International Hygge Day 2017 is next Tuesday, February 28th. Just as Winter is losing his grip and Spring begins to unfold her beautiful quilt of purple, yellow and lime green. When it’s too chilly (mostly) to sit outside for long, but the Sun sometimes  summons up enough energy to heat a cold neck to warm enough to take the scarf and coat off.

Joining in is easy. Do something hyggely/hyggelig/hyggeligt and post about it on any social media with the hashtag #internationalhyggeday. Photographs, small posts, large essays, any form on any media. I’d love a comment left here as well to see how many people join in!

And share any of the pictures here on your media. We’ve got a week to get as many people joining in as possible.

Need some ideas for hyggely things to do? No problem!

1. Go to a coffee shop with a friend and spend a relaxing hour chatting over a hot drink and something sweet.
2. Go for a walk in the park or woods and look closely at the trees and ground. You can see that Spring is getting closer, can’t you?
3. Visit an elderly or infirm relative with a bag of scones or cream buns. Sit and talk about their past.
4. Go for a bike ride. Just for fun, not for fitness. Go with a friend and stop half way for a picnic of coke and crisps. Or if you’re a Country Living reader, take a tartan blanket and a thermos of tomato soup with cold cheese toasties to eat.
5. Visit a bookshop and browse, alone or with a friend. Visit the library for the same feeling without spending.
6. Clean a room in the house and then putter… A Year of Puttery Treats by Alison May gives you one frivolous but oh so comfortable for the soul treat to do every day. Her other books are beautiful as well.
7. At work all day? Wear your most comfortable shoes, the ones that are almost like slippers, or take a cake in to share.
8. Look at your workplace. Can you make it more hyggely with a picture or a postcard with a quote on? How about a photocollage of friends and family?
9. Make a new friend. If the purpose of International Hygge Day is to spread the word about hygge, then finding someone new to talk to is a good thing to do. Or spend time with a relative you think could do with some hygge and tell them how easy it is.
10. Spend time with either children or pets. Both of these hygge naturally. They so know how to live in the moment, it seems a shame that children have to grow up and animals don’t talk. Just for today, slow down to their pace and enjoy life. Life is good, isn’t it?
11. Smile. Hygge is about feeling safe, secure, happy. You won’t get that feeling with a frown, so wear a smile all day long whatever happens. besides which, it winds everybody up so much, it’s brilliant.
12. Pop a KitKat through your neighbour’s door. Again, if you’re a fiddler, wrap it up with a tea bag or sachet of hot chocolate and write a note saying it’s a small hygge-filled gift from a stranger. Actually, put your name on it. People won’t eat things from strangers unless they think you’re selling them something.
13. Go to the pub. You do have a hygge pub or bar in your neighbourhood, don’t you? Preferably a short walk away, but a short drive will do. Somewhere cosy and welcoming. Don’t go to the place where you get stared at for sitting in Old Joe’s seat. Not hyggely.
14. Fill your Facebook with hygge. Use as many hygge-ful pictures as you can find and keep posting them with the hashtag. Kittens, guinea pigs and children again are your best bet here. Nothing mean or horrible.
15. Give yourself permission to just be for an hour. Or if you can’t just be, just be doing one thing for an hour. Read a book, play a game, watch a TV show. Craft, paint, draw, make a model. But whatever you do, do only that and think/feel/enjoy the experience. Be in the moment.
16. Get hyggely with your husband/wife/girlfriend/boyfriend. Just go get cosy. I don’t expect that posted on social media, except as a smiley face afterwards.

So, 16 good hyggely ideas. What will you do next Tuesday?

I think that Twitter will be having an extra special Hygge Hour that night, between 8pm and 9pm London time (that’s GMT at the moment) so you can always get an extra dose of hygge there. Just hashtag #hyggehour as well as #internationalhyggeday

Like what you read? Join me on  Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Or if you’re particularly hygge-minded and in search of friends, go over to Facebook to join The Hygge Nook. If you’re feeling generous and you’d like to support me in my hyggely journey, then the price of a coffee left here would be lovely as well, but isn’t compulsory.