One page or a page for each month
“All twelve months on one page” gives a single sheet with a block for each month and the birthdays listed in date order, with blank ruled lines for names you add later by hand. It suits a fridge door or the inside of a cupboard. Turn the option off for twelve pages with a ruled line for every day of the month, the traditional perpetual calendar that hangs in a hallway and is flipped each month.
Portrait pages show the months in three columns and landscape pages in four. On a month page the day numbers run down the left in the calendar’s color; a name sits next to its day, and two birthdays on the same day share the line.
Entering the dates
Type a date and a name in “Birthdays and anniversaries”, or open “Add many dates at once” and paste a list, one per line:
| You type | It means |
|---|---|
1987-03-14 Sam | March 14 (the year is ignored) |
03-14 Sam | March 14 (month, then day) |
14 March Sam or March 14 Sam | March 14 |
Mar 14, 1987 Sam | March 14 |
Anniversaries, name days and the dates of family pets work the same way. Write what the day is in the name, such as “Maria and Joe (anniversary)”, so it reads clearly on the wall.
Ideas for a classroom or an office
For a classroom, use a page per month on Tabloid or A3 paper and pin the current month to the board; children’s names are easy to read from a distance. For an office, put the year’s twelve months on one Letter or A4 page in landscape, which leaves room under each month for colleagues who join later. If you keep birthdays in a calendar app, export that calendar as an .ics file and import it with “Import a calendar file”: yearly repeating events keep their day and month.
Questions
What is a perpetual birthday calendar?
A calendar with days of the month but no weekdays and no year. Because March 14 is March 14 every year, the same page can hang in the kitchen for decades; you only add new names.
How many birthdays fit in a month?
On the one-page layout each month has nine ruled lines on Letter or A4 paper. If a month has more birthdays than that, its lines get closer together so that every name fits. With a page per month there is a line for every day, and several names on one day are listed together.
What happens to a birthday on February 29?
On a perpetual calendar February has 29 lines, so the birthday stays on the 29th. On a dated calendar made with the calendar maker, a yearly February 29 date is shown on February 28 in years that are not leap years.
Can I use dates with a year, such as a date of birth?
Yes. Only the month and day are used, so you can paste full dates such as 1987-03-14 or short ones such as 03-14.
Can I add holidays or weekdays?
Not on a perpetual calendar, because both change from year to year. Use the calendar maker with “Yearly” ticked for each birthday to get a dated calendar with holidays.