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May Random Holidays – 2020

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May Random Holidays – 2020

Here are your May 2020 Random Holidays! With the current global situation happening right now, I think it’s even more important to find reasons to celebrate randomly. I think it’s essential to break the rut of playing on our devices or watching endless TV and create or find those nuggets of joy hiding in plain sight.

At the bottom of the post, you’ll find other suggested ways of celebrating. I hope some of them will give you inspiration or ideas to include these holidays in your life.

You can browse the Random Holiday Archives or add a Random Holiday Calendar as a Google Calendar (see the bottom of the post) for instructions/links.

May Random Holidays - enjoy the little things | Chocolatemusings.com #randomholidays #funholidays

Random Holiday Archives

*Balloons totally optional.

Do you need more reasons to celebrate? I know I do! Find my random holiday archives here, PLUS find more ideas & ways to celebrate random holidays. Browse through all of my hand-picked holidays grouped by month. Give your family a reason to #randomlycelebrate.

By the way, if you’d like to find out more about a holiday, check the links in the random holiday archive. You’ll find all the random holiday sources I used to compile my favorites list. Click on one of the entries in the Random Holidays Calendar for even more details!

By the way, you can add the Google Calendar to your calendar list and always have random holidays at your fingertips – each calendar entry has a direct link to the original source and the social media hashtag recommendation. (Tip: You can toggle on and off the calendar as needed!) Check out the random holiday archives here!

Skip Right to a Month to Start Celebrating:

The Beginning of Random Holidays

I started celebrating random holidays with my family over a year ago. We started celebrating to add little more joy to our everyday lives. It seems like we live for the weekend, and it always went by far too quickly. Most weeks or months were a blur, and we didn’t remember anything specific.

We never stopped to smell the roses.

I don’t know about you, but I want to have moments in my life that stand out. Ones that I remember and my kids will bring up and we can laugh about when they are grown.

After finding a few random holidays to celebrate, I decided that I couldn’t be the only person who longed for more reasons to celebrate. I decided to introduce random holidays on my blog to help families stop for a bit to create memories within their families. 

What We Did in April to Randomly Celebrate

In April, we celebrated ‘wear pajamas to work day‘ (in fact, we wore pajamas every day that week). I think it’s safe to say that many people celebrated that day whether or not they knew about it since so many people are working from home. If you’re working from home, did you celebrate ‘wear pajamas to work day’? I think the more important question is – if you’re not working from home, did you observe that day?

My kids planned all week to celebrate with our cat, Baghera (named for the black panther in the Jungle Book), on National Pet Day. They wished they could celebrate early before the ‘official’ day on the calendar. I love their enthusiasm and, of course, told them that they could celebrate early and longer than on the schedule.

May 2020 Random Holidays List

There are so many holidays to choose from! You are welcome to explore and find more holidays to suit your family’s taste.  Here are the highlights for my May 2020 random holidays list. I think they messed up on the sequence of lost sock memorial day and clean your room day. I believe that they should switch the two and not have a memorial until after you know for sure it’s lost. Haha!

Find small reasons to add joy to your everyday life with Random Holidays | ChocolateMusings.com #randomlycelebrate #joy #celebrate #holidays

Food Holidays

First of all, I love featuring food holidays. So I find as many as I can to showcase, here. Do me a favor (flavor?) if you find any other food holidays, leave a comment below. I’d love to add more to the list. It’s not just about eating all the food, sometimes it’s fun to paint or doodle food instead. All I know, is that food holidays create a bond with others and I’m happy to enhance that bond.

2- National Truffle Day #NationalTruffleDay
6- National Beverage Day #NationalBeverageDay
8 – Have a Coke Day #NationalHaveACokeDay
8 – National Coconut Cream Pie Day #CoconutCreamPieDay
11 – Eat What You Want Day #EatWhatYouWantDay (Thank you, and finally!)
13 – Apple Pie Day #NationalApplePieDay
15 – Chocolate Chip Day #ChocolateChipDay
19 – National Devil’s Food Cake Day #devilsfoodcakeday
20 – Pick Strawberries Day
21 – Strawberries & Cream #StrawberriesAndCreamDay
24 – Escargot Day #NationalEscargotDay
25 – Waffle Day #waffleday
28 – Hamburger Day #NationalHamburgerDay

Cleaning Days

Admittedly, cleaning is a necessary evil. Of course, we could just not clean. But I don’t think we want to live in squalor or have the option to hire a maid (I SO want to hire a maid!). So why not celebrate while cleaning?

9 – Lost Sock Memorial Day #LostSockMemorialDay
10 – Clean Your Room Day #CleanUpYourRoomDay
18- National No Dirty Dishes Day #NoDirtyDishesDay

Random Days Just for Fun

I remember getting the newspaper and looking for the funnies on Sunday mornings (does that show my age??). My husband still reads comics every day online. I tried to create a comic in my bullet journal once, and honestly, I’d love to create more. Do you have a favorite cartoon?

5 – World Laughter Day #LaughterDay
5 – National Cartoonists Day #NationalCartoonistsDay
14 – Dance Like a Chicken Day #DanceLikeAChickenDay
23 – Lucky Penny Day #LuckyPennyDay
24 – National Scavenger Hunt Day #scavengerhunt
26 – National Paper Airplane Day #paperairplaneday
30 – Creativity Day #NationalCreativityDay
31 – Smile Day #NationalSmileDay

State Holiday Celebrations

3 – Montana Day #NationalMontanaDay
17 – Idaho Day #NationalIdahoDay
24 – Wyoming Day #NationalWyomingDay
31 – Utah Day #NationalUtahDay

State Holidays

In celebration of the state’s statehood birthday, each month, the honored state will be on sale! I created 8 variations for each state, and they make lovely wall displays. Print it out, and frame it, and show it off! They make great gifts! All the states are available in my shop!

Other Random Holidays to Celebrate in May

The theme in my bullet journal is space/planets since we are celebrating not only Star Wars Day but Astronaut Day, I think the theme is perfect for this month.

When I was reading the different random holidays for May, at first, I thought, “why do we need a day to celebrate paperclips?” But then I realized that I have so many paperclips nestled in my drawer. And the thing is, they are not just regular paperclips! They are pretty, and so I should celebrate them!

1 – Mother Goose Day #NationalMotherGooseDay
4 – Star Wars Day #StarWarsDay
5 – Astronaut Day  #WeBelieveInAstronauts & #NationalAstronautDay
12 – National Odometer Day #NationalOdometerDay
20 – World Bee Day #WorldBeeDay
29 – National Paperclip Day #nationalpaperclipday

What Days Will You Celebrate?

After reading through the random holidays listed, which days do you plan on adding to your calendar? Are there any you could sneak in and surprise your family with a little treat or fun activity? Even if it’s making paper airplanes on the 26th with your kids, that’s randomly celebrating.

Here are a few that we will celebrate. Can you guess which ones? Leave me a comment below with your answers.

Ways we are going to celebrate Random Holidays in May | ChocolateMusings.com #sillyholidays #holidays #random

Like celebrating a birthday, these insignificant days might just become the joy that your family looks forward to every year.

Whichever days you choose to celebrate, I hope you find that these moments add joy to your life. After all, that is my goal: to spread a little bit of joy here and there to overworked and tired families so you can see a glimmer of hope in your lives.

Need Some Ideas for Creating Using Random Holidays as Your Inspiration?

That sounds fun. Here are some ways you can be creative!

  • Letter the name of the holiday (want to learn to hand letter? Here’s where to start handlettering.)
  • Write it in funky fonts (check out this post for ideas.)
  • Take a picture (I heard selfies are a thing 😜).
  • Doodle the holiday
  • Paint a picture of the holiday or you celebrating the holiday.
  • Write a blog post or journal entry.
  • Create a planner spread.
  • Create a color palette inspired by the holiday.
  • What imaginary character or Disney Princess would most likely celebrate this holiday?
  • What colors should we choose for this holiday?
  • Make a favorite dish or create a new recipe in honor of the day.
  • If the holiday had a mascot, what would it be?
  • Don’t let my ideas limit you. Find something that inspires you, and create!

If you don’t create anything – spend the time with your family or friends! It’s all about creating a better, more fulfilling life. I believe these silly, random holidays help add a little smile to your face and a bit more laughter to your days. Choose to add joy to your life.

Random Holidays – Google Calendar

After celebrating different holidays for over a year, I decided to create a Google Calendar to see all the holidays I’d love to celebrate. It makes it easy to share creations, words, and ideas on social media and with friends and family. The best part about Google calendars is that you can toggle them on and off when you don’t want to see them.

If you click on the calendar item, it has a link to the source & relevant hashtags! I’m always evolving this calendar – and I will add calendar days or corrections all the time.

Tip: The calendar will show the current month, you can navigate to the month of your choice by using the arrows or dropdown.

If you want to add my calendar to your Google calendar:

  • Go to your Google calendars and click the + next to other calendars
  • Choose ‘add other calendars.’
  • Then click Subscribe to Calendar
  • After that, paste the text below in the “add calendar.”
  • Toggle the schedule on and off when you want to access it – that’s what I do.

chocolatemusings.com_q316ucpnldal611fs2q2nnk7v0@group.calendar.google.com

I won’t list all the random holidays, but just the ones that work with ChocolateMusings.com – so, of course, you’ll see a lot of food, art, creativity & some miscellaneous holidays are thrown in as well.

Random Holiday Links:

Choose The Holidays Right for You

What if you don’t like the holidays I choose? Below are links to the other random holiday sites I found – pick your favorites and celebrate the ones that resonate with you! It’s about breaking out of the monotony and creating your happiness.

Find more to celebrate – I compiled my random holidays from the websites below. There are so many holidays to enjoy! If you find a day you’d like me to feature – leave me a note below!

May Random Holidays - Find Your Favorite - create a new tradition - add joy to your life | ChocolateMusings.com

A Deliciously Simple Layout

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A Deliciously Simple Layout – Minimal Spread

The week of Thanksgiving. We are deep in fall and this week can sometimes be rather hectic depending on what your holiday plans are. If you are traveling long distances or you are hosting this festive holiday, a big, elaborate weekly plan is probably not going to happen.  What you need is a minimal spread. Then add to it only the essentials. A weekly tracker, shopping list, sleeping arrangements, travel itinerary. Weeks like this need some versatility, and minimal designs add a lot of versatility.

Weekly Plans

For me, this week is low-key. I will work Monday, Tuesday, and part of Wednesday (maybe) but then off on Thursday until the next Monday. My kiddos are off school for the week. My husband is working from home the first part of the week (maybe – he might just take the week off). I created a deliciously simple layout and then I doodled my anticipated Thanksgiving menu down the center of the page. What a fun way to dress up this minimal weekly spread.

I really wanted a minimal weekly plan without a schedule so we could enjoy some time off as a family. I have no set plans other than Thursday, so I think we will play everything by ear. On Thursday, Thanksgiving, we will celebrate with some friends – who by the way is a trained chef. So excited to see what she cooks up for us. I am bringing muffin cup stuffing. So delicious! And some desserts because #yum.

A Deliciously Simple Weekly Bullet Journal Spread Vertical Open Squared Weekly Bullet Journal Planner Layout with large center margins

Watch the planning video, click through to YouTube and hit ‘Subscribe” for more videos. Be the first to know when a new video is available.

I’ve loved the other week’s layouts for November. The minimalistic style has been great for some much-needed time to ponder and plan without being overwhelmed with the ‘to dos’. That has been so good because this month has been a pretty hectic one emotionally, which turns into pretty taxing on my physical well-being. It’s just one of those months that I have to ‘muscle through’.

Next Month’s Plans

I think that I may include more painting and whimsy next month for my planner spreads. Whimsical seems like a great word to describe the month of December. But one thing I have learned from this month’s minimalistic style is that it creates a creativity all on its own. It is very interesting how that works out.

Below are the measurements for this weekly spread. I did not include a timeline, but one could be easily added – they are 12×12 boxes just like the other weeks in November. I left the boxes open to the side just to change-up the design. Sign up below for a free printable of this measurement guide.

A Deliciously Simple Weekly Bullet Journal Spread Vertical Open Squared Weekly Bullet Journal Planner Layout with large center margins

Thanksgiving Menu Planning (or drooling over the plans)

What is your menu for Thanksgiving? This is what I plan (hope) to eat on Thanksgiving. Just a bit of each, not a heaping plateful. I realized after I finished doodling and started to paint that I included two sets of pea dishes. Or I just forgot what the one on the left was under the gravy. I turned it into a salad. Maybe it was cranberries. I don’t really like cranberries, so that’s why I forgot about them.

Thanksgiving Dinner Planned out in my Deliciously Simple Weekly Bullet Journal Spread Vertical Open Squared Weekly Bullet Journal Planner Layout with large center margins

Remember to plan your life so you live beautifully.

~Tricia

And like that…It’s November – 1st Week of November – Minimal for Function

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And like that…It’s November.

What in the world? It’s November! I just got used to writing 2017 as the year. We are in the thick of holiday season (or very near to the thick – is that a thing?) and I am definitely relying on my minimalistic weekly designs to guide me through this busy time of year.  I decided this month to start at the beginning of the month instead of half the week’s spread from October and the other half as November. So I ended up with a couple of half-week layouts.

I had big plans for the start of this month

My big plans were to start this month off beautifully. I even went grocery shopping this morning to get ahead on…well.. life without having to drag my three kids along. All those good intentions were met at every turn with something just trying to bring me to my knees.

You ever have one of those days you know, the day that just won’t quit? That was today for me. I have worked very hard to simplify this next month and show more gratitude. I firmly believe that if I wouldn’t have tried so hard to include these two things in my life today could have quite possibly knocked me down for a good part of the month. It was that bad. I didn’t realize I would gain strength from simplifying my life and having an enhanced attitude of gratitude.

This week has just five boxes on this page plus a ‘to do’ section – it’s strange how a minimalistic design can bring such peace and tranquillity amidst chaos.

What do you do for tranquility?

So I would like to know what you do that helps bring tranquility to your life when your whole day goes awry.

  • Do you meditate?
  • Do you exercise?
  • Yoga?
  • Eat Chocolate?
  • Binge-watch your favorite show?

After I post this, I am going to go mindlessly doodle.  Maybe it will be amazing. Maybe not. Today it doesn’t matter because I need it to mentally recharge. Regardless of the outcome of my doodles, I feel like because I planned – not just my day but planned my month to live beautifully I am able to overcome and bounce back ready for a new day with renewed resolve.

Dimensions of the Spread:

Here are the dimensions of the single page plan – this could be used for a work week with just 5 days and fit two weeks to a two-page spread.

Tomorrow is a new day hand lettered quote

Remember to plan your life so you live beautifully.

Tricia

Starting in the middle of the week with the beginning of a new month? Here is a minimalistic weekly design for your bullet journal, minimalism

Weekly Layout – Mini Time Block + Pumpkins & Mummy Text

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Simple Weekly Horizontal Spread with Mini-Time Block with Pumpkins & Mummified text

It is nearly the end of October! What happened? This month went by faster than September! This month has had some ups and downs. I think I take on too much emotionally. I internalize everything. Journaling has helped me overcome this and get me out a slump or help me pull myself back up and keep moving on. I created a simple weekly horizontal spread with a larger place for daily ‘to dos’ and a small area for time-blocking.

This spread focuses focus on just the area of time that I am struggling with – the evening time, which is when I do a majority of my blog/video work. I find that if I am slipping into a slump of some kind simplifying gives me freedom, which reignites my creativity. This is a HUGE reason why I am an advocate for my bullet journal. I have the flexibility to change things week-to-week or even day-to-day based on what I need.

Weekly Horizontal Bullet Journal with mini-time blocking and cute pumpkin doodles

Last week I tried to time block my whole day but left little room for those pesky ‘to dos’ that creep up but don’t need a time-slot. If I start using dailies, I think that weekly overview of the time blocks would be more beneficial. I haven’t made the leap to using a daily planner yet.

Ways to use the time block

In the video, I thought I might write the tasks assigned to the time block below, using brackets to designate the tasks for the block of time. But I could instead use color to appoint blocks of time assigned to a task. Hmmm.

Left side weekly spread view, pumpkin details and time blocking are sure to warm up that inspiration | Chocolate Musings

Right side weekly spread view, pumpkin details and time blocking are sure to warm up that inspiration

Cohesive Weekday Plans and Off-the-Cuff Weekends

I start my weeks on Monday if nothing else to make my weekends look larger. But I like having my weekdays together – it makes things feel more cohesive. A little section for meals, general ‘to dos’, fill up what might be considered the un-scripted bottom part on the left page.

Saturday and Sunday nestle nicely together. I do not time block those days – we do lots of family things like going to the park or playing frisbee outside or in the cul-de-sac or building the tallest Lego tower ever so Lego Batman can scale to the top of the table or going to QT (QuikTrip – a local gas station that has fun drinks!) that are completely unscripted and usually spur-of-the-moment type activities. Sometimes, we just sit and watch a movie. Often times, my little girl (who is turning 6 tomorrow! – what???), will ask me to show her my art for the week and she will try out my techniques. She saw my ‘mummy video’ (see the post here on how to create mummy text) and immediately tried it out.

If I have errands or events, I will jot them down in the Saturday/Sunday slots – but those days usually stay pretty clear.

Chocolate Musings on YouTube!

YouTube Planning Video

I created a video of my set up for this week. Watch the video below or on my YouTube Channel here. Don’t forget to like and subscribe for future videos.

Mummy Text and Script Hand Writing

I discovered that making Mummified text was so much fun – and completely appropriate for the nearing holiday, I added some mummy text to the weekday names.  If you missed it, here is the tutorial for making mummy text or mummy pumpkins or mummied mummys. Whatever you wish to mummify.  The orange washi tape is to mark my monthly calendar (see the set-up here). I love the sparkle!

Doodle Details

I love the days written over the top of doodled pumpkins and the swirls of the green vines on the pumpkins below. Just enough whimsy and doodle to keep the page interesting, but give enough space to write and plan and all the things.

Overall

Overall I love this Simple Weekly Horizontal Spread. It has enough space to plan and create and enough function to accommodate schedules.

Mummy text and cursive writing mix for days of the week | Bullet Journal Weekly Layout with Mini-Time Block
Weekly planner layout with mini-time block and fall doodles

What I Need Help With – and What I am Going to Do

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There’s a question that I glaze over just like a tasty doughnut. I know I have done it and not just once. No, not glazed a doughnut, but ignoring things that I really want to work on or admit what I need help with or “things to work on”. However, one day this last week, I was reading over the #planwithmechallenge prompts for October and this question jumped out.

Since I have started bullet journaling I have seen so many improvements in my life. So I decided to take this question on. I could list dozens of things that I want to improve. But I tend to shy away from making a laundry list of all the things I need to work on. Overwhelm takes over and I already have a tendency to beat myself up about the things I need to do.

This time I decided to think of the first four things that I needed help with. I limited myself to just four. If you are doing this exercise, decide to limit yourself – it will help to keep you from being overwhelmed more than you realize. These were things I could do for myself, I didn’t have to rely on someone else’s commitment. I chose four ideas for my habit tracker, goals, or personal development.

My Things to Work on:

  1. Read or listen to more books
  2. Idea Implementation
  3. Time-block
  4. Confidence

I didn’t just list the things I needed to work on and close this dotted A5 companion of mine. I listed a little blurb about what I meant and defined it further.

Things to work on... Free Printable Exercise deciding what you need help with and what you are going to do about it.

YouTube Video Walk-Through

Chocolate Musings on YouTube!

This prompt was the inspiration for my weekly bullet journal spread – I decided to create a time-blocking spread to help achieve some of these goals. You can read the post here.

I created a video of my set up for time-blocking and the process behind it with an overview of the month’s layouts so far. Watch the video below or on my YouTube Channel here. Don’t forget to like and subscribe for future videos.  The first part of the video is my “things to work on”.

For instance:

Idea Implementation  – I have so many ideas! I need to streamline ideas. Focus on one at a time instead of trying to do them all. I need to finish projects instead of starting a new one before I complete a project.

Give yourself a why:

Why in the world do these things matter to you? Only you can know that. I want to read more books. Well, because I miss it and like many things I have allowed life to consume all my time. I want those words back in my life. My other why? I love to learn. I want to continue learning. All the things.

Ask: What is holding you back?

I find it is good for me to identify my excuses or my obstacles. For instance – I don’t want to buy more books because, well, we have a problem with clutter in my house as it is. I don’t need more. I don’t like reading on my phone as much. Time is an issue for sitting down and reading. Audiobooks are so expensive!

The biggie: What are you going to do about it?

Sign up at the library already for their free resources to books and audiobooks. They have so many resources. This takes the monetary issue out, I don’t collect clutter, I can listen to the books while getting ready or driving since I download them to my phone.

Measure it! When can you count it done?

So in the case of reading or listening to more books – I will measure in quantity. If I read or listen to just one book per month, it will be an increase in what I am doing. I’ll track for 3 months (a random number I chose) then reassess and see if I need to increase it or if it is working. Maybe I will find another source for books or decide to try audible or read one on kindle.

Notes:

Chances are if you haven’t done something already, there are reasons. Maybe they are just excuses, maybe there is something bigger preventing you from doing what you want. Don’t ignore a concern.  Address it. Make a note, figure out what it means to you or what you need to do about it. This is a way to help you be happier with you. There are no judgments – let yourself be you. It’s ok.

I am not sure how I will track “Confidence” as I wrote down in my bullet journal. So I’ll do some research so I can define it and measure it.