DIY desk calendar stand: five ways to make a calendar stand up

This is the method most people end up using because it costs almost nothing and takes ten seconds. Stack the month cards in order, square them against the table, and clip the top edge with a 32 mm binder clip. Fold the two wire handles back behind the stack and the calendar leans on them like a tent.

Heavier card stands more reliably: twelve cards of 250 gsm make a stack about 3 mm thick, which the clip grips firmly. Clip the long edge for landscape months (148 × 105 mm from A4). To change month, unclip, move the top card to the back and clip again; the order never gets lost.

Cut a strip of thick card about 100 mm wide and 200 mm long, score it across the middle and fold it into a narrow triangle prism, gluing a 15 mm tab to close it. Cut a shallow lip at the front so the calendar rests in it, or glue a strip of card along the front edge as a ledge.

An easel suits calendars held with a ring or a clip because the stack can lean back slightly, which makes the dates easier to read from a chair. Kraft card matches the Field Notes Year template; white card disappears behind the Quiet Year template.

A standard CD jewel case opened backwards stands at about 60 degrees and was the classic office desk calendar for years. Its inside is 142 × 125 mm, so an A6 landscape card (148 × 105 mm) needs a few millimetres trimmed off the long side to slot behind the clips.

If you want to use CD cases, trim each month to 140 mm wide before stacking. It is fiddly for twelve months, which is why the clip and ring methods are more popular now, but it gives a neat, dust-free result.

For a calendar that looks deliberate, take an offcut of wood about 150 mm long, 40 mm deep and 25 mm tall, and cut a single slot along its length 3–4 mm wide and 10 mm deep with a saw. Sand the edges and the stack of months drops into the slot and stands upright.

Make the slot slightly wider than the stack so the cards can be lifted out to move a month to the back. A slot cut at a slight angle, about 10 degrees back from vertical, makes the dates easier to read.

Punch two holes 10 mm down from the top edge, about 30 mm in from each side, using a standard hole punch and the first card as a guide for the others. Thread a 25 mm binder ring through each hole and the months flip over the top like a wall calendar.

Hang the rings from a small easel, a picture stand or a bent wire coat hanger. This is the best option if you have laminated the cards, because laminate is too slippery for a binder clip to hold.