Think all the fun is over now that December is done? Think again! There are so many fun celebrations to be had throughout the rest of winter. Here is a selection of holidays in January that feature new recipes, simple crafts, and homestead related activities. Scroll down for an easy paper lantern tutorial for the Lunar New Year that the whole family can enjoy.
More Months of Fun for Later:
Homestead Holidays in December
Holidays in November – Homestead Style!
Take the Time to Celebrate Holidays in January
Just a reminder that this series of articles is focused on holidays most likely to appeal to those living a DIY, homesteading lifestyle. Because we’re busy with the work of the homestead, we don’t always have time for fluff.
- In fact, sometimes it feels like we don’t have time even for fun!
I want to gently remind you that while the work is important and the chores must be seen to, it is equally important to stop and enjoy special moments. We’re working to build strong homestead families, not just to get the goats milked and the cheese made.
Even if we’re pursuing this homestead life single or without children, we still need to take care of ourselves and pause to have some fun. As the old proverb reminds us, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Or Jill a dull girl.
Bottom line, working all the time makes us boring. And exhausted!
Categories of Holidays Throughout the Year
In the world of fun day, there are several categories of holidays. As you read these holiday articles throughout the year, bear in mind these types of holidays, especially if you’re a homeschooling parent!
You may decide to use any one of these special days to create a unit study for your kids.
If you need help with printables and worksheets, consider grabbing your copy of the Homestead Holidays Workbook to use with your copy of Homestead Holidays.
Short Description Holiday Categories:
- Religious Celebrations. Religion and even sect-specific celebrations, though many are widely observed even by non-religiously minded people. (Think Christmas.)
- National Observances. Days set aside for celebrations specific to your country. In the U.S. many of these days are serious, but most are just silly. Examples include days like Martin Luther King, Jr. Day which remind of us of figures and events that helped shape our national culture. We also have days like National Hot Dog day that are just for fun.
- Historical Commemorations. These days remind us to pause and remember important national or world events. For example, Consitution Day in the U.S. that commemorates the day our constitution was ratified on September 17th, 1787.
- Harvest/Agricultural Feasts. These celebrations are often tied to religious observances since many cultures waited to complete their harvests (or plant their crops) before they partied in part to ask a blessing on their efforts from their god(s). In the Northern Hemisphere, these days usually happen in spring and fall, according to our weather. However, there’s a harvest or planting festival to celebrate in pretty much every month of the year.
To help you get organized, decide which holidays you’d like to celebrate, and fill your planner with easy-to-fill worksheets, join our newsletter family and receive our Holiday Help Worksheets for free. When you join the newsletter list, you’ll get access to a huge library of free resources, including several other holiday workbooks.
Homestead Holidays in January
Here are our suggested holidays or special days to celebrate on the homestead with family and friends for January. Some of these days have variable dates from year to year (usually lunar based holidays), so be sure to pay attention to when they fall on the calendar.
January can seem cold and dreary in some parts of the world, so be sure to grab onto some fun with these special days, if that describes where you live.
National Holidays in January
Here are a few homestead related national holidays in January that are homestead-related. These don’t usually make the printed calendars you buy in the store, but they are super fun regardless.
If you’re not American, I invite you to join us in a little silliness with these national days of celebration.
National Whipped Cream Day
Celebrated on January 5th, whipped cream day is a great day to learn the important skill of making your own whipped cream! Stop buying this stuff and start making your own from fresh cream and your choice of inclusions.
Yes, you can add tasty things to homemade whipped cream!
- We’re happy to share our favorite recipe for pumpkin spice whipped cream, but there are lots of other things you can add to simple whipped cream to make it special. Then, simply grab a spoon and eat it as a quick treat!
Make a simple Maple Whipped Cream with Learning and Yearning.
Low Carb Coconut Maple Whipped Cream from Whole New Mom – you can make any whipped cream by replacing the sugar with a low-carb option or omitting the sugar altogether!
Strawberry Whipped Cream from Always Use Butter – she uses fresh strawberry, but you can also use dehdyrated/freeze dried powdered strawberries.
Chocolate Whipped Cream from Live Well Bake Often – you can add chocolate chips to this one.
Celebrate National Cut Energy Costs Day
Ok, so this isn’t much of a celebration day BUT energy is a huge topic for homesteaders! January is a good time to set goals about our energy consumption and generation for the coming year.
It’s important to think of energy as something beyond electricity, although electricity use is important to monitor.
Energy can mean a smattering of different homestead related topics like:
- Time – how much time do you spend on each area of your homestead?
- Effort – how hard are you working physically? How much time are you spending mentally and even spiritually on your homesteading efforts?
- Water, Wind, Sun – each of the elements should be considered part of the energy of the homestead.
Energy can be designed for, harvested, used, and re-used in myriad ways all over the home and homestead. Since January is the the month to set goals, how about you set a goal to brainstorm some ways to do just that in the coming year.
For two fantastic resources on this topic, please visit: Efficient Energy Storage Systems on the Homestead
This article provides a free energy audit workbook to members of our email newsletter family, FYI. Download the booklet and start filling it in to make realistic goals for the coming year.
- Also helpful will be our article: How to Conduct a Water Audit on the Homestead. Water is an incredibly valuable form of energy on the homestead!
National Seed Swap Day
This is a great winter activity and it will lift your spirits as you contemplate the coming spring! If you’re new to planting seeds and/or saving seed, you can still observe this day by educating yourself on both topics.
Planting Seeds
One reason to learn to plant from seed is that it will save you money as you fill the garden with food and pollen producing plants. Don’t let anyone convince you that you can only garden and grow food one way – there are so many methods.
I prefer permaculture principles for building no-weed, no-dig sustainable gardens. If find this garden design method to simply be easier than anything else I’ve tried in the past.
- I prefer the “winter sowing” method of starting seeds for the same reason! Winter sowing is no more complicated that planting seeds in the winter outside in covered containers.
These containers act like mini greenhouses that protect and encourage the seeds to sprout and grow at exactly the right time in the spring.
To learn more about winter sowing, please visit our article Winter Sowing – Starting Seeds Outdoors, which describes the process in great detail.
Saving & Swapping Seeds
There are lots of articles on line about saving seeds but we have a one to help you get started: Seed Saving for the Easily Confused.
Here are a few specific types of seed you can start learning with this year:
- Tenth Acre Farm can help you learn to store seeds for the long-term so not one goes to waste.
Once you’ve learned to collect seeds, you quickly learn that you’ll never be able to collect ALL the seeds you want to plant. You’re going to need seed friends and that where a seed saving group comes in!
Learn how to host seed swaps and get a seed saving group together with our how-to article and then make a goal to actually host one this month. Don’t overthink this!
National Pooh Day
That’s Winne the Pooh, of course! January 18th is AA Milne’s birthday (the author of Winnie the Pooh). The best way to celebrate this day is the simplest: sit around with the kids reading Winnie the Pooh stories or AA Milne’s children’s poetry.
If you’d like a “smackerel of something sweet”, make any of these Pooh suitable treats:
Dandelion Honey Candy – if you have dandelions blooming yet! If not, save this for spring.
Religious Holidays in January
Moving on from the national to the internation, here are some holidays that are celebrated around the world.
Twelvetide or The Twelve Days of Christmas
Did you think the Christmas celebrations were over? Nope!
The famous “12 Days of Christmas” were traditionaly celebrated from Boxing Day (December 26th) to Epiphany (Janaury 6th). I love this because it takes the pressure of getting EVERYTHING DONE by December 25th and extends the holiday fun.
To help you celebrate this time, we wrote a whole book for you! Grab your copy below.
New Year’s Day
On December 31st, we all gather together around the world to count down to the coming year. There isn’t much to be said about this holiday because it truly is worldwide, so here are a few fun resources for celebrating.
Make Homemade Biodegradable Confetti
Low-Carb Tembleque Recipe for New Years (Puerto Rican Coconut Pudding)
Goal Setting:
Modern Homestead Goals You’ll Actually Achieve (First Year) from 104 Homestead.
How to Plan and Set Homestead Goals from Hidden Springs Homestead.
How to Create a Successful Homestead (comes with a free workbook) from us here at Homestead Lady
Lunar New Year
Here’s one of those lunar holidays I mentioned that skip around on the calendar from year to year. In 2024, the year of the publication of this article, the Lunar New Celebration will commence on February 2nd.
- So why a I putting it in the January article? Because it often falls right at the end of January and I don’t want you to miss it!
I have a whole section on the Lunar New Year, aka Chinese New Year, in my book, Homestead Holidays. I love this celebration! One of the neat things about it is that it’s actually the beginning of the spring holidays and culminates 15 days later in the Lantern Festival. Its sort of like Thanksgiving, 4th of July, and Christmas all rolled into one!
(In the paper lantern tutorial below, see if you can spy my copy of the Homestead Holidays open on the table as I use it myself. )
Make a Lunar New Year Lantern
This holiday involves deep house cleaning, family reunions, red decorations, dragons, and fireworks, so get ready to have some fun! For simple celebrating on the homestead, try making a simple red paper lantern with your kids or grandkids. This is a craft so simple that even I can enjoy making it!
Red Paper Lantern for Lunar New Year
Equipment
- Scissors
- Red Construction Paper
- Pens or Pencils
- Tape or Staples
- Hole Punch
- Ribbon or Twine
Instructions
- Square up a red piece ofconstruction paper so that all the sides are of equal length. Cut the extra end off the rectangle to do this.
- Fold the paper in half, and then in half again. Pulling opposite corners together, fold the paper again to form a triangle.
- Trace, or simply cut out any pattern you like along the edges, being sure not to cut through all of the folded edges. You need to leave some of the fold or your lantern will fall into pieces.
- Carefully unfold your paper and flatten it out to admire your creative design. If you'd like to flatten the pieces further, iron them between sheets of cardstock with a medium hot iron (no steam setting).
- Gently curve around the vertical edges until they meet at the back, forming a long lantern shape.
- Secure the edges with tape or staples. Punch 2 holes 1” from the top on opposite sides of the lantern.
- Thread a loose ribbon through the holes and tie at the top to hang your lantern from a hook or light fixture in your home.
Notes
- I like to keep mine plain so that I can simply compost them when I'm done and not worry about contaminants. That's the beauty of paper crafts when you're finished with them!
- Use sourdough starter or flour paste in place of glue and tape to further make these easily compostable.
Red Paper Lunar New Year’s Lantern Notes
You can use any paper but construction paper is cheap and already on hand for most homes with kids.
If you’d like to use fancier red paper, check your local craft store for pretty patterns and colors in the scrapbooking/paper craft section. You may also purchase Joss paper, which is used by Chinese families as part of ancestor worship rituals during special holidays like the New Year.
- Joss paper patterns are unique, and the papers themselves range from light tissue papers to sturdier bamboo sheets.
Folding the paper is not complicated, even though writing it down in steps makes it sound so. Fold a square in half, fold it in half again, and make a rectangle. Boom!
Don’t stress cutting out the pattern – really anything looks neat! If you’re helping little onces, just be sure they don’t cut through all the folded edges. The folded edges form the skeleton of the lantern and are what holds it together.
If you decide to iron the lantern papers flat, be sure to keep them between other pices of paper to keep all the cut edges from catching on the iron. Do NOT overheat the iron – a little heat goes a long way! NEVER leave the iron unattended.
Tape, staple, or glue the lanterns on the inside long edge. You can press the glued sides together with a ruler inserted up inside the lantern if your whole hand won’t fit. If you’d like to easily compost the lanterns later without removing tape or staples, simply use sourdough starter in place of glue.
–>>You can read about how to do that in our Weird Uses for Sourdough Article.
Repeat the process of making these lanterns until you have a festive number hanging all around. You can also attach several lanterns to one long rope to form a garland of lanterns.
If you would like to cut the Chinese character for happiness into your lantern, search online for free templates. This will require only basic cutting skills but will probably be easiest for the older kids since it takes some concentration.
You can use smaller lanterns as napkins rings or placecards. If you tighten them a bit smaller, you can also use them as Chinses finger traps!
- If, like me, you cut through your first few attempts and feel anything but happy, just remember that, with practice you will produce lovely lanterns that will hang throughout your home this New Year’s celebration bringing joy and luck to all who enter.
What’s your favorite thing to celebrate in January? I’d love to read about it in the comments!
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