Calendar

<aside> 💡 This is a simple example of how to implement birthdays in a Notion calendar

The idea was to be able to manage a classic calendar and birthdays in one database. The solution is pretty simple.

Each event have : "Date" field :

• If it's a classic event, just enter the date
• if it's a birthday, enter the birth date of your friend/son/mom/dad/dog...

"Type" field :

• If it's an event, choose "event"
• If it's a birthday, choose "birthday"

"Widget date" formula :

• If it's an event, it will output the "Date" field value
• If it's a birthday, it will output the next birthday date (recurring)

To display your Calendar, you have two solution, described below.

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Solution 1 - Calendar widget based on "Date" field

Pros : you can add events quickly with the "+" button on a date

Cons : upcoming birthdays will not show up in the calendar view, you'll have to use a separate widget

The idea is to have a classic calendar that will allow you to quickly add new events by simply clicking on the desired date. This is the standard behaviour of a Notion Calendar.

Calendar

The issue is that the birthday will not show up in it because we use the "Date" field and it contains the birth date which is in the past. So with this, I use another widget, one my Notion homepage that will only display upcoming birthday.

Calendar

With this, you keep the ability to add new events quickly in the Calendar View and you can see upcoming birthdays with the Gallery Widget.

Solution 2 - Calendar widget based on "Widget date" field

Pros : events and birthday show up in the same calendar view.

Cons : You can't quickly add an event by clicking the "+" button on a date.

With this solution, you'll have a calendar widget that display events AND upcoming birthday. The only issue is that you loose the ability to quickly add new events by clicking on a date because the calendar is generated by "Widget date" field, which is a formula so it's value can't be manually set.

Calendar