Finding Calm in the Holiday Rush: Why Coloring Is the Perfect Winter Escape

December brings many things: crisp air, snow-covered streets, joyful holidays, and excitement for the year ahead. But it also brings its own challenges, like warming up the car, navigating icy sidewalks, finishing holiday shopping, and preparing for the new year. It’s no surprise that December can feel stressful. That’s why this month, we want to talk about how coloring can boost your mood during winter while still spending time with family and friends. Coloring reduces stress, lowers anxiety, and helps quiet negative thoughts by giving your mind a relaxing, meditative task to focus on. While that alone is incredibly beneficial, there’s another mood-boosting element we often overlook: the social side of coloring.

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The holidays are already filled with gatherings, so why not combine socializing with a calming, creative activity? Coloring on your own provides a peaceful moment of mindfulness, but coloring with others offers an additional layer of connection. Humans are social creatures. Even introverts benefit from occasional companionship. Coloring next to a friend or loved one, even if you’re working on different pages, provides calm, positive interaction that supports emotional and cognitive health.

For adults, regular social activity is linked to better memory, sharper processing speed, and overall improved well-being. With all the demands of the season, taking a break to color with loved ones might be the perfect low-pressure de-stresser. This time of year, when so much needs to be done, it’s important to take a second to do what you want to do.

Leaving some space in your busy schedule for your hobbies can make all the pressure seem a bit more manageable. And for children, coloring with friends or siblings encourages sharing, cooperation, and positive social behavior. Plus, while the kids are happily coloring, adults get a moment to relax, reset, or catch up on holiday prep. It’s an activity that everyone, no matter their age, can enjoy together.

This month, try adding a coloring night into your routine. Pour a glass of wine, put on some music, gather your colored pencils, and unwind with friends. Let your to-do list wait for a little while. Breathe. Relax. Enjoy the moment. The kids can join in too! Set them up with a few pages and markers, and make it a family event. After all, the holidays are about spending time with the people you love, and coloring is an easy, fun, stress-free way to do just that.

The Tiny Book Co.™ has a wide variety of tiny coloring books to suit everyone's preferences. From seasons to transportation to animals and creatures, there is a coloring book you, your children, and your friends and family will love to color. They also make the perfect gift or stocking-stuffer that you can customize to their specific interests and use as a relaxing social activity.

Discover How Colors Convey Mood and Provide an Outlet for Self-Expression

Did you know colors convey meanings and can reflect your mood? Notice if your daily clothing choices shift with how you feel. Which colors do you wear when you're relaxed, amused, or down? Color not only brightens our world, but also reveals our inner state. Below, we explore the meanings of colors and how you can use them to express emotions and creativity in daily life.

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First, let’s talk about the meanings behind some of our favorite colors:

• Red: Strength, Love, Danger

Red can increase heart rate and may become overwhelming and visually straining when used too much.

• Orange: Confidence, Success, Courage

Orange can wake up your appetite and increase your energy level. However, since it is also associated with danger, orange can become a bit overpowering.

• Yellow: Happiness, Warmth, Creativity, Anxiety

Yellow can be attention-grabbing! It can evoke a sense of cheer, but too much may cause a bit of agitation.

• Green: Nature, Healing, Quality, Envy

Green can promote relaxation and growth. However, it also may reflect jealousy and greed with phrases like, “they are green with envy.”

• Blue: Trust, Peace, Serenity, Boredom

Blue is known to be dependable and trustworthy, which is why many airlines use the color. It is a great color to create a calming environment.

• Pink: Compassion, Playfulness, Sincerity

Pink symbolizes the innocence and softness that comes with youth, which also leads to an inability to take matters seriously or make decisions. 

• Purple: Royalty, Ambition, Luxury

Purple is historically linked to royalty. Many royals in ancient times would wear purple to demonstrate their wealth and status. It also symbolizes spirituality.

• Black: Formality, Security, Dramatic

Black is timeless and serious. From black tie to a classic little black dress, it never goes out of style. Black is also used to characterize evil or wrongdoings, especially in movies and books.

• White: Honesty, Innocence, Simplicity

White can give the illusion of cleanliness and organization, like a doctor's coat or a classroom whiteboard. This sterility can make someone feel distant or cold if it appears too artificial. 

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What colors symbolize can change depending on where you live. Isn’t it interesting that in one place a color can mean something entirely different to another? For example, in the Western Hemisphere, red means anger or passion. But in China, red means good luck. In Egypt, yellow symbolizes immortality, but in the Western Hemisphere, it means happiness.

You can start using the colors you love intentionally in your daily life as well as on your coloring pages once you begin to recognize the feelings behind them. Your surroundings can help you feel more balanced, improve your mood, and inspire creativity. If work or school is getting stressful, incorporate some blue into your wardrobe or coloring pages for a sense of calmness. Now that it’s getting darker earlier, get some of that light and happiness from the sun by wearing or using the color yellow.

The Tiny Book Co.™ embraces all forms of creativity. Our tiny coloring books provide many opportunities to experiment with color, use your creativity, and communicate your emotions however you want. Do you think color reflects your mood? Experiment with different colors and find out!

The Sleep-Boosting Benefits of Coloring Before Bed

After a busy day or leading up to a hectic week, getting some much-needed rest can be more difficult than it sounds. But sleep is so important! Setting up a good nighttime routine to wind down can help drastically. Get away from the screens, get comfortable, and try an activity more meditative... like coloring!

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The perfect bedtime pastime is to color, especially when you want to go to sleep soon, but not just yet. There are apps to color on, but the blue light from screens may not be as beneficial as coloring on paper. While you can definitely enter into that meditative state of focusing on what’s in front of you, blue light can mess with your circadian rhythm, which is a major factor in the quality of sleep. Using an actual coloring book takes a step back from this technology and its consequences on restlessness and deep sleep by reducing the blue light experienced at bedtime. 

Coloring before bed is an excellent way to wind down for the night because not only does it reduce blue light, but it also allows you to take a break from your thoughts and worries. Taking a break, even a short one, to allow yourself to calm down and focus on something creative and not to do with your busy bustling life, helps your body enter into a rest mode before bed. 

As mentioned previously, a good night's sleep is crucial and here are some reasons why:

• Sleeping is when our brain boosts function by cleaning out toxins and processing information.

• Strengthens your immune system by producing cells and antibodies.

• Repairs the body and rebuilds muscles after exercise.

• Regulates hormones and emotions, which decreases the risk of mental health conditions.

  
  

Those are just a few of the many benefits of a good night's sleep, and how coloring helps achieve a restful night is a great thing to know! Instead of scrolling on your phone at night, try adding 10 minutes to your bedtime routine to wind down, focus, and be creative to help you get your much-needed and well-deserved good night's sleep. 

The Tiny Book Co.™ offers the perfect, tiny coloring books to put your mind at ease before bedtime. They are the perfect quick and easy coloring book to help adults, adolescents, and children build better nighttime habits. So, turn off your phone and TV and grab a coloring book - it may even make your racing thoughts or busy week ahead a bit more manageable.