Random Month Generator

The Random Month Generator picks one of the twelve months and shows it on a card with a short list of what that month is known for: its holidays, its season and one or two of its national observances. Press Generate Month and you get, say, "October" with Halloween, autumn foliage, Breast Cancer Awareness Month and World Vegetarian Day underneath. It is a twelve-sided die with notes attached, useful when you need a month chosen for you and a nudge about what to do with it.

What the card shows

Each month carries four highlights (December has six). They mix fixed-date holidays (Valentine's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving), seasonal markers (spring equinox, summer solstice, autumn harvest) and month-long observances (Black History Month, National Poetry Month, National Novel Writing Month). The observances are the US versions, so Mother's Day is listed under May and Labor Day under September. There is no year attached; the draw is the month name only. If you need a full date, the Random Date Generator gives day, month and year together, and the Random Year Generator covers the year on its own.

How the pick works

The twelve months are shuffled and the first one is returned, so every month has an equal one-in-twelve chance on every press. The tool does not track what it showed last time, which means the same month can come up twice running. If you are drawing months for a schedule and want each one once, keep pressing and cross them off; on average it takes about 37 presses to see all twelve.

Ways people use it

• Assigning months for a rota. Twelve people, twelve months of a shared responsibility; press until everyone has a different one.
• Picking a birthday or anniversary for a character. Draw the month here, then pair it with the Random Day Of The Week Generator or the Random Birthday Generator for a complete date.
• Themed challenges. A random month sets the theme for a photo walk, a drawing prompt or a menu: February means hearts and root vegetables, July means fireworks and ice cream.
• Trivia. Generate a month and ask the table which observance is real. Two of the four highlights are usually obvious and two are not.
• Planning something spontaneously. If you cannot decide when to take a trip or start a project, let the card decide and use the highlights as the excuse.

Month by month: what the generator lists

The table below is the complete set of highlights the tool can show, so you know what to expect before you press.

The month names come from the Roman calendar. January is named for Janus, the god of doorways; March for Mars; May and June for the goddesses Maia and Juno; July and August for Julius and Augustus Caesar. September through December are simply the Latin for seventh through tenth, a leftover from when the Roman year began in March. For other calendar picks, try the Random Time Generator or browse all date & time generators.