LAUGH
The holiday season can be difficult to navigate as a teacher. We reach children from all different backgrounds who all have their own particular way to celebrate throughout the season. But fear not! We have gone ahead and found 23 holidays that happen in December that everyone can participate in. They may not all be conventional, but they sure are inclusive!
1. December 1st- World Trick Shot Day
Let’s start the month off right with a holiday that every child will gladly get behind. Heck, in most classrooms it feels like it’s always World Trick Shot Day. Even though the Great Bottle Flipping Scourge has mostly ended, there are still students who see every piece of garbage as a basketball, and every trash can as a basket.
2. December 4th- Cookie Day
Whether they’re chocolate chip or oatmeal or snickerdoodle, everybody loves a good cookie. So on this December 4th, why not do some baking with your students and make some cookies. The upside is that you get a nice little sweet treat during the day. The downside is the accompanying sugar rush that every child will be on for the rest of the day.
3. December 4th- Sock Day
Yes, today is the day we celebrate… um… socks. Specifically the joy surrounding a matching pair of socks. This day is especially joyous for teachers who rarely have time to do a proper load of laundry. So if you look down and see two matching socks on your feet this December 4th, rejoice! Go around your class singing sock carols like “Sock the Halls” or “No Hole-y Night.”
4. December 5th- International Ninja Day
This is a day to celebrate everything ninja-related, specifically their ability to disappear. Students will appreciate this day because in many ways they resemble ninjas. They can make pencils disappear at a moment’s notice, and they are quite adept at making all signs of their classwork vanish without a trace.
5. December 5th- National Bathtub Party Day
Okay, so maybe this day is really more for the teachers, but I think we can all agree it’s one we’re going to want to celebrate. On this day we break free from the humdrum life of quick showers, and draw ourselves a nice, luxurious bath. It’s the perfect way to unwind especially after dealing with ninjas all day.
6. December 5th- Bartender Appreciation Day
Yes, we know this is another one just for the teachers, but be honest. After the year we’ve all had, is there anyone you appreciate more than your bartender? And, lucky for us, December 5th falls on a Saturday this year. Maybe it’s time to schedule a “staff meeting” at everyone’s favorite watering hole and thank this bartender in person.
7. December 6th- National Pawnbrokers Day
It’s never too early to teach your students the value of a bargain. On National Pawnbrokers Day you can explain to them the concept of pawning something of value for some quick cash, which is something many teachers can relate to, as that’s how a lot of us pay bills every month. Pawn shops are also where you’ll find teachers shopping for last-minute gifts because we can’t afford what we really want at Target.
8. December 8th- Pretend To Be A Time Traveler Day
Yes, there are countless history lessons you could teach on a day like this. You could pretend to go back to the American Revolution, or when we first walked on the moon. Honestly, though, I think we’d all just like to hop in a time machine and go back to any time that isn’t 2020. Or maybe we could all pretend to time travel to the end of this school year and start summer early!
9. December 10th- Nobel Prize Day
If you love a good awards show, why not celebrate Nobel Prize Day? This is like the Super Bowl of academia, which is sure to get your students energized and enthralled. You could even stream the award announcements live and go wild when Emmanuelle Charpentier wins her long-overdue Nobel Prize for developing a method of genome editing. Okay, maybe your students won’t exactly raise the roof over it, but it is cool.
10. December 10th- Dewey Decimal System Day
Today is the day where you can blow your student’s minds by telling them all about a place that existed in the long, long ago called a “library”. And in this library, there were things called “books,” which is kind of like what would happen if you printed out Google. And there was a magic code that organized all of these books known as the Dewey Decimal system. Don’t try teaching students the actual Dewey Decimal system though. Their brains might not be able to handle all those numbers and dots.
11. December 11th- Lost And Found Day
On this day we all spend a little extra time looking for things that may have gone missing. This is a super fun activity to play with your students. You can have them search their desks so they can miraculously find all the missing assignments they never turned in, all the notices that were supposed to go home to Mom and Dad. Oh yeah, and about 87 pencils.
12. December 11th- Kaleidoscope Day
I know this is the season of never-ending art projects but if you’re game to squeeze another one onto your already hectic calendar, then why not make a kaleidoscope? Today is the actual birthday of Sir David Brewster, the inventor of the kaleidoscope. We’re not exactly sure why he invented it though. Maybe he was a teacher trying to survive until winter break and needed something to occupy his students’ time?
13. December 12th- Festival of Unmentionable Thoughts
Not a lot is known about this holiday, probably because people are too busy thinking all those unmentionable thoughts. This is another holiday perfect for teachers, because there is no profession in the world that has more thoughts they’re not allowed to mention out loud than teachers. So this December 12th… well you still can’t say them out loud, but at least you can rejoice knowing you’re not alone.
14. December 12th- National Ding-a-ling Day
No, this is not the day when you’re allowed to call the class clown a ding-a-ling (although that would be hilarious). Ding-a-ling Day is actually a day where we’re encouraged to call someone we haven’t spoken to in a while. Maybe it would be a great time to reach out to a few parents and give them updates on how their children are performing in your class.
15. December 13th- World Choral Day
In this, the month of eternal pageants and performances, it seems like every day is World Choral Day, but on the 13th you can feel free to turn your classroom into one big group sing. It’ll be a fun game to see whether they get tired of singing at the top of their lungs before you go absolutely insane.
16. December 13th- National Cocoa Day
No matter who you are, everyone loves a nice mug of hot chocolate. Today is as good a day as any to study the ancient Mayans with your class, because, even though they ended up being wrong about the end of the world happening in 2012, they were the first civilization to figure out how awesome chocolate is. Go Mayans! Be sure to share some chocolate with your students right before they get on the bus so their parents can deal with their oncoming sugar rush for a change.
17. December 14th- Monkey Day
This day is perfectly timed since by December 14th pretty much everybody at your school will be going totally bananas. So why not spend a day talking about all sorts of monkeys, apes, lemurs and anyone else in the simian family?
18. December 15th- Cat Herder’s Day
If this day isn’t already on a teacher’s calendar it needs to be added instantly. Cat Herder’s Day is when we celebrate all the people whose jobs are a lot like herding cats. And if anyone knows what it’s like to herd cats, it’s a teacher trying to keep their class in a straight line as they move through the halls. Your students can even dress up like cats to make things extra realistic.
19. December 15th- National Cupcake Day
‘Tis the season for baked goods, but we would be remiss if we didn’t take a special day out of the calendar to celebrate the cupcake. Teachers everywhere revere the cupcake because it’s perfectly designed for us. It’s easy to carry, which is nice because we’re always on the go. It doesn’t require utensils, which is nice because we never have time to sit and eat properly anyway. And most cupcakes are designed to be eaten fairly quickly, which is again good for teachers because our lunchtime is measured in nanoseconds.
20. December 16th- Barbie and Barney Backlash Day
If you teach little ones, this day will be especially sweet to you. On this day, you’re allowed to pretend that the large purple dinosaur and the blonde with a million careers don’t exist. Neither do their litany of earworm songs and movies that children will sing non-stop if given the opportunity. So if you’ve had just about enough of hearing Barney tell you he loves you, December 16th will be the day for you!
21. December 17th- Regifting Day
Sure, this day comes before the traditional giving of Christmas gifts but it’s perfectly timed for teachers whose cupboards are filled with the Ghosts of Coffee Mugs Past. It’s been said that some coffee mugs are doomed to wander from cupboard to cupboard, cluttering teacher’s kitchens forever.
22. December 18th- Answer the telephone like Buddy the Elf Day
Okay, so this holiday specifically says you should answer the phone like Buddy the Elf, but why not put a teacher spin on it? Try spending an entire day acting like Buddy in front of your students. Tell them long rambling stories with no ending, get irrationally excited over the smallest of things, and eat sugar like there’s no tomorrow. See how THEY like it!
23. December 20th- Games Day
This holiday dates back to the 1970s as a day for gamers to gather and play all day. It also lines up perfectly with those last few days of school before winter break. So break out those card games, launch those Kahoots, and have a little fun before taking a couple of well deserved weeks off.
These December holidays can be enjoyed by everyone, regardless of culture or religion. Enjoy!
