During this holiday season, PrintingCenterUSA is looking to make a difference by starting a donation campaign to help the Special Olympics of Montana (SOMT) right in time for the nonprofit's annual Polar Plunge event, scheduled for December 7th in Great Falls, MT. We have 6 of our most daring employees "taking the plunge" and along with that, they are helping out a wonderful cause. We feel honored to be able to help the Special Olympics of Montana execute its mission of empowering those with intellectual disabilities through the power of sports.

By partnering with the Great Falls Polar Plunge, we are changing the lives of thousands of Special Olympics Montana athletes. With the money raised, athletes in the Great Falls area and around the state will have the opportunity to share their gifts and talents with the world through their participation in sports.

Now you don't have to "take the plunge" to help out this great cause and it's easy to participate. By using the promo codes below when ordering online, we will donate up to $100 per order to Special Olympics Montana.

Not planning on placing an order by December 6th but interested in donating to SOMT? No problem! Click here to donate to our Polar Plunge team!

The Great Falls Polar Plunge is one of twelve Polar Plunges across Montana. Participation provides individuals and organizations with a unique opportunity to support SOMT athletes by taking an icy dip into freezing waters. Plungers must raise the minimum amount to earn the privilege of taking the plunge. They can also raise additional funds and earn extra incentives along the way. Events like the Polar Plunges help support over 3,000 SOMT athletes.

There are many reasons to create a calendar. You may be working on a fundraising project for your . Perhaps you want to showcase your photography and sell the calendars to make a little money.  So where do you begin?

1. Choose Your Audience

Are you selling you  to the general public? Are you giving them as gifts to your best customers or the parents of your school? Once you have determined who your audience is, you can start to choose the types of pictures you want to include in your calendar. 

For example, The Highway 1 Project is an organization dedicated to raising money to improve Highway 1 in California and to protect parks along the Pacific Coastline. Their calendar features gorgeous scenic pictures. This entices people to purchase the calendars and it reminds them throughout the year that they supported a good cause.

2. Are You Going to Include Advertisements & Sponsors?

This will be a factor when you are designing you calendar because you will need to include space for the "thank-you" page and for advertisements throughout the grids. To learn more about calendar fundraising, click here to download our free calendar fundraising guide.

The image to the right shows how the Knoxville Ice Bears Booster Club placed sponsor logos throughout their calendar on different dates in the monthly grids.

3. Choose Your Photos

One great way to choose photos for your calendar is to first choose a theme. There are many themes to choose form, here are just a few to give you an idea:

• Picture or collage of photos on the top of each month - for example, September in a school fundraising calendar could say, "Welcome Back to School" and show a photo of the football team.
• Places or things that relate to your cause or organization.
• Pictures of peoples' favorite animals.
• Photos from previous events or trips.

The possibilities are endless! Just remember, your pictures need to be high resolution for them to print looking clear. If your images aren't at 300DPI (dots per inch), there is a chance that your images will appear pixelated when your project prints.

4. Time to Design!

After you have chosen your pictures it's time to start designing! You can design the calendar many different ways. Most calendars have one large, full-size image on the top half and the calendar grid on the bottom half. I have also seen calendars that have a collage of images or a single image with a nice background around it. The sky is the limit!

If you already have pictures and a project in mind it's time to get down to work and actually start designing. You can design a custom calendar using programs like Photoshop, InDesign or Illustrator. If you don't want to start from scratch, check out our  to get you started. Using a pre-designed template will ensure that you have the correct size and will save you some time!

We also offer a free calendar online design tool. I love this tool because it makes it incredibly easy to put a calendar together. Just upload your pictures, drag and drop them into place and voila! A finished calendar design.

Remember - 

To start designing a calendar you must first choose your audience. Decide what kind of pictures will appeal to them the most and design your calendar with your audience in mind.

When the time comes to put the calendar together either design online or use our  in a design software like Adobe Photoshop, InDesign or Illustrator.

If you are starting a calendar project and would like to speak with an expert, feel free to give us a call at .

When David Freitag’s Dinosaur Coprolite 2019 Calendar came across my desk, I was immediately interested and had to call him to get more information on these dinosaur nugget calendars. David created his Coprolite Calendar because he didn’t have a calendar at the time. What he did have were hundreds of photos that were taken for his eBay Rock Store, which he started 5 years ago.

David’s Backstory

David used to gold mine for over 15 years in Wyoming out in the desert. He wrote the story, “Wyoming’s Billion Dollar Nugget,” which was published by the California Mining Journal many years ago. “After we reclaimed our gold mining site, I was tired of gold and wanted to hunt fossils again,” says Freitag. In doing so, he found huge deposits of Dinosaur Coprolite along with Dinosaur Gizzard Stones and other dinosaur relics.

“After some time went by, I was sitting in my easy chair one night, just about to drift off, when I heard Rick from Pawn Stars on the TV. He said, ‘You know, in the 25 years since I’ve been a pawn broker, about the only thing I haven’t seen come across the counter is dinosaur poop.’” “Well,” thought Freitag, “I have 3 pallets out back with some of the finest dinosaur poo you can buy.” After doing a web search and contacting the show, 5 months later he was in Las Vegas filming his sale of Coprolite on Pawn Stars. Rick bought the piece featured on the 2019 calendar’s cover for $1,100! Shortly after being featured on the show, David heard a Jade collection was for sale and bought 6 pickup trucks full of the gemstone. He then began his rock store on eBay and it has grown very nicely.

Choosing the Print Shop

“I chose PrintingCenterUSA over the others because your front page says that you have been in business for 40 years. That sold me.” says David. He liked the price we offer over other online printing companies, as they are more reasonable prices. “The quality is great and I can say nothing but good things about your products.”

David now sells his calendars on his eBay Rock Store. He has since bought 3 more Jade Collections and is now the largest seller of Wyoming Nephrite / Jade on eBay worldwide! Freitag says, “I have had great interest in geology and rocks for over 40 years. Why will I keep doing it? Because Wyoming Rocks!”

Is your grade, junior high or high school thinking about printing custom yearbooks? PrintingCenterUSA is here to help with all your education printing needs. Whether you choose to upload your own design files or utilize our free templates, we make online yearbook printing easy and will deliver them to you quickly and at a reasonable price! Below are 4 reasons we think yearbook printing is important for any educational institution.

1. They Are a Great Public Relations Tool

Yearbook printing can be a great PR tool because they show off the personality of the school. If you’re looking to use your yearbook as a public relations tool, include the highlights of the opportunities offered, such as courses, clubs, athletics and facilities. This helps sell the community to potential businesses, students, and/or faculty. You can also include sponsors from local businesses and family members to help add a little profit to your bottom line.

2. The Educational Experience

Designing school yearbooks can be a great learning experience for students interested in photography, journalism, graphic design, typography, and marketing. Educate your students by having them go out and take photos at sporting events, pep rallies, fundraisers, plays, and more! They can also interview fellow students to have quotes to go along with their pictures. From there, they can use those images and quotes to design their yearbook, which helps to expand their creative knowledge.

3. Serves as a Memory Book for Students

Class yearbooks are a wonderful way to tell the story of the school year. Include pictures, memorable quotes, projects or events that took place that year to help the memories live on forever. Later in life, when students look back at their yearbook, they will get to remember everyone who made an impact in their life.

4. They Are a Piece of History

What better way to capture a piece of history than with school yearbook printing? They help to capture events, dates, scores, trends, news, facts and figures. They include accurate records of grades, names of students, faculty and staff. Show off the participants of sports teams, band, cheer, choir, clubs, and more! You may also want to add in information such as enrollments, sports statistics, events and news.

Affordable yearbook printing can help set your school apart while also serving as a keepsake for the students to look back on. Running late on your yearbooks? Order your last minute yearbooks online now! Help keep your students’ younger years alive for years to come by printing an online yearbook today!