Most calendars show you one month. That’s fine for knowing what’s on Thursday, and useless for seeing whether your year makes sense.
So I took Big Year, my one-page year calendar in Google Sheets, and planned 2027 for a small online shop. I made it a candle shop: the kind of business that lives on gift holidays, launches a few collections a year, and pays quarterly estimated taxes. Then I looked at the whole year at once to see what showed up.
Step 1: set the year and the holidays
Big Year has a SETTINGS tab. You set the year (2027), which days are your weekend, and a list of holiday dates.
I put in nine US holidays: New Year’s Day, MLK Day, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
One thing I got wrong the first time: the left column, “Set Your Holidays”, is where the dates go. The right column, “Date”, is a formula that moves each holiday into whatever year you picked. I typed names on the left and dates on the right, and the sheet flagged every name with a red “Input must be a valid date”. Dates on the left, leave the right alone.
Step 2: type the plan into the days
On the BIG YEAR tab every day has a box. Click it and type. I added 24 things:
- Quarterly estimated taxes: Jan 15, Apr 15 (also Tax Day), Jun 15, Sep 15
- Gift holidays: Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween, Christmas
- Four launches: Valentine collection (Feb 1), Spring launch (Mar 1), Fall collection (Aug 2), Holiday collection (Oct 1)
- Mother’s Day orders open (Apr 26)
- Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday
- Last day to order for Christmas (Dec 15)
- A week off, July 12 to 16
The whole year on one page
This is the BIG YEAR tab in print preview, on tabloid paper. Every month is a row, every day is a box, weekends are light blue and holidays are pink.
At this size you can’t read the text, and that’s fine. You’re looking at where the stuff is, not what it says. A few things jumped out.
August is empty
From the Fall collection launch on August 2 to Labor Day on September 6, there’s nothing. That’s 34 days in a row with no launch, no holiday, no deadline. It’s the longest gap in the whole year. August has one thing in it all month.
The next longest gaps are October (29 empty days between the Holiday launch and Halloween) and March (26 days between the Spring launch and Easter).
For a candle shop, the August gap is probably the right place for the week off instead of mid-July. Or it’s where you’d build the holiday collection, which has to be ready by October 1.
November 25 to 29 is four things in five days
Thanksgiving (pink), Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday. November ends up the busiest month with four entries, and then the Christmas order cutoff is 16 days after Cyber Monday.
Something I only noticed because of the layout: Thanksgiving 2027 is November 25 and Christmas is December 25, so the two pink boxes sit in the same column, one right on top of the other.
June has taxes and Father’s Day in the same week
The Q2 estimated tax payment is due Tuesday June 15. Juneteenth is Saturday the 19th. Father’s Day is Sunday the 20th. If Father’s Day is a sale for you, you’re paying taxes and running that sale in the same six days.
April has a smaller version of this. Tax Day is April 15, and Mother’s Day orders open 11 days later on April 26.
What I’d change after seeing it
In a one-month view, an empty August just looks like a quiet month. Here’s what I’d move:
- The week off goes to the second week of August.
- Holiday collection prep goes in the rest of August, so October 1 isn’t a scramble.
- Taxes for June get paid the week before, not the week of Father’s Day.
Get Big Year
Big Year is free. Make a copy, set your year in SETTINGS, add your holidays, and start typing into the days. Print the BIG YEAR tab on tabloid paper if you want it on a wall.
