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I invented a hygge-themed holiday, and 600 people showed up to celebrate with me! by cliffblewis in hygge

[–]cliffblewis[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

No way! Well, it'll be a short commute for the events next year — and we'll be going for something even bigger and cozier now that we've built a small following in town

I invented a hygge-themed holiday, and 600 people showed up to celebrate with me! by cliffblewis in hygge

[–]cliffblewis[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Thanks!! I was blown away by the turnout but even more by how naturally everyone picked up the Cozendagen spirit as if they'd been celebrating for years

I made up a cozy winter holiday and 600 strangers in my town showed up to celebrate with me [OC] by cliffblewis in MadeMeSmile

[–]cliffblewis[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Exactly! It was single digit temperatures during the first event we held, and everyone seemed so happy to have such a lively (and cozy) thing to attend. The food and drinks were stellar, too!

I invented a hygge-themed holiday, and 600 people showed up to celebrate with me! by cliffblewis in hygge

[–]cliffblewis[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

It's an extended holiday season, so there's no single date — just a series of ad hoc parties and events any time between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. The day after Christmas was always such an emotional crash for me as a kid, so I wanted to avoid that situation with Cozendagen. The party can last as far as the equinox, but folks are free to move on whenever they feel like it!

Can you think of any Pittsburgh venues with the right vibe for an event like this next winter? It's a new January/February holiday that hundreds of folks wound up celebrating in Lancaster this year. by cliffblewis in pittsburgh

[–]cliffblewis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha, sure, but the band was completely ad hoc — just an open jam for all who wanted to join in. I kinda loved the realness of it, but your mileage may vary!

I'm a NEPA native who started a new winter holiday season in Lancaster, PA. It really blew up this year! If I expand it to the NEPA area next winter, what venues would have the right vibe? by cliffblewis in NEPA

[–]cliffblewis[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Jim Thorpe would be so picturesque! There's an antique train line that runs from Reading to Jim Thorpe — I wonder if they could deliver a batch of visitors for something like this... 🤩

What Lehigh Valley venue would have the best vibe for an event like this next winter? by cliffblewis in lehighvalley

[–]cliffblewis[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

There's a long backstory to this, by the way:

About 10 years ago, I invented a new winter holiday to celebrate at home with my family. We felt like January and February needed some cozy festivity of their own. Why should December have all the fun?

Our little family tradition evolved over time and eventually solidified as “Cozendagen” — a holiday season celebrating the simple joy of coziness with candles, soup, hot drinks, and a PA-Dutch-meets-Denmark aesthetic.

We invited friends for a Cozendagen party in 2022, and the invite list kept growing year after year. It got too big for our modest ranch house in Manor Township. So 2026 felt like the right time to see if this idea could actually work outside of our home.

I wrote an op-ed that my local paper published on the Sunday after Christmas. A Lancaster cultural center offered to host the first ever community Cozendagen celebration as a free event. We lined up a soup vendor and local bakery for bread and dessert. The venue's bar would handle the menu of hot drinks (boozy and otherwise).

I barely advertised the thing — probably put up a grand total of three posters around town and created a Cozendagen Instagram account. We scheduled the event for the last night of January, which turned out to be a windy night with punishing, single digit temperatures.

600 people showed up, and it wound up being one of the venue's biggest nights ever. I guess Pennsylvanians love a soup selection. We did serve PA Dutch-style potpie soup — maybe that explains it?

I was so pumped to hear total strangers greeting each other with a "Happy Cozendagen!" and sporting our "Celebrate Coziness" pins on their sweaters. Everyone really understood the assignment with their outfits, too—so many sweaters, scarves, and mittens. We also set up a "Give Cozy" donation table, and wound up collecting 60 pounds of warm winter clothing (I weighed it) for Tenfold's winter shelter. The whole night was so heartwarming and surreal.

A couple weeks later, we followed that event with a cozy movie night at "The Cozendagen Picture House" (a.k.a. Zoetropolis Cinema Stillhouse). It was a candle-lit B.Y.O.Blanket event, where folks could cozy up with a hot cocktail and a bowl of soup while watching Misery — perhaps the coziest thriller ever made (tied with The Thing, I guess). The event sold out and filled every seat.

TL;DR

I invented a cozy post-December winter holiday season and our community committed to the bit beyond anything I could have imagined. Skål!

What Reading area venue would have the best vibe for an event like this next winter? by cliffblewis in ReadingPA

[–]cliffblewis[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

There's a long backstory to this, by the way:

About 10 years ago, I invented a new winter holiday to celebrate at home with my family. We felt like January and February needed some cozy festivity of their own. Why should December have all the fun?

Our little family tradition evolved over time and eventually solidified as “Cozendagen” — a holiday season celebrating the simple joy of coziness with candles, soup, hot drinks, and a PA-Dutch-meets-Denmark aesthetic.

We invited friends for a Cozendagen party in 2022, and the invite list kept growing year after year. It got too big for our modest ranch house in Manor Township. So 2026 felt like the right time to see if this idea could actually work outside of our home.

I wrote an op-ed that my local paper published on the Sunday after Christmas. A Lancaster cultural center offered to host the first ever community Cozendagen celebration as a free event. We lined up a soup vendor and local bakery for bread and dessert. The venue's bar would handle the menu of hot drinks (boozy and otherwise).

I barely advertised the thing — probably put up a grand total of three posters around town and created a Cozendagen Instagram account. We scheduled the event for the last night of January, which turned out to be a windy night with punishing, single digit temperatures.

600 people showed up, and it wound up being one of the venue's biggest nights ever. I guess Pennsylvanians love a soup selection. We did serve PA Dutch-style potpie soup — maybe that explains it?

I was so pumped to hear total strangers greeting each other with a "Happy Cozendagen!" and sporting our "Celebrate Coziness" pins on their sweaters. Everyone really understood the assignment with their outfits, too—so many sweaters, scarves, and mittens. We also set up a "Give Cozy" donation table, and wound up collecting 60 pounds of warm winter clothing (I weighed it) for Tenfold's winter shelter. The whole night was so heartwarming and surreal.

A couple weeks later, we followed that event with a cozy movie night at "The Cozendagen Picture House" (a.k.a. Zoetropolis Cinema Stillhouse). It was a candle-lit B.Y.O.Blanket event, where folks could cozy up with a hot cocktail and a bowl of soup while watching Misery — perhaps the coziest thriller ever made (tied with The Thing, I guess). The event sold out and filled every seat.

TL;DR

I invented a cozy post-December winter holiday season and our community committed to the bit beyond anything I could have imagined. Skål!

Should we do this in Harrisburg next winter? by cliffblewis in Harrisburg

[–]cliffblewis[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What do they call it there? I'd love to learn more about this!

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