IT IS TIME.
This year there is more at stake, because several of you signed up to be CALENDAR TWINS as your fundraiser incentive. CALENDAR TWINS means that I will send you a copy of the same calendar I choose for myself, which is very bold and risk-taking of you and I admire you for it. I won’t tell anyone which calendar I chose until AFTER your calendars have arrived, so it will be a FULL SURPRISE.
This gives the whole post a fun little smack of suspense. I always list SOME calendars I’m seriously considering plus a bunch that DO very much appeal to me but I’m posting them more in case someone else wants them / has a good gift recipient for them. But this time when you see all those extra calendars some of you will be thinking “She always says she doesn’t want twelve months of the same thing, so she wouldn’t REALLY choose Goats in Trees or Men in Kilts. …right?” I GUESS YOU’LL FIND OUT, WON’T YOU! (But while I have you here: if you are one of my Calendar Twins and one of the possibilities listed below contains a phobia or Severe Dislike for you, you should let me know.)
There are two calendars I’ve had the 2019 versions of in my cart since last year, because they were almost-buys last time and I wanted to see if they had new versions this year. One of them (the Angie Lewin) does not have a new version, but the other one does:
Este MacLeode calendar. Gorgeous. Gorgeous. So bright and colorful and cheery.
After that, it is just madly into the calendar fray.
(image from Amazon.com)
Feathered Friends calendar. Charming, colorful, whimsical, full of birds.
(image from Amazon.com)
Pusheen calendar. The children don’t usually notice my kitchen calendar, but the year I chose Pusheen EVERYONE was into it.
(image from Amazon.com)
Space Cats calendar. It’s VERY TEMPTING to consider this one, MOSTLY because of how very surprised the calendar twins would be.
(image from Amazon.com)
Farmer’s Market calendar. This one meets my preference for a calendar that is beautiful and comforting without being too cheerful or optimistic to deal with when I’m looking ahead to a busy day/week.
(image from Amazon.com)
Wanderlust calendar. I do not have wanderlust myself, but I do not object to other people wandering and taking beautiful pictures of where they went, so that I can see the places without having to go there.
(image from Amazon.com)
A F*cking 2020 calendar. “Includes profane stickers”! My kids are old enough now that I feel pretty free to have a calendar like this one, and I’d say this might be perfect for right next to my desk. And look at October! It’s terrific. But this is not what I’d choose for the kitchen.
(image from Amazon.com)
Garden of Delights calendar. I need squares to write things in, so this one is ruled out for me, but I think it is so pretty. Maybe for next to my desk, where I don’t need so much square-writing.
(image from Amazon.com)
Fairy Houses calendar. Imagine being so very wee, and having a charming wee little house.
(image from Amazon.com)
Charley Harper calendar. I have a puzzle of one of the months (Tree of Life) and it’s a great puzzle, and that’s almost a reason to choose this calendar.
(image from Amazon.com)
Gustave Baumann, Small Untroubled World calendar. This upcoming year is an election year, and we are going to need soft calming scenes in soft comforting colors.
(image from Amazon.com)
William S. Rice calendar. Another in the soft/calming/comforting category.
(image from Amazon.com)
Kawase Hasui calendar. A third soft/calming/comforting option.
(image from Amazon.com)
Klimt Landscapes calendar. Yet another. This one is a strong contender.
(image from Amazon.com)
Flower Crown Animals calendar. Problem: this would absolutely be a final finalist, but there is less room than usual for the squares, and I need the squares.
(image from Amazon.com)
I Adulted calendar. Has a certain frantic, lowering-the-baseline, let’s-just-get-through-this appeal.
(image from Amazon.com)
Les Fleurs calendar. I love this immediately. I was looking specifically at flower calendars, and they all appealed to me in general but some of them all seemed to be the same palette (every page in pinks/purples) and others seemed like pictures I’d already seen a million times (tulips in sunshine! one entire sunflower filling the page! etc.). This one feels fresh and interesting and different. But the one review has legitimate complaints: there is a little uninteresting comment on each page (I can live with that), and there are no lines between the squares (I don’t know if I can live with that).
(image from Amazon.com)
Fleurs calendar. This one is also very pretty, and has lines between the squares.
(image from Amazon.com)
Redouté calendar. Another nice floral assortment, better than I’d expected from the cover.
(image from Amazon.com)
William Morris calendar. I would buy more of this sort of thing if the selections were more SEASONAL. Like, in December I want spruce/red/green, and in spring I want flowers/pastels.
(image from Amazon.com)
Guinea pig calendar. I had a guinea pig calendar one year next to my desk, and it remained cute all year, and the children were interested in it and enjoyed it.
(image from Amazon.com)
Bee calendar. BEES.
(image from Amazon.com)
Garden of Dreams calendar. This is so close to what I’m looking for. I love most of the pages, but a couple of them cross into Slightly Creepy for me. Plus: no squares.
(image from Amazon.com)
Masha D’yans calendar. I’ve had this one twice, and have been happy with it, and I recommend it.
(image from Amazon.com)
Feline calendar. Do you remember earlier, when I was talking about how I like flower calendars but sometimes they seem trite or boring? Same with cat calendars: looking at a cat calendar, I sometimes feel as if I’ve seen all the images before. But not this one.
(image from Amazon.com)
Pooch calendar. I like this dogs one too, and the whole dog concept is a soothing one for me.
(image from Amazon.com)
Rebecca Campbell calendar. These are interesting to look at and may cross the line into slightly too surreal.
(image from Amazon.com)
The Bird calendar. WHAT IS THIS WONDERFULNESS I AM LOOKING AT
(image from Amazon.com)
Birds of the World calendar. There are too many good calendars to choose from this year. This one is pretty to look at AND educational.
(image from Amazon.com)
Birds calendar. I MEAN! I would choose this one for December’s bird expression alone. No lines between columns of squares, but it occurs to me I could fix that with a ruler and a fine-tip marker.
(image from Amazon.com)
Bodleian Library calendar. I looked just to see if there were any library calendars and HECC YES THERE IS A LIBRARY CALENDAR
I bought the Space Cats calendar for my 12 year old son. We have three cats and he pretty much loves anything cats.
I just have to say that I saw the title of this post in my feed reader and felt such a huge rush of joy and satisfaction. THE CALENDAR POST IS HERE!
I enjoy this post every year too, and this year it reminded me that I am a calendar twin! I had totally forgotten and it was like unexpectedly finding money in a pocket.
I bought the Bloom daily planner 2019 calendar last year and liked it so much that I’m getting the 2020 version as well.
bloom daily planners 2020 Monthly Hanging Wall Calendar (January 2020 Through December 2020) – 11″ x 17″ – Seasonal Designs https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RDMDC5V/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_SKz9Db0ZKZ78F
I also get Nature’s Dick Pics for a friend. Said friend is a partner at a decent sized law firm and she keeps it in her office, lol. No one has noticed yet.
I just bought the F*cking 2020 calendar for friends (because of this post). For literal years they have had “year in numerals – the year we get shit done” on a chalkboard. So, last year, it was 2019, the year we get shit done. I visit them in April and sometimes I change the year on the chalkboard, because it still says 2018 in 2019. I thought this calendar was PERFECT. And they’re the type of awesome people who will appreciate it in the spirit it was intended. I mean, they literally let me stay with them for two weeks every year so I can work at Jazzfest (they live in NOLA). They are awesome people.
I highly recommend the Sierra Club calendar this year. This is influenced a little (okay a lot) by the fact that my brother-in-law has two (2!!) photographs in it.
oohh, that’s really cool. They sent me a renewal or request for more money or whatever and there was the *gift* of the calendar. I tried to do it like a month later – I can only deal with solicitations occasionally, all fall it feels like I get three+ letters per day asking me for (more) money – and it only had the day planner as an option, which is NOT what I wanted. But I’ll pounce on the next one they send.
I bought the Klimt calendar even though I had already bought another calendar – the Klimt landscapes will make me happy whenever I look at them.
Love this annual post even though I don’t even buy myself a calendar.
I love the Birds of the World – beautiful and educational, as you say and each month is quite different.
Have you ever looked at DodoPads wall calendars? They are in a week-per-view format, so a new page each week, and give plenty of space for writing and doodling of all kinds. Thoroughly recommended for amusement and practical reasons – we must be on our twelfth or so year of using one and they work perfectly.
I was hoping you’d have a calendar post this year! Yay. We use a different system for schedules so I usually just browse your selections for pages I can frame/use as an art print. Your Madeline Engeldark suggestion from a couple years ago still gets many laughs/comments at my house. On a sidenote, could you provide any info on how to ensure you receive the recommendation money from amazon. That is to say, if I go through your page and add to my wish list to purchase later, do you lose your slice of the sale? I understand it isn’t much, but I’d like to make sure you get the credit you’re deserved.
Oh, that is very nice of you! There is some sort of time limit involved, but I forget what it is—like, it has to be added from the link and then purchased within 24 hours. But I say don’t worry about it at all: the commission is enough to be worth it to me to use the affiliate links, but not enough to be worth anyone else doing anything special for it, but I very much appreciate you thinking of it!
These are fun. I use a gi- normous dry erase board as my calender for seeeverything at a glance purposes. Then I use the boring school calerdar the junior high hands out so I automatically know kids’ days off. I would definitely need boxes to write in. I do love the get your shit together option though!
I love this post every year. And every year, i look at the William Morris calendar and think about buying it, but I never do. But this year, you’ve found the perfect calendar for me with the Bodleian Library one. I must have it!
My daughter got the 2019 version of this and every month is a delight all year long. Hedgehogs! Doing adorable, fanciful activities! https://www.amazon.com/2020-Hedgehogs-Calendar-Zebra-Publishing/dp/B07V6ZS3M9/ref=sr_1_3 (Not an affiliate link but Swistle, if you like it enough to add it to your post and want to make it an affiliate link for you, by all means go ahead!)
One of my daughters gets that Hedgehog calendar every year. 2020 will be her 4th or 5th year now. It’s so cute! I had planned on a “sloths doing yoga” calendar for my other daughter (who wants a different kind each year), but then stumbled on a “Friends” one and couldn’t pass it up.
Always love this post, Swistle!
Oh. my. gosh. I love it.
I know this isn’t how these things are meant to work, but if you choose feathered friends, then everyone will be MY CALENDAR TWIN