Every fall the shops fill up with 2027 wall calendars: photo calendars, planner posters, big year-at-a-glance sheets. Buying one is easy. The question is whether it'll still be useful in May, when half your plans have moved.
This post compares buying a paper 2027 wall calendar with printing your own from an editable sheet, on the things that matter once it's on the wall: size, edits, sharing, cost and how it looks.
TL;DR
- Buy a paper wall calendar for looks and zero setup; print your own when plans change often.
- A printed-your-own calendar needs a printer that takes Tabloid or A3, or a print shop.
- The common mistake is buying a pretty month-per-page calendar when you needed to see the whole year.
Who this is for
- Office manager: The office wall needs a year calendar that stays accurate when leave and closures change.
- Interior designer: You want a wall calendar that fits a room, not just whatever size the shop sells.
- Parent: The kitchen wall is where the family checks dates, so it has to be current.
- Gym owner: Class schedules and holiday closures need to be on the wall where members see them.
- Small business owner: A year on the wall keeps launches and busy seasons in front of you every day.
What a bought wall calendar does well
A store-bought 2027 wall calendar is ready the moment you unwrap it. No setup, no printer, no file. Many are designed to look good in a room, with photos, art or nice paper you couldn't get from a home printer.
If you mark a handful of dates in pen and rarely change them (birthdays, a school calendar, a few holidays) a bought calendar does the job.
Where it falls short
- Edits: when a trip moves, you cross it out. A few moves in and the month is hard to read.
- Size: you get the size it comes in. If the wall needs something bigger or smaller, tough.
- One copy: it's on the wall at home. You can't check it from the office or share it with a partner's phone.
- The layout: many wall calendars are month per page, so you only ever see one month at a time.
- Next year: you buy another one.
Printing your own from a sheet
The other route is to keep your calendar in a spreadsheet and print it for the wall. The sheet is the master; the wall copy is just its latest print.
Big Year 2027 is a free Google Sheet built for this:
- Copy it to your Google Drive.
- Add holidays, school breaks and birthdays in the SETTINGS tab. They highlight on the BIG tab automatically.
- Type your plans into the day cells on BIG, which shows all 12 months on one page.
- Open the DOWNLOAD tab and pick Tabloid (11 x 17 in) or A3 for a wall. You get a landscape PDF, fit to one page, with no gridlines, with your notes and holidays on it.
When plans change, edit the cell and print again. Share the sheet with your household or team and everyone sees the same year, even when they're not in front of the wall.
There's a fuller side-by-side on the Big Year vs paper wall calendars page.
Getting it big enough for a wall
Size is the main practical hurdle when you print your own. Letter and A4 are fine behind a desk but small on a wall across the room.
- Tabloid or A3 at home: check that your printer takes 11 x 17 or A3 paper. Many home printers stop at Letter or A4.
- A print shop: send them the Tabloid or A3 PDF. You can ask for a larger poster size and scale up from there.
- More room per day: PILLAR-WIDE, part of Big Year Premium ($10 for 10 templates), gives more horizontal space for writing.
Making a printed one look good on the wall
A home print doesn't have to look like a spreadsheet. Change the border to match the room (a Big Year Premium option): Big Year Menu, then Change Border Color on Big Year, and type a hex code. Reset Big Year Border to Default brings back the teal.
Mount it on foam board so it stays flat, or put it in a poster frame and write on the glass with a dry-erase marker. When the plan changes enough, swap in a fresh print behind the glass.
A sensible split if you like both: a bought photo calendar for the kitchen, and a printed Big Year on Tabloid by the desk where plans actually get made.
Common pitfalls
- Buying month per page when you need the year: if the point is seeing what's coming, get a one-page year layout.
- Printing small for a big wall: go Tabloid or A3, or use a print shop.
- Treating the wall copy as the master: keep the sheet as the real calendar and reprint.
- Letting the printer shrink the page: print at the paper size the PDF was made for.
FAQ
Can I print my own 2027 wall calendar?
Yes. Big Year 2027 is a free Google Sheet that prints a one-page PDF of the whole year on Tabloid or A3 for a wall.
What size is best for a wall calendar?
Tabloid (11 x 17 in) or A3 for a one-page year on a wall. Bigger is possible through a print shop.
Is a printed calendar cheaper than buying one?
The Big Year sheet is free, so you pay only for paper and printing. Reprints cost a sheet of paper, not a new calendar.
Can I edit a wall calendar after printing?
Not the paper copy. With Big Year, you edit the Google Sheet and print a new copy.
Can my family see the calendar when they're not home?
Yes, if you share the Google Sheet. They see the same year you printed.
Planning next year? Get the Big Year, a free 2027 calendar in Google Sheets.
