Because we get back to the Netherlands so infrequently, we tend to stock up on a lot of our favorite things when we are there. There's one thing I like to stock up on that is uniquely Dutch, brilliant, and just the thing to share with you by way of introducing you to my love of organization, my attempts to reduce our use of paper, and my appreciation of Dutch culture. I'm talking about the verjaardagskalendar, pronounced ver-YAR-digh-CAL-en-der
A verjaardagskalendar is a perpetual birthday and anniversary calendar. (Dutch lesson of the day: verjaardag = birthday). Instead of filling out birthdays and anniversaries on a new calendar every year, this perpetual calender has lines and dates, but no days of the week. Pretty smart, right?
Now, here's the brilliant part. I've been in many Dutch homes, and the birthday calender is always found in the same place. It's not the kitchen, or by the computer or office area, as I might have guessed. Nope, it's in the main floor bathroom. Every.single.time. (Because most houses in the Netherlands are built up rather than out, the main floor usually has only one bathroom, right by the front door).
We have added a verjaardagskalendar to our powder room, with a little note inviting friends and family to add their information.
In a few weeks, our son will be starting pre-K, and his world will start to include friends from school. We brought home a special birthday calendar for his bathroom.
Now that D is potty trained, he has little book shelf doesn't need to quite so many books to entertain him while he's taking care of business.
So, if you don't happen to live in the Netherlands, or have family there to visit, how can you get your hands on your own birthday calendar? Fortunately, Amazon has started to carry a few, like this sea glass-themed birthday calendar (<---affiliate link). If you have a lot of time on your hands, you can make something like Alissa at Crafty Endeavor's bottle cap birthday calendar. Another option is to make a trendy chalkboard birthday calendar like my friend Lauren at The Thinking Closet. A little-known gift lurking in your Microsoft Word program is a selection of birthday calendars. When you open a new document, search the online templates for "birthday calendar." As I write this, there are three options.
Or, as a special gift to you, I have created a custom birthday calendar for you.
You can download this pdf for your personal use.
Just print on card stock, and add your own 4x6 photos, like this:
Add birthdays and anniversaries. If known, I like to add the year, as well.
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| I blurred the names of the innocent. |
Punch a hole, add a ring, and you are ready to go!
If the bathroom seems like a strange place for your calendar, consider another area you see every day, like the frig.
A big thanks to Shannah at Just Us Four for letting me guest post. You can follow her on Facebook, Pinterest, Blog Lovin', Google+, and/or Twitter,
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I love that it's kept in the bathroom. I have a birthday calendar but I keep it with my address book and take it out once a year to transfer the dates to my new calendar. Your way seems much more efficient.
ReplyDeleteI live in South Africa. It might be from my ancestors of the Netherlands, we get those calenders here too. Guess where it was kept when I grew up, Yes, same place. Only we have the 's' at a different place - verjaar"S"dagkalender.
ReplyDeleteA few years back, we were in Seattle, Washington, the night before we took off on an Alaskan cruise. We had dinner at a little bar to watch the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. A man from South Africa was sitting next to us and though he spoke Afrikaans and Niels spoke Dutch, they understood each other. I'd love to visit your beautiful country someday.
DeleteThank you for confirming the placement of the verjaardagskalendar. And how interesting about the variant spelling!