Rainy Days- Weekend Vibes
Written by Brittany Barnes, M.A., LPC-Intern, NCC, CST-Candidate
Rainy days giving you the blues? Wondering what you can do to have fun within your home, get some energy out and feel rested afterwards? No worries, rainy days do not need to mean that your mood and energy levels inside must mirror what is happening outside. There is a variety of activities you can do as a couple, individually and as a family. Below is a list of a few of my favorite rainy-day activities to try, each one can be personalized and changed to fit your creative indoor rainy-day energy!
Rainy Day Activities for Couples
Rainy days can provide a great opportunity for you and your partner to reconnect and spend quality time together. A fun activity that you can do as a couple during a rainy day, is to have an indoor picnic. This can combine a variety of activities together, that result in sitting together and having an intimate meal. Find recipes that look appealing to you both or recipes that you have always wanted to try, including appetizers, a main course and dessert. You could tap into your competitive sides and use this time to have a cook off or join cooking forces to tackle the recipes together. To increase the romantic ambiance, use a comfortable, plush blanket, throw some cushy pillows down, light candles and play a “rainy day” playlist that you created together.
Another connection building activity that I recommend is turning your home into your own couple’s getaway spa retreat. Draw a warm bath, drizzle bubbles, place a bath bomb in the water and light candles. Pick a scent that is relaxing to you and your partner to help increase the tranquility. Lavender is often used to reduce anxiety, depression and deepen one’s relaxation. You and your partner can then share the bath together and practice individual as well as couple’s self-care by soaking, embracing one another, and listening to the rain fall. If you are looking to add a little more pampering, making an at home face mask or body scrub could be used while in the bath together.
Both of these rainy-day activities provide a cozy, sensual space to have deep conversations, play truth or dare, and discuss individual as well as couple goals for the future.
Rainy Day Activities for Individuals
When it’s raining outside, and we are stuck inside, we can utilize this time to tackle those pesky tasks that we have been putting off. One activity that I recommend during a rainy day, is to organize that area in your home that has been causing you stress. A common source of stress could be the closet or garage, perhaps the pantry as well. Using the down time, you are spending inside your home as a positive way to be productive, can lead to stress and anxiety reduction. It can be the best feeling to complete an organizational task, take a warm shower, put on clean clothes, maybe even fuzzy socks, and slip into bed to watch a movie or show that has been sitting on your watch list. By completing these tasks, you can feel accomplished, comfortable and more at ease while relaxing and being able to truly destress.
Rainy Day Activities for Families
Sometimes rainy days can be looked at as a blessing or a curse, but a rainy day can provide us the chances to tap into our creative sides. An activity that a family could create with their children during a rainy day is an indoor scavenger hunt. Parents, you can create a list of different clues that lead the children to different locations inside the home, where they can find the objects needed to complete the hunt. Adding missions to be completed at each location can give the children more occasions to let their energy out while trying to accomplish a task. Including additional missions to the scavenger hunt can also make the activity last longer and more interesting.
An activity that could go hand in hand with the scavenger hunt (even make it more challenging) is to build an indoor obstacle course. You can use a variety of household objects to complete the creation of the course. Among those objects are chairs, hula hoops, cups, sofa cushions, tape, string and boxes. You could also write out tasks on sticky notes that are to be completed between the variety of objects that make the obstacle course and place them around the room or home. For safety precautions, remove any furniture with sharp edges and rugs that could cause slipping and tripping.
Each of these activities can be an exciting, different and fun way to spend time together during a rainy day indoors. The activities can give you the opportunities to reconnect, create and relax. In addition to strengthening bonds, these indoor activities can help save money, increase ways to let your pent-up energy out and alleviate stress. Happy rainy-day fun!