10 Ways to Celebrate Friendship Day
Take a few seconds to think of the people who are closest to you – a lot of them will be your family, but the rest will be your truest and dearest friends.
Even though you don’t really need a reason to celebrate your friendships, every August, Friendship Day gives us the opportunity to honor our friends and let them know how thankful we are to have them in our lives.
The top 10 ways to celebrate friendship day include:
Gift Friendship Bracelets
Organize a Friendship Day Party
Send Flowers to Your Friends
Share a Meal with Your Friend
Go on a Trip with Your Friends
Gift them a Memory Book
Watch Netflix Together
Initiate a Tradition
Go on a Shopping Spree
Volunteer at an Organization
In this article, we will look at what friendship day is all about and how to celebrate it in the best possible way.
Here is everything you need to know.
The Premise: What Is Friendship Day?
Friendship Day marks a revered occasion for friends all across the globe. It is a day when individuals express their heartfelt feelings and love for their closest friends and promise to support them at all times in all circumstances.
In 1935, a proclamation by the US Congress declared the first Sunday of August as a US holiday in honor of friends. Since then, individuals around the world have celebrated World Friendship Day each year. This year, Friendship Day falls on Sunday, August 7th.
What Is the History of Friendship Day?
Initially founded by Hallmark Cards, Inc. in 1919, Friendship Day was meant to be a day for individuals to cherish their friendships by sending cards to each other. Later in 1930, the man behind Hallmark Cards, Inc., Joyce Hall, tried to revive the concept. However, a lot of people felt that the company only created the holiday to sell more cards. As a matter of fact, the Greeting Card National Association had also attempted to promote the concept of a Friendship Day in the 20s.
In 1935, a US Congress proclamation declared the first Sunday of August as a US holiday. Moreover, in 2011, the United Nations announced July 30th as International Friendship Day. Nevertheless, the vast majority of countries still celebrate it on the first Sunday of August.
Some additional fun facts about World Friendship Day include:
The Beatles released its song "With a Little Help from My Friends" in 1967 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of World Friendship Day.
The Kappa Delta sorority in Memphis, Tennessee, initiated the National Women's Friendship Day in 1999. The day is celebrated every year on September 3rd Sunday to acknowledge women's female friends.
10 Ways to Celebrate Friendship Day
Here are some of the best ways to celebrate Friendship Day.
1. Gift Friendship Bracelets
Friendship bracelets are one of the most popular Friendship Day gifts. You can find a lot of colorful friendship bands in the stores way ahead of the holiday. Rather than the traditional wristbands, you can choose the friendship bracelets that are available in attractive designs for both girls and boys.
You can also make Friendship Bracelets yourself and gift them to your friends. Doing this will add more meaning to the bracelet and the friendship. Keep in mind that when you invest the time and effort to make a friendship bracelet, your friend will appreciate it a lot more because the effort you put in indicates how much they are loved and cared for.
2. Organize a Friendship Day Party
You can also celebrate Friendship Day by organizing a party for your new and old friends. However, this idea requires a little effort and planning as you have to decide where to hold the party, what activities to include in the party, what items to include in the menu, what songs to play, etc. Once that’s done, you can invite your buddies and have a blast!
Here are some tips for organizing a Friendship Day party:
Make a special invite for your friends. You can include nice quotations and jokes to set the tone of the party.
Think about the type of party you want to have. For instance, is it going to be an overnight party or a day party?
Decide on the menu. You can also cook with your friends to have more fun.
Plan out outdoor or indoor game sessions with your best buddies.
3. Send Flowers to Your Friends
You can send your friends flowers with a handwritten note that lets them know how thankful you are for them. You can also reminisce about some of the best memories you had together in the note.
When it comes to sending flowers, you can pick them up and deliver them yourself, or you can send them through an online service such as ProFlowers or 1800 Flowers, among several others.
4. Share a Meal with Your Friend
Treat your best friend to a meal where you catch up on life. You can take them out for dinner or lunch – maybe to their favorite restaurant or to a place that you often visited for old times' sake. If you two crossed paths internationally, you can treat them to a dinner with cuisine from the country where you met. Whatever the case might be, make the meal more special than your typical evening or afternoon meals.
5. Go on a Trip with Your Friends
If it's possible, take some time off in August and go on a trip with your friends to celebrate Friendship Day. In fact, even if you can just take the weekend off, spend it somewhere exciting or relaxing with your friends.
One of the best parts about traveling with friends is that it forges stronger bonds. You will share unique and incredible moments and learn new things together throughout your journeys. You'll be able to talk with them about it for many years to come. It can actually mark the start of several holidays together in the future.
6. Gift Them a Memory Book
There is no better way to recollect and cherish all the fun times you had with your best friend than to make a friendship memory book right from scratch. For instance, you can choose to go the old school route and use a scrapbook. However, you can also use any of the various websites that let you include as many words and photos as you want.
A memory book is really the perfect gift for that high school best friend who has now become a family member. They join forces with your mom to pull your leg and visit unexpectedly. They are your go-to reason for sneaking out of the home and your favorite person on the entire planet.
7. Watch Netflix Together
Why watch movies and shows on Netflix alone when you can do it in a more fun way with your group of friends. If your friends are not in the same city as you, you can use Teleparty to watch movies and shows together. It's an add-on that lets you and your friends watch the same movie or TV episode at the same time by synchronizing playback and having a group chat to share comments.
It is just like going to watch a movie with a couple of friends. However, you will be doing it from your own home. Just grab some popcorn and play your movie.
8. Initiate a Tradition
In case you don't already have a tradition with your best friend for Friendship Day, you can start one this year. The tradition doesn't need to be something out of the box – you can simply initiate a tradition where you meet up and prepare dinner together. Or perhaps you have a potluck with a couple of friends.
9. Go on a Shopping Spree
Another excellent way to celebrate Friendship Day is to go shopping together with your best friend. Having your friends around to support and encourage you with purchasing new outfits and accessories adds an extra fun touch to an already entertaining and leisure activity.
Remember, there's no better person than your best friend who can tell you what doesn’t flatter you and what you should definitely bring home with you.
10. Volunteer at an Organization
As the old saying goes, it's better to give than to receive. There are numerous causes, from soup kitchens to animal shelters, that would appreciate your earnest help. Get together with your best friend to pick a cause you want to volunteer for, then go ahead and do it. Not only will you be doing something meaningful to celebrate Friendship Day, but you will also have a lot of fun! In fact, you can even make this activity a monthly or weekly thing instead of a yearly activity.
Last Few Words
Friendship Day is a great day to spend quality time with your friends and make memories that will last a lifetime. Using the ideas above to celebrate Friendship Day will surely strengthen your bond with your friends and bring you even closer to them.
