Pandemic Travel: Bring hygge into your home. Photo courtesy of Visit Denmark.
There may be fewer warm weather trips to escape winter this year, so how can you learn to love and embrace a North American winter? With some hygge inspiration! We take a look at how other places around the world embrace the cold and how we can do the same right here. At least until you start to organize your next adventure elsewhere (see where people are thinking of travelling to in 2021 here). Starting with bringing the Danish tradition of hygge to you home with these hygge inspiration tips.
Hygge Inspiration: Denmark’s Secret To Loving Winter
This has been a hot topic for a couple of years now, but never has it been more useful for North Americans! Loosely translated, hygge (pronounced hoo-gah) means to be happy and cozy. For those who don’t like the cold, hygge inspiration is a good fit for you, because it’s all about being warm and surrounded by loved ones.
Here’s how to incorporate some hygge inspiration in your life
Cozy up your home:
- Candles, lots of candles! Rather than normal lighting, opt for the warmth and coziness of candle light. The Danes are known for their perfect lighting and love of candles. Copenhagen is usually draped in gorgeous lighting, especially during winter at their famous Tivoli gardens. Up the cozy factory with warming scents like fire, amber, pine and scents that remind you of the outdoors.
- Socks, blankets, oversized sweaters and more are essential to that warm cozy vibe and feeling. So layer up with anything wool, fleece, and faux fur!
- If you have a fireplace, make that your focal point… if not, you can always fake it with extra candles or a faux fireplace courtesy of Netflix.
- Bring the outdoors, inside is essential for hygge inspiration. Add elements of nature into your home–think pine cones, evergreen, rustic wood pieces and more.
- Some other great hygge elements include reading a good book, doing puzzles, playing games, etc. All things we’re starting to get into thanks to the pandemic anyway.
Baking is a key element to creating a hygge feeling at home. Photo courtesy of Visit Denmark.
Add some hygge-inspiration foods:
- Warm foods and drinks are perfect for hygge inspiration. You can continue the holiday tradition of mulled wine, or warm up some local hot apple cider, hot chocolate or flavoured teas.
- Keeping with the warm and cozy theme, do up a warm sharing board–warm cheeses, warmed nuts, hot sweets and treats.
- Make a Danish sweet board–you can make some homemade Danish cookies (one key element to hygge is baking with loved ones), or any of your family favourites.
- Don’t forget the warm cheese! A fondue pot with cheese or chocolate is a fun way to add some hygge to your home.
Make a mini hot/cold spa at home:
- Create your own mini spa at home by getting a super steamy shower, and some great beauty products that work well in the steam.
- Get even more into the theme of hot and cold by alternating your water temps from steamy to chilly and back and forth to create the hot/cold plunge pool idea. The best part is, you can control it, so it’s not as daunting as jumping into a pool of ice!
If you can. get outdoors and embrace the daylight hours like the Danes do. Photo courtesy of Visit Denmark.
Hygge inspiration: Embrace the outdoors!
- The Danish love to be outside as much as inside during the winter. In fact in all of Scandinavia, they call it “outdoorphins”. They don’t get as many hours of sunlight, so they take advantage while they can.
- Be prepared and dress appropriately for cold weather (see our cold weather layering tips here). Cold weather is never fun if you’re not ready for it: Look for outerwear that is Canadian-made (Woods Canada makes amazing parkas, designed specifically for harsh North American winters), and make sure your hands and feet are kept toasty warm.
- Find ways to be socially-distanced and still be outside. Whether that’s in a city park, or somewhere for some light hiking.
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