Adventures Await: Julie Lavender’s Guide to Family Fun

A new year has quietly entered the calendar while we were engaged in life and creating family moments. If you’re anything like me, you might be pondering how the days and months flew by so swiftly, but I truly hope you possess ample family memories to remind you of God’s steadfastness and the gifts of familial unity. 

Discover inventive methods to honor the affection you have for your family in distinctive manners this year, beginning with incorporating these amusing, yet genuine holidays into your list of enjoyable family escapades for January. 

Z Day – Initially established as a day to acknowledge all those who found themselves last or at the end of the queue due to an alphabetical arrangement, Z Day lets you know you are acknowledged and valued! Participate in the festivities by making it an entire day of Z fun. Commence with dinner foods and conclude the day with breakfast delights. Let the youngest or smallest family member select which program to view on TV or choose the books to read before sleep. Enjoy ziti for lunch and pair it with some steamed zucchini. And turn it into a particularly memorable celebration by having a slumber party in the den to catch some z’s together as a family. 

Walk Your Pet Month – Ideally, every day should be a day to exercise the family pet, but elevate it this month with a few imaginative strolls. Next, find an entertaining chapter book about pets to savor together with a chapter or two shared orally each night as a family. Consider reading some of these titles: The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford, Wish by Barbara O’Connor, The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary, Haven by Megan Wagner Lloyd, and Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo. 

Drinking Straw Day – An inventor submitted the first patent for a drinking straw in 1888. Celebrate the occasion with plenty of enjoyable drinks and straw-related activities, such as chocolate milk and orange juice for breakfast, a sip of tea in the late morning for a tea gathering, water or punch for lunch, a milkshake for an afternoon treat, a smoothie with dinner, and warm milk right before bedtime.

National Play Outside Day – Clearly, this one is self-explanatory, but discover new ways to enjoy the outdoors with your loved ones. Engage in disc golf or toss imaginative flying discs like large sour cream or whipped topping lids. Construct a string fort among three or four trees, create a treehouse in the branches of a large tree, or fashion a stick tipi around one tree with large branches leaning against the trunk of a significant tree with an opening left for the entrance. 

Engage in basketball, ride scooters, rollerblade, bike ride or jump on a trampoline. Gather sweetgum balls or acorns. Toss stones in a creek. Play hopscotch, tag or hide and seek. Take full advantage of every moment outside, today and every day!

Apple Tree Day – Enjoy this craft to commemorate the day and be sure to munch on apples while being creative. Dip a hand into a shallow container filled with green paint. Then carefully press the painted hand onto a large sheet of drawing paper to form the foliage of an apple tree. Create about five or six handprints fairly close together to delineate a full, lush apple tree. Use a paintbrush to add a brown trunk. Once the green paint has dried, dip fingers into red paint and craft apple shapes throughout the tree’s leaves. 

What’s on your family fun bucket list for 2025? Ensure to include small escapades, medium-sized ones, and large-scale ones, as well. 

Revitalizing old memories by maintaining family traditions fresh and current. Devise new memory-making events with innovative ideas for fun and entertainment. Incorporate a target of “x” number of books read each month with the family, “y” number of hours dedicated to outdoor play together, and “z” number of footsteps taken during hikes and family outings. Make this the most exceptional year ever with the ones you cherish the most. Happy New Year! May 2025 turn out to be wonderful for you!

Statesboro native Julie Lavender is the author of A Gingerbread House and other titles and appreciates spending time with her husband, David, their four children, two sons-in-love, and three grandchildren.