Tomorrow, August 6th 2017, is Friendship Day in the US. But what does that mean? How did this day come into existing and what should you do on this special day?
We have all the information for you. Read on if you like.
What Is Friendship Day?
In the US, Friendship Day is celebrated on the first Sunday of August. International Friendship Day, however, is set on July 30th since it was first proposed in 1958.
Like mother’s day or father’s day, Friendship Day has been established to celebrate the important people in your life that you are not related to: your friends. It is not yet as established as the previous mentioned days. But this is no reason to not give your friends some special appreciation on this day!
Initially, Friendship Day was created by the greeting card industry and is particularly popular in South America. Due to social media, this unofficial holiday has (re)gained a lot attention with people celebrating their friendship on Facebook, Instagram and the like. This also shows a shift away from the greeting card industry that initially established this day, and towards sharing memories with your friends as well as getting in contact with those you lost sight of.
Friendship Day Customs
As mentioned above, Friendship Day was “designed” to be celebrated by sending cards to your friends. Other popular gifts that are often exchanged range from flowers to sweets and self-made wrists bands. The latter are also known as friendship bracelets that you have surely tried your hand on at least once during your school days.
Especially sending greeting cards is not popular, however. This hasn’t changed since the 20’s when the day was heavily promoted since it was a too obvious marketing scheme in order to sell more greeting cards. Nowadays, people have switched to less pricey and more intimate ways of celebrating friendship. This is slowly changing the reputation of the holiday from a commercial gimmick to what the day truly promotes: spending time with and appreciating your friends.
Create Your Own Friendship Day Customs
You don’t have to follow the tradition of sending greeting cards to your friends on this day. There are many more personal and less commercial ways to show your appreciation to your friends. For example:
- Take your BFF out on a friend date
- Make a picnic together
- Go see a movie
- Take a stroll through nature and have a long talk
- Stock up on ice cream and stay in for a whole day
- Go to the beach, a fun fair, etc. together
- Create a scrapbook or photo album of your memories
- Send a message to or call friends you haven’t seen in a while
And so on, and so forth. The possibilities are endless. Are there any special places you share with your friends. Movies, songs, little incidents that made you bond even more. Friendship Day is the day for you to reminisce in all of them – and share them with your best friend!
Other Friendship Related Dates
As stated above, the first Sunday in August is National Friendship Day in the USA, while July 30th was announced as the official International Friendship Day. However, there are more dates in our calendar dedicated to friendships of various forms:
- Third Sunday in August: Women’s Friendship Day
- February: International Friendship Month
- Third week of May: Old Friends, New Friends Week
