Christmas calendar help!!!

[BriC]

It's Christmas time again! What a wonderful thing to be able to give your family gifts that are personalized to the imagination's extent (thanks to Photoshop). I have spent quite a bit of time with the design of this calendar. I would hate to skip a step that I didn't know or think about. So any additional imput will be appreciated. I do have one specific question, though...

Should I put some sort of protective coating over the pages? I would like for the "grid" boxes to be able to be written on with an inkpen if the recipient of the calendar chooses to do so, but I want the calendar to be as resistant and durable as a standard (free bank) calendar.
The reason I even thought about a protective coating was because as I was admiring one of the photos that I printed, I yawned. OH NO!!!! Little droplets of my saliva (haha - merry xmas) totally ruined the picture. Even without trying to wipe.

Tell me what I should do? And if anyone tells me that MY spit was the problem... lol j/k
Here's January's photo. I decided that anyone who is kind enough to lend some advise, should at least be able to see what I'm working with.
Oh yeah... Paper stock is fairly thick photo quality but without a gloss. Printing on an HP photosmart7150. I'm sure these things factor in.
THANKS! - BriC
http://images5.theimagehosting.com/JanuaryDraft---1.jpg

[bart_hickman]

Adhesive laminating sheets from an office supply store would probably be good. You can permanently write on it with a sharpie, or dry erase pens will also work for stuff they want to erase.

I bet Office Depot or Kinkos would be able to thermally laminate them--which would be even more durable. In either case, non-glossy photo paper is better.

Bart

[BriC]

Bart - thanks for a quick reply. I thought about running the pages through a laminating machine, but I just assumed that an inkpen would not write on it. Am I wrong? I am in Georgia and asking family to break out a dry erase marker would be too 'hi-tech' LOL - I'm kidding... Us Georgians aren't like that, but my family (as most other folks anywhere) tends to skip things that aren't a nesessity if they require too much extra work.

You did mention the laminating sheets. I hadn't thought about just slapping one over the photo portion and leaving the "writable areas" without a film... Has anyone had good/bad experiences with this stuff? To trim it to the edge of the paper wouldn't cause it to peel? I don't know... I am just trying to invision anything that could be a problem and ask before I make a purchase.

I posted this followup to thank bart, but I will, until 2 weeks before Christmas, be checking and probably asking questions. You guys are great!
Oh yeah, how do ya'll like the picture for January?
-BriC