Happy New Calendar! Want to make a genealogy gift that your family gets excited about? How about making a genealogy gift that your cousins look at almost daily? Well, I began making calendars years ago and it has become a hit. All year long cousins send me photos for the calendar. And when Christmas gets close they start asking when the calendar will be ready. Their enthusiasm fills my heart & motivates me to start another for the next year!
These are things I include in the calendar each year:
- Birthdays of living & deceased family members. The first birthday each year is Mary Spurlock Brown b 1 January 1800 in GA, my 3x great grandmother. Next on 5 January is my 1st cousin, once removed. Whenever I can I include a photo of the birthday person.
- Anniversaries of living & deceased family members. I include all I know & highlight special anniversaries, 10, 20 or 30 years. This year my younger brother and his wife get special notice for their 40th anniversary. I include photos of the special couple.
- Photos! Photos! Photos of weddings, anniversaries, travels, school events, scouts, babies,... Vintage photos & recent photos; formal and candid photos. I do ask for clear photos. Out of focus photos are difficult to work with and frustrating to see people's faces.
- Historical notes. I add brief family history. Who was our longest lived direct ancestor? Which couple was married the longest? Or a brief history of each family branch.
- Family Chart, How are we related? This year one of our daughters made a chart that I put on the back of the calendar so people can understand how we are all connected.
As our family grows it can be harder to know who everyone is. This year I put a border around each person's photo. The color of the border lets people know which branch of the family that person is from. For example, photos of my parent's descendants have a white border around them.
I have tried various programs to make these calendars. My favorite is Mixbook. Their program gives lots of flexibility. I can add as many photos and as much text as I want. The birthdays and anniversaries are saved so that I do not have to reenter those each year. They give me a discount because I order many copies & that is very helpful!
Here are photos of my family with this year's calendar.
Related Posts:
- 2015 Genealogy Christmas Gifts
- 2018 Family Calendar
- 2019 Family Calendar
- 2020 New Year, New Family Calendar
My family calendars are also a hit with relatives! I've never added ancestor stories but next year...maybe! Happy new year.
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