10 Artsy and Attractive Calendars for 2015

Joanne Berman
Joanne Berman / Joanne Berman
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A new year is coming, faster than you thought, and the new crop of calendars is ready to keep your 2015 straight! Calendars make great Christmas gifts, due to the timing, and due to the fact that they come in so many different flavors. Here are a few new ones that might make a meaningful gift for someone you know, even if it’s yourself. Prepare yourself- many of them feature cute animals and/or attractive people showing skin.

1. Animals With Mustaches

The RSPCA has an entire catalog of gifts that help support the Society’s programs for animals, including quite a few calendars. Many of them feature specific breeds of dogs for dog lovers, but Animals with Mustaches really stands out from the crowd. It features 13 pictures of various species and their remarkable lip fringes.

2. Vets Uncovered

The James Cook University Veterinary Science Class of 2015 wanted to try something different to raise funds for their graduation ball. So the Australian vet students posed nude, as a group, for their Vets Uncovered calendar. There is no question that they are all nude, yet they have strategically placed various hats, books, and farm animals over certain body parts. The students found the photo shoot to be a bonding experience. Also, ten percent of the profits will go to the Black River and Districts Rural Fire Brigade. See more of the pictures here

3. Nuns Having Fun

The Nuns Having Fun calendar is referred to as “habit-forming,” which I guess is the truth, since the 2015 version is the 11th edition of the calendar. The calendar was originally published to show that nuns aren’t the stern, dour women that you may see in the popular media. We know that by now, but the sheer joy of the images brings buyers back again and again for the calendar each year. In the 2015 calendar, we’ll see nuns jumping rope, riding roller coasters, riding scooters, and participating in other happy activities.

4. Kittendales

Hull Seaside Animal Rescue in Hull, Massachusetts, is raising funds for their no-kill cat shelter with a calendar featuring kittens -and muscular young men. It’s called Kittendales. This is the eighth year the calendar has been produced, entirely by volunteers, and it’s proved to be a winner every year. Kittens, hunks, and helping an animal shelter -what else could you ask for? See some of the images from the 2015 calendar here

5. Cole and Marmalade

The Chris Poole who put this calendar together is no relation to Moot, the founder of 4Chan, they just have the same name. This Chris Poole has two cats, Cole and Marmalade, who became internet famous through their delightful videos. The younger, orange cat, Marmalade, was diagnosed with cancer this year, so Poole put together a calendar of the cats’ best photographs to raise money for his treatment. The 2015 Cole & Marmalade Calendar is available in many languages.

6. Heisse Kartoffel

The Bavarian Farmers Association issued a calendar that asks the question “Are potatoes the dirtiest vegetable of all?” Heisse Kartoffel, or the Hot Potato Calendar, features nude or nearly-nude women with potatoes, a decidedly unsexy vegetable.

The calendar works because of its inherent ridiculousness — when it comes to the most prurient-seeming vegetables, potatoes aren’t even in the top 25. Images of beautiful women sinking in a bed of potato chips instead of rose petals, reclining in black lingerie on a sea of spuds, or posing provocatively on a potato-filled conveyor belt seem like they’re an obvious parody of far sexier pin-up calendars. But there’s also something endearingly earnest about Heisse Kartoffel. The women are all involved with the potato business in one form or another, and most come from a farm with potato production. They genuinely want to bring attention to their crop, and it’s paying off.

Order the calendar here for €15.

7. Calendar of Obscure Holidays

The Nib is a comics journalism site that features the best young comic artists. Those artists have collaborated to bring us The Nib's 2015 Calendar of Obscure Holidays. Those are holidays like National Fetish Day (January 17), National Shut-In Visitation Day (February 11), and Plan your Epitaph Day (April 6). Not only will you know what to celebrate each day, but you’ll be introduced to a whole slew of wonderful comic artists you might want to follow on the ‘net for more. The cover has been illustrated by Gemma Correll.

8. Fat Cat Art Calendar

Russian artist Svetlana Petrova began using her cat Zarathustra in her artworks in 2009 as she was grieving the loss of her mother. She recreates famous paintings, always incorporating her corpulent cat in the scene. The works became an internet sensation at the site Fat Cat Art. If you would like some of those cat classics for your home, you can order prints, or get a dozen of them in the Fat Cat Art calendar for 2015. Order early, as the calendars are shipped from Russia!

9. Underwater Puppies

Photographer Seth Casteel charmed the internet with his underwater photography featuring dogs, babies, and puppies. The swimming puppies are the subject of the Underwater Puppies 2015 Wall Calendar. There’s also the Underwater Dogs calendar, and books of photographs as well. 

10. Hyperbole and a Half

Allie Brosh gathered millions of fans with her wonderful stories and comics at the blog Hyperbole and a Half, but she’s been busy writing books for the past couple of years. Fans can see a reminder of those wonderful stories every day with the Hyperbole and a Half 2015 Wall Calendar. The reviews are great, and one puts it very succinctly: “What’s not to love?”

And here are links to calendars that we’ve featured in previous years that are available for 2015.

NYC Taxi Drivers.

The Calendar of Sexy Monsters.

The Warwick University Rowing Club.

Yoga Men.

The Heavy Equipment Calendar.

Hooters Owl Calendar.

Hot Guys and Baby Animals.

Toilets of the World.

Calendario Romano: The Roman Priest Calendar.