Review: Ban.do Florabunda Large Agenda

The story starts with a girl who really, really likes agendas. And gets a new one every year, whenever new ones come out, around May. And since it's the first week of June - a fitting date for the first review entry ever on this blog - Mama's got herself a brand spanking new agenda to share with you all.

Yes, I purchased a Ban.do agenda. This agenda seems to be trending a lot on social media. Let me know where you guys originally spotted/heard of this agenda! :)

Here is the beautiful baby itself:

I wanted to take advantage of the sunlight and make it look all pretty in the grass for you guys, but it was still wet from the rain - hence the tacky cardboard base

I discovered this gem on Chapters.ca when I was browsing around for a new agenda. My first impression and what drew me to this was the cover - absolutely gorgeous (IMO). I am a lover of flowered prints, and pretty much any bold prints, so this agenda may not be your cup of tea if you like something more solid and classic-looking. And just a note: the pink flowers on the cover are pretty much that neon in real life as you see in the pictures.

Back view of the agenda.

Chapters.ca never gives enough information and pictures on product details and what the inside really looks like. But I needed to see more of this beauty and what she beheld. So I hopped onto the official Ban.do website.

The second impression of this agenda that hit me, upon visiting the Ban.do website, is that this company is FUN. No, not fun. And not fun. But FUN. And it's no secret, I mean, plastered all over their website pages are slogans like, WE ARE SERIOUS ABOUT FUN. Their website includes very beautifully photographed pictures of all their products, which includes the inside of the agenda and what you can expect. Now, that's what I'm talking about! (Take note, Chapters! Or, hire me as your official photographer/product spokesperson/reviewer...)

Okay, onto my personal review of this product:

Shipping (4/5)

As previously mentioned, I purchased this item from Chapters online. It retails for $32.00 CAD (Chapters has free shipping on orders over $25.00 CAD, so that works out if you want to order just this agenda). I placed the order late on Sunday night and received it the following Wednesday. It took only 1 day to receive my Shipping Confirmation email from Chapters, and then another 2 days for the item to arrive via Canada Post. All in all, not bad.

Quality (5/5)

This agenda is pretty dang good quality. The cover is SOLID (I just gave it a good knock but you guys couldn't see.)

Tabs indexing each month, as well as some other sections (e.g. important dates and mini calendars)

Colourful printed illustrations at the beginning of each month

The material of the pages themselves and the printing on them are both good quality as well. I used my Papermate Flair pen to write my name in the agenda and you can barely see it on the other side (there is a tiny dot where I applied more pressure, though). It seems that the pages would work well for most writing instrument types - ballpoint, ink, gel, and marker-type pens. But personally, I still stand for ballpoint pens being the best writing instrument for this type of paper in the agenda, as they will write smoooooth.

The only teeny weeny downside I noticed in terms of quality is that the gold band that's supposed to hold the agenda closed seems a bit flimsy. I doubt it will break if you don't do anything extreme to it, but you probably shouldn't be grabbing your agenda by the band and doubling it as a yo-yo. I think for design reasons, they decided to go with the same band that is on their smaller agendas (you can see those here), which might suit the smaller agendas fine, but I think for the bigger agenda they could have considered a thicker, larger gold band. Again, it's not a big issue, I mean even if the band does break, it doesn't affect the usage of the agenda itself, although it would not be as aesthetically pleasing.

The gold spiral binding matches the gold band, and it seems to be quite solid (definitely not floppy like the ones on those 80-page Hilroy notebooks I used for school).

Content (4/5)

As I mentioned earlier in the post, in alignment with their company motto, this agenda screams FUN. It starts off with a bright blue pocket page and then a sticker page. To be honest, I think its contents are targeted for a younger audience, or at least for someone with a young heart/mind (like me). While the cover could pass off as being sophisticated, the contents of the agenda is filled with things that may appeal a great deal more to a younger crowd, or someone who is still in school. For example, on their website they advertise that in the monthly views the holidays are all conveniently highlighted. However, more than half of these highlighted days are all made-up holidays, such as "National Ice Cream Sandwich Day" and "National Thrift Shop Day." (But hey, I'm not judging, maybe these are real holidays in some places. I certainly don't mind celebrating them!) The "actual" holidays are highlighted with a light pink colour. I am not saying that someone who is older can't enjoy this agenda, but depending on what type of environment you will be utilizing this agenda in, you may not want to be flashing "National Ice Cream Sandwich Day" to your boss while taking notes in a serious business conference.

On the Ban.do website they show pictures of confetti flying out this pocket - so I was a little disappointed when I fished around inside and there was no confetti :\ They did say that there was a "surprise," after all!

After the monthly illustration, you get these two pages to write notes

After the notes section, you get this monthly/calendar view

Close up of the highlighted "holidays"

Weekly view

Each weekly view comes with their "suggestions" on how to have even more fun, and the "holidays" are also marked in pink text

This agenda showcases various illustrations, some of them accompanied by phrases, on the beginning-of-the-month pages. I think some of these pages would make great print decorations; all you need to do is throw them into a frame, and voila! Brand new artwork for your wall. Just something to consider once you're done using the agenda. I love re-purposing items, don't you? But again - while I am loving the bold colours and the brightness, the designs can be deemed, in the worst sense, "childish." The same applies to the "compliments" and "weekend to-do suggestions" throughout the agenda. And in the best sense, FUN.

Function (4/5)

We know this agenda is big, bold, and beautiful - but is it practical? I guess it largely depends on what you will use this agenda for. If you're in school, this agenda has tons of weekday space to document everyday assignments and projects. The monthly view would be very good for exams. The agenda also runs August 2015 to December 2016, so you can choose your semester.

What if you're not in school - would this agenda still be useful? Being someone who falls into that category, I would say that this agenda would still be a good thing to have. Again, it depends on what you need it for. This agenda has ample space for writing down appointments/meetings on the monthly views, and everyday to-dos on the week-by-week views. If you have kids, you could always colour-code each child and write down their schedules on the week-by-week view. For me, I plan on colour-coding the bills to be paid each month in the monthly view and then writing out all my daily to-dos and maybe appointments in the weekly sections.

The agenda is indeed 8 inches wide (as described on the site) -

- and 10 inches long -

- and almost an inch high. Just providing a rough idea in case you don't feel like making a trip to the store to touch/see/buy this agenda :)

One downside to this agenda is that it is relatively heavy. It is a hard-covered book, after all. This might be something to think about for all the students out there who have to keep changing classes, or people who have lots of meetings and need to bring their planner with them. You might want to consider the smaller version. I actually did previously purchase the smaller version from Chapters, but returned it because the month-by-month views were much too small for my personal use. The squares for each day in the month were maybe about an inch or less in size. As it is important for me to use the monthly view, I swapped the smaller agenda for this larger one.

Each monthly square is approximately 1 and 1/10th of an inch wide -

- and 1 and 1/6th of an inch high. Size does matter here!

Overall (4/5)

My final verdict is...drum roll...this agenda is a keeper. The outer shell is beautiful, and the inside is colourful and nicely illustrated. It has a good layout, making it functional. The only thing you would need to decide is if you need the smaller or larger version - weight versus more/less space to write in. Also, the smaller versions have more cover design options (maybe bold, floral prints aren't your thing) - something else to think about. You can see the smaller versions on the official website here.

By the way, you may have noticed in my review that I didn't show pictures of all the monthly illustrations and every single page that has an interesting detail - that's because I wanted to retain a little mystery so that you guys can enjoy the little surprises in the agenda when you get it. There's a page in the very back of the agenda that's quite fun, and you may have already seen it on other review sites, but I decided not to include it since it doesn't really have to do with the usage of the agenda.

Oh - one last thing for you agenda lovers out there - have you guys noticed how the interior layout of this agenda is very similar to Kate Spade and Lilly Pulitzer agendas? Is it the same publishing house that designs these agendas? If any of you know about this, leave it in the comments below!

Where to Buy

For my fellow Canadians, you can buy this beauty on Chapters.ca here. Chapters also carries all the other small versions, so be sure to check that out if you're interested in a teenier version.
For my U.S. peeps, you can purchase the agenda on the official Ban.do website.
International buyers: You can get this agenda from the official Ban.do website too! They ship international. Shipping rates will vary depending on the address you are shipping it to.

Since this agenda starts August 2015, there's still two whole months to decide if you want to purchase it or not :)

This was my very first review post! What did you guys think? Let me know in the comments on what you think I should review next. Until the next review!