11.07.2008

Martha Calendars

In recent years, Martha Stewart Living subscription services have been offering calendars as free gifts to those who renew their subscriptions or give gift subscriptions. I received my 2009 calendar yesterday for giving a gift subscription to a friend. I have three years worth of the calendars and I believe I sold the 2006, 2005 and 2004 calendars on eBay. These are not available anywhere else, so their rarity level is quite high. Other free gifts from Martha Stewart subscription services have included small "Good Things" booklets and, of course, the ubiquitous canvas tote bag emblazoned with the Martha Stewart Living masthead. Recently, they were offering a digital copy of the first issue of Martha Stewart Living.
The calendars are beautifully designed and printed on high quality glossy paper with photographs from the magazine. The days of the week have helpful seasonal hints, similar to those found in Martha's Calendar column, as well as "Do You Know?" facts and figures for each month. At the front of the calendars are letters of thanks from the editor-in-chief. At the back is a helpful template with spaces to put the phone numbers of close friends and relatives, emergency numbers and a section of measuring equivalents.
The covers almost always have a photo of a floral arrangement from the magazine.
The 2009 calendar opens like a book. It was advertised as a desk calendar, but I think I prefer the vertical, hanging version.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I recently received my desk calendar for 2009. I do believe it was a calendar purchase that brought us together as friends!

As a note.. the digital version of the premiere issue never materialized. When I renewed and called customer service, they had no clue what I was talking about. A bit of a disappointment.

ANDREW RITCHIE said...

Oh, that's right, Kenn! Was it the 2005 calendar? ("Is this THE Andrew Ritchie of Save Martha fame?") Haha!

That's too bad about the digital first issue. Maybe they realized it could be duplicated and sent to hundreds of people around the world as an attachment with the click of a button.

By the way, the 2002 Holiday issue I'm selling on eBay is NOT the copy you gave me. Tomas found a copy in a consigner's donation box at the store where he works and brought it home for me. Just so you know!