What a whirlwind day. I woke up on our April festival day, excited and ready to go. I was checking my email while drinking my coffee when I saw the subject line “Important update regarding your tickets”. My heart sank. The Mets game, a huge part of our festival, was postponed due to rain. Our festival was not going to happen as scheduled.
When I told Sam about our fate, he started throwing out ideas of what we could do to fill the day instead. Great ideas, but not festival-worthy. I knew I had to go back to the drawing board and quickly dream something up. At the start of the year, I’d planned all 12 monthly festivals. March was behind us, April was supposed to be today, and now suddenly I had unexpected breathing room to step back and evaluate.
As I was thinking through my requirements and ideas, I realized I didn’t love my definition of a festival. I used this postponement as an opportunity to reevaluate my future festival plans and really define how I could make it different, in a low effort way. Spoiler alert – I ended up deciding that postponing due to weather was out of our control and since we were still going to have that festival (just on another day) we didn’t need to dream up a new one.
I used the day as a festival rule reset and here is what I came up with:
Festival Rules 2.0
Non-Negotiables
- It cannot be canceled or rescheduled
- It must be a full day
- It must leave the house
- It must have a name
- There must be a dress code
- The opening ritual must be performed
- The Festival Journal must be written in
- The closing ritual must be performed
Strong Defaults
Present most of the time, but not required:
- A playlist
- A challenge
- A themed snack or drink
So what’s new here?
I added in an opening and closing ritual.
Rituals signify to us that there is something different about this moment. Again, I approached festival planning 2.0 focusing on what was achievable without stress. Pulling from cinema and my sorority experience, the opening and closing rituals involve a reciting of words and an action. As with everything at the festivals, I tried to write these with whimsy and the intention of making us smile. I wrote them to capture what we’d need at that time.
At the beginning of a festival, before leaving for the day, we make sure we’re in the right mindset. We are more filled with energy and this ritual will set the tone for the day.
To open a festival, we will say:
Elaina: “Today, we festival. Our worries have been left behind. Only fun and whimsy can enter our minds today.”
Sam: “Today, we festival. We are the masters of our own adventure. We choose you today.”
Together: [bow to each other]
At the end of a festival when we get home, we are likely tired. I wanted to make this one extremely short, so it was likely that we’d do it.
To close a festival, we will say:
Elaina: “The festival is complete.”
Sam: “The memory is sealed.”
Together: “Until the next one.” [bow to each other]
When I shared these with Sam, he mentioned they feel a little cult-y. To me, it adds a little bit of zest. You may not agree.
So when you are building your rituals, try to think of what you’d need. You can make it a ritual that you say something, but change the words depending on what the festival entails. You can create a secret handshake, write a song or a poem. There are so many creative ways you could take these festival add-ons and I would highly recommend not skipping them. This addition alone helped boost these festivals much farther from just a date.
I also added a festival journal component.
I love documenting memories for future Elaina to enjoy. I realized in a lot of my festivals I had this idea of creating some type of memento. To create a new memento each month felt like too much effort, but to have one journal for all the festivals is definitely achievable.
Just 3 simple categories I always want us to fill out in the journal. It’s nothing too crazy, just writing down the same information each month. There will be one journal with a page or two for each festival. We will write down our favorite parts, things we’d do differently, and new festival ideas. The best time to brainstorm is while you’re in festival brain mode.
You’ll also note the new category of strong defaults, but they aren’t requirements. There are some festivals that don’t lend themselves easily to challenges, playlists or specific foods. That is okay! By downgrading these, I felt a huge sense of relief. Sometimes the challenges were feeling forced because the festival was already activity-centric. Sometimes a playlist felt forced because what could satisfy the vibe that we’d actually want to listen to.
I spent a while planning out another festival only to realize that we will still have our original festival, just at a later date! I know it goes against our ‘no cancelation’ policy, but here’s the distinction: we didn’t cancel—the Mets did. This wasn’t us giving up when things got hard; it was an external force completely out of our control. The commitment is still intact.
I am happy this happened so I could gain some much needed clarity on my festivals and plan for stronger ones for the rest of the year! It also happens that our April festival was planned for the last weekend in April and our May was planned for the first weekend so there will be new festival content soon.
Sometimes a rainy day reset is exactly what you need.
Challenge: Create a whimsical ritual whose sole purpose is to add a little burst of joy into your life.
Cover image created with AI, directed by me — because sometimes a rainy day calls for a little creative workaround.
