In today’s post: Make a personalized DIY 2021 photo calendar in about half an hour.
I’ve been making these little photo calendars for the past few years, and they’re one of my favorite handmade Christmas gift ideas. All you need to make one is 6 sheets of cardstock and 12 of your favorite photos, making it both very easy and very inexpensive (cheap DIY gift for the win!).
For tons of easy DIY gift ideas, click here
You can add any sort of photos you like: pictures of the kids for a calendar for the grandparents, pics of you and your hubby for an anniversary gift, or scenic photos for an easy holiday gift for friends or coworkers.
DIY Photo Calendar
I made this calendar even better this year by getting it bound and adding a little DIY stand so the calendar can sit on your desk or your counter or wherever and you can look at your favorite photos all year long. The stand is made from a strip of white posterboard and my local copy shop did the binding for a buck fifty.
Oh, and I also included a front cover which says 2021, and a back cover which says “made with love by” so you can add your signature.
2021 Photo Calendar Downloads
To make your own 2020 mini photo calendar, just download the free printables here. Print them out at full size or 100% on cardstock or other heavyweight paper. Trim along the lines to cut out each page (they will be 4×6 inches).
How to Make a DIY Photo Calendar
Next, gather 12 photos. I started with 4×6 photos, and then trimmed them each to 4 inches wide and 3.5 inches tall. I used a tape runner to adhere the photos to the calendar cards. You can use any sturdy adhesive, but I’d steer clear of glue or gluestick, because both will cause the calendars to ripple over time.
Here’s a video that shows the process:
To make the stand, cut a strip of posterboard that’s 4 inches wide and about 16 inches long. This video describes how to make the stand:
Now, if you don’t want to worry about getting the calendar bound, you don’t need to. Just tie up the pages with a cute bow, and add a mini easel for displaying one month at a time.
It’s the perfect easy, cheap DIY Christmas gift for just about anyone!
Looking for more DIY gift ideas? Visit some of these posts:
DIY Christmas gifts you can make in 15 minutes
How to make a personalized photo candle
25 cheap handmade Christmas gifts
Stephanie says
Thank you for updating this every year! I have made a new calendar for my husband’s desk for years now using these templates. He looks forward to it in his stocking now.
Amy says
Love this idea! I don’t see anywhere to click to see the video on how to make the stand. Am I missing something?
Crystal says
This is exactly what I was looking for. Hoping to make one for my husbands birthday, but since we are already in August, will there be a 2021 printable? I want to make it from August 2020 through December next year.
Kristin says
Is there anyway to add months? I want to do a May 2020 – Sept 2021 calendar? Thanks!
Annette says
I love your calendars. When will you have your 2021 calendar available?
Deb says
Thank you so much for this great project! It’s the perfect gift for my MIL – I’m using photos of her beloved dog with her grandchildren. Just a note (and if someone else already commented about it, I’m sorry – I didn’t go through all of them) – because of the way the PDF is set up with the first page being landscape and the rest being portrait, when I printed the entire document, my printer printed all of the pages in portrait mode, meaning the calendar pages on Pg. 1 came out much smaller than the rest. I went back and chose to print only the first page in landscape and it came out the right size. Anyway, thanks again. I’m going to use my Cinch binding machine to bind it. Can’t wait to give it to her!
Christine says
Hello, Autumn, as usual, I thank you so much for the mini calendar templates. However, I seem to be having a problem with sizing. When I choose 100%, I’m not getting a 4X6 size. The calendar pages print out very small. I’ve tried different tactics but still end up with the smaller size after printing. Please advise?
Thanks again.
Christine
Kayla Bartolet says
Hi,
The front and back cover are bigger than the rest of the pages. How can we get them to be all the same pages? Thank you.
sandra says
Thanks for the printable. Did this last year with pictures from my daughter’s November wedding. Everyone loved them. This is such a great gift.
Jo A Balza says
I would love to start making these soon for Christmas gifts for 2020. Will you be able to print that year off. I have so many gifts to make that I get a really early start.
Thank you, love the idea
Kristin says
Love this idea! The 2019 template is not downloading– is there another link? Thanks!!
Jill J. says
Hi there – I used your 2018 template last year and it was such a huge hit!
I also did the tutorial and even bought photoshop so I wouldn’t have to cut and paste. Would you mind sharing the photoshop files? I make 15 of these every year and doing it through photoshop is just easier.
Thank you SOOO MUCH for updating with all the current calendars!!
LILLIAN says
I love this idea. My daughter passed away a year ago and I would love to do this for her kids for Christmas, but the video cannot load. It has an error message. Is there another way to get it?
Fiordelisa says
That is a great idea. Especially for families with children still at home. And…it’s good to know that someone else is already planning for Christmas…my family thinks I’m nuts to do so in October…or July, as it sometimes happens… 🙂
You guys have such wonderful smiles! It’s refreshing to see.
Thank you for sharing your idea and printables. I’m thinking how I can use the idea here, but mostly right now, I’m off to look at your t-shirt patterns to see how I can refurb the wardrobe for fall.
Shelby says
Will you post a 2018 version of the mini calendar?
Toni says
I think this idea is great, but I just found it…so it would be great if you could make a 2018 version!
Kathy says
I made a few for Christmas presents last year and getting requests to do it again for next. Is the 2018 version coming out soon? Thank you so much for creating such a single neat gift.
autumn says
Yes! The 2018 version can be found here: https://www.itsalwaysautumn.com/2017/08/22/photo-calendar-magnets-free-2018-templates.html
Sarah says
This looks like it would be a fabulous gift for me to make for my class – an individual calendar for each student. Will there be a 2018 version available? Thanks Sarah
Monica says
Do you have 2018 yet!! I just found this and it is super cool!!! I would have snatched 2017 up!!
Liliana says
Thank you so much for this. made a few as Christmas presents and one for myself. Exactly what I have been looking for on a calendar :).
One quick note, the calendar for March is incorrect :O Other than that it is magnificent!
Happy Year!
kendell says
Thank you for sharing this tutorial, it is really appreciated
Urmi says
Hi, I cant thank you enough for this… exactly what I was looking for, beautifully made, wonderfully illustrated details. It’s so simple yet so impressive! I made a few for my friends and everyone loved it! Lots of love to you and happy new year to you and your family!
Pamela geairns says
Such a great idea, I’m going to make calendars this year to send to family and friends overseas this Christmas (2017).
Can you let me know when the 2018 calendars will be available for downloading?
nina says
thanks for the free printable! i made this last year and it looked so awesome… i’m doing it again this year! The dimensions seem a little off though and I had a hard time cutting the pictures to fit, but it just took a little extra time and measurement!
Tammy Delaney says
Thank you, I am in the process of making 3 for family and friends. Love the size, simplicity and font choice.
germaine fryc says
Thank you very much for the beautiful free printable calendar. I am making one for my g/f with pics of her only grandchild. I searched for quite awhile online for one, but yours is the best one! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!
Amy Yvonne says
Wish there was a way to edit it so that you could add your photos before printing to save time. Any way to do this now?
JanR says
Thank you so much for these! I used your free printables last year and made some calendars (you can see them here if you’re interested). I was going to try to find something similar so I could just remove the panels and switch it over to this year (I didn’t want to do all that work again!!)…..I’m overjoyed that I can just use your design again for 2017. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Megan says
Thank you! I found your mini-calendar last year and customized each month as individual 4×6 photos, had them printed, and gave the set to my sister who lives overseas. She absolutely loved it as it brings her a bit of home. I’m so glad to find your 2017 edition so that I can make next year’s mini-calendar for her 🙂
Zaskia says
I was so excited to download the mini albums. It would make the perfect Christmas gift. But for some unknown reason I just couldnt seem to download it. I clicked on the links several times but nothing happened. Please can you send it to me by email?
Priti says
Thank you so much for this post!!! It’s truly awesome!
Christine says
Oh my goodness. I’ve been anxiously awaiting this! I had one of your web pages bookmarked since forever and checked frequently but never saw the new 2017 calendar templates. So just a minute ago I decided to do a Google and found you again. Thank you Autumn for sharing this with us. I love the new ideas for the calendars. Thank you again!
P.S. I have your gift card template bookmarked too!
Nina says
Thank you for this! I think I’ll make one for my husband to put on his desk!
Rita Kenefic says
Such a great idea. I love to make photo calendars but I have a large family and they can be pricey. Including the directions and print-outs is awesome. Thanks!
KT says
Your are sooo kind to provide not only the idea but the FREE printables! There’s an invisible halo over your head!
KT says
oops! Auto text — correct that to “You are soooo kind!
Linda Gillian says
Thank you so much! I am so going to try this!
Donna says
Thank you so much! I will be making gifts with this idea!
magda says
I am definitely making this, thanks a lot!
Joy says
Thank you Autumn! This was such a hit last year at Christmas – as all of our family is out of province (and about two provinces over on each side to be exact). I can’t wait to get started on these fr this year!