5 Avocado Hobbies for the New Year

Worried about how much time you and your family members spend with screens? Wish you had more quality time together? There are many cheap and easy ways to fill your hours with fun activities that don’t involve staring at a computer, phone, or TV. What you need is a hobby! Here are five simple, affordable ideas for fun, crafty activities you can try at home, alone or with the whole family. And all of them involve the versatile avocado!

1. Grow a Garden

A large garden can be an exciting and rewarding project, but don’t feel like you need to take over the entire yard to enjoy growing your own fruits and veggies. You can grow fresh salad greens, sprouts, and quick-growing herbs right in your kitchen. You can plant a small bucket or bin of carrots, potatoes, or ginger. You can even grow fruit like lemons or avocados in large pots! Have fun experimenting growing the fruit from seed, or visit a local nursery for an established plant that has been bred to be fruitful.

2. Get Creative in the Kitchen

Perfecting your cooking skills is a great way to enjoy some free time on the weekend. And the bonus is that it will make the rest of your week easier. Chop fresh veggies for salad and snacks, then whip up a batch of homemade dressing or dip. Master the art of guacamole. Cook up a big pot of classic tortilla or tomato soup. Whether you are learning a new technique or simply practicing making your favorite comfort foods, it will be a relaxing time with a great snack or meal as your reward … made all the better if you have someone to do the dishes after!

3. Become a DIY Fashionista

If you aren’t really the sewing type, express your creative textile flair and have fun experimenting with various natural dyes. Avocado pits make a lovely pink hue, but with a fixative and more vibrant ingredients you can get deep hues that span the entire rainbow. Once you’ve got your colors, dye some T-shirts with the kids or soak a skein of yarn for a new hue.

4. Write Letters the Old-Fashioned Way

In the age of email and text messages, writing letters can seem like a lost art. There’s nothing like the thrill of opening your mailbox and receiving a handwritten letter — except writing one yourself and sending it to a friend or loved one! Challenge yourself and learn to write with style with calligraphy or other hand-lettering lessons, which you can take for free online. Make your own ink from plant-based materials, like raspberries, black tea, or avocado pits. Get messy and make homemade paper to write your poems and letters on, then send them to people you love!

5. Master Still Life

You might already be an accomplished mobile phone photographer, but you can improve these skills away from the screen too, by learning still life composition through regular daily or weekly sketching journal practice. And if you save some of the homemade natural ink you’ve made, it can be used for painting, too!

It can be a serious challenge to pull yourself away from the screen and enjoy some quiet time doing something fun. Once you find yourself interested in something, though, the fight to get off the couch won’t be so tough. Try something new. Explore, experiment, and enjoy!