Print on A4 at 100 per cent, mark public holidays on the day people actually get off, take school terms from the Ministry of Education rather than from memory, and check your own school's first and last days.
A4 is the standard here
New Zealand uses the international A series, so home printers, stationery shops and offices stock A4 (210 × 297 mm) as the default. Many free calendar templates online are made in the US for Letter paper (8.5 × 11 inches, or 215.9 × 279.4 mm), which is slightly wider and noticeably shorter. Printed on A4, a Letter layout either loses its bottom row or gets shrunk with an uneven margin. Pick A4 in the page settings and in the print dialog, and choose 100 per cent (sometimes called actual size) rather than "fit to page". If you want a wall planner bigger than a home printer can manage, save the page as an A3 PDF and print it at a library or copy shop; because A sizes keep the same shape, the layout scales up without changing.
Which public holidays to mark
The 2027 national holidays, from Employment New Zealand's table, with the day a Monday-to-Friday worker gets off:
| Holiday | Date | Day off (Mon to Fri) |
|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | Fri 1 January 2027 | same day |
| Day after New Year's Day | Sat 2 January 2027 | Mon 4 January 2027 |
| Waitangi Day | Sat 6 February 2027 | Mon 8 February 2027 |
| Good Friday | Fri 26 March 2027 | same day |
| Easter Monday | Mon 29 March 2027 | same day |
| Anzac Day | Sun 25 April 2027 | Mon 26 April 2027 |
| King's Birthday | Mon 7 June 2027 | same day |
| Matariki | Fri 25 June 2027 | same day |
| Labour Day | Mon 25 October 2027 | same day |
| Christmas Day | Sat 25 December 2027 | Mon 27 December 2027 |
| Boxing Day | Sun 26 December 2027 | Tue 28 December 2027 |
2027 is a year to watch: Day after New Year's Day, Waitangi Day, Anzac Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day all fall on a weekend, so for most office workers the day off moves to the following Monday, or Tuesday for Boxing Day. A household calendar is most useful if it shows the day people are actually off, which is what the printable calendar marks. Add your regional anniversary day by hand; the guide to working days and public holidays lists them by region.
School terms
For families, term dates matter as much as public holidays. The Ministry of Education publishes them for state and state-integrated schools and kura. For 2027 they are:
| Term | Starts | Ends |
|---|---|---|
| Term 1 | starts between 28 January and 3 February | 9 April 2027 |
| Term 2 | 27 April 2027 | 2 July 2027 |
| Term 3 | 19 July 2027 | 24 September 2027 |
| Term 4 | 11 October 2027 | no later than 17 December 2027 |
Two details catch people out. First, schools choose their own first day of the year within the Ministry's range, and their own last day up to the latest allowed date, so check your school's newsletter for those two dates before you write them in. Second, the Tuesday after Easter is a school holiday but not a public holiday, so parents who work may still be at work that day. Private schools and early childhood services can set different dates. The Ministry's page on School terms and holidays dates (Ministry of Education) also offers calendar files you can import into a phone, which pairs well with a paper copy on the fridge.
Choosing the right printable
- A year on one sheet for the fridge or a noticeboard, with term breaks shaded in by hand: the year view of the printable calendar.
- A page per month with room to write sports days, birthdays and rubbish collection: the monthly view, in landscape for wider boxes.
- A school timetable or a shift roster by the hour: the weekly planner and timetable.
- Lists for the first week of term, such as stationery or uniforms: the printable checklist.
Getting it onto paper
Open the print dialog and check four things: paper size (A4), scale (100 per cent), headers and footers (off, so the page address and date don't print in the margins) and background graphics (on, if you want the shading). Before printing for the whole whānau, choose "Save as PDF" and open the file; if the PDF fits on one page, the printout will too. Home printers leave a few millimetres unprinted at each edge, and the printables keep everything inside that. If you hole-punch pages for a ring binder, the monthly view in portrait leaves the most room on the binding edge.
For a double-sided month-per-page calendar, choose "flip on long edge" for portrait and "flip on short edge" for landscape, or the backs come out upside down. Test with two sheets first. Heavier paper of around 120 gsm or more lasts a whole year on the fridge better than ordinary copy paper, and a clear plastic sleeve lets you mark the week with a whiteboard marker.
When the next year's dates aren't out yet
The calendar only marks holidays for years whose dates Employment New Zealand has published and this site has checked, currently 2026 and 2027. For a later year it prints an accurate grid without holiday marks, rather than guessing. Matariki in particular changes date each year, so wait for the official date before printing a calendar you'll rely on.
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