Let’s be honest: the post-holiday return to normalcy can be a serious come-down. No more parties, no more twinkling, glittering decorations, no more indulgent food and no more dessert after every meal as the reality of extra holiday pounds sets in.

The remedy for that bracing dose of bummerish reality? Why, a party of course! Preferably a made-up one tailored to your particular interests and loves. Love Ryan Gosling? Hey girl, it sounds like you need to stage a Ryan Gosling Living Room Film Festival. Mad for Mozart, Skrillex or Elvis? All have birthdays in January. Time for a Vegas-style Elvis birthday party complete with scarves, sunglasses and the King’s fave banana and peanut butter sandwiches!

In my case, my obsession is garden gnomes, which I inexplicably and wholeheartedly love. So I christened January 2 “Happy Gnome Day” in Atlanta, Georgia, and sent out invites to friends with some adorable children generally up for any manner of wackiness. I cooked up some tree and gnome-hat sugar cookies, baked a gnome cake, made evergreen-shaped sandwiches, and filled goody bags with peanut plant seed kits to inspire the children in attendance to grow something of their own.

Though I planned an outdoor gnome treasure hunt to search for my collection of gnomes in the yard, some of the best activities were unplanned and dreamed up by the children, who grabbed the tiny rakes and hoes decorating my chocolate gnome cake and started “gardening”with their cake (and the addition of tiny trees) and also eating the chocolate “dirt” with the miniature garden tools. Children are the original party animals, and tend to make any event more fun.

The purpose of a party staged following the holidays is to let your imagination run wild. If the January 2016 calendar can be filled with events for Hot Tea Month, National Oatmeal Month, Bean Day (January 6), Houseplant Appreciation Day (Jan. 10) and National Bath Safety Month (paaaarty!), why not live a little with your own invented, madcap fun?