahead at the photos, he said it ruined the surprise.
   Each month, he opened a new gift of his grand sons smiling at him and doing something new.

How to use this gift as a learning opportunity for the kids?

Sometimes it feels like the family gifts, heck the sending and choosing of the all of the gifts comes down to you.
Make this gift, the gift you are basically giving to all of the family members be a gift that the kids do!

This gives them an opportunity to use a computer as a tool, possibly find some really great hobbies, be responsible for the gifts that the family gives, and feel like they are really participating in the family.

It also takes a lot of pressure off of you, mom!

1. Involve children in the process.

Throughout the year, engage your children in the photo taking process.
You will all need a bunch of photos to choose from in October.
Our family wanted photos from each month the previous year.
Have the kids look for “photo ops.”

2. Teach children how to take photos.

If you don’t know, learn together.
How do you use lighting?
How do you take great photos on your phone?
How do you store them?
How do you label them?
If you have an Iphone, this can be more difficult than you would think!

3. Introduce editing software.

I just learned how to use Ribbit and love it!
But I like super easy.
Your children may want photos, but those photos need to be “cleaned up” a little.
Teaching them how to use an editing software is a great skill!

4. Choose the calendar software.

Once you have chosen which custom software you will use, go through the process of picking the photos, uploading them, choosing the months, graphics, specific dates, captions, and custom messages.
Learn, together, how to do all of this and save it.

5. Print! Mail!

The way I did the calendars, they came to the store I did them through and I picked them all up.
If the only gift I was sending to that family was the calendar, I got decorated padded envelopes that would fit the calendar and it was super easy.

*Tip: Many of these envelopes go on sale after Christmas, so look for them the year before you want them!

If I was sending the calendar to a family that had nieces and nephews, for example, I looked for boxes throughout the year that would accommodate the other gifts I was sending.

Usually it was the 25 Days of Books, almost an Advent Calendar of Books for my nieces.

*Tip: Have you heard of media mail?
If you do not put any Christmas Cards or personal messages, just the calendar in the envelope, you can save money and mail it media mail!

It takes an extra step, but just send your family Christmas card or letter separately and save your self some Christmas coin this year!

6. Write down how you did it all!

If I have learned anything, it is that next year, I will forget everything I learned this year.
If you have a kiddo who likes to video everything, have them video you as you walk through the steps you went through to add a calendar, month, graphic, custom graphic on a date, etc.

Are you starting to stress about holiday finances?
I totally have you covered!

The Nuts and Bolts to Creating the Calendar:

1. Choosing the Right Photos for Your Calendar

• Variety is key, you want the photos to be “center stage” and to be interesting.
  Use different kinds that also let your family see what your family has been up to this past year.

Types of photos:

• Family-I did at least one entire family shot for the cover

• Candids-sometimes these are the most fun

• Special occasions-what were some big events this year?

• Activities or hobbies-let the family know what the kids are involved in

• Pets-included in some photos, I don’t do just the pets

• Emotional connection:every month that the person turns to, it is like opening a new gift.

• Make sure that the picture chosen for that month evokes some emotion or allows the person miles away to connect with your children in a special way.

• Storytelling potential: “a picture is worth a thousand words,” try to choose images that tell stories.

• Great resolution: there were so many “perfect” calendar shots that I really wanted to use, but could not, because they were beyond any editing software’s ability to “fix.”
Even if the picture tells a great story, evokes so many fabulous emotions, and showcases your family perfectly, if it is grainy, it is simply no good.

2. Design Options to Make Your Calendar Stand Out

If  you think about this in advance, you can set this up so that each year it is really easy to do the calendar.
I did not have that kind of forethought, and I wish I had!

• Layout Options:
  The custom calendars have so many options.
  First you need to decide what kind of calendar you want to do-I just did an easy, and cheaper, classic 8.5 X 11 wall hanging spiral calendar.
  This meant it was a monthly view.
  You can have calendars with weekly or even daily views, it is up to you.

So, that is your first decision-which layout do you want?

• Images per month:
  The software I used allowed me to have up to 4 images per month, it was all done in a “click.”
  So, I did not have to choose one format for the entire calendar.
  Most of the calendars should be this way.

• Theme and color palette:
  I like “done for you” where you just choose from several options.
  It then applies this to your calendar and you get to choose which months you want which color.
  If you decide to use a more graphic design type of program like Canva, you will have more freedom in your choices, but you will also have to make…more choices…which takes more time.
  
  Once I found a theme I liked, I kept it and just mixed up which months that color appeared on the calendar.
  
  • Captions and quotes:
  Add context to your photos by incorporating captions or quotes.
  These can be funny, inspiring, or simply provide additional context about the image.
  
  • Graphics and illustrations: Incorporate custom graphics, illustrations, or icons to break up the text and add visual interest.
  These can be used to mark holidays, birthdays, or special occasions.

3. Personalize:

I think the photo calendar is a fabulous idea.
My family always wanted it.
I remember one year, I just did not “get to it” and my husband’s family, who I never heard from, called me and asked where it was!

Memorable dates and events: this is the most important thing you can put on your calendar besides the photos!
I blended the families.
I had all of Sean’s (husband) family’s dates and all of my family’s dates.
My family has had a couple of divorces, so we have a lot of “branches” and I put them all on that calendar.
I got great feedback.
My dad, who is not my sister’s dad, started sending cards and calling to send good wishes for my sister’s birthday and her kids’ birthdays.

I used specific graphics that I saved.
I had one for birthdays, one for anniversaries, and I had a special one for remembrance.
It was important to me to remember the loved ones in our lives that had passed, so I had a forget-me-not graphic that I put on the birthdays of those that were no longer with us.
I did not put their names, just flowers.
Those that were grieving, knew, there was someone else who knew and remembered as well.

• Captions for the photos: don’t just let the photo talk, use a caption to tell everyone something about the photo, the moment, the emotions.
• Personalized messages: include personal messages from your kids, funny things they said throughout the year, or interesting glimpses into their lives.
• Fun facts: I never did this, but wish I had!
  There may be a month were you highlight just one child-have them tell a fun fact.
  For that child, it will be relevant to something that is interesting to them.
  For example, my youngest was putting the dishes away the other day and he said,
  “Mom, did you know it is really silly that we put our cups away upside down?”
  I had no idea.
  “Did you know where that started?”
  Again, no idea.
  “That all started during the dust bowl, people put their cups away upside down so they would not have to wash them before they used them each time they took them out of the cupboard.”
  
  Fun Fact, courtesy of Alec!
  
  
• Functional Features: this is something to think about when you are actually choosing the layout and type of calendar you want to do.
  My dad loved the yearly calendar, he was probably the most vocal about it.
  My mother in law also said several years how much it meant to her.
  However, both of them had to keep a separate calendar for all of their appointments, and they keep appointments on a wall calendar.
  
  There simply was not enough room.
  Consider choosing a layout that has enough space for writing notes or appointments in the days.

4. Printing and Binding Options for Your Finished Calendar:

There are several printing and binding options you can choose for your calendar.
If you want easy, you will have less choices, less customization, however, again, easy, but with these places, you have templates and you simply upload, drag and drop, and type in what you want to say.

*Tip: Make sure your calendars use spiral binding.
It just allows your calendar to lie flat and look so much nicer.

These places also print the calendars for you:

1. Walgreens, CVS, and Walmart all have custom calendar programs.
   I have used Walgreens and CVS, they were easy and they saved my images, graphics, dates, etc from year to year.
   Although, I imagine they all do this.
   I also used Costco for many years, although I do not know if they still have a photo department?
2. Shutterfly: Shutterfly offers a wide range of customizable photo products, including calendars. They provide templates, designs, and easy-to-use tools for personalizing each page with your photos.
3. Snapfish: Snapfish provides tools for creating personalized photo calendars with a variety of themes and layout options. They also offer editing tools and the ability to add text and embellishments.
4. Vistaprint: Vistaprint offers customizable photo calendars with templates that can be personalized with your own images and text. They provide options for different sizes and styles.
5. Apple Photos: If you use macOS and iOS devices, Apple Photos allows you to create photo calendars directly from your photo library. Anything that can make Apple easy, is definitely worth considering!
   I made an Apple scrapbook and it was super simple, but costly.

You just earned major mom and wife points!

Creating a memorable gift for your family this year doesn’t have to be a daunting task.
With the help of your children, you can craft a unique and personalized photo calendar.
This will be cherished by everyone who receives it and a gift that the entire family talks about and looks forward to each year!

“Today’s special moments are tomorrow’s memories.”
—Genie in Aladdin