There’s nothing more fun than using holidays to create special “events” and activities for your kids.
You’re creating memories, traditions, and creating magic that only kids can experience!
There are “obvious” holidays every month that you can celebrate like:
- January: New Years Day
- February: Valentines Day
- March: St. Patrick’s Day
- April: Easter (most years) or April Fools Day
- May: Mothers Day
- June: Father’s Day
- July: Independence Day
- August/September: First Day of School
- October: Halloween
- November: Thanksgiving
- December: Christmas/Hanukkah
But, then, there are actually special holidays for every day, week and month of the year if you want to come up with some creative experiences with your kids!
For example:
- First Saturday of February: Ice Cream for Breakfast Day
- January 13th: National Rubber Ducky Day
- February 17th: Random Acts fo Kindness Day
- January 19th: National Popcorn Day
- February 2nd: Groundhog Day
- February 9th: National Pizza Day
- February 20th: Love Your Pet Day
- March 2nd: Dr. Suess’s Birthday
- March 12th: National Pancake Day
- April 15th: National Laundry Day
- May 24th: National Scavenger Hunt Day
- June 17th: National Eat Your Vegetables Day
- June 29th: National Camera Day
- July 1st: International Joke Day
- Third Sunday in July: National Ice Cream Day
- July 25th: National Hot Fudge Sundae Day
- August 27th: Just Because Day
- First Sunday of September after Labor Day: National Grandparents Day
- September 22nd: National Elephant Appreciation Day
- October 5th: National Do Something Nice Day
- October 10th: National Cake Decorating Day
- November 18th: Mickey/Minnie Mouse Birthday
- November 18th: National Princess Day
- December 7th: National Letter Writing Day
You can literally find special holidays for virtually every day of the year!
So… let’s look at a couple of example special holidays that you can have some fun with (outside of the well known holidays!).
If you want some ideas on fun ways to celebrate those check out our special holidays posts!
National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day (photos on 2/2)
Ages: This is a fun one for kids and adults of all ages!
This is a family favorite! When the kids wake up on Saturday and you declare it’s ICE CREAM FOR BREAKFAST DAY, their eyes light up and the giggles can’t help but make you smile!
Whether you do a big bowl of ice cream on it’s on, scoop ice cream on top of little waffles or let the kids decorate their ice cream with hot fudge, whipped cream and sprinkles, it’ll start the day off on a fun note!
WARNING: They may wake up asking for ice cream for breakfast again in the near future!
And yes, I realize that ice cream for breakfast isn’t a super healthy start to the day, but every now and then, you’ve got to break the rules and have some fun!
National Rubber Ducky Day
Ages: Toddler
If your kids are like mine, they love their rubber duckies! This may be due to the fact that they’ve been in swim lessons since they were both 5 months old and they get to ride on a duck and say quack quack!
“Quack Quack” was Ellies first animal sound!!!
Then, add in the children’s song “5 Little Ducks” and you’ve got a winner!
For rubber ducky day, you can order a bunch of ducks for cheap on Amazon. Here’s one that is fun and could extend this day past your toddlers into preschool/kindergarten by making it a scavenger hunt and practicing their letters.
The night before, when the kids are sleeping, hide the ducks throughout the house…
When they wake up in the morning, you can announce it’s Rubber Ducky Day and start the morning off with some music like “Duck Song” or “Five Little Ducks”.
Over breakfast, tell them that “we are going on a DUCK hunt!”
TIP: If you used the ABC ducks, then consider writing all the letters of the alphabet on a sheet of paper and then marking each one off when they find it. For older kids, this will reinforce letters, counting, and math! My 3 year old has our old iPhone for the “camera” and loves to take a picture of each duck that she finds too!
After breakfast, start your duck hunt until you collect all of the ducks…
Once you collect the ducks, you can let them take a bath in the middle of the day with all of their new ducks! My girls LOVE to take baths in the middle of the day – and especially when they don’t have to wash their hair!
BONUS: If you know of somewhere that you can feed the ducks, take the kiddos on a picnic with some extra bread for the ducks!
Surely you could do this any day of the year, but it’s kind of fun to tie into a real day… as real as a “rubber ducky day” is anyways ;-).
Random Acts of Kindness Day
Ages: All
This is a great day to celebrate with kids of all ages and is a good reminder for us all to do kind things for others on a regular basis.
Start the day off by making your kids their favorite breakfast or giving them a special treat (from the dollar bin at Target), buying flowers for your wife/ . Next, use your family breakfast time to talk about what kindness means, examples of kindness that the kids can think of.
Then, ask them 1-2 people that they would like to do something kind for that day… As a family, go out and create random acts of kindness for everyone you all identified at breakfast.
While you’re out shopping or getting lunch, buy someone’s coffee at Starbucks or pick up their check at a restaurant. Tell someone in a store that their smile is beautiful.
Later that day or in the evening, talk about how doing things for other people made you each feel, and made you happiest during the day.
National Laundry Day
Ages: Kindergarten and up
This one may not be as “fun” as some of the others above, but can still be a good reason to do something together as a family that doubles as spring cleaning!!!
This is a great day to clean out everyone’s closets!
Get rid of anything that doesn’t fit anymore, that you don’t like anymore, etc.
Teach the kids about donating to less fortunate or, if you have a budding entrepreneur, help them set up a garage sale or help them with an online store to sell items they no longer want or use!
Also, use it as a way to teach them – and reinforce – bringing their clothes to the laundry room and putting them in the hamper, folding laundry, putting it away, etc.
You’re involving them in chores and being a contributor to the family, which is important.
Certainly, these are just ideas to connect with your kids and plan fun adventures, outings family projects… Of course, you really don’t NEED a day designated to do it, but if you’re like me and you have no less than 1000 things going on on any given day, then it’s sometimes a good reason to stop and enjoy the moments!
Get creative and let me know what other special holidays you celebrate with your kids!
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