Yes, you read that right—I love wall calendars! Not trendy planners, or amazingly creative bullet journals, or even fashionable digital calendar widgets. But instead two very specific, beautiful, and useful wall calendars.
With 2024 quickly approaching, now is the time to discuss them (pun intended)! We are about to turn the page on a new year. If you are a What Should I Read Next Patreon member, you may have already heard about my fondness for New Year’s Eve books on Friday’s bonus episode. (Make sure to hop over there to vote on which New Year’s Eve title I should read this year.) I am delighted to be sharing another fun aspect of the New Year: these lovely wall calendars!
Don’t get me wrong; I am a huge proponent of my Google calendar. I still get a little swoony when I think back to my now-husband Chad asking after mere weeks of dating if we could share our Google calendars. (Readers, best believe I married him.) Nowadays, we have all our family’s events and reminders on it. If it’s not on the calendar, it doesn’t exist.
However, in a world that is increasingly digital, I have found that the analog version is often more helpful and decidedly more gleeful to use. Of course, keeping a digital calendar with all the moving parts of our days is useful for sending virtual reminders. However, using two different hands-on wall calendars to visually track time really helps keep our house on the same page in a way digital calendars cannot. MMD team member Shannan and I were just discussing how the simple act of writing down all the events, activities, and calendar items is a great tool for noticing when we have overbooked ourselves. And since we are talking time here, it is interesting to note that one of the calendars is “older” since I have been using it for many years and the other is “newer” to our home!
The first is Olympia artist and writer Nikki McClure’s annual calendar. My best friend introduced me to her gorgeous and intricate papercutting back in college when she gifted me one of her calendars. Thankfully, I was recently reminded of her beautiful art after author Kerry Winfrey posted about it on Instagram a few years ago. Now, I ask for the new calendar every year for my birthday in October so I am all set by the time December 31st rolls around. Nikki’s uplifting creations are extremely detailed and amazing. The calendars are truly pieces of art to treasure and delight in. She began making them in 1998 and I recently found one I had saved for over 20 years!
The papercuttings Nikki creates are often stark contrasts of black and white images of nature and people with a pop of color and a powerful verb. Her art reminds me of the illustrations in the classic children’s book Blueberries for Sal and feels nostalgic yet fresh at the same time. The days and month are listed in a modern way with the new and full moons notated, making it easy to reference the day at a glance. And the lovely simplicity of the calendar makes it perfect to hang above my desk in our small but cozy bedroom. This is not a calendar to list all one’s daily to-do’s but instead to reflect on the passing of time and find inspiration for what’s to come.
The second wall calendar is Grace Farris’s Mom’s Family Wall Calendar and it sure puts the fun in functional! It is a uniquely laid out vertical calendar filled with Grace’s hilarious and heartfelt art that our whole family loves. We are able to personalize the columns with each family member’s name and daily activities, making it customizable for all types of families and ages. And while “Mom” is in the title, I think the ability to personalize the entries means you don’t have to be a mom to use and enjoy this calendar. Did I mention it comes with adorable stickers?! There are two full sheets of her drawings of cute items like Gold Stars, timeless reminders like “Return library books!” and “Take a DEEP BREATH” that I can’t wait to use each month.
Grace is a doctor/artist/bookworm/cartoonist/mom/author; I was introduced to her work by another one of my best friends who attended residency with her. We love to follow Grace on Instagram at @coupdegracefarris, where she shares her popular “Weekend Mom” series and reading life insights that are amusing and oh so relatable. The Mom’s Family Wall Calendar takes Grace’s seasonal art and laugh-out-loud cartoons and adds the ability to quickly track our busy schedules.
Plus, this visual and tangible calendar is much easier for the youngest in our family to use. We hang it right by our high traffic dining table and our kiddos love using it to countdown the days to upcoming events. It truly is a shared family calendar and I have often caught them adding various “Yes Days” and “No School” to random days in their adorable little handwriting.
I am so grateful to Nikki and Grace for creating such accessible works of everyday art. These two wall calendars bring so much joy and much-needed organization to our home. I look forward to starting a brand new one every New Year!
Do you use wall calendars? How do you keep your days and weeks organized? Please share in the comments.
P.S. My first year with the bullet journal and 7 ways I’m minimizing decision fatigue in my daily life.
About the author
Brigid Misselhorn is our MMD Book Club Community Administrator. Her go-to genres are mystery, romance, and sci-fi. You can find Brigid on Instagram @brigid_emily.
32 comments
My family uses a wall calendar. In December of every year I make a calendar through Snapfish and each month I put photos of the year that were taken in that month. It is so fun when we are using the calendar to take a look back at what we were doing that month. I also make a couple as gifts and people love them. Then once we’re done for the year, the calendars become like photo books that we can look through later :).
What a lovely tradition to use family photos, Heather!
I love my Sandra Boynton wall calendar.
Oh, how fun! We love her books at our house, Teri. I think the layout is similar to Grace Farris’ calendar too!
I’ve always used a wall calendar. I get one from my vacation the year before. I also have a perpetual calendar with people’s birthdays on it.
I use a giant NeuYear (new year.net) wall calendar that I hang in my kitchen. I use washi tape for all vacation dates and stickers for birthdays and other key dates. The MOST important attribute for any of my calendars is a MONDAY ( NOT Sunday ) start. Many of my activities are split Monday through Friday and the weekend. NeuYear has both Monday Start and Sunday start calendars.
Neuyear.net is correct address
Love this! Vacation calendars make being at home more fun
Yes, I still use a wall calendar – I’m fortunate that my adult daughter does one for the fridge for my bff and me every year that includes only pics of our grands . Shutterfly! I can flip thru any year and tell you what was happening ! I log in everything❤️
Love that, Gigi!
The Essential calendar is a big wall calendar that makes it easy to plan for 3 months at a time (and for younger kiddos to see what’s coming up). They have a subscription option so you get the calendars mailed quarterly. I also love the gorgeous X-Large wall calendars from Paper Source.
You had me at Paper Source, Kristin! Going to look both of those up.
Such lovely calendars! Every year I buy the Linnea Designs art calendar in poster size. Beautiful seasonal images based in the Northwest. https://linneadesign.com/products/2024-poster-calendar
Anna, these are so cool. Love that March 2024 shopping basket layout! Its amazing how many talented artists create calendars and I adore how accessible it makes their creations.
I, too, love Nikki McClure’s calendars. I’ve been getting it for the past couple of years. I usually get a wall calendar from the places that I have traveled the past year. This year, I had a calendar from Scotland. Even though I use my digital calendar all the time, I still like writing out my activities on a wall calendar monthly.
Agreed, Julie! So glad you love Nikki’s calendars too. And one from Scotland sounds lovely!
We love a wall calendar! In 2023, we had an absolutely plain calendar from Target, but for 2024, I chose a pretty one from Rifle Paper Company. My husband thinks the calendars appear by magic. 😁
Rifle is one of my FAVS, Melanie! A few years back I got to visit the storefront in Winter Park, FL and it was hard not to buy everything.
I’m a bit obsessed with calendars lol. For 2024 I have the Katie Daisy wall calendar I purchased from Etsy and the Alan Claude poster calendar with Maine (my favorite place) scenes. I also always get the Mary Englebreit page a day calendar that sits on my counter.
I totally understand the obsession, Terry!
I get the Mary Engelbreit page-a-day calendars, too, and I have gotten them for many years. My husband orders one for me each year. It has its own special spot in the kitchen window over the sink! I look forward to the quotes and illustrations for each day. 😊
I have yet to jump on the digital calendar train (outside of work) and find myself floundering in Dec. until my Mom gets me an old school paper wall calendar for Christmas. I love them too! I don’t have any particular allegiance to one artist/ kind but I just love the visual aspect of writing down stuff & seeing it on a calendar.
My goodness, I couldn’t live without wall calendars!! All the appointments and events are on one, and the other lists anniversaries and birthdates. I LOVE turning the page each month! Our favorite calendars are the big 365 Days in France editions, because we love France and they’re so beautiful. But I also make free Shutterfly calendars every year—-I put my best photos from each year on it for me, and for my Mom, I put a selection of old family pictures from when my siblings and I were young. She adores it and looks forward to it every year. They have become a sort of easily showable family book for her to show her guests.
My all time favorite – both for me and as a gift for dear friends – is the small standing calendar featuring the gorgeous watercolor flowers by Ling Chang. She has large calendars with the same flowers featured, but I enjoy featuring the “art” of her painting in a small clear 5X7″ standing frame kept next to my computer. They can only be purchased through Amazon and usually they don’t show up on the site until mid November. This year they were almost immediately sold out, but I didn’t give up and kept trying. Sure enough, I could order more a few days later.
These are beautiful, Jennifer! My Mother-in-law likes those acrylic calendar standing frame styles as well.
Love seeing these suggestions! Every year I buy a wall and desk calendar from May We Fly. It features my friend Leana’s beautiful art and brings me a sense of calm throughout the year. I look forward to the tradition of the reveal each October! For me it’s the kick off to the Holiday season. https://www.maywefly.com/seasonal-shop/2024-simple-days
Oh, these are so pretty too! I love that 2024 woodland at-a-glance calendar, Ashley. How many calendars are too many calendars? Ha!
Absolutely! I love having a wall calendar but it must have large boxes for writing in all the important things and gorgeous designs for each month because I will be looking at it all year. I often ask for one as a Christmas present.
Large boxes are a must for those workhorse calendars!
YES!! I absolutely loved the Mom’s Family Wall Calendar when my kids were little. Now I use this one, from a local artist, (link below) but mostly just so I can glance up and see what day it is!! LOL. Otherwise, everything is in my work digital calendar (Outlook).
https://jeffdillon.ca/portfolio/2024-wall-calendar/
Every year I treat myself to a calendar from The Dolphin Studio for my office art wall. They are hand pulled screenprints created by their family and team and are beautiful! I do not look ahead, so each month is a little surprise. I don’t keep events on it, I just enjoy it! https://thedolphinstudio.com
Thank you for sharing these, Nicole! I studied printmaking in college and have done both silkscreening and letterpress printing so I love hand-printed calendars.