Keeping a large family calendar on your kitchen wall is a great way to track everyone’s appointments. But store-bought calendars are typically too small for the task. Instead, you can make your own family calendar over a mirror or inside a frame. It’s a simple project that allows you to make a calendar that fits your family’s exact needs.
Choose a frame
You can make your family calendar over a large framed mirror. This can be fun, because your family will look back at you as you gaze into the calendar together. You can also use a large craft store frame (with glass). Remember that the larger the frame, the easier it will be to make and maintain your family calendar.
Draw the calendar grid
Use a ruler and indelible black marker to draw a grid over the framed glass or mirror. You can refer to an old calendar you have at home to help you see what the grid will look like. 7 down and 7 across is the best grid proportions that will accommodate every month of the year.
Fill in the days
On the top horizontal line of your grid, write the days of the week starting with Sunday. You can simply write in the initials or abbreviations of the days, if you prefer. You may also wish to use a craft store alphabet stencil to keep your calligraphy even and decorative. Finally, you don’t have to use a black indelible marker for this task. How about gold, silver or any other color that strikes your fancy?
Decorate your calendar
Kids will love to help at this point by decorating the calendar. Start by resting the glass in the frame (if you haven’t already). This step doesn’t apply to if you’ve chosen to make a family calendar on a mirror, of course. Then give kids beautiful stickers with which to decorate the boxes of the grid. Keep the stickers very small to leave plenty of room for you to write inside the boxes of your grid.
Write in the days of the month
At the beginning of each month, you’ll need to fill in the dates in the family calendar you created. Use an ordinary (not indelible) marker. Start writing the 1st number under the correct day then populate the entire calendar, one number at a time. Be sure to keep the numbers small enough to leave you plenty of room for notes.
Hang your homemade family calendar
If you’ve used the mirror option to make a family calendar, simply hang the mirror and you’re done. If you’ve chosen the glass option, you can place pale wrapping paper in the frame under the glass, to make a pretty backdrop. Otherwise, your wall will show through the glass once you hang the frame, which can be pretty too.
Add markers around your family calendar
Using sticky Velcro attach a marker to your frame, so you can have a writing tool available at all times. You can also hang the marker on a long ribbon. Or use tacks to hang a ribbon horizontally over your calendar. Then use laundry pegs to attach different colored markers to the stretch of ribbon.
Once you are finished, invite kids to glue family photos all around your family calendar frame. This will personalize your project and make it a fun place to visit again and again.
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