As of today, these are the 121 special days cards included with every giant wall calendar, and an additional 63 silly celebrations cards available in the Freebies! section for a total of 180 cards!

These cards don't just fit your wall calendar, they are the perfect size to be used for lots of other work, too.

Here are just some ideas of extension work you can do with these cards:

• Sort the cards by holiday type (e.g. religious holidays/bank holidays/school holidays/etc.)
• Use the cards for language work by creating a tray pairing a holiday with small objects that are associated with that holiday
• Older children can arrange the cards in different ways: alphabetically, by date, by type of special day, etc.
• Younger children can arrange the cards by color. These cards feature beautiful watercolor illustrations, and they are perfect for color sorting.

What's Included?

Don't see some special days you're looking for? I keep an ongoing wish list of new cards to create for my customers. Send me an email and I'll add your request to the list.

Divider Cards to help you stay organized

1. winter
2. spring
3. summer
4. fall
5. blanks
6. monthly

Fall

1. Back to school
2. Happy birthday Dr. Montessori (August 31, 1870)
3. Autumnal Equinox ((usually falls on September 20, 21, 22, 22, or 23)
4. Mid-Autumn Festival (the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese Calendar)
5. Labor Day (first Monday in September)
6. The Month of Elul begins (typically occurs around August to September)
7. Rosh Hashanah begins (usually in September)
8. Yom Kippur (ten days after Rosh Hashanah)
9. Sukkot begins (seven day festival, begins five days after Yom Kippur)
10. International Day of Peace (September 21st)
11. Indigenous Peoples Day (second Monday in October)
12. Thanksgiving (Canada) (Second Monday in October)
13. Shemini Atzeret (begins right after Sukkot ends)
14. Simchat Torah (Celebrated during Shemini Atzeret)
15. Diwali begins (usually end of October or early November)
16. Halloween (October 31st)
17. Dia de los Muertos begins (October 31st)
18. Remembrance Day (Commonwealth of Nations) (November 11th)
19. Veteran’s Day (November 11th)
20. Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday in November)
21. St. Lucia’s Day (December 13th)

Winter

1. Winter Solstice (usually falls on December 20, 21 22, 22, or 23)
2. Hanukkah Begins/All eight nights of Hanukkah (typically falls between late November and late December)
3. First day of winter break
4. Last day of winter break
5. Winter break activity cards (cover to be used if you make cards for your students)
6. Bake cookies to share
7. Decorate with dried orange slices & cranberries
8. Play outside
9. Watch for winter birds
10. Write down your favorite memories of the year
11. Build a snowman
12. Enjoy the decorations around town
13. Build a gingerbread house
14. Write a letter to a loved one
15. Catch snowflakes on your tongue
16. Find winter flowers
17. Read stories by candlelight
18. Invite friends over for hot cocoa
19. Christmas Eve (December 24th)
20. Christmas Day (December 25th)
21. Boxing Day (December 26th)
22. Kwanzaa, all seven nights (December 26th through January 1st)
23. New Year’s Day (January 1st)
24. Tu Bishvat  (typically falls in January or February)
25. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (third Monday in January)
26. Black History Month begins (February 1st)
27. Chinese New Year (typically falls in January or February)
28. 100th Day of School
29. Valentine’s Day (February 14th)
30. Family Day (Canada, third Monday in February)
31. Presidents Day (third Monday in February)
32. Leap Day (February 29th)
33. Laylatul Miraj (varies, occurs in January or February in upcoming years)
34. Purim (usually occurs in February or March)
35. International Women’s Day (March 8th)
36. Holi begins (usually in the middle of March)
37. St. Patrick's Day (March 17th)

Spring

1. Vernal Equinox (usually falls on March 19, 20, 21, or 22)
2. Mardi Gras (the day before Ash Wednesday)
3. Fat Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday)
4. International Transgender Day of Visibility (March 31st)
5. Library Week begins (usually the second week in April)
6. Pesach begins (usually occurs in March or April)
7. Counting of the Omer (begins on the 2nd night of Pesach)
8. Vaisakhi (usually April 13th or 14th)
9. Yom HaShoah (usually occurs in April or May)
10. Yom HaZikaron (usually occurs in April)
11. Yom HaAtzmaut (occurs the day after Yom HaZikaron)
12. Easter (the Sunday after the Vernal Equinox) (two versions, second is on the Canada set page)
13. Earth Day (April 22nd)
14. May Day (May 1st)
15. Labour Day (May 1st in many countries)
16. Children’s Book Week Begins (usually occurs in May)
17. Cinco de Mayo (May 5th)
18. Ramadan beings (Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which is 10 to 11 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar, so the timing of Ramadan migrates thought the seasons. In 2020, Ramadan will begin in April.)
19. Mother’s Day (second Sunday in May)
20. Memorial Day (last Monday in May)
21. Victoria Day (Canada) (Last Monday preceding May 25th)
22. Eid al Fitr (the first day after Ramadan ends)
23. Pride Month begins (June 1st)
24. Last day of school (on the Canada set page)
25. Father’s Day (third Sunday in June)
26. Shavuot (50 days after the first Pesach seder, usually occurs in May or June)
27. Juneteenth (June 19th)
28. World Refugee Day (June 20th)

Summer

1. First day of Summer!
2. Summer Solstice aka midsummer / first day of summer! (usually falls on June 20, 21, or 22.)
3. Eid al-Adha (usually occurs in June or July)
4. Day of Arafah (usually occurs in June or July)
5. Independence Day (July 4th)
6. Tisha B’Av (usually occurs in July or August)
7. Islamic New Year (usually occurs in July or August)

Monthly

1. New moon
2. Waxing crescent
3. First quarter
4. Waxing gibbous
5. Full moon
6. Waning gibbous
7. Last quarter
8. Waning crescent

Blanks

1. Fall background
2. School supplies background
3. Spring background
4. 8 blank cards
5. Field trip!

FREE Monthly Silly Celebrations Cards
Click FREEBIES to get yours today!

January Silly Celebrations

1. National Bagel Day (January 15th)
2. National Popcorn Day (January 19th)
3. National Cheese Lover’s Day (January 20th)
4. National Hugging day (January 21st)
5. National Compliment Day (January 24th)
6. National Opposite Day (January 25th)
7. Library Shelf Day (Fourth Wednesday in January)
8. National Inspire your Heart with Art day (January 31st)

February Silly Celebrations

1. National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day (First Saturday in February)
2. National Umbrella Day (February 10th)
3. National Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk Day (February 11th)
4. Global Movie Day (Second Saturday in February)
5. National Random Acts of Kindness Day (February 17th)
6. National Cherry Pie Day (February 20th)
7. National Tell a Fairy Tale Day (February 25th)
8. National Polar Bear Day (February 27th)

March Silly Celebrations

1. National Old Stuff Day (March 22nd)
2. Marching Music Day (March 4th)
3. National Flapjack Day (March 7th)
4. National Plant a Flower day (March 12th)
5. National Write Your Story Day (March 14th)
6. National Awkward Moments Day (March 18th)
7. National Let’s Laugh Day (March 19th)
8. National Goof Off Day (March 22nd)
9. National Near Miss Day (March 23rd)
10. National Tolkien Reading Day (March 25th)
11. National Something on a Stick Day (March 28th)
12. National Pencil Day (March 30th)

August Silly Celebrations

1. National Coloring Book Day (August 2nd)
2. National Underwear Day (August 9th)
3. National Book Lovers Day (August 9th)
4. National Julienne Fries Day (August 12th)
5. National Tell a Joke Day (August 16th)
6. National Waffle Day (August 24th)
7. National Secondhand Wardrobe Day (August 25th)
8. National Just Because Day (August 27th)

September Silly Celebrations

1. National Cheese Pizza Day (September 5th)
2. National Make Your Bed Day (September 11th)
3. National Coloring Day (September 14th)
4. National Lazy Mom’s Day (first Friday in September)
5. National Ice Cream Cone Day (September 22nd)
6. National Family Day (September 26th)
7. National Coffee Day (September 29th)
8. National Love People Day (September 30th)

October Special Celebrations

1. National Custodial Workers Recognition Day (October 2nd)
2. National Inner Beauty Day (October 7th)
3. World Mental Health Day (October 10th)
4. International Day of the Girl Child (October 11th)
5. National Coming Out Day (October 11th)
6. National Freethought Day (October 12th)
7. National Youth Confidence Day (October 20th)
8. United Nations Day (October 24th)

October Silly Celebrations

1. National Homemade Cookies Day (October 1st)
2. National Cinnamon Bun Day (October 4th)
3. National Bring Your Teddy Bear to Work or School Day (2nd Wednesday in October)
4. National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day (October 21st)
5. National Mulligan Day (October 17th)
6. National I Love Yarn Day (2nd Saturday in October)
7. Sourest Day (October 25th)
8. National Black Cat Day (October 27th)

November Silly Celebrations

1. National Play Outside Day (1st Saturday in November)
2. National Sundae Day (November 11th)
3. National Pickle Day (November 14th)
4. National Take a Hike Day (November 17th)
5. National Gingerbread Cookie Day (November 21st)
6. Blasé Day (November 25th)
7. Electronics Greetings Day (November 29th)
8. Stay Home Because You’re Well Day (November 30th)

It's a radical thing to commit to a life in the slow lane, to resist the pressure and conditioning to GO GO GO and BUY BUY BUY. It's radical, but it's worth it. 

I invite you to create a monthly ritual of connection in your home. I know all too well how easy it is to get so swept up in the daily grind. Days blur, and suddenly you can't remember the last time you shared a belly laugh with your kids. (This is why I create all of my printables, after all. They are all designed to help you celebrate every normal day.)

A simple way to make space for meaningful connection is to make an adventure box.

I found this idea here when I was searching for new ideas for giving my kids experiences instead of things for Hanukkah.

It's pretty simple. Here's how it works:

• Print and cut your adventure box cards (or make your own!)
• Put each card in its own envelope labeled with the month
• Put the envelopes in a box or some other container, and give it to your kids.
• Voila! You are now the proud owner of an adventure box!

This adventure box makes the perfect gift any time of year.

How do I make it?

• Get your FREE! download of my adventure box cards when you sign up for my newsletter below! Or make your own cards!) This printable includes twelve monthly adventure cards and one invitation card featuring seasonal (northern hemisphere) imagery and text about that month's adventure.
  
  

• Print and cut your cards. There are two versions: one is a scratch-off version, and one is a regular version. (See below for details about how to make the scratch-off version.)
• Put each card in an envelope, label the envelope with the month's name, and put them all in a box. I use a photo box.
• Wrap the box and give it to your children with the intro card.
• At the beginning of every month, open that month's card and make plans for your adventure!
• I like to collect a memento from each experience to put back into that month's envelope. Then at the end of the year we go back through the envelopes and reminisce on our year of adventures together.

What adventures will we be going on?

If you use my adventure box printable, you'll be doing these things over the next year:

• January: Let's go to an indoor play place!
• February: Let's go out for hot cocoa!
• March: Let's try something new (you fill this one in yourself)
• April: Let's invite friends for a game night!
• May: Let's have a YES DAY!
• June: Let's check out a new local spot!
• July: Let's make our own ice cream!
• August: Let's have an end of summer party!
• September: Let's have a make-your-own-pizza party!
• October: Let's have a family date night!
• November: Time for another YES DAY!
• December: Let's go to the movies!

How do I make scratch-off cards?

I purchased these 1" round scratch-off stickers from Amazon, but you can also make your own scratch-off paint with just a few ingredients:

All you need is:

• liquid dish soap
• acrylic paint
• clear packing tape
• a paint brush

Directions: Mix 1 part liquid dish soap to 2 parts paint for your scratch-off paint. Cover the scratch-off circle with packing tape, and then paint over the circle part. Depending on your paint, this might take a couple layers. Once the paint is dry, your cards are ready to go into their envelopes!

Are you ready for a year of meaningful connection? Join me in the slow lane to receive this free printable, as well as a monthly newsletter with a free printable and ideas and tips about slow living.

It's no secret that I have a fixation with the passage of time, and there's no day of the year where I feel more seen than New Year's Day. Everyone is fixated with time on this day, I'm not alone! We throw parties. We drink champagne. We countdown to midnight. And we make resolutions.

Oh, do we make resolutions.

We look at the year ahead with all those clean, as-of-yet-unlived days, and we imagine the future selves that we wish to become. We make public declarations. We compile lists. We whisper promises to ourselves.

This is year, we say.

But I'm here to challenge you to take a different approach this year. Instead of making resolutions focused on goals and accomplishments, I challenge you to do these things, instead:

Forget the goals, and focus on habits.

If you want to be healthier, identify the daily habits that will make that happen. If you want to write a novel, the only way to get there is to you develop the habit of sitting down and putting words on paper every day.

Accept yourself exactly as you are, right now.

Future you is exactly the same person as current you. Maybe you have some work you want to do on your behaviors or habits or thoughts, but you are wonderful exactly as you are. Practice radical acceptance of yourself, regardless of how many things you wish to change about your life this year. You are wonderful exactly as you are.

Be relentless when it comes to saying no.

The real secret to developing all those habits you wish to develop this year is saying no to every single thing that doesn't serve you. And I mean every. thing. I really like Warren Buffett's 5/25 rule for gaining clarity here, Google it. 

Repeat these mantras until you start living them:

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. - Mary Jean Irion

Imagine you woke up today and had only those things for which you were grateful yesterday.

Post these lines somewhere you will see them every day. Repeat them as needed--when you're feeling pressure to bend to cultural or peer pressure that doesn't serve you, when you're distracting yourself with idle scrolling and missing opportunities to be present in your own life, when you could use a reminder of how lucky you are to for every normal day you get to live that is unmarked by the significance that tragedy, trauma, and struggle bring.

If you must speak the language of resolutions this year, let your resolutions be these:

• to develop habits that serve you
• to practice radical self-acceptance
• to say no to invasive distractions
• and to relish in every simple, unremarkable day you get to experience this year.

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In this post I will give you a foolproof method for getting your kids out of the house on time every morning.

Bahahahahahahaha! As if.

Sorry, it's just not possible. But, I do have a simple tool for bribing your children to move a teensy bit faster in the mornings. It's worth a shot, right?

I've been at this parenting thing for just over seven years now, and I'm doing pretty well with some of the typical challenges. Sleep deprivation? We bought a great coffee maker. Plus a backup French press, just in case. Lack of me time? I read this book and it helped me realize I have enough time if I spend it intentionally.

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But one thing I continue to struggle with is getting out of the damn house in the mornings. My son moves like molasses on an iceberg, and no amount of begging, yelling, nagging, or swearing, motivates him. I've tried. And of course little sister follows suit. And I need to get out on time. I have a job, and I need to keep that job, so getting there is kind of important. And there's also the small detail of it being important for children to arrive to school on time every day, for learning purposes and whatnot.

When my son was younger I made visual time trackers that worked really well for a while. (Seriously, try those first if you have a two or three or four year old.) But lately? Nope. My boy is seven now, and he does what he wants.

So I decided to tap into the deep well of child rearing wisdom from which we came, and to try the time-honored tradition of bribery.

And you know what? It worked.

So now, we track on time days. And for every full week that we get out of the house on time, every day, Monday through Friday, I promise my children a special treat over the weekend. And I don't feel one bit guilty about it. We eat really well at home, and the stress of rushing and hurrying costs us all more than a sweet treat on a Saturday morning.

So if you're like me, and you need some help getting out of the house on time, this on time tracker is my gift to you, my friend. In solidarity, from one tired parent to another. I'm pleased to report that using this tracker has significantly cut down on my morning swearing habit.

Check out my other printables!

Did you know I design apparel and accessories, too?

So, how do you get your kids out of the house on time? Share your wisdom in the comments!

Can you feel it? Pressing in from all sides?

Invading spaces that were once sacred, but they're connected in all sorts of wrong, insidious, terrifying ways now.

Black Friday mania. Obligatory social engagements. Picture-perfect days out and about with the kids, taking in every single opportunity available. Not a frown in sight.

Well, it's all too much for me, and I quit. Will you join me?

Everything I create is designed to help you slow down and savor the moment.

Let's drop out of out of the chaos and pressure and make space for meaningful connection with the ones we love.

Let's say no to consumerism, to this notion that you can buy some thing tomorrow that will somehow transform how you feel about your life today.

Let's be revolutionary and fight against the machine that feeds itself on our mass delusion that giving an item to someone is somehow more valuable than giving them our time.

Let's start new traditions this year. Skip the store-bought decorations and games and gifts, and make your own, instead. Skip the endless shopping trips for more and better presents, and make time for the people you love, instead. Skip the stress of picture-perfect parties and throw a good-enough gathering, instead.

Say no to stress, and debt, and pressure this year, and say yes to meaning, and connection, and memories

Will you be a rebel and protect your time? Say it with me: Buzz off consumerism, and social pressure, and societal expectations, and the temptation to choose picture-perfect over good-enough.

This year you can find me at home with my chipped nails sipping instant hot chocolate in my messy house, with my messy kids, and my probably-napping-on-the-couch husband. We'll be lighting candles and hanging homemade decorations and definitely eating a lot of takeout. And it will be grand.

Won't you join us?

Make your own gifts with my beautiful printables

Make your own decorations with my simple printables

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DIY is always better than store bought.

Always. Besides, we couldn't find satisfying Hanukkah decorations in the store even if we wanted them. (Why do retailers believe Jews only decorate in blue, white, and silver?)

I have so many great DIY Hanukkah decorations for you here!

My favorite DIY Hanukkah decortation is our giant wall menorah, which I made from felt, burlap bags from Target's dollar section, 3M clear clips, and more felt. I hand cut the candles and numbers, and used embroidery floss to make a blanket stitch around all edges. We hang this up under our white felt banner that lives over my son's loft the rest of the year, but he allows us to take his name letters off of it and put these letters spelling MIRACLES on it for the holiday season. (This is one of my favorite minimalist decorating hacks, by the way, using one felt banner for basically every holiday. No need to adhere the letters to the bunting, felt sticks to itself like magic. Voila!)

I love parties, and I'm a firm believer that we should embrace every opportunity to celebrate and spend time with the people we love.

But children's birthday parties? Those can be tricky. We've learned that for us, less is more. We host small birthday parties at home with close family when our children are very small, and then starting in kindergarten, we have a special party for as many guests as the birthday child is old. My son invited five friends out for an afternoon of bowling when he turned five, for example. This keeps things nice and manageable, and nobody ends up crying in the bathroom due to sensory overload. (Did I mention that I'm speaking from experience, here?)

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Our little one just turned three, so we hosted a party at home for her. The kids and I baked and frosted her cake, we grabbed a dozen bagels and brewed some coffee, and we put up "pink, sparkly Calico Critters" decorations, per the birthday girl's request. The grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins came over. We ate, we played games, we even had a pinata. It was a great, low-stress way to celebrate.

I have a special birthday book for each of my children. It's just a picture book that I put out every year with some markers. I ask guests to write a message in the book, and one day my kids will have this sweet collection of notes from their loved ones collected over time.

Simple parties, birthday books. These have become our special birthday rituals. How do you celebrate your children's birthdays? Do you have any simple birthday tips?

Looking for easy decorations? Download some free Calico Critters printables here!

You can find more printables here!

Oh, felt. Felty, felt, felt.

I love it so. When we decided at the very last minute to host a little 5th birthday celebration for my son (six months after his actual fifth birthday, Mother of the Year right here) I wanted to use materials we already had on hand to create party favors, so I grabbed my felt. (Simple birthdays tip: the birthday child can invite the same number of children as his age over--or out--for a special birthday experience. Six friends over for a sixth birthday party is far more manageable than 20!)

On a Wednesday Mr. Five invited three friends to join us for bowling that Saturday, and by noon on Thursday we had made these adorable felt party hats. They were so quick to make that I ended up making nine of them even though I really only needed four. Did I mention I was holding my 21 month old for most of this process? I'm telling you, these are simple.

You'll need scissors, a needle and thread (I used DMC embroidery thread), one piece of felt per hat, about four inches of sticky back velcro tape (just the hook side) per hat, and one pom pom or felt ball per hat. That's it! Tip: All of my kids' scissors cut felt so much better and easier than my fancy adult scissors.

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Step 1. Cut the hats out of felt. I opened up a party hat and used that to create this printable Party Hat Template. Just print the template from the link (not from the picture below) at 100% on letter-size paper, cut it out, and then use that to cut your felt. Don't worry about perfect cutting. I didn't, and look at how cute my hats turned out.

Step 2. Fold your felt and make a few good stitches at the very top where your hat will come together, right about where the two purple stars are on the template. Once this stitch is secure grab your pom pon and sew it to the top of your hat. I used simple running stitches and went around the pom pon twice just to make sure it was secure.

Step 3. Once you get your stitching all the way around and back to your original stitch, just go down your hat's seam and sew it up right to the bottom. I made horizontal stitches going down, but just do whatever kind of stitches you like. Make sure you line up the very bottom of your hat as you sew to make sure it will be aligned once you get there. When you reach the bottom of your hat just finish it off with a simple knot, or do a bit of edge stitching if you want to get fancy.

Step 4. I'm pretty proud of this hack: Now it's time to use that sticky velcro. Instead of sewing in ribbons to tie the hats on, all you need to do is stick some pieces of the hook side around the bottom edge of the hat and it will stick to the wearer's hair! This is really convenient, because five year olds aren't that fond of tying ribbons around their chins. I wore a party hat all day, it didn't even come loose once, and I actually forgot I had it on my head until I saw it in a mirror. (This hat has round Velcro dots in there too because I tried to get away with just using those at first. You'll need the strips.)

And that's it! Can you believe how easy this is? They even stayed on the babies' heads with their wispy baby hair.

Hate sewing? You could skip the stitching altogether and just glue your hat with hot glue or fabric glue. I'm not a big fan of glue when I can sew something up, but I think hot glue would make this super quick project go even faster.