Are you ready to rock this school year or what?! I utilize four different types of calendars to manage our home and family of five, and one of those is my Big Picture Calendar! I wanted a more customized, at-a-glance, large-format calendar to help manage our family life, and this has been a game changer, especially since I started designing and customizing it based on our school district’s calendar!
I’ve used this for three years now, and it’s been so helpful as we enter the school and activities phase of life. I’m excited to offer this calendar now to local mamas who would benefit from a calendar formatted in this way.
There are affiliate links included in this post. This means that if you use my link to make a purchase, I may receive a small commission, as no extra cost to you. I appreciate you using my links, as it is one way that I’m able to keep this blog running.
Here’s how the Big Picture Calendar Works
This calendar is printed in a large format (18x24in) poster size. It’s meant to be hung on a wall or even stuck on your refrigerator! I use this hanger to hang on a wall next to my little office nook in our kitchen. It works great, and it’s aesthetically pleasing enough that it feels like wall art!
I design the calendar to fit our school district’s calendar, and it’s broken up into four quarters or “seasons”, if you will. Sep – Nov, Dec – Feb, Mar – May, Jun – Aug. This also tends to follow the team sports seasons and school breaks well, so there is a nice flow. When you purchase a calendar, know that it will be for the current (or future) quarter, not the entire year.
I offer further customization at no charge. I can add your family name, important family dates and events, sports schedules, etc. Right now, I’ll allow up to 20 activities/events on top of the base calendar that includes common holidays, no-school-days, early outs, conferences, and breaks. If you find that you need more than this initial customization, there will be a small up-charge.
Cost of the Big Picture Calendar
I want this to be a cost-effective option that really helps to stream-line and manage your family life. Here is a cost breakdown for you to get a Big Picture Calendar in your hands:
- NEW for Fall 2024: I’m running a deal this fall only so you can lock in your calendar orders for the entire year at one time (four calendars total) and save some money! Comment “ANNUALBPC” when ordering to get four calendars for $50 (a $10 savings!). Notes: This applies to Customized Calendars only. This does not include shipping; if I need to ship to you, I’ll need $10 for shipping for each calendar.
Due to the customized nature of these calendars, I will not completely “work ahead” on these calendars. You’ll still get your calendars ahead of each season, but I will be able to prioritize those that take advantage of this promotion. Message me with questions!
- Base Calendar (holidays included, no personal customization, no school dates) Digital Download: $5
- Printed Base Calendar (everything from above, just printed): $10
- Customized Calendar (holidays, school dates + 20 personal customizations): $15
- Shipping: Add $10 to either the Printed Base Calendar or Customized Calendar if you are not local to me and need your Big Picture Calendar shipped.
- Magnetic Poster Hanger frame: ~$15 (purchased by you, and this will be a one time cost)
- Other helpful items to make using the calendar a breeze: I found some tiny round stickers that I’m going to try for a while. These are very similar, but there are many options in-stores right now, too. Just make sure you have enough colors for each person in your home, plus a few more!
Having erasable pens like these and erasable highlighters can be very helpful when using a calendar like this. It’s always nice to be able to erase things on the calendar because schedules can change so frequently as family life evolves! If you’re not worried about needing to erase, I’d recommend color-coding using a set of Sharpie pens and/or highlighters. Play around with things and see what works best for your family!
Why use a Big Picture Calendar?
As I mentioned earlier, this is a great way to get an at-a-glance look at how your life will play out over the course of a few months. As a very visual person, I love being able to see how school activities, my husband’s work schedule, and our family adventures look in one shot. This is a great planning tool!
This is not your detailed calendar, hence the name “Big Picture”! I use my other calendars for the details and use this to manage our flow of life. One of our core family values is spending life slow on a regular basis. I can easily gauge how busy we’ll be on any given week with the Big Picture Calendar, and strategically plan for down time and/or quality family time.
This is also a great resource for melding multiple schedules into one. For instance, my husband is self-employed and travels for work frequently. I love adding his work schedule to this calendar, plus my own extra-curricular/social calendar to this amongst our school activities, family birthdays and events, etc, so that we can see everything at once. This is also a great way for everyone in the house to see what’s going on!
Another under-rated benefit of using a calendar like this is seeing where your family may need down time. I’m a big believer in protecting and preserving family time, so this is important for me. With the Big Picture Calendar covering an entire “season” at one time, I can really visualize the flow of our life, and build in those week/weekends when we’ll need down time to regroup.
Order Your Big Picture Calendar Here
If you want to order a Big Picture Calendar, CLICK HERE! I accept payment by Venmo or cash at the moment. Note: If you don’t hear from me in a timely matter, please message me on social, or email info@homegrownwithgrace.com.
Please let me know if you have any questions. I’m looking forward to working with you on your customized Big Picture Calendar!
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