July Archives

July Random Holidays – Add Some Fun, Creative & Random Holidays to Your Calendar

Don’t you think that we all could need some random holidays to celebrate this July? I don’t know about you, but I know I need to take control of something in my life because it feels like everything is out of control. The only thing that I know that I have control over how happy I am – because I believe that happiness is a choice.

But choosing to be happy is tough some days! I’ve found that adding some random holidays to your monthly calendar helps create an excuse to be happy even when it’s tough.

This July, we have some fun random holidays to look forward to celebrating. Food days like lollipop day or junk food day are destined to provide a good laugh. By the way, I’d love to know which holidays you celebrate! Leave me a note and let me know which ones you added to your schedule.

Teach Yourself to Look on the Bright Side with Random Holidays

Teaching myself to look on the bright side of life isn’t easy! That’s why I decided to start celebrating random holidays. Celebrating a silly holiday is an excellent way for my family to smile and laugh. Like always, I choose to feature silly or food-related holidays, and of course, creative days! But there are many more random holidays that you could add to your calendar.

I invite you to choose some random holidays this July and add them to your calendar. You’d be surprised how adding little snippets of fun to your schedule improves your mood.

July is a special month for me – it’s my birthday month! I have a goal to focus on being happy and seeing the good this month. The other goal I have is to come up with as many puns as I can related to these July random holidays.

Find Other Random Holidays to Celebrate in July

If you’d like to find other random holidays to celebrate in July or any other month, I have a list of websites at the bottom of this post that you can search for additional holidays that suit your family. They add new holidays all the time. I created a Google Calendar which I share for free. I included instructions on how to add the calendar view so you can refer to it. You can toggle it on and off, so it doesn’t clutter your regular schedule.

Random Food Holidays in July

Falling Scoops of Ice Cream with Hot Fudge Sauce - Sundae Watercolor Illustration in my Bullet Journal Sundae Day - Strawberry Sundae Day - July 7, Hot Fudge Sundae Day, July 25, Sundae Day, November 11 | ChocolateMusings.com #sundaeday #randomlycelebrate #strawberrysundaeday #hotfudgesundaeday

1 – Gingersnap Day
5 – Graham Cracker Day
7 – Macaroni Day
7 – Strawberry Sundae Day
9 – Sugar Cookie Day
13 – French Fry Day
20 – Lollipop Day
21 – Junk Food Day
23 – Vanilla Ice Cream Day
25 – Hot Fudge Sundae
28 – Milk Chocolate Day
30 – Cheesecake Day
31 – Avocado Day

If you were to celebrate the random holiday on July 21 with your favorite junk food, what would you choose? I believe I would snack on some Hot Tamales or a Twix bar. Of course, if you made sugar cookies for the 9th and wisely stowed some away, you could snack on sugar cookies.

It sure seems like we celebrate a lot of ice cream-related random holidays during June and July. Not that I’m complaining about the ice cream. On the contrary, I think whoever designated these holidays was very wise, and we should have more ice cream random holidays. If you like ice cream, check out my June Plan With me, it’s all about ice cream.

Side note, if you want to find out about the holiday’s origins, check out the links below, I link to each website source. And there are a lot more random holidays to celebrate, more than my little featured selection.

Outdoor

5 – Bikini Day
20 – Moon Day
25 – Merry Go Round Day
28 – Waterpark Day

Here’s my way to celebrate bikini day!

Neon Bikini Illustration for Random Holiday Celebrations - Bikini Day July 5 | ChocolateMusings.com #bikiniday #nationalbikiniday

The other July Random Holiday I look forward to celebrating is Moon Day! I LOVE to paint the moon. It has to be one of my favorite art subjects. Here’s a link to all of the Skillshare classes relating to the moon. My personal favorite is by Kolbie Bloom, where she shows three incredible and easy techniques to watercolor paint the moon.

If you’re a Skillshare member, let me know which class is your favorite. If you’re not a member, snag a free trial and explore all things moon-related to celebrate on Moon day!

Here are some of my favorite moon paintings, and if you can’t tell, I love to celebrate a random holiday by creating something related to the day.

Watercolor Moon Painting - Galaxy Style - Moon Day - July 20 | ChocolateMusings.com #nationalmoonday #moonday #randomholidays

Close-Up of Hand Painted Watercolor Moon Greeting Card | ChocolateMusings.com #moon #moonpainting #watercolor

Nighttime Sky with Moon and Stars Hand Painted Watercolor Greeting Card | ChocolateMusings.com #watercolor #moon #nightsky

Hand Painted Watercolor Moon Greeting Card Paintings | ChocolateMusings.com #moon #moonpainting #watercolor

I Love You to the Moon and Back Watercolor Moon Painting - Galaxy Style - Moon Day - July 20 | ChocolateMusings.com #nationalmoonday #moonday #randomholidays

Fun

6 – Kissing Day
8 – Video Game Day
10 – Kitten Day
29 – Lipstick Day
31 – Harry Potter’s Birthday

What fun could you have on kitten day? I better not tell my kids about this holiday, we might end up adopting all the kittens!

I know my husband and my kids will find a way to celebrate video game day. Whether it’s an excuse to play or a real celebration, I don’t think I’ll ever know. Either way, I don’t know that I care.

Oh, there are so many ways to celebrate Harry Potter’s Birthday! Have a movie marathon. Wizardingworld.com features various actors & actresses reading chapters of Harry Potter. Of course, there is butterbeer and other tasty treats to discover from the magical world of Harry Potter. If you need a quiet day, you can always sit and read your favorite book in the series. Mine is book number #3.

More Random Holidays for July

1 – US Postage Stamp Day
2 – World UFO Day
12 – Simplicity Day
12 – Paper Bag Day
14 – Tape Measure Day
26 – All or Nothing Day

Check out the post for All or Nothing Day on NationalDayCalendar.com. If you need a confidence boost to do something or want to try something new, this might be the day!

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!

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 Archives

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:

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.

Plan With Me - July Background Watercolor Wash Techniques + Video | ChocolateMusings.com #watercolor #watercolorwash #bulletjournal #planwithme

I had a TON of fun creating this watercolor wash background in my bullet journal for July’s monthly calendar page. From watercolors to Tombow markers, I tried many techniques and discovered a new one with the Tombow colorless blender marker + a gray marker. Now I’m obsessed.

This month, I didn’t start with a plan. Sounds silly for a plan-with-me post. But some of the best adventures in art and in life I’ve ever had weren’t planned. I wanted to recreate a watercolor wash background for my monthly page, but that’s all I knew.

Upcoming:

I’m excited to start a new book in August, so watch for some fun plan with me videos. I’m going to try the Scribbles that Matter Covers + removable inserts and see how they compare to the bound book I use regularly. Since I was running out of pages, it’s also why I didn’t include a cover page. I had just enough pages to skip the welcome page & journal page and complete the month.

Question:

Which pages (like a cover page) do you like to include in your planner, but aren’t necessary for day-to-day plans? Leave me a comment below. I’d love to know!

The Inspiration for the Watercolor Wash Background

Background Watercolor Wash Inspiration Purple to Pink with Block-Out Areas Inspiration for July Plan With me | ChocolateMusings.com #watercolorwas #backgroundwash #bulletjournal

Here’s what I wanted to experiment with and recreate in a sense from July 2018. Funny that I tend to repeat myself every couple of years. But the technique is so fun, and the variety is endless.

In this case, I chose to do a fade ombre watercolor wash effect on the background, starting at purple on the top and fading to pinkish. Then I outlined each of the date squares with a thick outline using the same colors.

Supplies:

Scribbles That Matter A5 notebook
Tombow Dual Brush Markers
- Welcome Page: 243, 346, 373, 452, 515, 565, N65 Clear Blender
- Brain Dump/Weeklies: 373, 443, 451, 491, 493, 526, 528, 565, 636, 676, N55, Clear Blender
Watercolor Paints
Waterbrush
Paintbrushes
Cricut Air + Non-Permanent Vinyl
3×3 Sticky Notes
3×4 Sticky Notes or larger
Tombow Fudenosuke Hard Tip – Gray
Pentel Sign Brush Pen – Light Gray & Dark Gray
Dr. Ph Martin’s Bleed Proof White – for splatters on a weekly page
Pencil
Ruler
Xacto Knife
Cutting Mat

Calendar Page Watercolor Wash Quick Process:

Cut Sticky Notes to Size - and use to block off Background Areas Before Painting | Chocolatemusings.com #tipsandtricks #tricks #watercolor

Background Watercolor Wash Tips & Tricks - Use as little water as possible in your Bullet Journal to avoid page bleed | ChocolateMusings.com #bulletjournal #tipsandtricks #watercolor

Using sticky notes to block out portions of the page, then painting to the edge of the page and around the sticky notes, it created a mottled underwater look. I also tried the Tombow + bag trick. But I over watered the bag, so the paint seeped through to the opposite page.

Lesson learned: don’t try to cover a whole page using the Tombow Bag background watercolor wash technique. I used way to much water and made the ink bleed through to the opposite page.

Watercolor Wash Background Tip:

One quick tip: when you use watercolor, especially over a large area like a background wash, sometimes it can add a texture (almost feels grainy sometimes) to the paper that some pens don’t like to write on. But if you use markers, either Tombow or Crayola or another kind of marker, you won’t get the watercolor texture. Your page may buckle a little from the water itself, but you won’t add additional watercolor paint texture to the paper.

Adding Shadows Under the Blocked Out Areas of the Watercolor Wash

Easily Create a 3D Effect with Faded Shadows using Gray + the Clear Blender | ChocolateMusings.com #tombow #markers #howto

Here’s a classic case of making lemonade from a botched paint job. This watercolor wash didn’t go as expected. The paint sneaked all around the sticky note. The color combination made it feel like it was underwater, which I thought was great. So I had an idea of adding shadows to make the watercolor wash look like it was punched out of the page.

Pressing the tip of a gray marker & the colorless blender, then using the colorless blender to create the shadows along the edge of the squares, it makes an amazing 3D effect.

I have to tell you something. This method is now my new favorite way to create shadows. I used it behind the letters on most of the weekly pages I did this month.

With the shadows’ additions, it looks like I completely meant to have the ink seep through into the boxes. I love it when you can convert a catastrophe into a win.

Watch the Plan With Me Here:

Fitting in Essentials for the Month

Since I ran out of pages this month, I added a small habit tracker on the bottom of the page where I can track five habits for the month. To the left, I’ll add notes or maybe keep it for a journaling page since I also had to skip the journal page to conserve the page count.

Brain Dump Page: Shadowy Thoughts & Reflections

Alternate names for brain dump - Shadowy Thoughts & Reflections | ChocolateMusings.com #bulletjournal #braindump

Shadow Thoughts & Reflections - Alternate Names for Brain Dump | ChocolateMusings.com #braindump

Continuing on the watercolor wash theme, and since the colors, I used to look like the Caribbean ocean to me, and I was using shadows, it was fun to name the page Shadowy Thoughts & Reflections.

Want some other names for a brain dump page? Check out my blog post here, with 150+ different names for brain dump.

Weeklies + Watercolor Wash

I decided to try several different styles for weeklies this month. That’s one thing I love about bullet journaling. I can change it up and try new layouts or styles every turn of the page. Each of them follows the same color scheme and includes shadows that make them cohesive.

Looking Forward

Despite the level of apocalyptic bad the year has been, this notebook has been good to me. I’m excited to move into a new notebook and make new, pretty spreads and try new ideas. I hope you’ll try some of these techniques, whether it’s the watercolor wash, naming your brain dump page, or adding shadows with the markers like I discovered this month.

Good luck with your plans, and I wish you a prosperous and productive month.