Whether you’ve resolved to set the imprisoned photos on your camera free, or you’ve just tossed last year’s calendar, now is the perfect time to begin making your own 2012 family calendar. If making your own custom calendar sounds like fun, but you’re not sure where to start, you’ve come to the right place. We have three new ideas for personalized photo calendars that will inspire you to get started right away! 1. Extend Birthdays into Birthmonths
Not your average birthday calendar, this fresh idea makes birthday boys and girls superstars as it highlights the honoree for an entire month instead of just one day. Your family members will love being featured in beautiful photos surrounded by stunning designs for weeks beyond their special day. Simply add photos of loved ones to their birth months.
No family birthdays in March? Consider celebrating pets too! More than one birthday in January? No problem! Feature both birthday stars! Our calendar designs (we used “Purple Fun” here) make it easy to showcase more than one person per month. With Mixbook’s editor, you can even add photos to specific dates on your calendar. Simply drag and drop your loved one’s image into the box representing their birthday. How cool is that? Make your own birthmonth calendar!
2. Celebrate Twelve of Baby’s Big “Firsts”
This calendar theme is all about baby. Photos of your little one’s first tooth, step, giggle fit, trip to the beach, and birthday cake demolition all make for incredibly impactful photos. When the year’s over, this design (we used “Guess Hoot?” here) serves as a timeline of baby’s early life—an artifact your whole family will cherish forever. So whether it’s a huge milestone like reading or something simple like the first bath, pay tribute to baby’s big moments by highlighting one “first” per month. Make your own calendar of baby’s “firsts”!
3. Serve up an Entire Year of Culinary Inspiration
Some of the reasons we look forward to new seasons are the fresh dishes and tasty treats that are most delicious during specific months of the year. Maybe you’re known for making a blood orange bundt cake at the end of winter, or perhaps your kids always request the same strawberry shortcake each May. In my house, everyone starts begging Mom to make her famous mint chocolate torte each December.
Why not do away with the hassle of looking up treasured recipes hidden away in bookcases or binders bursting with torn magazine pages? Instead, feature family-favorite dishes on a customized calendar! This theme (shown here on our “Seasonal Circles” template) is a great way to encourage family bonding time in the kitchen as well as a useful tool for training little chefs in the ways of recipe reading, mixing, baking, and frosting. Make your own recipe calendar!
Mini pumpkin whoopie pies photo and recipe
After you dive into creating a 2012 photo calendar, get a jump on next year by snapping your way through Creating Keepsakes’ checklist of the top 10 can’t-miss photos to take each month so that by this time next year, your calendar photo arsenal will be bursting with fabulous options!
Do you have a unique idea for a making your own custom photo calendar? Dish in a comment below!
