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10 tricks to turn your Calendar from meh to mind-blowing

Thoughtful, useful and shows off your best photos of the year – a calendar is one of the most foolproof presents going. (And right now, you can grab a Desk Calendar for free.) But did you know that there are a couple of simple ways to make whoever’s unwrapping yours, even happier? Read on…

Choose your Calendar

1. Make birthdays impossible to forget

It’s free to add text throughout all of our calendars, which makes adding key birthdays easy – and super helpful for the person you’re giving yours to.

For £3 you can add Photo Days to your Calendar. Add photos of important people on the day of their birthday. Perfect for busy people or those with big families – but it doesn’t stop there. Once you choose Photo Days, you can add as many photos as you like. One every day, if you really want to, which leads us on to…

2. Turn your Calendar into a treasure hunt

Your Photo Days photos can be anything. So how about adding clues to treats spaced throughout the year? Maybe use pictures of fun events from last year. Or take a photo of where you’ll hide that month’s treat (if you want to go all Moriarty on us). 

Buying someone tickets to a show or event for Christmas?

A sneaky way to give it to them, is to add it into a Calendar (either a photo or just some text on the relevant day). They’ll have to turn to the right month to discover their big pressie. 

3. Cute kitties and adorable dogs? Yes please

This is almost too easy. Who doesn’t like looking at cute animals? And when it’s their own… jackpot. The other good part of this idea is, it’s super-easy to find photos because if one thing’s guaranteed it’s that they’ll have posted plenty of pictures. In fact, if anyone on your Christmas list is a pet owner whose on Instagram, you’ve got their present in the bag! 

4. Celebrate your sports stars

For your closest family you probably have hundreds of possible photo contenders for each month. But maybe for your in-laws or more distant relatives you might not have quite enough. Instead of filling the pages with your kids (adorable though they are) try scraping Facebook pages for their proudest moments. Keen golfers or skiers will have top shots you can rob – make it all about them. 

5. High-five adventurous relatives 

How about an A3 Poster Calendar filled with their best travel snaps? Ask their partner and try Facebook or Instagram. It’ll take a little more time to track the best ones down (unless you went with them) but that’s an awesomely thoughtful gift. 

6. Become a background artist

Black and white are classic for a reason, but you can theme your Calendar even more. Fruit and veg for any keen gardeners, modern graphics for your design-mad cousin or brown paper for a crafty auntie? 

Plus you can mix and match themes so if you’ve got a great snap from your trip to the Caribbean, it’s simple to add a watermelon background just to that month.

7. Put your kids to work

Another way to style your Calendar is to get the kids to dress up or mess about with props for each month. Maybe an umbrella for April, Christmas jumpers for December and dressed up in their dad’s clothes for Father’s Days in June? You can obviously just use relevant photos you already have from last year. But if you shoot it all at once, your Calendar will have a tighter theme. It depends on what you want and who it’s for.

The great thing about this is you can order lots of copies for all the family rather than making a specific calendar for each person.

8. Throw out our layouts

You might not have noticed the ‘Add photo aperture’ button that sits above the calendar you’re making. It means rather than using one of our layouts, you can create your own. Click it, drag onto the page and stretch it to the right size and shape – you can make custom layouts that suit your photos perfectly. Drag your photos inside and move them around.

This tool makes it easier to create collages. You can fit a whole group friends onto one spread or a whole family group, even if they can’t physically be together.

9. Make their Big Day last all year

It’s supposed to be the best day of your life but often it flashes by in a blur. The one good thing is, there’s usually plenty of great photos. If someone you know has tied the knot this year, let them relive it all – from the nervous, waiting groom, to everyone dancing to ‘Come on Eileen’ – next year.

10. Tell them how you really feel

The text you add to your calendar doesn’t have to be admin. It can also be why you love them, which little crazy things they do that you’ll never get tired of and why you’re grateful to have them in your life. 

We all need a boost sometimes. And a year of words and pictures that show why you care, isn’t just 13 pieces of paper – it’s a gift that’ll make their whole year better.

Create your Calendar

 

Last modified: 37months ago

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