Customer Reviews

Mom's Family Calendar 2009

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I love Boynton's books, and used to get this calendar. (We have 3 kids.) I really liked the idea of it, but the superlarge size and the vertical format just always felt a little awkward. Also, on some pages the cartoons cover up some of the day/date information.

About two years ago I switched to the Mom's Plan-it series. You can't tell from the Amazon photos, but that one has a standard horizontal calendar format (each row is a week), and is a smaller size, so it actually fits on our refrigerator, which the Boynton one never did.

Both have stickers and a pocket. I think both are good, and I do like the artwork on this one much better, but just find the Mom's Plan-it format easier to use.

If you're going to buy this one, make sure you look at the additional images so you understand how the vertical format looks. And if you've had one of these in the past and find the vertical format frustrating, take a look at the Mom's Plan-it to see if it would work better for you. It did for our family.

I love everything about this calendar. Your whole family can plan their days and see what everyone else is doing at a glance. The high-quality gloss paper makes the calendar a keepsake, worthy of tucking away at the end of the 16 months. A drop-down storage pocket can hold odds and ends such as "coupons, notes, stray $100 bills." The familiar Sandra Boynton critters appear throughout, looking impossibly cute. A nice bonus: A magnetic Family Phone List for the refrigerator door.

One of the nicest features is a couple of sheets of handy stickers -- 500 in all. You get stickers of some of the Boynton animals for fun, but you also get lots of labels to help you plan your days. These labels include 1/2-Day, Big Game, Birthday!, Camp, Celebrate!, Company, Concert, Dance Class, Dentist, Doctor, Game, Field Trip, Haircut, Library, Music Lesson, No School, Party, Playdate, Practice, Recital, Rehearsal, School Event, Show, Sleepover, Travel, Vacation, Vet, Visit, Welcome Home. There's even a sticker that reads Eek!

Starting in September 2008 and ending December 31, 2009, Mom's Family Calendar makes it easy to include the entire school year on one calendar.

This would make a great gift, either for your mom or yourself!

I've been using this calendar for years. I love the way each person has their own squares to fill in and keep track of! I couldn't imagine going back to a "traditional" calendar!

I bought this calendar because our family loves the Sandra Boynton books and I thought it was very cute.

It IS very cute. But otherwise it was a terrible decision to buy this one.

It has the "vertical layout" that other reviewers mentioned [look closely at the second picture at the top]. This layout is awful - you can't easily see what is what on which day at all.

I think the point was that there was supposed to be a block for each family member for every day, but the blocks are SO TINY you couldn't possibly write down everything a busy family member has to do in one day - there is barely room to write one appointment per person.

The vertical layout makes it hard to figure out which week is which, which day is which, etc.

Also, the calendar is glossy/slick and it makes it hard to actually write on - you can't use pencil at all on it [so if your appointments change frequently you are out of luck - you'll just be scratching stuff out] and even pen is harder to write with on the slick surface.

I thought the magnetic phone list would be cool, but for us it is useless. It includes a line for your day care, florist, library, plumber, electrician, and chocolate shop [which I guess was supposed to be funny] etc - but I can't remember the last time I've called these numbers - ever? So, if you don't use these type things frequently, it won't be that useful. There was very little space for family and friends, which is what would have been useful to us.

So, over all this calendar was a waste of money. In past years I have used the "More Time Moms" calendar, which is great but more expensive. I am going to go buy that one anyway and this Boynton one is going to be given to one of my kids - it is useless for me.

I gave it two stars only for the art work - which IS very cute.

I agree with a few other reviewers here - I was given this by a friend. We have five children, and we homeschool, and I teach Spanish classes. I can put SOME of the schedule on here, but not even close to half. The layout is just too difficult to use, and the spaces are not at all large enough to actually record anything, so I found myself STILL stretching myself between several calendars for January.

I do love Boynton, so I'm keeping this up on the wall, next to their learning Calendar, but it's for my kids to enjoy, not very useful for a busy mom. I wish the news were better, but it's mostly just cute.

Sra. Gose
Mother of Five, Spanish Teacher, Author
Spanish Fun Activity Calendar

I stumbled upon this calendar many years ago, and after I went on and on about it, my kids began giving it to me each year for Christmas... Something happened last year and they dropped the ball :-( probably because each thought one of the others had it covered... Anyway - enter the 16-month version which I bought here! This one goes from September to December of `09! How cool is that!!!! that means that I have a buffer next year to make sure that SOMEONE gets me the next calendar (either September `09 or January `10!. ***OH! If you feel especially loving, also get her the accompanying Desktop Calendar, which works as a great planner. ***

Now, here is what is so great about this calendar - the numbers of each day during the month are written down the left margin of the page. Across the top are headings for MOM and then FOUR more blank boxes in which you can put the names of your other family members. Then in each row, you can list that family member's scheduled events. Get it? Voila! Mom's Family Calendar of Who Does What and Goes Where When!

I love this calendar. It keeps all of our individual appointments and activities so well laid out for us and all the Sandra Boynton characters are favorites for both young and old. Definitely a must have for families with kids.

Just perfect to keep my toddler' activities on track. I had purchased one last year (2008), and now one for the next. The calender comes with stickers which are fun to use. The boxes in each calender month are fair sized so daily activities can be written comfortably. There are slots for different family members' activities/notes too. It has whimsical drawings & is colorful.

I had heard of this for a long time and found it during my Christmas shopping for calendars for other people, so I bought it for myself. I usually use the Flylady calendar and will have to return to that for our family's use.

PROS: The colors are pretty, cheerful, and the stickers are cute. I see where kids could get organized helping put stickers on their days. I also like the huge size because I am used to that with the Flylady one--I keep it on the wall near but not on my refrigerator.

CONS: We only have two children, but I saw the horizontal lines would only allow for a family of five. I wondered how families could put everything on this, like Grandma's bday or a few events that are not only for one family member. I also volunteer or do many things in one day like many moms, and need more space some days than others.

I think it's all personal preference. We use the other calendar because you can write in pencil and erase or move things around easily. The Boynton is very pretty and you can use Sharpee markers, but you can't erase easily because of the glossy finish, so you almost have to use correction liquid to change things.

Bottom line: I'm glad I at least tried it. It didn't work for us, but I would recommend it for moms with 2-3 young children for the prettiness and the stickers.

Have bought this for many years for my wife & family. Works great to keep a busy family schedule under control!!