Write about decorating a home for Eid with whatever is in the drawer.Fact: homes are often decorated for the day.
Write a poem of eight lines, one for each night of Hanukkah, that grows the way the lights do.Angle: line one is short. Each line after it is a little longer.
Write a scene in which Eid Mubarak is said three times, by three people, in three moods.Fact: the greeting means blessed Eid.
A child is given a few coins at Hanukkah and has to decide whether to share them; write the decision.Fact: money given to children at Hanukkah is called gelt.
A family's menorah is missing on the first night of Hanukkah; write the search and what they light instead.Angle: who packed it away last year, and where a sensible person would have put it.
A neighbor sees the Hanukkah lights in the window and knocks to ask what they are for; write the conversation.Fact: by custom the lights are set by the door or in the window nearest the street.
Describe a kitchen on latke night using smell and sound before sight.Fact: latkes are potato pancakes, fried in oil like Hanukkah's other foods.
Hanukkah usually falls in December, when days are shortest in the northern half of the world; write about light in a dark month.Angle: an essay or a poem. Begin with the hour the street lamps come on.
The power goes out on the fifth night of Hanukkah; write the hour that follows.Start: for once the candles were the brightest thing in the house.
Two cousins are trusted with the jelly doughnuts for the first time; write what happens to the filling.Fact: Hanukkah's jelly doughnuts are called sufganiyot. Keep it funny, and let them be eaten anyway.
Write a Hanukkah dreidel game between a grandparent who always wins and a child who has been practicing.Start: the top is still spinning when the phone rings.
Write a letter from someone far from home describing how they kept Hanukkah this year.Angle: what they could not find, what they used, who stood beside them at the lights.
Write a poem of eight lines, one for each night of Hanukkah, that grows the way the lights do.Angle: line one is short. Each line after it is a little longer.
Write about the Hanukkah helper candle, the one that lights the others, as if it could talk.Fact: it is called the shamash, a word that means attendant.
Write the eighth night of Hanukkah as seen from the street: one window with every light burning.Fact: one light is added each night until all eight burn together, with a ninth to light them.
Write the same Hanukkah night twice: once by the youngest person in the room and once by the oldest.Angle: the youngest counts flames. The oldest counts who is at the table.
Kwanzaa 13
Describe the Kwanzaa table before anyone arrives: the mat, the candle holder, the cup, the crops.Fact: the mat is the mkeka, and the other symbols are set on it or beside it.
Each day of Kwanzaa has a principle; write about a time you saw unity, the first of them, in a family.Fact: the first principle is Umoja, unity.
In Kwanzaa, Imani means faith; write about someone who believed in you before you had done anything to earn it.Fact: Imani is the principle of the seventh and last day.
In Kwanzaa, Kuumba means creativity; write about something made by hand that left a place more beautiful than before.Angle: a quilt, a garden, a painted wall, a mended fence. Say who it was for.
In Kwanzaa, Nia means purpose; write a letter to a younger relative about what you hope they will build.Fact: Nia is the fifth of the seven principles.
In Kwanzaa, Ujima means collective work and responsibility; write about a problem a whole block solved together.Angle: one person noticed it. Say how the second person joined in.
Kwanzaa runs from December 26 to January 1; write a diary with one line for each of the seven days.Angle: each line names one thing the family did together.
Write a scene at the Karamu, the feast of Kwanzaa, from the point of view of whoever cooked the most.Fact: the feast usually falls on the sixth day.
Write a story about a child chosen to light the Kwanzaa candle for the first time.Start: her hand was steadier than she thought it would be.
Write about a gift given at Kwanzaa and the promise that came with it.Fact: the gifts, zawadi, stand for the love of parents and the promises children have kept.
Write about a grandparent explaining what the Kwanzaa colors black, red and green stand for.Fact: black is for the people, red for their struggle, green for the future and hope.
Write about the corn on the Kwanzaa mat, which stands for the children, from the point of view of a child.Fact: the corn stands for the children and the future they carry.
Write the first evening of Kwanzaa: one black candle lit and six waiting.Fact: the black candle stands in the center of the kinara and is lit on the first day.
Lunar New Year 14
A child opens a red envelope and finds a note folded around the money; write what the note says.Fact: at Lunar New Year red envelopes of money are given to children and younger relatives.
A family keeps Lunar New Year in a country where the day is an ordinary workday; write their evening.Angle: what they keep, what they shorten and what they will not give up.
Describe a lion dance from inside the costume.Fact: two dancers make one lion, one at the head and one at the tail. Choose your end.
Each year is named for one of twelve animals; write about a person who is nothing like the animal of their year.Fact: the animals come round in a cycle of twelve years.
The Lantern Festival comes at the first full moon of the new year; describe one street that night.Angle: begin with the light on the faces, then look up.
On the first day the brooms are put away so the new luck is not swept out; write the day something spills.Fact: that is the tradition for the first day of the new year festival in China.
Write a new year wish for each person at the table, including the one you argued with.Angle: one sentence each. The hardest wish to write goes last.
Write a riddle to hang from a lantern, and then the scene in which somebody solves it.Fact: at the Lantern Festival, riddles often appear written on the lanterns.
Write about a bowl of rice cake soup on the morning of Seollal, the Korean new year.Fact: the soup is tteokguk, and it stands for a fresh start.
Write about arranging the tray of five fruits for Tết, the Vietnamese new year.Fact: the five-fruit tray is set out on display as an offering to the ancestors.
Write about the oldest person in the family receiving the bow at Seollal.Fact: at Seollal families gather with their eldest members and bow deeply to them.
Write the cleaning of a house before Lunar New Year, room by room, and what turns up under the sofa.Fact: in Chinese custom a deep clean before the holiday clears out the old year's bad luck.
Write the last hour of the old year: the red paper going up beside the door, the food almost ready.Fact: homes are decorated with red lanterns and red paper couplets the night before.
Write the reunion dinner from the seat of the relative who traveled farthest to be there.Fact: on Chinese New Year's Eve families gather for the yearly reunion dinner.
Diwali 13
A child in new clothes for Diwali is told three times not to sit on the grass; write the evening.Fact: people put on new clothes or their best outfits as evening comes.
A Diwali rangoli takes all afternoon to make and then it rains; write what the family does.Fact: a rangoli is a pattern made on the floor with colored powder, flowers, rice or sand.
A neighbor who does not know the festival is invited in for sweets on Diwali; write the visit.Angle: the host explains one thing only. The guest notices the rest.
A student far from home lights one small Diwali lamp on a windowsill; write the phone call that evening.Start: it was already tomorrow where her mother was.
Describe a box of Diwali sweets going around a room, and the piece everyone wants.Fact: families share sweets, called mithai, during the festival.
Diwali lasts five days; write a diary with one line for each.Fact: the festival is generally kept over five days, in October or November.
Diwali stands for light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance; write about learning one thing that changed you.Angle: say what you believed before, and the moment it stopped being true.
The name means a row of lights; write a Diwali poem in which each line is one lamp.Fact: the word Deepavali is Sanskrit for a row of lights.
Write a letter inviting a friend who has never seen Diwali to come for the evening.Angle: tell them what to expect, what to wear and when the lamps are lit.
Write about a home being cleaned and decorated for Diwali, told by the home itself.Angle: what it feels like to have every corner looked at once a year.
Write one Diwali evening in two places: a street where every house is lit and a building where one home is.Angle: the same hour, the same lamps. Let the difference show in the sounds.
Write the lighting of the lamps at dusk on Diwali: the first match, then the row growing along the wall.Fact: the lamps are diyas, small clay lamps set out in rows.
Write the morning after Diwali: burnt wicks, colored powder on the step, one lamp still going.Angle: tell it from the side of whoever is up first.
Eid al-Fitr 13
A child is given a little money on Eid and spends the day deciding what to do with it; write the day.Fact: a gift of money to a child at Eid is called Eidi.
A child lays out new clothes the night before Eid and cannot sleep; write the night.Fact: children are often given new clothes and presents for the festival.
A family keeps Eid in a town where they are the only ones who do; write how the day goes.Angle: what they miss, what they make themselves and who they invite.
Describe a table of Eid sweets from the point of view of the smallest guest.Fact: sweet dishes are made for the day, which is also called Sweet Eid.
Two relatives who have not spoken for a year meet on Eid; write the first minute.Fact: Eid is a day when people are encouraged to forgive each other.
Write a letter to a friend explaining why the date of Eid moves every year.Fact: the Islamic calendar follows the moon, so the date shifts against the seasons.
Write a scene in which Eid Mubarak is said three times, by three people, in three moods.Fact: the greeting means blessed Eid.
Write about decorating a home for Eid with whatever is in the drawer.Fact: homes are often decorated for the day.
Write about giving something away on the morning of Eid, before the celebration starts.Fact: money for people in need is given before the Eid prayer.
Write the evening when people look for the new crescent moon that begins Eid al-Fitr.Fact: the festival begins with the crescent moon's first sighting.
Write the first breakfast of Eid, after a month of days without food until sunset.Fact: Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the month of fasting, and nobody fasts on the day itself.
Write the ride home at the end of Eid, with a child asleep and a tin of leftover sweets on the seat.Start: nobody wanted to be the one to say the day was over.
Write the round of visits on Eid afternoon: three homes, three kinds of tea, the same questions.Angle: let the answers change a little at each door.
A favorite holiday of your own 16
Describe a holiday table as a still life: say what is on it and nothing about the people.Angle: the reader should be able to tell who sat where.
Describe the morning of your favorite holiday before anyone else is awake.Start: the house was already different, and nothing had happened yet.
Invent a holiday, give it a date and three customs, and write its first year.Angle: one custom works at once. One has to be changed by lunchtime.
Write a letter to an older relative asking how the holiday was kept when they were small.Angle: ask three exact questions: what was eaten, who came, what was different.
Write about a holiday decoration that is older than you are.Angle: where it is kept, who unwraps it, and the chip or tear everyone knows.
Write about a holiday food that only one person in your family knows how to make.Angle: write the recipe the way they tell it, with the parts they leave out.
Write about a holiday from the point of view of the person who washes the dishes.Start: from the sink you can hear everything.
Write about a holiday song without quoting it: who sings it, how well, and at what point in the day.Angle: the song is the same every year. Write what changes around it.
Write about a holiday tradition your family invented and nobody else has.Angle: say who started it, and what happened the one year someone skipped it.
Write about a holiday you keep that your best friend does not, or the other way around.Angle: what each of you asked, and which question was hardest to answer.
Write about being a guest at someone else's holiday for the first time.Start: I copied whatever the person next to me did.
Write about the day after a holiday.Start: the decorations looked tired before we did.
Write about the first holiday after something changed: a move, a new baby, an empty chair.Angle: keep to one object that was in a different place this time.
Write about the holiday that went wrong and became the one everybody tells stories about.Start: we still call it the year of the ladder.
Write about your favorite holiday as if explaining it to someone who has never heard of it.Angle: what you eat, what you do, and the part you wait for all year.
Write the trip to a holiday gathering: the bags, the back seat, the argument about the route.Angle: end the piece at the door, before anyone says hello.
How it works
Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day have lists of their own on this site, so these holiday writing prompts go to the days that had none.
Read the full guide
Hanukkah writing prompts and Kwanzaa writing prompts
Thirteen of each. The Hanukkah group stays close to the lights: the eighth night seen from the street, the helper candle given a voice, a power cut on the fifth night. The Kwanzaa group follows the seven days, from the first black candle to Imani on the last.
Holiday themed writing prompts for a day you do not keep
Every prompt is a scene, a letter or a poem. Where the line under it starts with Fact, the custom was checked, so the detail is right before the imagining starts. A writer who keeps the day can set the fact aside and write from memory.
Pick one object and stay with it: a lamp, an envelope, a spinning top.
Writing about a holiday that is not yours? Write as the guest. A guest is allowed not to know.
Questions and answers
What are good writing prompts about holidays?
Small moments in place of the whole day: the morning before anyone is awake, the trip there, the dish only one person can make, the day after. Sixteen prompts here fit any holiday at all.
What is a favorite holiday writing prompt?
Write about your favorite holiday as if explaining it to someone who has never heard of it: what you eat, what you do, and the part you wait for all year.
Are there holiday writing prompts for adults?
Yes. Most of these ask for a scene with a point of view: a feast told by whoever cooked the most, one evening in two places. As holiday writing prompts for writers they make warm-ups. Nothing is unfit for a child.
What can I write about Lunar New Year?
The work before it and the table on the night: the deep clean, the reunion dinner, the red envelope, the brooms put away on the first day. Fourteen prompts, with Seollal in Korea and Tết in Vietnam.