As soon as the first flakes fall, the hope of two words linger in the mind of every student: snow day. When nature’s flurry is finally brewed to perfection, not much compares to waking up to a twitter feed that praises the almighty “Keith,” for his cancellation call. If you’re really as thankful for a day off from the same grueling routine as you should be, don’t waste it! These 10 ideas will help you make the most being locked behind doors, safe from school and the wintery wonderland!
1. Be the Chef
As acceptable as “lazy” is when coming up with a list of possible snow day themes, don’t let it lead to the tragedy of popping an Easy Mac in the microwave as a sorry excuse for lunch. Instead of slacking on the meal or skipping it all together, transform your kitchen into a top quality diner and serve up lunch like your family has never seen it before!
Scrounge your pantry and refrigerator to know what you have to work with, then draw up a common menu that each person in your house can place their order off of. Be original! Create a variety of dishes to appeal to all of your customers. Need some menu ideas? Click here.
Then fire up the oven, whip out the knives and get ready to make the greatest, free lunch your house has hosted.
2. Prepare for Vacation
Even though it seems like we’ll be stuck in this snow for eternity, the reality is that Spring Break is right around the corner, and you don’t want to be caught in last years bathing suit when April 7th rolls around. Because your brain isn’t stressing to learn a new chemistry formula or set of vocabulary words, put it to use by having it come up with what you will need when the much awaited day arrives.
Finished that? Get online and search for hot deals to snag, irresistible restaurants to stop at and fun excursions to try as you travel to your destination!
3. Clean Your Room
Don’t do it for your mom, or your little sister who has to hold her nose when she walks past your door; do it for yourself! Designate 45 minutes to gutting, spraying and detoxing the place you spend at least a third of your day.
You probably haven’t thought about the hidden corners where dust mites are flourishing, the egg sacks that spiders have laid in your sweaty, week-old clothes, or the half-eaten food in wrappers that drag in a family of friendly rats while you’re asleep, have you? Well like it or not, those things are more likely than not lingering in your bedroom as you read this. So get up and clean it! You can go to bed easier tonight knowing that the smell of freshness might be enough to keep Mr. Rodent outside the door.
4. Travel Back
How often does the business of high school make you want to be back on the recess monkey bars, when the opposite gender was “icky” and the biggest classroom struggle was deciding on what crayon to choose?
We all develop a little nostalgia from time to time… Thanks to mother nature, today you have more time than you even know what to do with! Take advantage of it and dig out your elementary and middle school yearbooks. Page through for your favorite teacher, second grade crush, and the kid you swore would be in your wedding someday.
It’s easy to dream about ten years from now when those zits on your face will be gone, and your braces finally off, but for the time being, just look back and appreciate how far you’ve come; if you’re anything like me, it’s a pretty long way!
5. Help Your Mamma Out
Whether you’re a freshman or a senior, college will be here sooner than you think. As glorious as freedom and independence from all the restraints of your house seem at first, I haven’t met one college kid who is psyched about dorm food, once second semester kicks in.
Not everyone’s parents are master chef’s by any means, but chances are, your mom or dad has scrambled a couple omelets, glued together a few PB & J’s, and cooked up some classic dinner time favorites since parenthood. Today’s the day to ingrain in your brain whatever insight they can give you about working in the kitchen.
Ask if you can help make dinner tonight.
Who knows, your voluntary spirit just might inspire them to whip out a recipe for their famous chicken noodle soup, steamy cheesey potatoes, or triple decker lasagna!
6. Get Active
The first half of a snow day always feels like heaven. Once about 4 o’clock rolls around however, you realize that the most you’ve done to get your heart rate up was walking from your bed to the couch, to the fridge, to the couch, and back to the fridge again. That dull sensation in your legs is saying: it’s time for more.
For two (one simple and one more advanced) workouts you can easily do in your house to burn that feeling right off, click here.
So make a playlist of 10 songs that will get you motivated to start stimulating those muscles!
You know that after workout feeling? It’s only about 30 minutes away.
7. Shove It
The last thing your dad probably wants to do when he comes home from an eight hour work day, is shovel the driveway. Just think about how much he would appreciate rounding your mailbox and seeing a stretch of nothing but pavement leading up to your garage. He was slaving away for your clothes, college, and that little luxury call “food” all day, the least you could do is take out the shovel or rev up the ol’ snow blower, and get crackin’.
8. Try Calling
As perfect as a Morning Star brunch with your best friend sounds, you know the chances of your mom letting you out of the house are slim. So rather than communicating through emoji’s and mutual struggles on each others twitter accounts, have a real voice to voice conversation.
Remember in sixth grade when you would take the house phone into your bedroom and talk for hours on end? Be that middle schooler again and dial.
9. Movie Marathon
Setting yourself up for a killer movie marathon is simple and painless:
- Slip on your most comfortable pajamas or robe.
- Select a movie theme – childhood favorites, sappiest love stories, stupid humor comedies, ect. Then hop on Netflix or dig through your DVD cabinet until you come up with a few flicks that will make your next few hours good for nothing else but quality, mindless, vegging out.
- Make popcorn.
- Slide in movie number one.
- Shut the blinds and turn off the lights.
- Wedge your way between couch cushions and a mountain of blankets.
- Roll film!
- Repeat.
10. Find Your Inner Worm
When was the last time you sat down and read for pleasure?
…That’s what I thought.
Even if you need to ask your parents for directions, head to your house library and begin searching for any book that snags your interest. If they all happen to be about old men in politics, historical events that you could care less about, mysteries that are way too far fetched, or something along those lines, dust off the book from two years ago that you couldn’t put down.
Now turn off this screen and go be a book worm for the day.