When to order calendar fridge magnets for the new year
Order calendar fridge magnets by early November to have them printed, delivered and distributed before January. Working backwards: allow 7 to 10 business days production from artwork approval, up to a week for delivery, and time for your own distribution.
The timeline, working backwards
A calendar magnet only works if it lands before people set their year. That means it needs to be on the fridge in the first week or two of January at the latest — after that you are competing with a magnet someone else got in first with.
Counting back from a mid-December drop: allow up to a week for delivery to most capital cities and longer for country WA and NT. Allow 7 to 10 business days production from the moment you approve artwork. Allow a few days for artwork to be prepared and for you to check it properly. That puts the safe order date in the first half of November.
Why earlier is safer than the maths suggests
November and December are the two busiest months in magnet printing, and everyone is working to the same deadline. The 7 to 10 day production window is what we hold to, but the queue in front of you is longest exactly when you need it shortest.
If you want your magnets individually wrapped, the picture changes completely — wrapping is a separate finishing process that takes 7 to 8 weeks. For a January drop, a wrapped order needs to be placed by early October.
Check the dates before you approve
The single most common problem with calendar artwork is not the design — it is the dates. Public holidays vary by state, school holiday periods change every year, and a calendar with the wrong Easter or a missing state holiday is a magnet people take off the fridge.
We check every calendar design before print to confirm the dates align to the correct year and that public and school holidays are marked correctly for the relevant state. It is still worth your own eye on the proof, particularly if you are distributing across more than one state.
What to order
DL (210 × 97mm) is the most popular calendar format for letterbox distribution, in either a rectangle or a die-cut house shape. A5 (210 × 148mm) gives the most readable twelve-month grid and suits a premium drop. A6 (148 × 105mm) suits posting inside an envelope with a covering letter.
Per-unit pricing falls as quantity rises — most real estate offices ordering a farm-area drop land somewhere between 2,000 and 10,000.