Calendar Ideas

The hardest part about making your custom photo calendar is deciding whether to use a theme or not when it comes to choosing your photos. Some people use their favorite photos in no particular order, while others are very meticulous about which photos go where on the calendar. There is no right or wrong way to do it, but the first thing I recommend doing is deciding who the calendar is for. Is it a gift for your spouse to hang in his or her office? Will it hang in your family kitchen? Grandma's house? A friend's apartment? Once you know who the calendar is for, it is easier to choose the correct photos and order they will appear in the calendar. Popular ideas include Baby's First Year (a picture from each month of the new baby's first year), family yearbook, vacation photos, or commemorating an event like a birthday, graduation, or anniversary. The main idea is to choose pictures that make you (or the person you are giving the calendar to) happy to look at, because the calendar will be displayed for a year!

Create Your Calendar. It's Easy and Fun!

When you are ready to create your 2010 calendar, log in to your account, click the yellow "Cards and Calendars" tab, click "Calendars," and click "Multi-Page Calendar" (Single Page Calendars are great but Multi-Page Calendars are more popular). Click "Create a Calendar" to start a new calendar. This gets you into the calendar building tool. Typically, most calendars are 11x8.5, so I recommend choosing that size. Press "Next Step" after you select your size.

Choose your Starting Month, Holidays, and Theme

Most people make calendars that start in January, but you can create a calendar that starts in any month of the year. Either way, it will be 12 months long. You can also choose which holidays, if any, to automatically add to your calendar (you can add custom holidays later). Once you select your starting month and holidays, select your theme from the bottom of the page. If you do not want a theme, you can select "Full Page Photos" to display your photos on the entire page without anything else. Plain black or plain white is also offered. Press "Next Step" to continue.

Add Photos

To add photos to your calendar, select the album along the bottom, and drag the photo you wish to add to the appropriate month. You can add more photos and edit photos later. Press "Preview" when you are finished adding photos.

Customize Your Calendar

At this point, your calendar is ready to order! But, you can go through the calendar month by month and edit it as much as you please. To do so, click "Customize," and select the month you wish to edit. You can add more photos, graphics, borders, backgrounds, and text. You can also select "Bottom View" to add custom holidays or special occasions and insert pictures on specific days.

Almost done!

When you are finished customizing your calendar, press "Preview," then press "Add to Cart." That's it!