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Monday, January 30, 2012

Printed holidays

I like to have holidays printed in my planner's daily spaces, but I know not everyone does.

Planners have a wide range of holiday inclusion, from none at all to too many irrelevant ones. Finding the right balance is tricky, and I suppose you can't please everyone.

Moleskine does a good job of pleasing as many people as possible I suppose: holidays are not printed as words in the day spaces, but the abbreviation of each country with a holiday is represented on the day. It's up to you to figure out exactly what the holiday is. I always write in US and UK holidays, when Daylight Savings and European Summer Time begin and end, and other reminders on the date. It's a tedious process but worth it to have it already in my book when I need it.  The flip side of having to write it in myself is of course that I don't have anything irrelevant to my needs in my day spaces.

Quo Vadis planners (English versions) have US and UK holidays, clock-changing, and other days of note like Halloween already printed in the day spaces. They also have holidays of major religions printed on the day spaces. So unless you follow all major world religions, inevitably there will be something irrelevant to you pre-printed. Not a big deal, but some people are bothered by it I guess.

My favorite way of doing holidays in the day spaces is the way Filofax does it. US, UK, Australian and Canadian holidays and clock-changings are pre-printed on the days. Many religious holidays are indicated. And the holidays of loads of other countries are represented by their country abbreviation on the day. For example Indonesia (where I'm currently living) has its holidays indicated on the days by the abbreviation RI, which is convenient for me.

So in effect, the way Filofax does holidays is a combination of how Quo Vadis and Moleskine do it. Although curiously, I've noticed that Halloween is not printed in the Filofax diaries on October 31! I guess technically it's not a religious holiday or a public holiday so maybe that's why it got excluded. As a cultural tradition, I think it should be included. I guess I'm a holiday maximalist! Having all the holidays pre-printed means I don't have to write in anything to prep my planner, and makes me feel like I know what's going on elsewhere in the world.

What about you? Do you like to have holidays written in the day spaces of your planner? Or do they just take up space?


  1. I think Filofax only includes holidays that people might expect to get the day off.

    Also Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland often have different public holidays to England.

    This is a good page to look at for UK


    And France has it's own as well!


  2. Does Filofax print Valentine's Day? Or Martin Luther King Day? I think that if those observed-but-not-necessarily-a-holiday days are printed in, then Hallowe'en should be in there, too!

    Being Canadian, I'm always looking for the Canadian holidays in planners. Moleskine has them, and the Staples brand (www.staples.ca) planner I have has them printed in (also bilingual to represent both our official languages!), but it isn't really my favourite planner. I keep searching for my "perfect" planner!

  3. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a government holiday in the US, meaning all government offices are closed, so that is definitely included. Same for Columbus Day. Valentine's Day is listed in the Filofax diaries, as "St. Valentine's Day." Maybe that classifies as religious so that's why it's included but Halloween is not? All Saints' Day is printed on Nov. 1.

    I think we should petition Filofax to include Halloween as a cultural holiday! I wonder what can of worms that would open??

  4. @GetGlossed Graphic Image planners have holidays for UK, U.S. and Canada printed, with a list in the front for other countries. And Laurie, Halloween is listed. :-)

  5. Thanks Mstraat! Graphic Image planners are sounding better and better with their archival paper, month views and printed holidays! How are you liking yours?

  6. I've also noticed that Filofax does not print Equinoxes and Solstices, and I wish they did because I write them in. Quo Vadis does print them, which is nice.

