365 Wacky Holidays to Celebrate Every Day of the Year

Inside: Wacky holidays that will have you celebrating every single day!

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Did you know that October 15th is National Flex Day? It’s a whole day to celebrate and promote flexible work arrangements!

Also, September 19th is Talk Like a Pirate Day, because why not?

Read on for more wacky holidays and why they are worth celebrating!

The Gift that Keeps on Giving

We have a tradition in our family of gifting each other Shutterfly photo calendars for Christmas. They are always my favorite present (except the one year I got a robot vacuum because come on… a robot vacuum? What is this The Jetsons?)

I love making the calendars too because it’s such a great way to relive the joys of the past year, and to feel like you’re being really productive while binge-watching Friends on Netflix.

The calendar my mom makes for me hangs in my office at work and it’s filled with pictures of my children. By all unbiased accounts, it’s adorable. There is also space on Shutterfly calendars to include pictures on important dates (birthday, anniversaries, holidays). How convenient!

My mom puts family birthdays on my calendar, but also includes tons of random holidays because she’s like really fun. Plus I think she finds it entertaining that I might panic for a minute thinking I forgot a nephew’s birthday when instead it’s actually “Funny Hat Day.” Certainly makes those Mondays more interesting!

Let’s Make Some Memories

You know who else is really good at celebrating wacky holidays? Preschool teachers. And that’s awesome. Every so often we’ll get an email from school saying that it’s Crazy Socks Day, or Pink Appreciation Day, or Pajama Day. That’s my favorite.

I’ve never been to a school with a uniform, but when we get these emails about spirit weeks and random holidays, I totally see the uniform appeal. Taking that decision away from me? Great. Get those kids in pink and out the door! Plus the pictures that get sent home – adorable.

This also serves as a reminder to be better about embracing my inner preschool teacher at home.

My kids love a “special occasion,” because that usually means a treat after dinner. And they love “fancy dinner,” which means that I put placemats on the table… It takes such little effort to make a memory for a kid. And those memories become important to us as adults too. Why not embrace it beyond Taco Tuesday?

Life is Short But Sweet for Certain

Glancing through my calendar in preparation for my preschool teacher ambitions, I found a few personal favorite wacky holidays. Some of them are easier to celebrate than others, but all give me a good chuckle.

Festival of Sleep Day – Jan 3
Gumdrop Day – Feb 15
National Compliment Day – March 1
Reach As High As You Can Day – Apr 14
National Tourist Appreciation Day – May 6
World Sauntering Day – June 19
Embrace Your Geekness Day – Jul 13
Ride Like the Wind Day – Aug 23
Be Late for Something Day – Sept 5
Name Your Car Day – October 2
Clean Your Refrigerator Day – Nov 15
Crossword Puzzle Day – December 21

I’m REALLY pushing Festival of Sleep in our house.

Some people kind of hate random holidays in general. There will always be that one person on Facebook causing a stink because “Wasn’t it just National Dog Day yesterday??” No, that was International Puppy Day. So let’s calm down and just find a dog to hug, k?

And really, why shouldn’t we celebrate Siblings Day, Best Friends Day, National Juggling Day or Something on a Stick Day?

Life is short, a little terrifying at times, and filled with reasons to be sad or angry or confused. They are important reasons too, and we should talk about them.

But we should also take every last chance to celebrate that we can.

Traditional Schmitional

So in addition to Corn Fritters Day (July 16) and Learn Your Name in Morse Code Day (Jan 11),  and Wear Pajamas to Work Day (April 16), here’s a comprehensive list of wacky holidays that you can celebrate any way you’d like.

Hashtag, tweet, post, send cards, get a piñata – whatever. But by all means, like my grandmother says – “Live it up!”

Actually you really should get a piñata if you haven’t done that in a while. I had one for my 22^nd birthday and a decade later it remains one of my top 25 life memories. This one would work well for September 19th. You’re welcome.

P.S. To celebrate National Flex Day, go check out FlexJobs – the best site out there for flexible and at-home jobs.