The Situation
At the beginning of every New Year, I spend time updating holidays, birthdays and other celebrations for the upcoming year. I update this information in my Calendar App on my iPad, iPhone and Apple desktop computer.
The Problem
Celebrations like Valentine’s Day, Halloween and Christmas are easy to remember because they are on the same day of the month every year. But celebrations like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Victoria Day here in Canada are on a specific week in the same month but the actual date is different depending on the year. I also like to know when Daylight Savings Time is and when it returns to Standard Time so I can plan ahead for this time shift. These dates also are different depending on the year.
I also like to keep track of every friends’ and family members’ birthday and have a quick, easy to use reference on my digital devices. I found an excellent app that solves all of these problems!
The Solution
I purchased an app for the iPad and iPhone called Calendars & Holidays Pro for $2.99 on iTunes. The developer of this app is the same as the people behind one of my favourite reference websites timeanddate.com, which I have written about before here and here. This app provides me with all of the information I need to help me plan for the important dates for the upcoming year.
According to the website this website the app Calendars & Holidays Pro has the following features:
- I can view calendars for any month or year from 1950 to 2049. Now that’s reviewing the past and planning ahead!
- I can view holidays and celebrations for my country and other countries all over the world. This is handy information to have when planning holidays in other countries. I remember going to Disneyland, California on what I think was one of the busiest days of the year. It was the July 4th holiday so there were long lineups for all of the rides and venues because the park was so busy. Another time I went with the family for a vacation to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Again, we ended up there during this country’s busiest holiday and vacation weeks and the resort and beaches were super busy.
- It is really easy to add all of my family members and friends’ birthdays by inputting the day, month and year they were born.
- I can also add other events such as anniversaries, personal events and milestones.
- It also tells me when and which countries switch between standard time and Daylight Savings Time.
- It even provides information about the sun and moon phases, solstices and equinoxes worldwide.
- I can import my friend’s birthdays from Facebook.
When I look for apps to help me be organized there are a few specific things that I look for:
- It has to be relatively easy to learn and easy to use. I can honestly say that Calendars & Holidays is pretty intuitive.
- Generally, I don’t like apps where I have to register and provide a password in order to use. You don’t have to do this with this app.
- When it is useful, I like apps where I can synch the inputted information from one app to another. Every birthday and other event shows up in my Calendar app on my iPhone, iPad and Apple Desktop computer. Now that is pretty intuitive!
Now, every year till 2049 I will know exactly when all kinds of celebrations, events and holidays are all around the world. I guess I could even look ahead and see what day of the week my birthday lands on for the next thirty-six years!
How do you record and plan ahead for the different holidays and celebrations in your country and your friends’ and family’s birthdays and special events?
This is my ‘go-to’ app for keeping me organized! Thanks from Thea!
Related Reading:
How to Organize Your Personal Calendar for The Year
This sounds great! I am hoping that 2013 is the year I get an iPad — when I do, I will be looking into this app. Currently I have an excel spreadsheet that I created which holds all birthdays and anniversaries that then also gets put into my gmail calender so I can set reminders for sending cards. But once I enter the world of Apple (I also don’t have an iPhone), I will be getting this — sounds perfect for my needs.
Kenley
Hi Kenley, Your Excel spreadsheet and gmail calendar idea is a really good one too! I know when I write about these apps I am not addressing my followers who do not work in the world of Apple. I used to be a PC user until I had to move to Apple about five years ago because of my work. It was a bit of an adjustment but now I am totally an Apple device user. The Calendar app also can be set up to give alerts which is really helpful. Thanks for stopping bya t the new blog. It has been quite an adjustment in regards to the number of visits but it will be fun to watch it build up again! ~Take Care, Thea
Yeah, I had to deal with the number of visits dropping initially as well but it will go right back up again! I actually love Apple — just hasn’t been in the budget to get an iPad. Hoping though that this year will be the year though
Thanks for the info on this app– I’ll check it out!
With so many apps to choose from I love to learn about really good ones. This one is worth passing on. Thanks for stopping by ~Thea
Thanks for sharing, I might get this app
love we can see the holidays for different countries too 
At this moment, I don’t have anything to organize birthdays or specific days or even dentist app. Since being a stay-at-home, I have been all over the place, so this might just be the solution 
thanks again for sharing
I was always a working Mom since my daughters were babies. However, I think one has to be just as organized if they are a stay at home Mom too. Just a bit of warning, things will get even more all over the place once the kids get older as you try to stay on top of all of their school and out of school activities! Hope it helps in the future! ~Thea
Thank you! oh! my, you are right, thank you for the warning: imagine when he will start school. I’ve always been very organized, so is time for me to start again and January is the perfect month to start organizing things around; I always started with some rooms of our house, let’s see how that goes
I’m good with birthdays, and tend to remember them. That’s been even easier since FB tends to remind me of many. But I’m a little all over the place with remembering holidays and just keeping track of random calendar information. I’ll take a look at that app! Good suggestion!
FB is great for sending reminders about birthdays. As you said, it is all of the other events that take some time to keep track of. I like to be particularly organized and know when Daylight Savings Time starts and ends as well as Mother’s and Father’s Day so I really like this app to help me track the dates. Hope it helps you too! ~Thea
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