How to Make A Family Gift Calendar In Publisher

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By razzberry-jam
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Don't Forget!

This is a favorite Christmas gift for my whole family -- and so easy and inexpensive for me!

Even if you're not the office geek (yup, that's me!), if you have Microsoft Publisher you can make a great little calendar for your family!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

MS Publisher or similar program
Plenty of family photos
List of birthdays, anniversaries, etc
List of the 2010 Holidays
A scanner is helpful
Color printer

Step 1

Open Publisher and click on "Calendars".

Select the calendar you like best. "Travel" or "Photo Album" are nice ones.
Step 2

Next, click on "Calendar Options", then "Change Template".
Step 3

Under "Options" click on "Set Calendar Dates".

Set the wizard to start on January 2010 and end on December 2010.

Click "OK".

Then click "OK" on the Calendar Template screen. Publisher will now generate your 2010 Calendar.
Step 4

Next, get out your list of birthdays. Click on the right date and put in one or two spaces, then type in the birthday boy or girl's name.

At this point, you can also change the background tint in that square by clicking one time so your cursor is in the box, then look up to your toolbars. You should see the little tipping bucket. Click on the drop down and select a color that contrasts nicely with the background tint. (A helpful hint, keep the colors light, it's easier to read and uses less ink if you're printing 20 calendars.)

Continue inserting the birthdays.
Step 5

Now insert the anniversaries. I type in both names and use a different color for the background tint. That way you can tell the birthdays from the anniversaries at a glance.

I also insert the holidays in the same way.
Step 6

Now insert the family photos.

You may have to scan pictures, please read the instructions on your scanner. Once you've saved the pictures to your computer, continue with inserting the pictures.

There are placeholder pictures already in the calendar. Click once on that image and click "Delete." Then place your cursor in the upper left corner of the page, outside of the color box.
Step 7

Now, go to the toolbar at the top of the screen and click on "Insert", then on "Picture", then on "From File". Select the photo you'd like to insert. (Another hint, I organize my family photos in a separate folder called "Family.")

Click on the photo, then click "Insert."
Step 8

Don't panic. It's likely that the photo is as large as the calendar page. Simply click once on the photo, then take your cursor down to the bottom right corner where there's a little circle. When your cursor become a double ended diagonal arrow, hold down your left mouse button and drag the corner up and left.

By grabbing that corner, you will keep the correct proportions of the original photo.

Move your photo to where you'd like it to appear on your calendar.
Step 9

At this point, you can add more photos, or just insert one photo per page. It's all up to you.
Step 10

Your last step is to make the cover.

Make sure you're on page one of your calendar. Then go to the toolbar and click on "Insert", then "Page".

A box will pop up. Insert into "Number of pages:" the number "1".

Then click "Before current page" and "Insert blank pages".

Click "OK".
Step 11

Now click on the "Insert WordArt" icon. (As you slowly run the cursor over the icons, their names will appear.)

Select a WordArt style that you like. Click on it and then click on "OK".

Type in your family name and "Calendar", hit "Enter", then type "2010". Click "OK".

Now you can drag the corner to make your cover name as large or small as you like.

If you don't like the typeface or want to change the type, double click on the WordArt and the box will pop back up. If you want to change the colors, click once on the WordArt, then right click and select "Format WordArt". Now you can play with the lines and colors. Click "OK" when you're finished.
Step 12

Once you've completed the calendar, print it out.

Personally, I print it double-sided and then slip it into a clear plastic page protector sleeve. My family can hang the sleeve by the three holes and simply move the pages to show the new month.

A simple and pretty inexpensive solution to your gift-giving dilemma!