Case study 03 / 06 · KidNights kidnights.com · live · 2026 · from $4.99/mo

KidNights

the family calendar

When can we see the kids? We built a calendar that answers it from the custody order, for the parents and the family around them.

Visit kidnights.com →

Services: Brand, product, web app
Year: 2026
Platforms: Web, apps coming
Pricing: From $4.99/mo

my.kidnights.com/calendar

The KidNights calendar: Skye, Logan and Autumn, October 2026

Next up

2days

Autumn comes Monday, Nov 2

Mon Nov 2 to Fri Nov 6

Skye10 years old, 5th grade, Amarillo ISDWith you now

Skye: a schedule changeJenna asked. Thu, Nov 26 to Mon, Nov 30 with Jenna

Approve Decline

my.kidnights.com · the calendarthe Carter family · sample datareal app, real screens

Summary

KidNights is a family calendar for parents who share their kids with another home, and for the family around them. You upload the custody order once; we set up the schedule, put every night on a calendar for Mom and Dad, load the school days off, and give the grandparents a link. We designed the brand, built the web app and run it on our own server.

The challenge

The answer to one simple question was buried in a PDF.

Divorced parents, new spouses and grandparents keep asking the same question: when can we see the kids? The answer lives in two places nobody opens on a Tuesday night: a custody order that says who has the first, third and fifth weekends and which parent gets Easter in odd years, and a school calendar that moves the whole schedule every time there is a day off.

The family around the parents has it worse. A grandparent asks, the parent checks, and by the time the answer comes back the weekend is planned around something else.

We wanted a calendar that already knew the order and the school year, that both homes could trust, and that the rest of the family could read without an account or a lawyer.

The approach

Start from the order. Count in nights. Keep it calm.

01
The order is the input, and the parent has the last word.
Upload the custody order once. We read the rules and quote the page each one came from; the parent checks every rule before anything goes live. One upload can hold several orders. Texas standard possession orders and Florida long-distance plans read straight through; parents in other states pick their rules in a few taps.
02
A family calendar, not a message board.
KidNights is how a family plans time with the kids. The other parent can be linked, but only that kid's schedule is shared and there is no chat. Everything counts in nights per kid, because that is how parents already think about it.
03
Every US school district, and only real calendars.
All 17,743 districts and 34,226 cities and ZIP codes are searchable. A district gets its real days off once a parent pastes the district's calendar link; we download it, check it holds a real school year, and save it for every family in that district. Until then, breaks are estimated and the app says so.
04
Grandparents never get accounts.
Family opens a link and types a code. They see weekends, holidays, school breaks and a countdown to the next visit. They never see the papers or the kid-free nights, and it costs them nothing.
05
Small onboarding, small changes.
Sign-up is a name, an email, a password and one checkbox, then five setup steps. Trading a night is a request the other parent approves or declines; nothing else moves, and either side can withdraw or undo.

Brandnight, paper, one lamp

Logo on paper #F6F3EE

Type specimen · KidNights' own faces

Who has Skye tonight?

The mark: a calendar page with a star for the night.

The name says what it counts. The palette is a bedside lamp at night: near-black, warm paper and one blue, with a color per kid on the calendar. Poppins carries the titles, Hanken Grotesk the body. We kept the app quiet on purpose, big friendly type and one accent, so it reads like a family note and never like the legal document it came from.

Componentsreal UI, rebuilt in code

Big type, round corners, one blue.

A calendar a grandparent can read from across the kitchen: pills you can tap with a thumb, a color per kid, and a dark sidebar that stays out of the way. Every piece here is rebuilt in code from the real screens: live, resizable, nothing invented.

Tokenscolor

Night#0C0C0E Paper#F6F3EE Lamp#1264FF White#FFFFFF

TypePoppins · Hanken Grotesk

AaPlan a tripFind nights the kids are with you.Poppins SemiBold titles · Hanken Grotesk body

Buttonscalendar · family

Plan a trip Change the schedule Holiday Schedule

Approve Decline More Plan an event

Navigationsidebar

Segmentsviews · filters

WeekMonthYear

AllMomDad

ListCalendar

Edit 2026

2026

Chips and pillskids · status

SkyeLoganAutumn

With you nowWith Dad (you)In 6 daysIn 14 daysZoo dayPart with you

Calendara week · the next 14 days

456789 No sch…10

Skye

Logan

Autumn

The next 14 daysSkyeLoganAutumnTogether

SAT31SUN1MON2TUE3WED4THU5FRI6SAT7SUN8MON9TUE10WED11THU12FRI13

Calendara month

October 2026

SMTWTFS 123 45678910 11121314151617 18192021222324 25262728293031

Togglesshow or hide a kid

October nights

Tap a kid to show or hide them on the calendar.

Skye8 nights

Logan12 nights

Autumn23 nights

No kids home0 nights

Inputsfamily link

https://my.kidnights.com/f/carter-family-7teqv1

Family code111111

Show the kids' photos in the previewWhen you text or post the link, the picture shows your kids' photos. Anyone with the link sees the preview, even without the code.

Cardsnext up · the split

Next up

2days

Autumn comes Monday, Nov 2

Mon Nov 2 to Fri Nov 6

2026 split

3with Mom9with Dad

List rowsholidays · changes

6MARSpring breakFri, Mar 6 after school to Sun, Mar 15Done

8MAYMother's Day weekendFri, May 8 to Mon, May 11Done

Logan: waiting for MariaFri, Jan 1 to Tue, Jan 5 with youWithdraw

Skye: with youFri, Dec 4 to Mon, Dec 7, 4 days. Dance recital weekendUndo

Sat, Nov 21 to Sun, Nov 299 days out of schoolPart with you

Selectionwho is going

With the kids

Find nights the kids are with you.

Without the kids

Find nights the kids are at their other home.

LeaveSat, Oct 31Come homeFri, Nov 6

SkyeLoganAutumn

Panelthe family card

The Carter family

Family link is on

Share with family

Menumy account

Previewhow the link looks in a text

How it looks in a text

Family calendarThe Carter Family calendar.Open the link and type the family code.kidnights.com

The Carter Family Calendarmy.kidnights.com

Screens10 real screens · my.kidnights.com, the Carter family sample data

my.kidnights.com

Family: can we see the kids this weekend? Yes.

my.kidnights.com/plan

Plan a trip: who is going, then your dates

The product

Four screens that answer the question.

Holidays, the calendar in three views, the family link and the change screen. Every screen below is the real web app, signed in as the Carter family, the sample family that never sends an email or charges a card.

01 · Holidays

Holidays as Mom and Dad columns. School days off already filled in.

Spring break, Easter weekend, Mother's Day: each one is checked for the parent who has it, with the dates spelled out. The reader handles even and odd years and half days. Until an order is read, the holidays follow the regular schedule, and the page says so. The year's split sits at the top, 3 with Mom and 9 with Dad here, because that number is the one parents want to know.

my.kidnights.com/holidays

Who has Skye: the 2026 holidays with Mom and Dad columns

02 · Calendar

Three ways to look at the same nights.

01MonthA color bar per kid, a Next up card, and the toggles to show or hide each one. Days off school sit on the dates.
02WeekSeven days: who sleeps where, and the nights for each kid this week.
03YearTwelve months at once, with the count of nights per kid for the year.

my.kidnights.com/calendar

Month view: Skye, Logan and Autumn, October 2026

03 · Family link

Grandparents see it free. One link, one code.

Family opens the link and types the family code; no account, no charge. They see the weekends, holidays and school breaks, plus a countdown to each kid's next visit. The parent decides whether the kids' photos show in the link preview and can change the code any time. The orders stay private; only the parent sees those.

my.kidnights.com/me

Family link settings with the link, the code and a preview of the text

04 · Change

Trade a night in a few taps.

Pick who, pick the dates, give a night or ask for one. The other parent approves or declines; the regular schedule stays underneath, so one change never breaks the rest. Every change you made is listed with a Withdraw or Undo button next to it.

my.kidnights.com/change

Change the schedule: who, and the changes you made

Everywherelaptop · iPad · iPhone · the same web app

my.kidnights.com

Family · laptop

Holidays · iPad

Plan a trip · iPhone

Built to run

Our own server, encrypted papers, three days to the first payment.

StackLaravel 13 on its own server
MariaDB and a private storage bucket on a DigitalOcean server we run. Payments through QuickBooks, Texas sales tax included. The same screens work in any browser on a laptop, a tablet or a phone.
PrivacyPapers stay papers
Uploaded orders are encrypted with their own key and rendered in a sandbox. We read an order once to set up the schedule, then delete the file unless the parent keeps a copy. Family sees the calendar, never the papers.
Pace271 commits in two days
Work started on October 25, 2026. The app moved to its own server and passed a security audit the next day, and took its first real payment on day three.

Where it stands

Live on the web. Apps on the way.

KidNights is live with sign-up and a 14-day free trial, no card to start. Basic is $4.99 a month or $49 a year, Plus is $9.99 a month or $99 a year, and a Family add-on is $2 a month. Grandparents and family follow free. The iPhone and Android apps are coming; the iPhone designs are awaiting approval, so there are no store badges yet.

True numberscounted, not rounded up

0/moBasic; Plus is $9.99
0US school districts, all searchable
0days free, no card to start
0days from idea to the first payment

Prices from kidnights.com. District count from the app's own data set, October 2026.

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