Hello March!
Here is a list of over 31 Official March Holidays that give you reason to celebrate every day!
March marks the month of new beginnings around here as the bulbs start to bloom, buds appear on trees and everything starts looking lush and green. In the Pacific NW, that gorgeous green comes with the rain. So, we find ways to celebrate the gloomy weather in anticipation of exquisite spring color bursts around the corner (such as the blooming of the Tulip Fields in April)!
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March 1 - National Share a Smile Day and National Peanut Butter Lovers Day - I must make our favorite Monster Cookie recipe in honor of this day because the cookies contain peanut butter and when they are shared, smiles are also shared!
March 2 - Dr. Seuss's Birthday - How about fixing up some green eggs and ham for breakfast while reading your favorite Seuss books?
March 2 is also Read Across America Day! Doesn't curling up with a good book sound perfect for a dreary March day?
March 3 - Girls Day! - Time to celebrate all the girls in your life with some special girl activities!
Annual Science Fair 2013
This girl of mine would be content making explosive volcanic eruptions but I have researched some fun activities that we can do together that can be located on my Mom + Daughter Pinterest Board. Miss B likes to pin her favorite ideas there as well (so I can't take credit for them all)!
March 3 is also Hina Matsuri in Japan, otherwise known as Doll Festival.
Early March is the time to plant your wheat grass! I love using wheat grass for Easter decorating as it's the perfect medium to nestle eggs or can also be planted with a little soil in an actual egg shell. One year the kids drew faces on the eggs and the wheat grass grew in looking like hair! If you plant it now, it will be ready in time for Easter at the end of the month!
March is National Nutrition Month and in keeping with my New Year's goals to eat healthier I have been continuing researching and trying healthy recipes. One of my favorite healthy cookbooks is The Food You Crave - Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life by Ellie Kreiger.
March 4 - National Scrapbooking Day - Scrapbooking helps us preserve cherished memories through the art of scrapbooking. Consider starting a scrapbook today. What a great excuse to dedicate a little time to print photos and document what was happening in your photos for future generations to enjoy. I love coming across old photos that tell a story of who and what was happening in the picture on the back or even better, in the scrapbook.
March 5 - National Unique Names Day - Although each of our children's names were unique when they were born (you couldn't find a pencil or magnet with their names on it), now Miss Mara is the only one who qualifies for having a "unique" name. Bella (Isabella) quickly gained popularity post Twilight series, and Connor and Caleb have also skyrocketed in popularity. The latter three have no problem finding name knick-knacks with their names on them. Growing up in the seventies, my name was still unique and like Mara, I could never find stickers, lip glosses or pencils with my name on them.
The Our Best Bites Cookbook's recipe for Homemade Cherry Chocolate Ice Cream was a hit!
March 6 - National Frozen Food Day - Does this mark a day to eat large quantities of ice cream and sorbet? If so, sign me up!
March is also National Frozen Foods Month - what a great time to try your hand at Freezer Meals! Having homemade meals in the freezer has been a saving grace for me on countless occasions.
March 7 - National Cereal Day - In my house, kids don't eat cereal unless it is hot such as oatmeal but I have been wanting to mix it up and try Mel's Red Berry Risotto Oatmeal that teams creamy arborio rice with hearty oats and red berries. My kids love rice pudding, berries and oatmeal so it should be a winner.
March 8 - Daylight Savings Time Begins - although we lose an hour of sleep, it's all worth it when we have sunshine during more of our waking hours! This day also represents the day we are all to check our batteries in our smoke alarms to ensure they are working.
March 9 - National Crabmeat Day - To celebrate today, try this amazing, healthy recipe for crab mango salad with a lime dressing with mango, celery, cilantro, scallions in a crisp wonton cup. It's hands-down my favorite crab recipe!
March 10- Middle Name Pride Day - Spend the day finding out as many middle names of people as possible. Parents put so much thought into picking the perfect middle name but yet it is rarely even spoken. Spend the day addressing your family and friends by their first and middle names, just for fun. Discover the meaning behind those middle names. Were you named after a family member or did it just blend well with your first name?
March 11 - Johnny Appleseed Day in honor of Johnny Chapman, a nurseryman who grew apple trees and supplied apple seeds to the early American settlers. During the movement out west, he traveled and planted apple trees along the way. I'm planning on making our favorite Blue Ribbon Apple Pie in celebration of Johnny!
March 12 - National Plant a Flower Day and it's also Organize Your Home Office Day. At least we get to choose planting flowers vs. cleaning/organizing our offices. (Hmm...tough choice!) March 12th is also National Popcorn Lover's Day this year as it falls on the second Thursday of March each year.
March 13 - National Open an Umbrella Indoors Day - my superstitious Grandma Rose would have been appalled to learn about this holiday as she believed that opening an umbrella indoors was a sign of bad luck. We will stick to opening our umbrellas outside and in the Pacific NW, we rarely use umbrellas as it's always raining, unless you have to stand outside to watch a sporting event in a torrential downpour.
March 14 - National Pi Day - I'll never forget when Mr. Connor came home from school in first grade insisting that I make a pie for National Pi day! I love that this day celebrates math and Albert Einstein's birthday by consuming pie! The Pi constant represents the ratio between the circumference of a circle to its diameter (for those of us that needed a little reminder).
March 15 - National Artichoke Hearts Day - I suppose our family favorite Mediterranean Chicken Pasta dish will make an appearance as it's my favorite using artichoke hearts!
March 15 - is National Incredible Kid Day! Make your kid feel special today and let your kids determine what is for dinner/dessert and what special activity you spend doing together this evening!
March 16 - Lip's Appreciation Day - This day warrants a lot of kissing if you ask me!
March 17 - Happy St. Patrick's Day! We have always loved the lucky holiday. When our kids were younger they traditionally constructed Leprechaun Traps! (Make sure you are well-equipped with washable green paint, green food dye, Leprechaun Letterhead, lucky Irish coins, golden chocolate coins and green glitter so you don't have to make any late-night runs). Those pesky elves would end up leaving green tracks/footprints throughout our entire house (even up the wood dollhouse staircase one year and underneath a dining room chair - the green prints are still there as the Leprechauns didn't use washable paint that year), turning milk green and leaving golden chocolate coins and secret messages on Leprechaun Letterhead. One year the kids left out a tape recorder to listen to what the leprechauns were discussing while being mischevious. The Hubs and I spent hours tracking down the voices online and then attempting to replicate messages on their handheld recorders. The things we do for our kids!
This year, inspired by Pinterest (see my pins on the Lucky St. Patty's Day Board), I plan to make Mint Chocolate Chip Pancakes, shamrock chips using a spinach tortilla, sending the kids on a Lucky Treasure Hunt, and making rainbow kabobs. I am sure I will make a sweet treat such as Ireland's Favorite Toffee Shortbread, Grasshopper Mint Stuffed Cookies or Lime Squares. I love this Top O' the Mornin' Breakfast Idea filled with printables and St. Patrick's Day themed breakfast or brunch ideas from My Sister's Suitcase.
March 18 - National Awkward Moments Day should make for some great dinner conversation tonight! I have plenty of awkward moments to share.
March 19 - National Poultry Day will be yet another excuse to make my favorite Healthy Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps.
March 20 - The First Day of Spring seems like the perfect day for the first outdoor picnic of the year! If however the weather does not cooperate, we will spread out on the living room floor for our evening meal.
March 21 - National Common Courtesy Day - say hello to everyone you come into contact with by offering a smile, opening doors, offering parking spots to others, and going the extra mile to be courteous.
March 22 - National Goof Off Day - wow, what a great excuse to have fun, abandon responsibilities and play! This afternoon will kick-off the first day of our kids' Spring Break.
March 23 - first Saturday of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament otherwise known as March Madness. Guess what will be on at our house? Since December, it has felt like March Madness for our family with basketball season in our house filled with daily after school practices, weeknight games and weekend tournaments with four games over the course of a weekend.
Connor sinks the free-throw shot!
March 24 - National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day! I think we all know how to celebrate this special day!
March 25 - National Waffle Day is the perfect time to test out new waffle recipes. I recently tried a Cheddar Ale Waffle that was topped with Sriracha Sauce Chicken and served with the most delicious butter and maple sauce.
March 26 - National Spinach Day - Miss B used to love steamed spinach when she was a wee one. On one occasion she cried that we ran out before she could have a third helping. It's strange how now as a tween she doesn't have that passionate love for the green. We will make our favorite Spinach Salad with Mandarin oranges and carmelized nuts to celebrate the day and maybe even this delicious Spinach Dip (without mayo).
March 27 - National Joe Day is a holiday to be called Joe and to call everyone else Joe. (Sorry, it was either National Joe Day or National Quirky Country Music Song Titles Day).
March 28 - National Something on a Stick Day (really?) I have always wanted to try my hand at making homemade Pronto Pups/Corn Dogs. If that doesn't happen, I could make Caramel Apples on a stick - one of my favorite guilty pleasures.
This huge corn dog has become a State Fair tradition for Connor.
March 30 - National Pencil Day recognizes Hymen Lipman who recieved a patent for his pencil with an attached eraser on March 30, 1858. Did you know that the average size tree can make 170,000 pencils and more than 2 billion pencils are used in the U.S. each year and more than 14 billion are used world wide.
March 30 - Take a Walk in the Park Day - challenge yourself to seek out a new park that you have not ever visited or revisit one that you have not stopped by for sometime. Did you know that there is a new service in which you can rent a dog for the day?
Although Easter and Passover do not fall in March this month, here are some ways to incorporate those traditions in the upcoming weeks:
Passover - I have always wanted to make a traditional Seder Meal for Passover (even though we are not Jewish) as I want to expose my kids to many different cultures. The five symbolic foods for the Passover meal are a roasted lamb bone, parsley, horseradish, a hard-boiled egg and Haroset - a mixture of apple, walnuts, cinnamon and honey. I would also like to expose my kids to Matzoh, the unleavened bread served at Passover.
Good Friday - growing up this was a day of fasting in anticipation for Easter to mark Christ's death on the cross. I want to try a version of this with my kids now that they are old enough to understand this solemn day observance. One family chose to only eat a small quantity of rice and beans that day. Hot Cross Buns, a yeast dough rolls with raisins with an icing cross on the top, are a tradition for many homes on Good Friday and would make for a great breakfast.
Mara and Bella made this cake for Easter a few years ago.
March 31 - Happy Easter! In the Christian religions, Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
My mom has always hosted an egg hunt that involves eggs meant for each child, clues with numbered treasures and a golden egg (or two). Even when we were adults, she made the Egg Hunt a treasured tradition.
The Hubs' family traditionally hid the Easter Baskets for the kids to find so we have adopted that tradition. Baskets have ended up in the shower, closets and some very random locations that continue to stump the kids and get harder, the older the kids get. I love stuffing them with non-candy treasures and goodies but each basket always contains the famous See's Chocolate Bunny.
Last year we tried making our own Natural Egg Dyes using blueberries, cabbage, tea, spinach, beets, tumeric, red onion skins. The eggs turned out gorgeous and it felt as if we were concocting our own science experiments.
This year I'm excited for a Glow-in-the-Dark Easter Egg Hunt in which you place glow sticks found at the Dollar Store inside plastic Easter Eggs (as well as some candy or money) and hunt at night - a perfect concept for the Tween/Teen crowd that can work indoors or outdoors, depending upon the weather.
I hope that you enjoy March to the fullest and that this list helps you make magical March memories!
Do you have any special March traditions that our family should incorporate?
