I asked my brother what he wanted for Christmas, and he said 'a personalized calendar'... I was like HUH?. Background, before my godfather died, my godmother used to print calendars with everyones birthdays, anniversarys, etc and give them as gifts. Since he passed away, she hasn't done it, and apparently my family wants them again. Yes, I'm stealing her idea, but making it into my own. Instead of printing the calendars I want to buy them, then handwrite in the special dates (my brother said I was always good at remembering to send cards for peoples birthday... if only he knew how forget full I really am!)
Point is, does this seem like a cheap gift? My idea would be to personalize it for each person (for example, my almost in-laws don't care about my aunts birthday from my moms side, and vise versa). I want to include a little something that says 'inspired by aunt so and so', so she doesn't think I'm totally stealing her thunder, and maybe write little personalized notes and such on each calendar, so it's different for each person. What do you think?
YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE IT! My godmother just called for birthday info, she IS doing the calendars this year! We had such a laugh... she agreed that it's getting to be too much for her, so next year is MY year, and she's trusting that I'll carry on the tradition. I'm so excited now, thanks for all the feedback. I can still do this for my BFs family :) I'm so happy she's doing it, she hasn't done it since my godfather passed, so this is a pretty big deal :) THANKS LADIES!
My aunt does that each year for each of us and I love it. I think it's a great gift and you will be buying the calendar so it's not like you aren't spending any money!!
This is a really sweet gift! Not 'cheap' at all. You can add photos too for the particular family member that they may like. I did something similar (but didn't think of the handwritten part - great idea!) from Shutterfly and uploaded pics of my children for each month - but they could be of any family members or just cool shots. The family loved them! It is a gift that will at for a whole year!
I think it is great gift and one that is personal and meaningful. Perhaps I am wrong, but I think most people appreciate something that has really had a lot of thought and effort put into it (no matter how inexpensive) than a big ticket item. Gifts from the heart are always well received.
For me, I use Vista Print to do that.
www.vistaprint.com
They have great personalized and photo gifts... and good prices.
I do that every year.
No, its not a "cheapie" gift... if that is what your brother wants.
My family and friends LOVE the personalized calendars I give them.
Because, they don't or won't do it themselves!
all the best,
Susan
i would love one that only applies to us. that is a great idea and i would use it daily. a phone book with extended family in case of emergency is something i would love to have as well.
I think its a great idea! Xmas christs should be more personalized!
Sounds like a wonderfully thoughtful gift. It takes both your time and money so you are giving a bit of yourself too. Go for it.
Not only do I LOVE this idea I think I am going to "borrow" it aswell :)
I would call you GM first and make sure that she is OK with it...she may be planning to do it again. Tell her how much everyone loved them and you want to pick up the tradition. If she is OK with it then definitely do it! Great idea and not cheap at all.
I love these sort of gifts. After my Mom passed away (almost 3 years ago now) and she was our resident crafty/creative and handy person, I have attempted a few things. The first one, a recipe book. She had this felt covered homemade recipe card book, with a chicken on it, afectionately known as the Chicken book! And it was one thing I wanted, even tho I am NOT a cook. But I copied a few of the faves and created the same sort of felt book (easy and inexpensive, with a personalized "chicken" on it for each sibling...ie..a camera patch for my brother who is the family photographer....a fishing pole/basket set up patch for the other brother who is a big fisherman, etc..one for all the adult nieces and nephews and all my siblings).
Now we all email recipes to each other..faves...appetizers from family parties we all raved over, etc. Now everyone has their own Chicken book for at home with a piece of Mom./Gram to it.
These sorts of personalized gifts are the BEST!
Go for it!
NOPE - I think it's a fabulous idea. Not to mention it's something that your family is going to cherish. The holiday's is all about the love you have for the people you care deeply for...whether it would be family and friends. Why not keep the family tradition going. If you are wanting to keep it going by all means - Do it. Have fun and don't feel like you are selling yourself short.
If you are the least bit computer savvy, you can make a family personalized one too - go to word templates, and insert pictures. Then you can insert birthdays, anniversaries and other special days. Have them printed at an office supply store, kinko's or such and have them cheaply bound.
I did this for my brother on his last tour to Iraq!! The kids and I got him a kid type calendar (because my brother is a big kid) and filled all of the dates in with birthdays, holidays, dance performances, football games, the NFL schedule of his favorite team, and a countdown to his return. He LOVED it!! What a GREAT idea to do it for Christmas!! I may be stealing this!!
Wonderful gift! I don't think this is cheap at all, in fact what a wonderful way to carry on a family tradition. I would definitely include something from you (and maybe your aunt could co-author) about "passing on the tradition to the next generation".
I like this so much I may steal your, I mean your aunt's, idea!
If that's what they want -do it! If you can, I would use Shutterfly or another photo place and make photo calendars. You can enter information for all the special dates, and they look really nice. I've done those in the past for my parents and my FIL and MIL, and they were a big hit! They're also very inexpensive. You could put your dedication to your aunt on the front of the calendar or the inside cover.
I don't mean to be blunt, but you asked. It does sound kind of cheap. I thought you were going to say the calendar idea was cheap (which the idea is great), but it's the handwritten part that makes it cheap. I am sure there are more elegant ways to go about the same idea without handwriting it. You can print calendar pages in color on the printer and bind them together if you want to go a "cheap" route.
PS: I am all into sentiments, but for a calendar handwritten I think it would look kinda sloppy.
It sounds very nice. One idea, my aunt used to do something similar only she would have the calendars printed so the pictures were of family rather the more generic ones out there. You can get that done at walmart if the idea interests you.
my sister in law did that for me and my husband our first christmas after we got married, she put pictures from our wedding, made a calendar below that and put it all in a plastic sleeve, we loved it...if it's something sentimental, cheap can be the best gift
not sure what your budget it but costco and many other photo sites have photo calendars you can make for about $15 - $20. You can personalize the photos, add birthdays, etc. Since most nice calendars already cost about $10 adding a fe more to include photos and such is really lovely. We did ours last year through costco and got the large delux version - it's very big, it's on glossy hard stock and they have layout options so you can put one or 6 photos per month. It came to about $23 with shipping becuase it was the deluxe version. I give it to my husband every year as a gift. What a great gift to see our previous year as we go through this on.
But if your budget doesn't alow for this then do what you can afford. I don't think anyone should go into debt for holiday gifts.
My wife and I did this for both our families. We took family pictures from photo albums, copied them and taped them to the regular calendar pages. Months with anniversaries in them had the wedding pictures. Birthday months had pictures of the birthday kids. We had some one graduating so we photo shopped their face on some one with a graduation gown and put that in June. Birthdays and anniversaries were marked on the appropriate days.
Both sides of the family loved them.
Good luck to you and yours.
I think it's very sweet - and you could go one step further and make it a "family calendar". Many places can do photo calendars of YOUR photos. So if you have a selection of family photos, you can create the calendar, and then customize the dates on each. You could even put the "inspired by" dedication in it with a picture of your Aunt. Happy holidays :)
No I don't think it is cheap it is a well thought out gift..I however don't send cards to everybody (sorry I don't)Why because they get tossed in the trash anyway FYI I get a card read it then toss it sorry but I do..Glad to hear you'll be doing this next year
Now for my gift do you think this is cheap frugal cute idea(that was posted on a website that I signed up for)because I was going to pay an arm & leg to get this done so why not I do it myself...
Drink coasters with pictures on them I can do this it is easy I already have the pics,modge podge,need to get tiles,ribbon & acrylic spray but these are so cute & useful gifts I don't see how I can go wrong...
I love it! Can you please do O. for me, too?
:-)
I think it's a wonderful idea! My SIL made one for my mom. She used family pictures so if it was someone's birthday that month their picture would be for that month. Same for wedding anniversaries and such. She loved it! My mom has always been the "keeper of the family list" Each year before the holidays she sends it out. It's got all the immediate and some extended families mailing addresses and includes birthdays as well. We all use it to send out our holiday cards each year. It's a wonderful thing to have! I keep it on my computer so all I have to do is print out address labels each year. Otherwise I tend to not get a chance to send them out at all. It's not cheap :)
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I think it's a wonderful idea! My SIL made one for my mom. She used family pictures so if it was someone's birthday that month their picture would be for that month. Same for wedding anniversaries and such. She loved it! My mom has always been the "keeper of the family list" Each year before the holidays she sends it out. It's got all the immediate and some extended families mailing addresses and includes birthdays as well. We all use it to send out our holiday cards each year. It's a wonderful thing to have! I keep it on my computer so all I have to do is print out address labels each year. Otherwise I tend to not get a chance to send them out at all. It's not cheap :)
if that's what he wants, give the people what they want!!!! i'm sure when you calculate the time you'll spend making the calendar it will cost more than anything you would've bought in a store...
I love the idea! SO thoughtful. I would do the pictures on the calendars if your budget will allow rather than buying a preprinted calendar, even if every single picture isn't meaningful to each gift recipient. Kind of like the calendar my kids' school puts out. I always scan the cute pictures for my cute family member. I think Costco and some other photo places can help put the photos into a calendar not too expensively.
This is a very special project. Enjoy the process of doing it for the ones you love. It will be treasured, which is really what we all want during the holiday gift giving frenzy -- to give something that someone will really, really appreciate and see its true value.
Good Luck.
That is a wonderful idea!! I think I'm going to steal it!! Too bad you won't be able to do this this year, but at least you found out before you had bought 15 calendars! lol Have fun with it next year, I think it's a great gift idea!
Rachie-you're so thoughtful! And God bless Auntie to be passing the torch to someone she know's will handle this very lovely tradition!
I think that is a beautiful Idea. DO IT!!!
Well, I would think it's a wonderful idea, esp. since it's a family tradition that you are carrying on. It's not cheap because it takes a lot of effort, plus it's something truly useful for your family. I like it.
However -- just a thought -- if I were a member of the family I would find it even more special if you collected 12 family photos and went to Kinko's and got them to print the calendars with the photos and then you write them in.
I dont think its 'cheap', I think its personal & done frugally ;-) As long as your getting appropriately themed calendars for each person/family your giving them to! lol ex: dont give grandparents Spider Man and don't give your brother and his family of 8 the Swim Suite calendar !! haha Have Fun with it and I am for a fact borrowing your Fantastic Family Tradition !! Happy Holidays :-)
I made one of these for my Papa last year for Christmas- my Nana was the one that always remembered special dates and she passed away earlier last year, so Papa was lost. I made a photo calander and used pictures of Nana, and all the grandkids and great grandkids and he loved it! Now as my sister and I are getting wish lists for other family members, some have requested the same calander! We can't wait to make more and will probably make them for our own families as like you said my Papa is not concerned about my future grandpa in law birthday... I think it's a wondeful gift and one that keeps on giving =) lol (so to speak)... I would however make sure with your god mother that she is okay with you taking this over, but also see if she wants to be involved and it can be something that you two do together. =)
Take care,
H.
I love your idea...I think im going to do that also...It's something small but meaningful...=D
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I love your idea...I think im going to do that also...It's something small but meaningful...=D
Sounds pretty great to me!
last year my family had a reunion back on our home turf (bermuda) for the first time since we moved to the states in the 70s. for christmas this past year my mumsie made us each a calendar from photos from the trip, with all of our birthdays printed. it was one of the best gifts i've ever had in my life.
do it.
:) khairete
S.
NO, it does not sound cheap!!! The mother of my 2 god children does this every year. I LOVE those calendars even if they have some birthdays and/or anniversaries that don't concern me. The only problem is that at the end of the year I CAN'T just THROW those great pictures of my god children away, so needless to say I have quite a few "old" Calendars.
There are many companies out there that you simply send in your pictures and notes and they make the calendars for you. You can also do it yourself on your computer. The handwritten notes will be fine as long as your writing is neat and legible. Go for it!
