12 Random Holidays to Celebrate With Your Family

Who says you need a super awesome reason to celebrate?! Here are 12 random holidays to celebrate with your family to make life a little more…cheery!

There have been a handful of blog posts over the past few years where people lament on how they hate social media because it makes them feel like bad moms – especially on the holidays. Fortunately for me, I’m not one of those people – I absolutely love seeing people celebrate life with their family, and I’m blown away by the creativity of some. I like doing creative and fun things as much as the next person, but I don’t really go all out very often. It’s fun to see other people doing that though!

I think something that is important is just celebrating for the sake of celebrating. I know some may not agree, but I think some of the best memories come from those small moments. I found the website National Day Calendar, and it’s kind of fun to see a listing of all the “national days” throughout the year. Most of them are silly, but it’s a great place to go for inspiration if you are just feeling like celebrating.

I thought it would be fun to share one of the random holidays from each month that would be fun to celebrate with your family. I was tempted to choose a food-related one for each month (there are tons of food days!), but I decided to go with ones that were a little less conventional. There’s always a reason to celebrate, right? I’ll start with August and go forward, since that’s the month we are in!

(note – some of the dates may change each year)

August:

National Toilet Paper Day is today, August 26th. I know, at first glance it may seem funny to celebrate toiler paper – but really, aren’t you grateful for it?! I have a friend who served a mission in a foreign country, and no one used toilet paper there. He said he had a newfound love and gratitude for toilet paper when he returned to the states.

After replacing the rolls, you can talk with your children about simple ways they can help the environment – from using reusable bags at the store, to not using disposable water bottles, there are so many ways. See how many fun ideas you can come up with!

Or you could play a toilet paper game! There are tons of ideas on Pinterest.

September: 

The 13th is Kids Take Over the Kitchen Day! Most of you know that I’m pretty passionate about involving children in meal preparation and kitchen duties – and this could be a really fun day to celebrate. You could let your kids plan all the meals for the day and help with the grocery shopping and meal prep. Or, you could issue a challenge to them to each find ingredients in the pantry, freezer, or refrigerator to make a recipe for dinner or dessert. It may be a little bit risky doing that, but I think it’s a fun way to get them involved and get their minds working!

October:

Who doesn’t love cake? October 15th is National Cake Decorating Day! I wrote a post awhile back about a cake decorating party, and this would be the perfect day for that. You could make individual cakes and let your children have their imaginations go wild as they decorate them, you could all take a cake decorating class (either online or at a local craft store), or you could all make one big cake – and eat it – together!

November:

Unless it is snowing, I think November is the best time to go on a hike! The weather is cooling down, and the leaves are all changing colors. It’s absolutely beautiful! Make a picnic lunch or dinner and take the kids to a nearby hike to enjoy the great outdoors on the 17th for National Take a Hike Day.

December:

We don’t travel as much as we wish we could – simply because it costs money! However, you can always take some time to pretend to travel by trying out ethnic cuisine, going to museums, or watching foreign films. On the 8th, it’s Pretend to be a Traveler Day. Have your kids each pick a place they wish they could go, and together, you can come up with a way to pretend to travel there – whether it be through food, watching a movie, or even just looking up facts about the place on the Internet and planning a future trip!

January:

There are many ways to cut energy, and on the 10th, you can celebrate National Cut Your Energy Costs Day! You may remember this post I wrote ways to cut energy and help the environment – maybe go through this list with your children and see which things you can improve on as a family. For a more “fun” idea, you could turn off all electronics and unnecessary lights in the house for the day. Instead of using modern conveniences, you can show your children how to read by light, cook outside by fire, and wash clothes by hands!

February:

Everyone needs a little more kindness in their lives, and the 17th of February is Random Acts of Kindness Day! Come up with some ideas with your children for ways they can spread kindness to others by simple acts. You can check out this post for 40+ random acts of kindness ideas to get you started. I think a fun idea is making a package of goodies, toiletries, etc. that you can give to homeless people. You could even put a couple rolls of the Scott’s Tubeless toilet paper in them!

March:

I love doing crafts with Jack! There are so many fun and simple ideas, especially on Pinterest. At my church, we sometimes have “Super Saturdays” where they have a ton of crafts for the women in our congregation to come and make while visiting with others. You could create your own craft day like this for your children on Children’s Craft Day on the 14th!

April:

We live in a world where children and adults alike are sadly living sedentary lives. There’s so many reasons to just stay inside and not move, so on April 6th, make it a goal to get out and walk with your family for National Walking Day! Whether you walk to school or work instead of using a car, or you go on a fun walk as a family, it’s a great day to make a goal to be more active!

May:

I’ve always enjoyed scavenger hunts – I’m pretty sure most of my birthday parties growing up involved one! The 24th is Scavenger Hunt, and you could put together a fun one for your family. There are nature scavenger hunts – which are probably the simplest – or you could do a door to door one (or even just one around the house!) Make it even more exciting with an incentive at the end.

Something similar to a scavenger hunt that I love is a bigger and better hunt! Basically, you start with something small (so a penny, a roll of tubeless toilet paper, etc.), and then go door-to-door asking for something bigger or better. We’ve ended up with some pretty fun items!

June:

Have you planted your garden by the 13th? If not, get it all weeded and ready to go for some late-blooming plants and national weed your garden day. If you have, make sure it’s weeded properly so your plants can grow. I remember I always hated pulling weeds growing up, but I’m glad my parents made me. If you have any plants that have grown by this point, you could make a delicious new recipe using them as a reward for finishing the gardening!

July:

Do you (or your children) have a lot “stuff”? I think most of us do. For me, it’s hard to get rid of things! However, I think it’s important to make a regular effort to declutter our lives and homes. On the 15th, have everyone in your family go through their things and find a few items to give away. If the items are in good condition, as a family, you can go donate them to a shelter, daycare, or church! Make a fun day out of it by getting some ice cream afterward!