6 Must-Try Fun Activities for Your First Winter Break Back from College!

Your first semester in college is nearly over and, pretty soon, it’ll be winter break for you! Congrats on surviving!

So… what now? Ask Siri, Alexa, or Google, “What to do during winter break back from college”? 

It’s tempting to just laze around the entire time while you’re on vacation, right? With all the stress of adjusting to a new school far away from home and after whatever that one final was—you deserve all that downtime to shut your brain off for a while. We know we’d do that, too.

BRB applying for a PTO…

We have the top 6 things you can do for your first college winter break so you don’t have to do the thinking!

1. Declutter and organize

What? Manual labor on your vacation!?

Maybe it’s time to bring back Marie Kondo’s KonMari method…

Yes. But hear us out: you probably have a bunch of clothes from when you were in high school that you stubbornly keep because that cute Senior when you were a Junior said it looked cute on you. But they don’t fit you anymore! Oh, and that old jersey? Yeah, no, you stopped playing six years ago. Throw them out!

This also works with your school files. Don’t need those notes from that class that you barely attended? Recycle bin! Won’t be using that one e-book your professor read off of at every lecture? Goodbye! Got a bunch of photos of lecture slides you’re 100% sure you’re not using anymore? Free up that phone space, bestie.

Having less unnecessary stuff in your life and starting fresh by the time the New Year rolls around is a great way to start 2024 in a clearer and more peaceful state of mind!

2. Pick up an old hobby

Stuff of our nightmares…

Being a college student sometimes makes you way too stressed or busy to keep your sanity with hobbies you used to love. I used to read a LOT of fiction books before I went to college, but I got too burnt out to continue while classes were ongoing. That might be what you’re experiencing, too.

Now that you have a few weeks of absolutely no school at all, it’s time to pick up where you left off! Finish that half-painted canvas you left on your desk, buy the sequel to the book you finished before college started, or stop running away from the Duolingo bird!

3. Start a new hobby!

If you’re not feeling your old hobbies, maybe you can just willfully ignore them and start a new one! Nobody said you have to commit to only one or even be good at them! My ex knew how to be like that, too…

Don’t know what hobbies you can try that won’t take you years to master? We got a couple of fun hobby ideas for you! Don’t worry, we swear you’ll be a pro in just a week!

Try crochet!

One of the coziest hobbies to pick up for winter break is crocheting. It’s a relatively inexpensive and easy hobby and can help you make personalized gifts for your friends and family!

There are lots of tutorials (like this!) and patterns online that can guide you through creating pretty things like phone charms, keychains, and even coasters!

Another fun thing about crocheting is that you only need two things: crochet yarns and crochet needles. They're probably already available at any craft store nearby!

You can also crochet literally anywhere. Your room, the living room, that hotel your family is going to for the holidays, even in the bathroom. Pretty soon, you're going to learn to crochet while walking, too!

Learn how to paint!

Another fun activity to try is acrylic painting. If you’re cooped up at home watching the snow pile up on the driveway, painting can help you bring out pretty sceneries you might be missing!

You don’t even need a huge easel or space. All you’ll need are:

• A drawing pad that can hold acrylic paint
• A tabletop easel or stand
• Some paints and brushes
• A ceramic plate or one of those plastic palettes
• A used jar filled with water
• A cleaning rag or some tissues to clean paint up
• Your imagination

One of the easiest things to paint is the sky. You don't even need it to look super realistic to look good! Like pink or purple skies with lots of sparkling stars? Or what about rainbow sunsets with silhouettes of trees? No one's going to stop you!

Pretty soon, you're going to be painting mountains, lakes, full moons, or even going full Bob Ross!

Get cooking!

If you’re not really into buying new stuff just for a holiday hobby, you can join your parents in the kitchen and start learning new recipes from them!

Not only will you learn to cook something more than instant ramen and boiled eggs in your dorm, but you can also bond with your family as you all pour some extra love into every dish!

There are lots of easy recipes you can start with, like making tacos, baking some focaccia, or even trying your hand at easy freezer cookies!

Pretty soon, you'll have a more refined palate, you'll be able to come up with your own twists to your meals, and maybe Gordon Ramsay is going to start knocking at your kitchen window!

We're not going to be liable for when you start staying up at 3 AM on TikTok because you can't have your ramen noodles without some razzle dazzle anymore, though. Just saying.

4. Volunteer

@ you thinking about all the poor puppies without owners to lick for Christmas…

The holidays, no matter what you celebrate during winter break, aren’t only a time for festivities, reuniting with your family, and that perfect honey-glazed ham at the huge family gathering at your grandparents’ house. It’s also the season of giving and spreading joy, even in little ways.

Lots of organizations welcome people who can volunteer a few hours to help kids in hospitals or orphanages feel happy during the holidays. Pet shelters also really love volunteers who can help foster animals or even just play with their rescues a few times a week. Even nursing homes accept kind people who want to bond with the elderly during their free time.

This coming winter break, why not spread a little more love and joy in the community, even if it’s just welcoming a few kittens into your home?

5. Start a workout routine

Maybe wearing one of our athleisure pieces counts as a workout?

Okay, we know what you’re thinking. No, we’re not telling you to shave off whatever weight you might have gained over the holidays because Grandma’s pies were too good. We stopped watching our calories a long time ago.

A workout routine isn’t just for people who want to tone their body or lose weight (but we don’t judge people who do!). It can be a really easy way for you to feel a little better about yourself. 

Exercise stimulates endorphins, which are a type of feel-good neurotransmitters. Basically, you feel less stressed when your endorphins are active, and exercising helps keep them up. 

You don’t even need to go out for a 5 AM jog to do this—even simple stretches at home when you wake up or following a yoga routine on YouTube can get you that runner’s high!

6. Be a star on social media

Don’t forget the cute selfie to announce that your new vid is up!

If you’re missing your main character energy from college, why not take out your phone and do random dance trends or lip sync to audios on TikTok? Who knows, maybe you have an inner actor just waiting to come out, and then you can finally pay a PR agent your entire influencer salary! 

Starting a vlog, a gaming channel, or even a cooking channel on YouTube can also be the highlight of your winter break. Let people see a glimpse of your life and see just how many people relate to your thoughts, struggles, and random life moments! 

The best part of it is that you’re documenting memories in your life that you might forget about someday, but social media is there to help you remember!

You deserve a winter break that’s fun, relaxing, and maybe really fulfilling for you! Go rest up, bestie, because you earned it!