16 things to do with the family that will brighten up January

January has an image problem and is often written off for being grey and boring. But whether January 1 saw you leaping from bed to embrace the year’s first light or groping about blindly for painkillers, this month is a great time to consider what you want from 2023. By all means indulge in some rest and relaxation, but the new year often brings fresh zeal, too. 

So plan to harness that by boosting your health, learning a skill, refreshing your home life or booking a big event to give yourself something to look ­forward to, before prices go up and availability disappears.

Learn something new

Get stuck into a new hobby at home or be sociable and join a class. New workshops for 2023 at Meticulous Ink (meticulousink.com), in Bath, invite you to use a letterpress dating back to 1890 to compose your own type and create a set of art prints. 

Take your photography seriously by signing up for a certificate or diploma involving home or classroom learning from the British Academy of Photography (baph.co.uk). Or have a giggle on a lino printing with prosecco class at London’s Lavender Print School (lavenderprintschool.co.uk). The V&A (vam.ac.uk), in London, has a fine range of arty workshops that can be booked now, from digital textile design, to making colour pigments from plants. 

Or try kokedama, the Japanese art of growing plants inside moss balls, with kits available (tropicalglass.co.uk). Or cheer up January with some flower arranging – Bloom and Wild (bloomandwild.com) has tips and sends you boxes of loose fresh or dried flowers.

Catch a January show

The first few days of January are your last opportunity to see the UK’s many winter light displays, such as the Christmas at Kew Gardens illuminations (until Jan 8; kew.org), or the space-themed winter art trail at Wembley Park (wembleypark.com). 

January is also your final chance to catch a pantomime (oh, yes it is). A big-budget production of Jack and the Beanstalk, with Dawn French and Julian Clary, plays at the London Palladium (until Jan 15, ­palladiumpantomime.com), or there is another production of Jack at the Lyceum Theatre in Sheffield (until Jan 3; sheffieldtheatres.co.uk), co-starring CBBC’s Waffle the Wonder Dog. Not into panto? Frozen the Musical (frozenthemusical.co.uk), at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, is another good option.

Indulge in a movie marathon

Sick days aside, when else can you legitimately spend hours on the sofa watching back-to-back films? In January there is no shame in getting cosy with someone to watch the darkness grow in Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone or to chuckle along to Wes Anderson’s sharpest dialogue. 

The best new films to lap up via streaming services will include Nope, a thriller starring Daniel Kaluuya, as well as The Banshees of Inisherin, with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. Brian and Charles is a quirky but charming robot buddy film, while ­Matilda the Musical is your best family choice, a visually glorious, heartwarming romp that landed in cinemas on Christmas Day.

Plan a renovation project

With interest rates on new mortgages looking scary, the post-pandemic trend for modifying rather than moving homes continues into 2023. Digital tools now make it easy to imagine extending or updating your space. For inspiration, download houzz.co.uk and swipe through hundreds of pictures tailored to your particular style. The app suggests product reviews, design advice and recommends builders and architects too. 

You can go on to create floor plans with the app Home Design 3D (homedesign3d.net), before furnishing them or adding doors. RoomScan Pro (locometric.com/roomscan), meanwhile, lets you draw or use photos for a room plan, or you can just touch your walls with your phone to create one. 

Lots of kitchen brands have their own design apps, so you can match work surface options to cabinet layouts. Or for your garden, iscapeit.com is a landscape design app that allows you to add grass, trees and shrubs or a patio to ­pictures of your grounds.

Reconnect with a loved one

If there is a friend or relative you’ve not been in contact with for a while (let’s face it, we all have someone), it is time to make amends. In 2023, we’re being ushered into an age of digital barcode stamps by the Royal Mail (royalmail.com). The good news is that your post can be easily logged. The downside is that you only have until January 31 to use up your old stamps. 

Royal Mail will let you swap them, but this involves filling out a form that you will need to post off. Instead, spend half an hour in ­January licking an old stamp and giving someone the joy of knowing that you’re thinking about them. If sending a letter or a card feels a tad old-fashioned, calling someone or even leaving a voice message works too.

Reflect in a spa

After a vigorous festive season, January is a time to treat yourself to a soak in warm, therapeutic water and mull over what 2023 might bring. Derbyshire has a new luxury day spa at Breedon Priory (breedonprioryspa.co.uk), which is wrapped in countryside and has a terrace with fire pits. 

It also offers “The Hideaway”, a private spa area for a group of four. Elsewhere, Lucknam Park (lucknampark.co.uk) is a Wiltshire manor-house hotel with a serene and sophisticated indoor/outdoor pool and treatments from coveted brand 111Skin. Aire Ancient Baths (beaire.com) is one of London’s most handsome day spas, with a candlelit, subterranean space beneath vaulted stone. 

Or check into the Scarlet (scarlethotel.co.uk), an eco-spa hotel in Cornwall, for clifftop views from wood-fired hot tubs that will really blow away the cobwebs.

Clear the house

Approaching a whole-house clean can be daunting but there are apps designed to help. Spotless is a clear way to create task lists on iPhones. Sweepy, on Android and IOS, goes room by room and offers schedules to help divide chores. Or Tody, on Android and IOS, claims to be a modern-day Mary ­Poppins, turning cleaning into a game.

Prepare the garden

While much of the garden lies dormant, you can plan ahead. Move dead perenn­ials to the compost, harvest winter veg, prune gooseberries and redcurrants, decide how to rotate your crop beds and feed the birds. A fun January task is purchasing and planting bare-root roses (avoiding frozen ground). 

Choosing your favourite petal colours is guaranteed to banish winter blues. The BBC’s Gardeners’ World (gardenersworld.com) programme has a useful app that includes a monthly gardening checklist. Its January recommendations include pressing mistletoe berries into the bark of apple trees so you have a bigger bunch to hang next festive season.

Escape into a good book

Tick off some of 2022’s best books, with fiction including The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, a Sri Lankan satire by Shehan Karunatilaka; Violets, a poetic tribute to motherhood by Alex Hyde, and Emily St John Mandel’s time-travelling Sea of Tranquility. There are also noteworthy biographies about Queen Elizabeth II and Donald Trump (titled Confidence Man) to tuck into, as well as insight on the war in Ukraine, in Overreach by Owen Matthews.

Inspire children to get reading by heading along to the last few dates for book-themed events at National Trust properties (nationaltrust.org.uk). At Winkworth Arboretum, Surrey, decorated sculptures from Raymond Briggs’s The Snowman are dotted among trees. 

Children can find the black lamppost that leads to Narnia at Mottisfont house, in scenes from C S Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and tales from The Wind in the Willows are brought to life at Hinton Ampner. Both are in Hampshire. 

Go last-chance­ ­ice-skating

Open-air ice rinks have popped up everywhere, but January will be your last chance to perfect your pirouette – or at least enjoy some seasonal exercise. The rink at Brighton Royal Pavilion (royalpavilionicerink.co.uk) is one of the most picturesque and is open until Jan 8. At the Eden Project’s (until Feb 19; edenproject.com), in ­Cornwall, families can enjoy special skate sessions. 

At Somerset House (until Jan 15; somersethouse.org.uk), take a turn in the courtyard beside the 40ft Christmas tree and toast New Year with a glass of champagne after. ­Alternatively, visit Glide (until Jan 8; glidebatterseapowerstation.co.uk), London’s new riverside ice rink at Battersea Power Station. Take the lift up a ­chimney and survey London’s skyline in 2023 afterwards.

Kick-start healthy eating

If in 2023 you want to eat more vegetables and less meat, take a moment in January to find the inspiration you need to change your habits. Perhaps you would like to see less food waste in your kitchen? Max La Manna has ideas for cooking with leftovers and has plant-based recipes on his Instagram feed (instagram.com/maxlamanna). Maybe this is also the year to improve your gut health by making your own kombucha (fermented tea). 

There are lots of kits on the market – Boo Chi’s (boochi.co.uk) is Soil Association-certified and brewed in Devon – and kombucha makes a great base for mocktails in dry January. For those wishing to give Veganuary a try, a meal delivery service such as Foodhak (foodhak.com) will hold your hand, sending you ready-to-eat, plant-based, low GI and anti-inflammatory meals. For recipes to start making yourself at home, Deliciously Ella’s one-pot dishes are hard to beat. Follow her on Instagram (instagram.com/deliciouslyella).

Book a holiday

On dark nights, look ahead to sunnier times. Booking ahead is still advisable for cheaper flight prices in 2023. Ways to get more for your money include travelling in the off-season and breaking up a flight with a stopover. Travel in and out of Europe might take longer, with facial recognition and fingerprint checks required from next summer. 

Note, too, that passports must be valid for at least another three months for travel in Europe and that a new €7 (about £6) Etias (etias.info) visa waiver is required from November. The King’s Coronation extra bank holiday is Monday, May 8, a week after May Day on May 1, so ­taking just four days off (May 2-5) could give you 10 days’ holiday.

Clear out your wardrobe

When was the last time you looked properly at your clothes? Has it been more than a year since you wore something? Does it still fit? Overhauling your wardrobe is an occasionally necessary task. Experts suggest removing anything that is not a timeless classic or something that you really love. Take unwanted items to charity shops or sell them online, through a variety of apps. Vinted (vinted.co.uk) is a popular selling app and Depop (depop.com) taps into a fashionable community. Thrifted (thrifted.com) is good for selling in bulk, while Vestiaire Collective (vestiairecollective.com) lists designer items.

Get active outdoors

Frosty winter days are a beautiful excuse to get endorphins flowing. For example, walk to an RSPB reserve (rspb.org.uk), where starling murmurations swell and swoop during peachy, early sunsets. 

Organised mountain-bike rides let cyclists tackle longer trails, with pre-planned routes offered in Edinburgh and Bristol in January (roughrideguide.co.uk). Or prime your thighs for a ski holiday with a ­session on a dry slope (onthesnow.co.uk). Paddle down a misty January river on a guided trip through the Wye Valley, available year-round with Wye Canoes (wyecanoes.com). 

Or get some poles and do some gentle ­Nordic Walking (nordicwalking.co.uk). Alternatively, if you fancy trying rock climbing in 2023, book now for a spot on an introductory course in the Peak District in March, with Beyond the Edge (beyondtheedge.co.uk).

Start a journal

It might be a cliché but writing a ­journal  is a good way to record your thoughts and feelings and is also a great way to plan a detailed project or to keep track of what inspires you. Buy a beautiful notebook and update your journal daily with words or sketches.

Book early festival tickets

January is a time when the first release of tickets for summer music festivals and opera seasons are available. Become a member at Glyndebourne (glyndebourne.com) to access priority booking for the summer’s opera festival before the public sale in March. 

Early line-ups for some major British music festivals were released in December and glamping tickets sell out fast. Latitude (latitudefestival.com), in Suffolk, has something for all generations, with Pulp, George Ezra and Young Fathers playing. Wilderness (wildernessfestival.com) in Oxfordshire, meanwhile, promises the Chemical Brothers, Christine and the Queens and Fatboy Slim.

Plan a reunion 

The last few years have been tricky for arranging get togethers so why not take the time to plan a big reunion? The plushest houses to hire get booked up quickly, so select your gang, discuss dates and pick a venue. Keen ramblers might want to explore the Yorkshire Dales and Bolton Abbey, so try The Coach House in Lothersdale (sleeps 10, @lothersdalecoachhouse), a luxurious barn conversion with views of rolling countryside from the hot tub. 

Or for coastal walks and swims, Lulworth Retreat (sleeps 20, akvillas.com) is a thatched country house with an indoor pool, near Lulworth Cove in Dorset. Various websites, including landedhouses.co.uk; kateandtoms.com and bigholidayhouse.com cater specifically for large groups. 

Contemplate some art 

Open your mind to 2023’s possibilities by absorbing great works of art. Open from January 1, Tate St Ives (tate.org.uk) has a landmark retrospective on Barbara Hepworth (until May). Featuring nearly 50 sculptures, it references the Cornish landscape that inspired the artist. At Tate Britain, in London, free guided tours are available daily at 12pm, 1pm or 2pm. Also in London, “Making Modernism'' at the Royal Academy of Arts (until Feb 12, royalacademy.org.uk), showcases pioneering female painters in Germany in the early 1900s. You have until January 20 to catch the devilishly tempting exhibition Sin at the York Art Gallery (yorkartgallery.org.uk). 

January also turns out to be a significant month for art in Edinburgh, as it is when an annual display of Turner’s watercolours can open at the Scottish National Gallery (nationalgalleries.org). The collector stipulated that these works are only be viewed in periods of low natural light.