In case you didn't know, I publish a weekly newsletter called The Good Letter. It comes out on Fridays, and it serves as a digest of stuff I write on here with a few new nuggets of goodness thrown in. I tell you this because newsletter subscribers also get access to the Have a Good Day! Calendar - a fun, free, downloadable calendar that pairs little known holidays with ideas for doing something good.
One such little known holiday, at least in the U.S., is International Friendship Day. Truly a Hallmark holiday (it was created by greeting card companies in 1958), the occasion has become a big deal in some south Asian countries. Most Americans, however, still let the day pass by without much pomp and circumstance.
So, that's some relevant background for this post. Here's some more... Mike and I threw a 4th of July bash for a lot of years. Our house in Bogart, GA was in the middle of a big field, and the early parties featured cut-throat softball games. Then we moved to the Atlanta area, and the party transformed into a yard-Olympics format with three-legged races, potato sack races, water balloon toss, and more. For a number of years, we kept up the patriotic tradition here in Virginia as well (although I banned the game of spin-around-the-bat out of fear of catastrophic injury).
Ultimately, the dedicated folks and volunteers who plan Valley Fourth (our local Independence Day festival) made downtown revelry too cool to miss. We wanted to go to the parade, check out the activities, and enjoy some Beers and Cheers too. So, we took a break from our yard game-a-thon party in 2014. Turns out, we missed it. Summer just didn't feel the same. Mike said, "wouldn't it be great if we could have the party the first weekend of August? I wish there was something we could celebrate then." A quick Google search led me to Friendship Day, and the kismet lightbulb went off above our heads.
One such little known holiday, at least in the U.S., is International Friendship Day. Truly a Hallmark holiday (it was created by greeting card companies in 1958), the occasion has become a big deal in some south Asian countries. Most Americans, however, still let the day pass by without much pomp and circumstance.
So, that's some relevant background for this post. Here's some more... Mike and I threw a 4th of July bash for a lot of years. Our house in Bogart, GA was in the middle of a big field, and the early parties featured cut-throat softball games. Then we moved to the Atlanta area, and the party transformed into a yard-Olympics format with three-legged races, potato sack races, water balloon toss, and more. For a number of years, we kept up the patriotic tradition here in Virginia as well (although I banned the game of spin-around-the-bat out of fear of catastrophic injury).
Ultimately, the dedicated folks and volunteers who plan Valley Fourth (our local Independence Day festival) made downtown revelry too cool to miss. We wanted to go to the parade, check out the activities, and enjoy some Beers and Cheers too. So, we took a break from our yard game-a-thon party in 2014. Turns out, we missed it. Summer just didn't feel the same. Mike said, "wouldn't it be great if we could have the party the first weekend of August? I wish there was something we could celebrate then." A quick Google search led me to Friendship Day, and the kismet lightbulb went off above our heads.
 | Therefore, we are proud to introduce our inaugural Friendship Day party! To make it friendship-y, we wrote friendship quotes on poster board and stuck them around the yard. Everyone joined in the food preparation by bringing side dishes to pass. Mike came up with a game line-up called that he dubbed the Decathlon of Friendship (two heats of cornhole, shuffleboard, water balloon toss, sunflower seed spitting, whirlygig distance race, hula hooping, watermelon explosion, ring toss, and pie eating). We had live music from local musician Randy Black. It was a beautiful day. All in all, I can't think of a better tribute to friendship. |
I encourage you to become a newsletter subscriber so that you too can learn about some lesser-known holidays. If you do any of the "good ideas" in the calendar, feel free to share on Facebook with the hashtag #gooddays. Or, even better, find a day that inspires you and throw a party! It's a good thing to celebrate good times with good friends. Go forth and soiree, my friends!
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