As you may have heard me say recently, I am always looking for an excuse to have a party. It’s something I assume everyone in youth ministry has in common.

Of course, we all know about the important holidays. (Like, I don’t know, the ones that celebrate Jesus, perhaps?) But listen. There are also other holidays out there. More holidays than you could possibly imagine. 

So this year on my blog, I’ve decided to introduce you to some of these hidden holiday gems. Every month, I’m highlighting a handful of lesser-known, possibly weird, and definitely wonderful, holidays – and how we might want to celebrate them in our youth ministries. We’ve already done January, so now let’s talk about FEBRUARY.

Saturday, February 6 is Ice Cream for Breakfast Day! Now, you may not be meeting on Saturday morning. But I’m going to guess you’ve got something going on the following morning. You know where this is going, don’t you? It’s easy. When your volunteers show up for church on Sunday morning, surprise them with ice cream! It’s the festive thing to do.

February is Library Lover’s Month and, by the way, I’m really excited to discover that this is a thing. And hey, it’s a great opportunity to show your volunteers some love and support. If you haven’t already, you might want to consider building a Small Group Leader Library in your ministry space this month. Or if that doesn’t do it for you, you can show your volunteers you care by giving them a helpful book (like Lead Small) or maybe even starting book club together.

Do you have any idea how many things taste delicious with tortilla chips? It’s just slightly shy of everything, I think. To celebrate this momentous national holiday, celebrate your leaders the week of February 24 with a fun assortment of chips & dip. Sure, salsa is a safe bet. But have you thought about spinach and artichoke dip? Buffalo chicken dip? BRUSSELS SPROUT DIP? (Don’t knock it ’til you try it, people.)

Make a Friend Day is every February 11! So when you’re preparing for your programming that week, try to weave in a fun new idea to help your students connect with someone new. Here’s a simple one: at the start of your program, give them 5 minutes to pair up with someone they don’t know very well and then find something they have in common. You might even want to give a prize to the pair with the most bizarre thing they have in common.

National Jell-O Week is always the first full week of February! Celebrate by playing a weird game or two with your students… but you know, something involving Jell-O. Kenny (my husband and favorite game-inventor) actually came up with a pretty epic one, which you can find in our Absurd Holiday Game Pack (Volume 1). You’ll love it. Unless you hate feet. Or Jell-O.

The whole month of February is Hot Breakfast Month! So what’s even better than, say, a plate of delicious hot waffles? How about a quick game of Mystery Waffle? Okay, Mystery Waffle is a thing that I just made up, but you can definitely do it with a few tweaks to the game Mystery Hot Dog. (Just swap the hot dogs for waffles and you’re in.) Grab the (FREE!) instructions for Hot Dog (or Waffle) Surprise from FunNinja.org to help you get started!

And there you have it for February! Hope some of these ideas have inspired you celebrate more often with your volunteers and students. Because, hey, there’s a whole lot of stuff to celebrate, you know? Oh and don’t forget to check back in a few weeks for a list of weird March holidays, too!

So how about you? Got any good ideas for celebrating these weird holidays? Know of any good February holidays I didn’t mention?