May Random Holidays – 2020

April 16, 2020 2 Comments

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

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!

State Outline – Wyoming

$10.00

Select options
State Outline – Utah

$10.00

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State Outline – Montana

$10.00

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State Outline – Idaho

$10.00

Select options

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

Floral Wreath Bullet Journal Theme – May 2019 Plan With Me

April 28, 2019 Leave a Comment

Floral Wreath Bullet Journal Theme | ChocolateMusings.com @ChocolateMusingsCreates #minimalist #blackandwhite #bulletjournal

Floral Wreath Bullet Journal Theme – May 2019 Plan With Me

Have you ever had something you really wanted to try, but never did because you were afraid you wouldn’t be good at it? Practically everything I do starts as that thought in my head. This time it was drawing flowers. I really wanted to draw flowers. Outline drawings, watercolor paintings, floral wreaths, you name it, I want to create flowers. But I collected flower drawing & reference books instead of trying. I chose floral wreaths for my bullet journal theme this month and I’m happy to say that April showers bring May flowers!

I went a little flower doodle crazy and I’m super thrilled with the way they turned out. It gives me so many ideas for the future. In a way, this whole month is minimal. I love how elegant it looks and how it turned out. I hope you find some inspiration in my floral wreath bullet journal theme this month.

Watch the Plan With Me for Some Oh-So-Satisfying Flower Doodles

What’s in My Planner This Month:

I skipped the monthly welcome page (gasp!) partially because I stared at some blank pages and didn’t know what to do at first. The other part was that I was trying to conserve pages as I thought I could get two more months out of this journal, but I realized that I neglected my brain dump pages and review pages, and those pages are essential for keeping me organized and motivated, so I got a new notebook instead of trying to cram another month in the journal.

Circle Monthly / Calendar Wheel

If you’ve been around my blog in the past, you might have noticed that I like circles. The May monthly calendar doesn’t disappoint. Built around a partial floral wreath, I created a circular May monthly log. Then because I wanted a miniature calendar, I added a flip-out page which also has color codes. Thinking I would only use the flip-out for the monthly, at first I was pleased with the idea. Then I realized I can use it for all the weeklies to follow and now I’m a little giddy. I love it when something good turns into something fantastic.

The only thing I wish is that I would have kept the colors muted or not used as much of them. So use only a stripe of color instead of coloring the box in. I don’t think this will be the last of floral wreaths, a flip-out calendar or color codes. So, there’s always next time!

Flowers inside the monthly calendar wheel + Habit Tracker Vines | ChocolateMusings.com @ChocMusings #bulletjournal #flowers #floral

Floral Wreath Bullet Journal Theme | ChocolateMusings.com @ChocMusings #minimalist #blackandwhite #bulletjournal

If you have only a few calendar items, the monthly log either in horizontal or vertical format (like mine for last April or December) or this circular format (also known as a calendar wheel) is a really fun change to display significant dates and a high-level overview for the month.

Habit Tracker

Instead of my usual circle habit tracker, I decided to go with a block format. Just so I didn’t have two facing circles across from each other. My favorite part about this page is the leafy vine wrapping around the words. Using a Tombow Brush Pen, I was able to get the thick and thin lines just like you see in calligraphy. Unlike the calendar facing page where each line on the flowers is the same width, the brush pen gives a little more character. I’m excited to track my habits this month!

Weekly Flower Wreaths

I LOVE floral wreaths. Flowers wrapped around a circle – what could be better? Creating floral wreaths was the inspiration for the entire month, and my goal was to make each day different. #missionaccomplished

I used different pens and pen thicknesses on each of these pages. My favorite: Micron 02 .30mm and Micron 03 .35mm. I also tried a black Papermate Flair pen and a .50mm Micron pen.

Tip: if you decide to watercolor the flowers, make sure you use an archival pen (like the Micron pens, not the Papermate Flair pen) if you ink before watercoloring. Otherwise, your black outlines will blend with your watercolors. And make sure the ink is completely dry before watercoloring. You can use the Papermate Flair pens after the watercolor is absolutely dry.

Minimal Weekly Bullet Journal: Floral Wreaths Theme | ChocolateMusings.com #floralwreath #bulletjournal #weekly

Miscellaneous Pages

I added a new page to the month – a social media planning page. Believe it or not, I have a lot more images I want to share each month than I post here or on my Instagram page. I create something a little special for Random holidays like Pick Strawberries day or Waffle Day and it never fails, I forget to share them!

All the Things

My journal page/memory keeper spread for the month. I love filling in details of the adventures we have as a family, what I learned & created for the month and other good things.

Seeds of Thought

The last page in my monthly pages is my brain dump page. I love coming up with names for brain dump pages that tie to my theme. For instance, February was a pirate theme & I called my brain dump spread “X Marks the Thought”. So this month, I called it “Seeds of Thought”.

I’m so excited to track and do all the things for the month of May. I love creative planning/bullet journaling because I can customize it and use it as a learning tool each month. I think you might see florals in the future. The moral of the story is, don’t let your mind convince itself that you can’t do whatever it is you want to do before you’ve even tried it.

I hope I’ve given you some ideas & inspiration to dress up your planner or bullet journal and try drawing some flowers & floral wreaths.

Wishing you joy and creativity every day - Tricia

Planning May: What’s Staying vs Changing + April Flip-through

May 10, 2018 1 Comment

Planning May: What’s Staying vs Changing from April

What’s staying vs changing (and why!) in my planner for May. My favorite thing to see from other’s journals are the flip-through segments. I decided to slow it down and do a flip-through of the pages that I like and what didn’t work out for me.

Sneak peeks from the video:

After the pen for “All the Things” page
Journals for my kids (one for each!) and a little flip-through of those
Circle Badges for all the months and days showing off the preview sketches – coming soon to the shop! Thanks to @Darknss (find the handle) for the recommendations!
‘After the pen’ weeklies
Writing on spreads that are ‘too pretty’ – spread from the eclipse after the pen
Habit by number
Declutter my life two spreads (Initial & Updated)
How I bookmark/tab pages with washi tape

Watch the video below and hit the subscribe on the lower right-hand so you’ll be notified when a new video comes out.

Welcome Page

Welcome pages are funny things to me, it took a while for me to start using them because they just seemed like ‘fluff’ pages. They might be ‘fluff pages’ but other planners have welcome pages or monthly separators. It’s usually where the tabs are attached. Last July was my first-ever welcome page and I’ve used one ever since. It almost became a summer seasonal welcome page, but I combined it to the Welcome May and Summer page.

Calendar Page

When I set up my current planner in March, I made the future log pages very large, one month to a page, two months to a spread. I intended to drop monthly pages and just jump straight into weeklies. That lasted all of one month. I need visual planning!

In April I tried again to create a monthly ladder layout, I really love the concept of listing everything in linear form (that’s why I keep going back to it). I think that’s what the original bullet journal was designed with, but a calendar grid works better for me at a glance. In May I’m experimenting with smaller boxes and larger notes areas.

Coming soon! All the months in circular badge format! April’s creation inspired me so much that I sketched out (and started working on the months in this format.

April Weeklies

In April, I chose a common color scheme and theme for the weekly pages. Using a common color scheme across the pages was definitely challenging. It was a fun challenge that I’ll accept month after month. Space and circles dominated my weeklies, I do wish they had a little more structure but that is something I can do in the future. Space is always a fun theme and I like using circles too! In fact, if you didn’t see, I have a whole post about using circles.

May Weeklies

The weekly layouts are the biggest changes for the month. I didn’t foresee using a spread per week as summer nears. So I decided to condense two weeks to a spread. Each day still has space for events and notes, it’s just condensed. So far, so good. The boxes are the right size for all the things I need to do, including tasks and events. This just might be a thing when I have less to plan.

For the month of April, I switched to a Sunday start on the weeklies. In May, I am switching it back to Monday start. The May monthly calendar page shows Sunday-Saturday, but the weeklies are Monday-Sunday. The biggest reason is to keep the weekend plans together, it just seems easier (and I like to make my weekends feel bigger).

Collections

All the Things

I created an “All the Things” page to replace the failed “One Line Per Day” page. It is my new favorite page of all, perhaps ever. It was rare that I wrote on the ‘one line per day’ page daily. Instead, I write in spurts when I have a moment to reflect and think. So I would end up with several blank lines and missed details. “All the Things” uses categories instead of days. One section I’m going to add a “to journal” to keep a blurb for the things to add to my kid’s journals.

Habit Tracking by Number

I started “Habit Tracking by Number” in April. Using numbers to define my habits made a huge difference in tracking them, but not just tracking, but the motivation to do them. Each habit had a definition and something measurable!

That shift plus the shift in perspective that I needed to give these habits priority instead of trying to do them all in the last moments before I went to bed made a significant difference in my attitude towards these acts I am trying to form into habits.

Personal Habits & Business Habits

I’ll track the same personal habits for May as I did in April and add a section for habits for chocolatemusings.com. Also staying: flip-out habit definitions. I might use that idea on other pages too. And I just realized that I forgot to add a quote to my habits page, that is something I miss. I like motivational quotes on the habit tracker page. Especially the one I created in January.

Things I Miss Already & Things I Love So Far

I loved April’s theme – space, circles and the colors. Lavender fields inspired May’s color scheme, and I really enjoy it, but maybe I need to do a lavender space theme. I enjoyed the whimsy and the free-flow of the different pages. I’m looking forward to the structure of the May boxes because I tend to write until I run out of room. Maybe that’s why I like circles, they are whimsical, but have edges to keep me inside, If I want to. I really like the two-to-a-spread weeklies so far.

Question: