Stocking Stuffer: Create a custom calendar with iCal and iPhoto

Here's a great, inexpensive and highly personalized gift you can quickly make for just about anyone on your holiday shopping list. Using only iCal, iPhoto and an Avery Inkjet Calendar Kit, I made a great calendar with some of my favorite shots from iPhoto and iCal events that are meaningful to my recipient (birthdays, holidays, etc.). At $1.69US (the price of the Kit), it's very economical. Yes, I guess you have to pay for the ink in your printer, but you aren't making 100 of these. Anyway, here's what I did. More after the jump.

In iCal

First, choose your calendars. It may be helpful for your recipient to have national or religious holidays displayed, but s/he may not be interested in your work schedule or your kid's Cub Scout meetings. So, select/deselect your calendars accordingly. You may want to include birthdays and anniversaries as well. Once you've got everything set, you're ready to print.

Make sure you're in month view. I chose to display the mini calendars at the top of each calendar page. That's a nice touch, and they look good sitting there. To access these settings, click "Print" from the file menu. A dialog box appears that allows you to edit all of these options. Next, ensure that you've selected Landscape from page setup. Now you're ready to insert your paper.

Before your print on the Avery kit, you may want to first create a "tester sheet" and run it through your printer. Take a sheet of plain printer paper and write on it as I have illustrated at right. Put it through and judge the results. Did you get what you wanted? The pages supplied in my calendar kit feature a glossy side and a matte side. I put the calendars on, of course, the matte side. Once you're pleased with the results, stack your pages properly in your printer and print your monthly calendars from iCal. You're halfway there.

In iPhoto

Now load up iPhoto and find the lucky 13 pictures that will adorn your calendar (Thirteen, you ask? Don't forget the back of the font cover to hang above January!). Once that's done, it's time for a little more page setup. Ensure that you're in landscape mode, and that iPhoto is going to print the full page. Once that's set, we're ready to print.

All that's left to do at this point is insert the spiral (it isn't as annoying as you think it's going to be), wrap and slap on a bow. It's a great gift for less than two bucks, and you can brag to family and friends (especially your PC-using family and friends) that you did the whole thing yourself on your Mac. Let us know how you do!