Groundhog Day

So the big holiday rush is over and now there's a withdrawal for parties as well as an eagerness for spring to arrive...so why not celebrate Groundhog Day?  Any reason to throw a party, right?  Every February 2nd, people all over the US watch to see if Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow.  Phil, the groundhog, comes out of his hole after winter hibernation to look for his shadow. If he sees his shadow that means we get 6 more weeks of winter. If he does not see his shadow, then spring should be arriving shortly!  I always got confused with this one...I thought...shadow = spring, right, Sunshine!  Weird that it's the other way around?!


So let's talk about different ways to celebrate this holiday.  Basically, you can go one of two ways...either you go at it from the "winter vs. spring" theme or just do a "groundhog" theme party.


If you choose to do the winter vs. spring party, then decorating is very simple.  You decorate 1/2 the room with winter/snow decor of white and then decorate the other 1/2 with green spring decorations.  You can mix the food up between those two themes as well.  You could ask your guest to come dressed 1/2 winter and 1/2 summer....a sweater with shorts?  Or you could just go all spring since that's what we're hoping for anyway!


If you go with the groundhog theme, my favorite, there are a lot of options.  For decorations you'll need to use browns and a lot of groundhogs!  Planting little boxes of grass with groundhog beanie babies looking up out of the grass would be very cute!  


FOOD!!!  Well, for breakfast you have to have sausage, gravy and biscuits...why sausage?  Because sausage is "ground" "hog"!  For your dinner, you can either do a beef stew or meatloaf and call it "groundhog stew" or "groundhog loaf".  Or you can do a selection of foods that groundhogs eat, i.e. seeds, salads, nuts, veggies, fruits.  You could also make "groundhog feed" which is basically trail mix.  For the adults, a yummy mudslide would be appropriate since they live in the ground.  And for dessert....cupcakes or a dirt cake (made of chocolate pudding and crumbled chocolate wafers) would be more than fun...especially if you could find a little plastic or fondant groundhog to pop out of it...see below...

Children's activities: There are a lot of fun activities you can do with your kids on this day!  

• First of all, if your community host a groundhog day appearance celebration, definitely go!  Check with your local parks and recreation community.  
• But the night before, everyone should write down their prediction of whether Phil will see his shadow.  The next day will be fun going over everyone's predictions.  
• It would also be fun to make groundhog masks for the kids to wear or do face paintings with brown noses and whiskers.  
• Of course there is always coloring pages of groundhogs to do...make sure you have a lot of brown crayons!
• Also, since we're talking about shadows...use a flashlight to help the kids find their shadows, then you can trace their head profile shadow on the wall and cut it out.  You can frame it for years to come!
• Lastly, if you're looking for some cool groundhog gear, then check out the official website at http://www.groundhogstuff.com/shop/Clothing_-_Infant_and_Toddler/index.htm for some very interesting attire and gifts!

Adult activities:  Well, any reason to drink is a good one right?  So invite your friends over, play some "Groundhog Day" trivia you can find on http://www.groundhog.org/ and party on!  As you settle down, put in a classic "Groundhog Day" movie and dream of spring!