Inexpensive way to create a wall calendar?

[mdd99]

I would like to create a wall calendar to help raise money for a nonprofit. Does anyone have suggestions for creating one inexpensively? I've received quotes from numerous printers, and their prices are beyond my reach.

[Jim Michael]

Maybe use CafePress.com?

[jnantz]

how about a local copy shop?
the fedexkinkos near me makes them
and they aren't too expensive ...

[vinny]

I did some at lulu.com
Quality, not so much in my eyes but everyone I gave them to loved 'em and some even framed a few months.

[Brian Ellis]

Kinkos actually does a surprisingly nice job. I don't know what size you're talking about or what their limits are but I had a calendar made as Christmas presents a couple years ago. The photographs were roughly 8x10. I think the cost was something like $20 per calendar.

[mdd99]

I'll check out Kinkos, but the price is a bit high for resale, even if it's for a good cause. Does anyone have any experience printing out their own calendar pages, then using a print shop to fold/staple?

[Jim Michael]

Instead of fold/staple I'd also look at coil binding w/ ca. 1/4" coil. Paper specialties should carry a nice opaque coated paper.

[mdd99]

Good thought, Jim. I'd need to print on both sides, though. Any recommendations for paper shops?

[Jim Michael]

When I needed paper for a newsletter I found a local shop that specialized in papers for printing. Not sure who might be a good online resource. Further thoughts for a DIY job, buy a good 100 lb. or so stock for the covers & maybe 50-75 lb. for pages. If you intend to produce a large volume then it becomes cost effective to buy a coil binding machine. Depending on ink expense you might get your cost below $5/copy. You could probably produce a pretty decent product with a printer like an Epson 2200, although you'd be looking at a significant time investment to do it right.

[Darren Kruger]

I would like to create a wall calendar to help raise money for a nonprofit. Does anyone have suggestions for creating one inexpensively? I've received quotes from numerous printers, and their prices are beyond my reach.

Have you looked at www.vistaprint.com and www.psprint.com? I have not done calenders with either but have seen other promo items printed with them and both seen to be pretty good.

-Darren

[Richard M. Coda]

If you design it yourself, you can bring it to a Sam's Club (Costco might do this, too) and an 11x14 is only $2.87, 12x16 - $3.56, 16x20 - $6.34. They also have calendars but you can probably do a nicer job yourself.

[mdd99]

Did a limited edition calendar for a local arts association last year. Used an Epson R2400 printer. Worked out just fine. Looks very nice and the association folk got together and used decorative yarn/ribbon to tie them up for hanging rather than using spirals or similar.

Twenty were signed on each months image by the artist whose work was on that month. These were sold as a 'special' at about 3x the price of the regular unsigned calendars.

One advantage doing it this way was the ability to print a number of them while holding back on the total number... to be printed only if enough orders came in. Worked well for them.

Red River Paper is what I used for the prints, single sided only. Stiffer than the light stuff and matched well for the inkset of the Epson printer.

Extra work to do it but if you have an organization that will make it worthwhile and do some of work for/with you it can pay off for them and you.

Thanks, Dakotah. What weight and kind of paper did you use?

I went to Red River and found they also have a calendar kit, though 2010 isn't out yet: http://www.redrivercatalog.com/sbproject/inkjetcalendars.htm

Paper weight for the kit is only 50 lbs but reviews were favorable. You also can buy just the CD for the calendar design, then buy the paper separately. Anyone have any experience with this kit?

[Michael N. Meyer]

Check out Magcloud. They do POD magazines, but turn a magazine 90 degrees and the saddle stitch binding could work for a calendar. No hole to hang it from, though. They're 20 cents per page, just a little shy of letter size. I think they have a minimum of 16 pages and the back cover needs to have the bottom half left blank.

www.magcloud.com

I haven't used the service yet, but I'm thinking of using them for a couple of upcoming project ideas.

[William McEwen]

Maybe use CafePress.com?

Cafepress might be a good option if you use them for ordering and fulfillment. Your purchasers would simply buy them online. I haven't see the CP calendars and cannot vouch for quality.

[jackies]

Hi,

I just checked lulu.com and 1 calendar is $12.72 and they have bulk discounts. For instance 50 calendars is @ $10.50 each. They have templates too.

J

[jackies]

Costco has a sale until 9/30 for 8.5x11 calendars for $7.49 which open to 11x17. I don't know the quality though.

J