Everyday Holidays Craftalong January 2024

Crafty Shenanigans Craftalongs
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I’m a fan of “Everyday Holidays”—those silly, unnecessary, and unofficial holidays celebrating just about anything during the year.

I’ve used these over the past 2-3 years to learn something new and celebrate each and every day. I find doing this helps me on the especially hard “down” days.

I’m starting this thread to share these “Everyday Holidays” as prompts for creating any craft you desire.

This is a no excpectations, no pressure “craftalong.” Come and go as you please, lurk, or do anything else you desire on here.

I did create a Google Sheet a while back with the Everyday Holidays, which I hope is OK to share here. It’s a shared document with open access to anyone with the link, just FYI.

I’ll also add the January holidays here, and I hope to come back each month to post, but… I’m going to keep this low pressure for myself too, lol.

Here’s the Google Sheet:

I’ve never “hosted” a craftalong before, and I’m not sure if I’m even allowed to, so please correct me if I’ve broken any rules!

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January Monthly Observances

  • Blood Donor Month
  • Braille Literacy Month
  • CBD (cannabidiol) Month
  • Hobby Month
  • Hot Tea Month
  • Mentoring Month
  • Oatmeal Month
  • Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month
  • Slow Cooking Month
  • Soup Month
  • Sunday Supper Month

January Weekly Observances

First Week:

  • Celebration of Life Week (celebrate your life)
  • New Year’s Resolutions Week

Second Week:

  • Mocktail Week
  • Folic Acid Awareness Week
  • Home Office Safety and Security Week

Third Week:

  • World Kiwanis Week

Third Full Week:

  • Hunt for Happiness Week

Fourth Week:

  • Tax identity Theft Awareness Week

Last Week:

  • School Choice Week

Last Full Week:

  • Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists Week

8 days beginning the third Saturday:

  • International Snowmobile Safety and Awareness Week

7 days beginning third Sunday:

  • Fresh Squeezed Juice Week

7 Days starting second Sunday:

  • Pizza Week

Starts second Sunday:

January 17-21:

  • No name-calling week

I’m missing a few days for the daily observances; I’ll try to add them tomorrow.

January Daily Observances
1 New Year’s Day

International Public Domain Day

Polar Bear Plunge Day

World Day of Peace

Blood Mary Day

Hangover Day
2 World Introvert Day

Buffet Day

Cream Puff Day

Personal Trainer Awareness Day

Science Fiction Day
3 Chocolate Covered Cherry Day

Drinking Straw Day

JRR Tolkien Day
4 World Braille Day

World Hypnotism Day

Missouri Day

Spaghetti Day

Trivia Day
5 Bird Day

Screenwriters Day

Whipped Cream Day
6 Bean Day

Cuddle Up Day

Shortbread Day

Technology Day
7 Bobblehead Day

Tempura Day

Old Rock Day
8 World Typing Day

Earth’s Rotation Day

Winter Skin Relief Day

Argyle Day (pattern derived from tartan of Clan Campbell of Argyll in western Scotland)

Bubble Bath Day

English Toffee Day

JoyGerm Day (spread happiness)
9 International Choreographer’s Day

Apricot Day

Balloon Ascension Day (hot air balloon flight)

Law Enforcement Appreciation Day

Static Electricity Day
10 Bittersweet Chocolate day

Cut Your Energy Costs Day

Houseplant Appreciation Day

Save the Eagles Day
11 Heritage Treasures Day

Arkansas Day

Human Trafficking Awareness Day

Milk Day

Clear Off Your Desk Day

Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friends Day
12 Curried Chicken Day

Kiss a Ginger Day

Marzipan Day

Pharmacist Day
13 Korean American Day

Peach Melba Day

Rubber Ducky Day

Sticker Day

Stephen Foster Memorial Day (U.S. composer)
14 World Logic Day

Kite Day

Dress Up Your Pet Day

Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day

Ratification Day (Act ending the American Revolution)
15 Museum Selfie Day

Bagel Day

Booch Day (kombucha day)

Hat Day

Strawberry Ice Cream Day
16 International Hot and Spicy Food Day

Appreciate a Dragon Day

Religious Freedom Day

Without a Scalpel Day (celebrating the opportunity to perform surgery without a scalpel—interventional initiative)
17 Bootlegger’s Day

Kid Inventor Day

Classy Day (and Betty White’s birthday)

Hot Buttered Rum Day
18 Michigan Day

Thesaurus Day

Winnie the Pooh Day
19 Popcorn Day
20 Buttercrunch Day

Cheese Lover’s Day

Disc Jockey Day
21 Hugging Day
22 Blonde Brownie Day
23 Handwriting Day
24 Global Belly Laugh Day
25 Bubble Wrap Day
26 Plan for Vacation Day
27 Library Shelfie Day (at home or at your local library!)
28 Data Privacy Day
29 Puzzle Day
30 Dia da “Saudade”. “Saudade” is a Portuguese word without a direct translation to English; it means the feeling of missing a place or someone. It could be roughly translated as nostalgia, but it’s more about the longing/yearning for the thing or person you miss. It’s widely used in Brazil.
31 Backwards Day
First Monday Thank goodness it’s Monday (celebrate the first Monday of the year with vigor and energy)
First Saturday Play Outside Day
Second Monday Clean Off Your Desk Day
Second Tuesday Shop for Travel Day
Second Saturday Vision Board Day
Second Sunday Sunday Supper Day
Third Monday Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Third Saturday Use Your Gift Card Day
Third Sunday World Snow Day

World Religion Day (celebrates the commonality of the major faiths in the world).
Third Thursday of each quarter Get to Know Your Customers Day
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I’m off to bed now, but I’ll add suggested “crafts” for some of the celebrations when I log in tomorrow.

I hope some folks will join me in celebrating every day and being inspired to create some themed stuff :heart: :slight_smile:

UPDATE:

As promised, some resources and suggested activities/crafts for some of the celebrations in January. If you do any of the suggested activities, or any other activities related to the celebrations, post here so we can celebrate together :slight_smile:

All resources I’ll share in this thread are just some links I’ve collected over the years; I have no relation to these sites, unlessotherwise specified (there are a couple lonkd from my websites here and there). If links are not allowed, please let me know! Also, if you find any broken links, please let me know, and I’ll remove them.

Soup Month Ideas

  • Make your favourite soup recipe this month
  • Make a new soup recipe this month

Soup Month Resources

65 Best Homemade Soup Recipes for Cold Weather from food.com
35 Vegan Soup Recipes from Taste of Home

Sunday Supper Month Ideas

  • Cook something with your family
  • Cook something new

Resources for Sunday Supper Month

10 Reasons Why You Should Carve Out Time for Family Meals (article from EatingWell Magazine)
The Benefits of Eating Together for Children and Families (article from HealthLink BC)
Eat Together, Eat Better Resources from Washington State University—resources for parents, nutrition an health educators.

Ideas for Hobby Month (do we really need these, lol?)

  • Choose your hobby (or hobbies) for each week of January
  • Schedule time for your hobbies
  • Try a new hobby or a hobby that you’ve been intimidated by
  • Pick up a hobby you had set aside and miss

Resources for Hobby Month

Six Reasons to Get a Hobby (article from Psychology Today)
Why You Should be Scheduling Your Free Time: How Hobbies Improve Your Creativity and Productivity (article from Rescue Time blog)
Here’s the Secret to Finding “Hidden” Time for Your Hobbies (article from Take Lessons blog)
Why Teenagers Should Have Hobbies (article from Evolve Treatment Centers

Resources for some of the Daily Celebrations in January

Hopefully in the future these will be a tad more organized, but for now I hope they’re at least somewhat helpful

Resources
New Year’s article on History.com
New Year’s Day Wikipedia Entry

Introversion (article from Psychology Today)
Goodreads Summary of the book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain

JRR Tolkien Encyclopedia Britannica article
The Tolkien Society
JRR Tolkien The One Wiki to Rule Them All Fandom

Spaghetti and Its Sauces (article from History.ca)
How to make homemade pasta with and without pasta machine (article and video from All Recipes)

Birds of the World, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Avibase - The World Bird Database

Pulses Recipes
History of the Bean from vegetablefacts.net

Fossil Rock Anthem
Words from the Wild - It’s Geo Time, video from the Kingston Frontenac Public Library for ages 5 and up
Rocks Facts from National Geographic
Rocks: Igneous, Metamorphic and Sedimentary (article from Geology.com)

51 Vision Board Ideas for Your Important Goals—article from Develop Good Habits blog, contains an explanation of what a vision board is and how to create one.

What is Static Electricity? (article from LiveScience)
What Causes Static Electricity? (article from LiveScience)
How can I stop getting static shocks? (article from McGill University Office of Science and Society)
For Science! Why are static shocks so bad during the winter? (auto-play video from The Weather Network; text below video).
How to Get Rid of Static Electricity in Blankets (article from Hunker blog)

Caring for House Plants (links to several plant-care articles on Better Homes and Gardens
Indoor Plant Care 101 from plants.com
Best Indoor Plants for People with Asthma (article from Verywell Health
Why You Should Talk To Your Plants, read with a grain of salt; 10 participants is hardly a large enough sample. But there’s no harm in giving your plants some extra love.

How to Organize Your Desk - 5 Essential Tips, blog post from Almost Practical, a professional organizing blog.
How to Keep Your Desk Clean and Organized, blog post from 10 Desks, a website for finding the best desk for your work or business.
10 Tips to Keep Your Desk Clean, Organized, and Productive, blog post from Time Management Ninja, a blog about time management and productivity. Though I’m not sure how a desk can be productive…

History of Marzipan, article by Hermine’s Old World Confections.
What Is Marzipan?, article from Taste of Home, includes instructions on how to make it.
What is Marzipan? Plus, How to Make it From Scratch, article from FOOD52.
Marzipan Recipe: 3 Ways to Use Marzipan, article from Masterclass, includes an explanation of 5 different types of marzipan, 4 ways (not 3) to use it, and an explanation of how marzipan differs from almond paste.

History of Kites, article from the American Kitefliers Association
Complete History of Kites, article from Now You Know Daily
How Kites Fly, article from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, includes a video of some super cool indoor kite flying
Neil deGrasse Tyson on Mary Poppins, Kites, and Physics, a snippet of an interview with the renowned physicist on the StarTalk Radio Show. Only 3 minutes long and super worth watching, because this guy is really funny
How to Make a Simple Kite, a 2 and half minute video from Inner Child Fun Media, showing you how to make a simple kite with easy to find materials.

A [British] History of Hats
Evolution of the Hat: A Historical Timeline, includes an embedded GQ video entitled 400 yeas of hats in 3 minutes.

7 Real-Life Dragons that Live Up to Their Name, article from National Geographic
Dragons: A Brief History of the Mythical, Fire-Breathing Beasts, article from LiveScience, includes a brief mention of real-life komodo dragons
Bearded Dragons, fact sheet from National Geographic
How to Draw a Dragon - 50 Best Dragon Drawing Tutorials from Easy Drawing Tutorials
How to Draw All Kinds of Dragons: Art Projects for Kids

Interventional Initiative page on Interventional Radiology and MIIPs. Content Advisory: embedded video contains images of Minimally Invasive, Image-Guided Procedures.
What Are MIIPs? article from the Interventional Initiative website
Content advisory: video of Minimally Invasive, Image-Guided Procedures: Without a Scalpel: The Secret World of Interventional Radiology.

11 Amazing Things You Didn’t Know Were Invented by Kids, article from Mental Floss magazine
10 Great Inventions Dreamt Up by Children, blog post on Great Business Schools website
Let’s Invent Something Together!, article from Scholastic giving tips for parents and caregivers to encourage young ones to invent
6 Ways to Encourage Young Inventors, article from InventHelp Blog

Martin Luther King Jr. Biographical page on the Nobel Prize website
Martin Luther King Jr. Day article on Encyclopedia Britannica
5 of Martin Luther King Jr’s Most Memorable Speeches, article on Washington Week. Includes embedded videos of all 5 speeches
I Have a Dream…, Martin Luther King Jr.'s Historic Speech in full text, includes embedded video

thesaurus.com
This Is How the First Thesaurus Got Started, Reader’s Digest article
10 Fascinating Fats about the Thesaurus for Thesaurus Day, Mental Floss article

The History of Popcorn, article on The Spruce Eats
How Popcorn Became a Much-Loved Snack, article from BBC Future
A bunch of popcorn recipes from AllRecipes
19 Best Flavored Popcorn Recipes, article on Taste of Home
How to Make Popcorn at Home. I make it in a brown paper bag in the microwave all the time! No oil needed and done in 3 minutes! And cheaper and healthier than the store-bought microwave stuff

A Chronological History of the Disc Jockey 1887-1988, article on Flow Music blog
What Does a DJ Do?, article on Career Explorer
What Exactly do DJs Do Live?, article on Live About
The Most Influential DJs of All Time according to Ranker.
The Best DJs in the World right Now according to Ranker

Wikipedia Article on Blonde Brownies
Blondies & Brownies: What is the Difference? (article from Chowhound blog)
Blonde Brownies Recipe from the Midnight Baker blog
Blonde Brownies Recipe from taste of Home
Vegan Blondies Recipe from Simply Bakings blog

Blog Post on Creative Market: How to Improve Your Handwriting in 30 Days: The Challenge
Free Printable Worksheets for Handwriting Practice for both adults and kids
8 Ways to Improve Your Handwriting (Plus a Free Worksheet), post on The Postman’s Knock Blog

Global Belly Laugh Day website
The Health Benefits of Laughter (article from VeryWell Mind)
The Science of Laughter (article from Psychology Today)
Laughter is the Best Medicine (article from HelpGuide)
The Health Benefits of Laughter (article from VeryWell Mind)
Laughter Yoga (New Delhi, India) YouTube Video

The Accidental Invention of Bubble Wrap (article from Smithsonian Magazine)
Is Bubble Wrap Recyclable? (article from Recyclebank blog)
Why Is Popping Bubble Wrap So Satisfying? (article from The Cut)
Even robots like popping bubble wrap (YouTube clip from Wall-e)

How to Handle Vacation Plans (Including Your Summer Vacation) During COVID-19, article from RealSimple Magazine
How to Travel When You’re Broke (article from LifeHacker)
Don’t leave millions of vacation days on the table (article from CNN about using your paid time off, if you’re lucky enough to have it, even if there’s nowhere to go)
23 Armchair Travel Ideas: How to Travel Without Leaving Home (article from INSIDE Travel Lab)
Armchair Travel: How to Master Travelling the World From Home (article from Wanderlust Movement)
Armchair Travel: 45 Fun Ideas to “Travel” Without Leaving Home (post from WildJunket blog)
20 Great Staycation Ideas for Vacationing at Home (article from The Cut)
Shameless promotion advisory: Here’s a post I wrote about armchair travelling Poland.

Architecturally Bound: 20 of the World’s Most Stunning Libraries, according to Popular Mechanics
10 of the Most Beautiful Libraries in the World, according to Galerie
The 29 Most Beautiful Libraries in the World: Indulge Your Library Lust (post on Wayfaring Views blog)
The 15 Coolest Libraries in Canada, according to Chatelaine
The Most Amazing Libraries for Kids in the U.S., according to Tinybeans blog)

The Most Impressive Libraries in each USA State, according to Reader’s Digest. I think the Apache Junction library in Arizona should be on that list, too :slight_smile:

Want to turn your text backwards? This site will help you do that.

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Love this idea. I did have profiteroles for dessert the other day but I didn’t know it was cream puff day. And I’m totally down for Pizza week and Hot Tea month and lots of them.

Now to think of projects!

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Love this! I think we had some odd-holiday themed swaps on the old site. Hmmm…. How come I’m eyeing all the food-related holidays?
:joy:

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This is so fun! Thanks for hosting!

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oh, just yesterday, when I realized I missed whipped cream day, I thought I want to keep better track of these days, especially the silly ones and the food ones.
Thanks for all the lists and resources, I hope I’ll be able to play along :slight_smile:

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Thank you for joining along, everyone!

I’m open to ideas on how to make this craftlong more fun and engaging.

What would people like to see/do?

Would challenges be of interest? If so, do we want to have points awarded for completed challenges for the fun of it?

Please feel free to offer up any suggestions!

I would also love to do some video craftalong times where we can each work on whatever we want that’s related to this craftalong, if there’s interest in that. Please let me kkow!

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I don’t have a lot of ideas, but I HAVE done some things I forgot to post. For example, I used whipping cream to make banana ice cream on 1/5, Whipping Cream Day.

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And this doesn’t really count, because I’ve done this almost every day since Christmas, but yesterday on Apricot Day I had apple-apricot jelly on my morning toast. (My sister makes it and sent some as a gift.)

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My husband makes a mean tempura, but I wasn’t able to talk him into making it on Tempura Day.

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Thought about it…For-the-fun-of-it points and challenges sound fun. I have not participated in LC Zoom sessions so far, so I’m doubtful if I would. (I know lots of people enjoy those, though, so don’t assume I speak for anyone else.)

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mmmm both of these look soooo good :heart: :yum: :heart:

Thanks for sharing!

Let me think about the points and see what I can come up with. I think the easiest way for our first go round might be 1 point for every thing you make that you post here in relation to an Everyday Holiday. I think it’s OK if they’re posted out of order, on a separate day, etc. The point is to have fun and celebrate each day.

I’ll think about it and see if anyone else has suggestions before posting about points :slight_smile:

I think for the challenges, monthly challenges to do with the monthly celebrations will likely work best. I’ll think about these as well.

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AHHH! lol This is sooo up my alley. I also use everyday holidays for ways to cheer myself up when I’m down. I also have repeated crappy things attached to especially Thanksgiving & Christmas and do not celebrate them. Not that I care if anyone else does lol I get my fair share of that cheer through work. But those days are nixed from my personal celebration line up. lol

One of my past jobs was creating content for bloggers, and I used these everyday holidays for inspiration.

I work from home and I like using them to mix up my routine. lol Have something fun happen. Do something I normally wouldn’t. Inspire craftiness. lol I dunno. I like spicing things up even if it’s as mundane as cleaning my desk. lol

I’ll have to take some pictures of what I"ve done so far. One personal challenge I have this year is to work on my massive crochet WIPs. But I"m throwing in any WIP I find and wanna finish. lol My rules are real loose.
But yeah - I’m totally up for new challenges and whatnot.

I’ll have to post some pics of things I"ve made so far. For Tempura day I finished my tempura shrimp amigurumi and for House Plant Appreciation day, I worked on some plastic canvas house plants. lol I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do with those, I wanna find way to display them on my desk or something. I dunno yet.

So yeah…I’m pumped and want to write a bunch more and will later. loL.

Anyone celebrating anything today?

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SHOULD really clear off my desk, but maybe I’ll make a donation to an organization that fights human trafficking. Do have plans to make a curry with chicken, tomorrow.

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This thread reminds me of this book I got to pepper some extra fun into our year:

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The dust jacket opens out to a calendar:

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I found it in a store but one can find it online, too.

Thriftbooks link here if you’re interested.

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Came here to post that we made our curry today (Hot and Spicy Food Day) instead of on Curry Day.

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And I did watch Korean YouTube videos on Korean American Day… but as far as I can tell, there is nothing American about them, so that doesn’t count!

This guy makes amazing quality hand-crafted bags (leather, so avoid watching if you are anti-leather.)

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Not much crafting, but paying a bit more attention to the days on the calendar.
So, yesterday for popcorn day, we made some popcorn, and ate it in front of the TV.
And today made some arancini and had those and some yummy cheeses at dinner, for cheese lovers day, because we are indeed cheese lovers.
Also made soup a few times this month, for soup month and for the colds and other sicknesses that abound here.

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Wow, what an amazing collection of fun ideas! It seems like a great way to prompt some creativity, I’m going to see if I can come up with something to share too :grinning:

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I made some new soup for Hot Soup Month :slight_smile:

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It’s not a pretty photo but it was delicious. It’s cauliflower potato soup with savoury cashew cream.

I posted how I made it step by step on the main forum: Cauliflower Potato Soup with Savoury Cashew Cream

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I keep forgetting to post things on here! At our house, we made popcorn on Popcorn Day and had cheese dip on Cheese Day, and I made chicken noodle soup for Hot Soup Month. Apparently, the food holidays are the only ones that really inspire me.
:joy:

Hope you’re feeling 100% recovered from your COVID, @LindyBlues.

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I feel the same way with the “everyday holidays” lol. It’s usually about the food :yum: :joy:

I’m still not 100% and my voice is not back, so I have been missing choir… I have booked an appointment to speak with my doctor on Feb. 14th. If my voice is still not back by then, hopefully he’ll refer me to an ENT. We shall see. Thanks for checking in with me :heart:

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