Keeping your family's life on track
Published Friday September 19th, 2008
The Happily Ever Active family calendar encourages all ages to be active and stay organized
Juggling one child's activity schedule can be demanding enough, so juggling schedules for multiple family members can be a nightmare. Lori Ann Roness, an enterprising entrepreneur, has devised a solution: the Happily Ever Active calendar.
The first edition of the 16-month calendar has just been released by Lori Ann's company, Lucy Pink Publishing. The calendar spans from September 2008 to December 2009. There are four months-at-a-glance, September to December 2008, with full pages for each month beginning with January 2009.
"At its simplest level, it is a great calendar that offers families a lot of space in which to keep track of their busy lives," says Lori Ann."There are over three inches of writing space available per day and, since everyone has their own column, it becomes easy to know what everybody has planned with one glance."
The calendar, which features fun, family-oriented images by professional illustrator Laura Watson, is 12 inches by 12 inches when folded.
Unlike traditional calendars, which have an image on the top half of the calendar page and the days of the month below, the unique vertical design of the Happily Ever Active calendar has the days of the month running down the left margin of both pages, with another five vertical columns available for writing in schedule information - with one column per family member.
If there are more than five members, Lori Ann suggests hanging two calendars side by side, which would provide space for up to ten family members. The calendar comes with 300 stickers of different activities that can be pasted in the family member's column upon completion. Activities include: dance, hockey, curling, mowing the lawn, etc.
"This calendar supports families in getting a bit more active, being more aware of the food they eat, and scheduling in family time - a really important thing in this day and age," says Lori Ann. "It has loads of great ideas to help families get together, have fun, and be active, without spending a lot of money."
In addition to offering 50 family activity ideas and 25 family treats, there are child-friendly snack recipes. The calendar features Christian, Muslim, and Jewish holidays and events as well as special days, like International Dance Day.
Lori Ann has been working on the idea for the calendar since 2005.
"A few years ago, I had to go to the far North for a month," says Lori Ann. "I had started to go to the gym regularly by that time (after spending years as a couch potato) and knew that it would be difficult for me to continue my workout in a small town that didn't have a gym.
"So, I started to look for exercise ideas that I could do while I was away that didn't involve equipment. But I had such trouble because the resources I found on the Internet or in magazines seemed to be focused on people who had gym memberships or expensive equipment.
"The more I looked for ideas, the more I discovered that there really isn't anything out there for the average person who doesn't want to spend a lot of money and who is juggling work, children, family, friends, and all the other things that make us so busy. The idea for Happily Ever Active evolved from there."
In addition to being available for individual sales, Lori Ann has developed a program where the calendar can be used as a fund-raising initiative for schools and non-profit organizations.
"I would also like to build partnerships with like-minded companies and organizations," says Lori Ann.
"In so doing, my company will become part of a socially responsible network whose goal is to encourage and support healthy children, healthy families and healthy communities so that, instead of worrying about our health, we can get on with the business of living and enjoy all that life has to offer."
For more information on the Happily Ever Active calendar, go to: www.happilyeveractive.ca
More Business
Search Articles
More CE Network Sites & Partners:
