The fridge is overrun with gimmicky magnets, you can barely lift your trusty set of house keys anymore thanks to all the novelty keyrings attached, and your teeth just might fall out if you chomp them down on yet another stick of rock.
These are familiar burdens for many an Irish household, particularly after the summer holidays when, let’s face it, whether we’re gathering keepsakes for ourselves from our travels, or buying gifts for our loved ones back home, we tend to stick to the old reliables.
If you’re itching to switch things up this year, though, and create not just memories for life, but souvenirs you’ll have forever too, there’s no better way to do just that than with an Irish staycation.
From creating your own candles in Co Down, to forging unique jewellery in Dublin, there’s a plethora of activities on offer all over Ireland for the growing number of holidaymakers that are opting for staycations. Given the unpredictable Irish weather, it doesn’t hurt that many of these activities happen to be indoors either.
If you’re looking for a few rainy day activities, and the chance to create treasured keepsakes during your holiday adventures, then it’s just a matter of choosing what you’d really like to do. Perhaps you’re a closet artist or you’ve always fancied dabbling in pottery, making personalised pieces for your home.
Go Cré crazy
Cré Pottery Studio in Skibbereen is offering pottery classes from this month until June 2025. It is West Cork’s first paint-your-own pottery studio, with hundreds of pieces of blank pottery to choose from and lots of colours, sponges, brushes and samples to get you truly inspired. At the studio, you can take part in ceramic classes and pottery wheel lessons. You can even learn how to make and decorate your own pots from scratch.
When it comes to creating keepsakes for precious memories, baby hand impressions or footprints are good choices and make great gifts for grandparents. At Cré Pottery Studio, you will get expert help to make these prints or impressions to create a unique keepsake that can be treasured forever. crepotterystudio.com
If you like it, put a ring on it
Everybody loves jewellery, whether it’s a subtle piece or chunky bling. But did you ever consider making your own? Silver Works, Co Dublin, offers visitors the opportunity to craft their own gorgeous keepsakes, and even hosts workshops in ring forging. When people ask you where you got your bespoke ring, you can proudly tell them you made it yourself.
At the workshop, you will learn the basics of goldsmithing, such as how to pierce through a strip of silver and how to form a ring using pliers. You will watch it being soldered, with your instructor explaining the process, and find out how to file the ring using different size hand files. Workshop participants will discover how to texture the ring using a planishing hammer with a choice of three finishes; flat, pebble or bark. Finally, you will watch the ring being polished on a polishing motor to your chosen finish — matte or shiny. It should be a memorable experience with something highly individual at the end that could become a family heirloom.
Who knows? You may discover a whole new hobby at the workshop, signing up for longer courses to deepen your knowledge. The workshops take place at Silver Works’ Drury Street and George’s Street locations. silverworks.ie
Find your Mourne Mountains muse
Candles in the home are ubiquitous, mostly scented, and lit for intimate occasions, such as dinner with friends. In other words, they’re a holiday purchase you’re guaranteed to make great use of.
If you’re heading northwards for your staycation, the Bearded Candle Makers in County Down produce hand poured small batches. At their bespoke studio, you can craft your very own candles in the shadow of the majestic Mourne Mountains.
Using techniques that are thousands of years old, the studio’s range of seasonal workshops teach visitors how to create unique hand dipped candles, how to decorate pillar candles using gorgeous beeswax liquid ink or even how to make a honeysuckle candle from scratch, which will have astounding therapeutic properties.
“We focus on creating wholly original scents — handmade in small batches — that capture our personal memories and histories, so that we can ignite them once more every time we strike a match,” explains the Bearded Candle Makers’ top chandler, Michael.
“You can join us on this journey....we bring that spirit of original creation into everything that we do. Being ecologically sustainable is of paramount importance to us. It informs everything we do, and we take pride in that.” thebeardedcandlemakers.com
Go au naturel
Not all staycation-friendly activities take place indoors. Sometimes, you just have to chance it and venture outside. Fancy some ‘Art in the Wild’ at a natural art workshop?
This is a great antidote to stress run by artists and ecologists at Windrush Farm, Co Wicklow. They will take you on a wild wander through a stunning nature reserve on the family farm in Newtownmountkennedy where you will explore nature with your senses, and can gather natural materials to make your own art from. You can then unleash your creativity as you make your own eco-friendly sketchbook, leaf-printed bag, charcoal from willow, pigments, brushes and more.
Included is an immersive nature walk, where you’ll learn about the signs of wildlife, as well as the ecology and folklore of Ireland’s flora, fauna and habitats, while foraging for materials to make your own art from the wilderness.
The workshops are for beginners, suited to adults and teenagers over 16 (accompanied by an adult.) Family friendly options are available too. windrushfarm.ie
On the dry
For the really adventurous, why not try your hand at dry stone wall making? There are practical courses available around the country, including weekend workshops in dry stone walling for beginners. Through the Dry Stone Wall Association of Ireland, you will learn how to build, maintain and repair dry stone walls through a series of workshops held on working farms, working on existing walls.
If you want to take your new hobby a step further, don’t miss Mulranny Stone Wall Festival taking place in May 2025. The Mayo festival includes a programme of talks, demonstrations and dry stone wall building along the Great Western Greenway, as well as a children’s stone art competition at Mulranny beach.
Mulranny is a hidden treasure of spectacular land and seascapes perched on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean on the Atlantic Way. It offers panoramic views over Clew Bay’s archipelago of drowned drumlin islands and the vast Nephin Mountain range. So, as well as learning a new skill, rooted in tradition, you will be surrounded by the beauty of the west of Ireland. And crucially, children are catered for so there should be no more complaints of being bored.
Whether you’re making household items, fashioning jewellery as a keepsake, or venturing outdoors to forage and create, your staycation will be memorable for its exploration of new skills. Who needs to be in the baking sun when on our own doorstep, there is a wealth of activities on offer in our relatively temperate climate.