What to Celebrate October 19 thru 25, 2020
Celebration Ideas for October 19 – 25, 2020
It’s really and truly looking (and feeling) like fall around here. Leaves are changing color & even starting to fall. And our brief warm spell has ended.
In other words, the weather is delightful! Hopefully it’ll avoid becoming frightful. 😉
Speaking of delightful, next week’s food days include seafood bisque, brandied fruit, and Boston cream pie. Mmmmm.
You don’t want to miss those! So go ahead. Take a peek and plan your week. And as always …
Enjoy!
Celebrate for the rest of October
Help make shelter pets’ lives a little brighter for the holidays. And remember to keep yourself safe online doing your holiday shopping. Scammers are especially busy this time of year.
Take some time to savor the flavors of pork and popcorn too. Not necessarily together.
Wishbones for Pets Month: Pet sitters, have you started collecting for your favorite pet charity(s)? Everyone else, will you be helping your favorite pet sitter(s) reach their goals? Shelter pets are counting on us all!
National Popcorn Poppin’ Month: Fill your month with popcorn! Plain popcorn. Buttered popcorn. Flavored popcorn. Coated popcorn. Whatever kind of popcorn you enjoy works for this celebration. Except pre-popped corn! No, no, no. It’s a month for poppin’ popcorn, and how can you do that if you buy it already popped!?!
National Pork Month: Thank pork producers this month. How? Eat pork!
National Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Are you doing all the right things to protect yourself online? It’s more than just using strong passwords. Keeping software up to date and recognizing suspicious links in emails are also important, among other things.
Weekly Celebrations for Oct. 19 to 25
For this week … Freedom of speech: Use it. The free press: Protect it. Your local library: Support it. Wolves: Admire (and protect) them. Rodents: Repel them.
Free Speech Week (October 19 – 25, 2020): Celebrate your freedom of speech and our free press. And help raise awareness of the importance of both to our democracy. To any democracy, really.
National Friends of Libraries Week (October 18 – 24, 2020): You know where you can learn more about freedom of speech and the free press? Libraries! And Friends of Libraries groups help support their local libraries so those libraries can continue serving their communities. This week celebrates these groups and their community spirit. If you’d like to help support your local library, consider joining the Friends group in your community. If there isn’t one, why not get the ball rolling to start one?
Wolf Awareness Week (October 18 – 24, 2020): How much do you know about wolves? Use this week to learn more about them, where they’re returning, and how we’re learning to coexist with them.
Rodent Awareness Week (October 18 – 24, 2020): The global pandemic isn’t just affecting humans. It’s making it harder for rats & mice to find food too! And that means they’re more likely to head indoors in search of food. Ick! Use this week to make sure you’re doing all you can to avoid an infestation. And to learn who to call if you do find rodents in your home.
Celebration Days coming up for Oct. 19 thru Oct. 25
Are you ready to evaluate your life, type in all caps, and make a difference? Or maybe just kick back with some seafood bisque, brandied fruit, and a Boston cream pie?
However you want to celebrate this week, make it a fun-tastic one!
October 19:
National LGBT Center Awareness Day: This day honors and promotes the centers that serve the LGBT community. These centers offer advocacy and support to LGBT community members of all ages and provide a sense of belonging. Many of these centers hold events for the day. The events may look different this year, but why not see if there are any near you?
Evaluate Your Life Day: On this day we take a good look at our lives, where we’re going, and where we want to be. Is the path we’re on the one we want? If not, figure out how to change directions so you get where you want to go!
National Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day: Do you have a cluttered desktop? No, not the physical desk you sit (or stand) at. The desktop on your computer! Icons & files & temporary folders & just plain junk! Well get rid of what you don’t use (archive anything important) and file the rest into organized folders. It’ll make finding things easier and might even help your computer run faster!
National Seafood Bisque Day: Enjoy a rich, creamy, savory seafood bisque for dinner. Served with fresh crusty bread and a glass of wine, it’s all you need for a comforting and filling meal. Try one of these recipes.
October 20:
International Chefs Day: For this day we honor the chefs who create the amazing food that keeps us coming back for more. And the chefs host events to teach us, based on the year’s theme. This year’s theme is Healthy Food for the Future, and it focuses on teaching kids about healthy and sustainable foods, to help ensure we can meet our food needs without harming the planet (more than we already have).
World Statistics Day: On this day we celebrate the collection and analysis of data. Something we’ve all been getting a bit of a crash course in this year as we hear about various statistics related to the novel coronavirus. It can be quite confusing, and sometimes the numbers seem contradictory, but it’s important stuff! Of course, there’s lots of other stats that are equally important, so let’s try to understand it all just a little better.
Pharmacy Technician Day: Pharmacy techs are an important part of any pharmacy, whether at your local “drug store”, hospital, and even vet clinics. Thank any pharmacy techs you know for their hard work getting you (and your pets!) the medications you need.
National Youth Confidence Day: Help create a positive environment with positive role models to help our young people develop the confidence to become tomorrow’s leaders, chefs, statisticians, pharmacy techs, and whatever else they can dream. Encourage those dreams and help them embrace & learn from mistakes made on the way to achieving their dreams.
National Brandied Fruit Day: If you have some brandied fruit, add it to your dessert to celebrate the day. If not, get some started so you can enjoy it soon … well, in about 30 days or so. Unless you go with the almost-instant brandied fruit you can find in this page of brandied (and rummed 😊) fruit ideas. In that case you’ll only have to wait a day.
October 21:
Reptile Awareness Day: Are you a reptile lover? If not you should be! Seriously, reptiles are amazing. Most don’t make very good pets, but that doesn’t mean we can’t admire them. If you do have a pet reptile, give it some extra treats for the day. And whatever your opinion of them, learn more about one or 2 of them. We promise, they’re fascinating.
Celebration of Mind Day: Martin Gardner popularized recreational mathematics. Celebrate his birthday with math, logic, and puzzles.
Support Your Local Chamber of Commerce Day: Your local Chamber of Commerce supports local businesses, big and small. When you support the Chamber you support those businesses too! Check in with your local Chamber to see how you can best support it and the businesses it serves.
Thank Your Cleaner Day: Speaking of supporting businesses, the people who keep those businesses clean have had a hard year! First the businesses closed, leaving them with nothing to clean (and putting their own businesses at risk). And when businesses opened, their jobs had changed to include making sure offices & other spaces were not only “regular” clean, but safe for us to be in. They deserve a thanks any day of any year, but especially on this day this year!
Hagfish Day: This day celebrates the “beauty of ugly”, which certainly describes the far-from-physically-beautiful hagfish! But the hagfish is beautiful in its own way. It’s a scavenger, so it cleans up dead marine life from the ocean floor. And that slime it produces as protection may actually be useful to us!
National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day: Although hagfish—and their slime—are edible, most people … don’t. Anyway, pumpkin cheesecake sounds much more appetizing. So buy or whip up a pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.
October 22:
Make a Dogs Day: This day from Subaru (yes, the auto manufacturer!) encourages us all to get creative with ways to make a dog’s day. Which, let’s face it, is pretty simple with most dogs, because all they need to make their day is some lovin’ from their human. Or any human, really. But the day especially promotes giving shelter dogs their best day ever—adoption day.
International Stuttering Awareness Day: Help raise awareness—and especially understanding—of stuttering. Because while many people have heard of it, too many don’t understand it. And worse, many seem to consider stutters “stupid” and may even mock them. There are many myths about stuttering, but together we can bust those myths.
National Color Day: Color is all around us, but we don’t always take the time to notice. On this day we do! Because believe it or not, color can affect our mood. And even our blood pressure! Maybe. At any rate, take in the beauty of the colors around you for this day. And notice how they make you feel.
INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY: FOR THIS DAY YOU MUST TURN ON YOUR CAPS LOCK AND LEAVE IT ON ALL DAY! IRRITATING A LOT OF PEOPLE IS JUST THE PRICE YOU’LL HAVE TO PAY TO CELEBRATE PROPERLY. AND HOPEFULLY YOU USE A PASSWORD MANAGER OR YOU MAY HAVE TROUBLE LOGGING INTO ANY SITES WITH CASE SENSITIVE PASSWORDS (WHICH IS MOST OF THEM!).
National Nut Day: No, this day is not about the nutters who are going to type in all caps all day. 🤪 It’s about the edible kind of nut. And you’re invited to snack on, cook with, and bake with nuts of all kinds all day. Yum!
October 23:
Mole Day: So every year we hope this is a day about the cute (yes, cute!) little animals that live underground. Then we remember it’s a chemistry/math celebration. Disappointing. But for those of you who like this stuff, celebrate Avogadro’s number from 6:02 am to 6:02 pm (if you don’t understand why just for those hours, this celebration is probably not for you …).
Swallows Depart From San Juan Capistrano Day: You’re probably more familiar with Swallows Return to Capistrano Day. But they can’t return if they never left! This is a celebration of the cliff swallows’ migration. Each fall, around the Day of San Juan they head south to Argentina and come back in the spring around St. Joseph Day. So on October 23 we say goodbye … even if the birds have already left, or even if they’re still hanging around. ‘Cause the birds don’t care what our calendars say, only what their instincts say.
National Boston Cream Pie Day: You deserve a sweet treat after all your mole and swallows celebrations. Make it a chocolaty, custardy Boston Cream Pie! Make it yourself if you can.
October 24:
Pit Bull Awareness Day: The entire month of October is about changing the public’s perception of pit bulls. But on Oct. 24 let’s ramp up our efforts to highlight the truth about these dogs: They’re sweet and loyal and don’t deserve their negative reputations. “Bad” pit bulls are the result of irresponsible owners, not the dog’s breed (not that “pit bull” is even a breed).
United Nations Day: Celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations.
National Make a Difference Day: On this day people across the country come together to make a difference in their communities. See if any service organizations are holding events in your community. If not, there’s nothing stopping you from figuring out something that needs doing and getting the ball rolling.
National Prescription Drug Take Back Day: If you have old, unused medications hanging around, don’t stash them at the back of the medicine cabinet, throw them in the trash, or flush them down the toilet. That can lead to accidental overdose, misuse, or contamination of the environment. Instead, turn them in to a Drug Take Back Day location for safe disposal.
National Bologna Day: Love bologna? This is the day to enjoy it. Have a bologna sandwich for lunch with your favorite condiments. Make it a fried bologna sandwich, even! Or dice up a few slices and add it to an omelette, mac & cheese, or whatever else your taste buds desire …
National Food Day: Celebrate food! Because we all need food to survive. But not any food. This day celebrates real, nutritious food. Like fresh fruits and vegetables and meats. Nothing overly processed, deep fried, salted, sugary, etc. (This could be an issue for celebrating Bologna Day …) The day originally started in 1975 but lasted only a few years. It returned in 2011, revived by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which offers a lot of healthy eating advice. Why not check it out and learn how to improve your diet.
October 25:
National Mother-in-Law Day: If you have a mother-in-law let her know how much she means to you for this day. Yes, you would have celebrated her on Mother’s Day, too. But that was as your spouse’s mother, making the day more about her and her child. This day you appreciate her as your mother-in-law, making it about her and you. A small difference considering you’re all family now? Sure. But a difference just the same.
Sourest Day: We celebrated grouches on the 15th, and while this day may seem similar, it’s not! That day celebrated the perpetual grouch. This day gives you permission to be a sourpuss, whether or not you’re normally a grouch. So spend the day with a perpetual frown and a bad attitude. You’ve earned it! 😁 Although maybe take a break from the sour while you’re celebrating your mother-in-law. You wouldn’t want her to think she’s the reason you’re being sour. At least we hope you don’t …
National Visit a Cemetery Day: While we would have thought the 31st would be a better day for cemetery visiting, apparently we do it on the last Sunday in October. At any rate, this is a chance to visit loved ones’ graves, pay your respects, and clean up any dead flowers, weeds, or fallen leaves. Maybe leave some fresh flowers or other decoration too. If you happen to be fascinated with old headstones, head over to older sections of the cemetery to see what you can discover.
National Greasy Foods Day: Apparently the day after we focus on healthy eating we take a cheat day and indulge in less than healthy greasy foods. Although for most days we suggest eating that food in some form all day, that much greasy food may not sit well with your digestive tract. So maybe pick a couple of favorites to indulge in with a meal or as a snack.
World Pasta Day: Wait! Didn’t we just celebrate this day? You might think so, but that was National Pasta Day on the 17th. This is World Pasta Day, a completely different day! But one with a similar goal: To promote eating pasta. And also to celebrate the fact that pasta is a favorite food all over the globe. So make your favorite pasta dish to celebrate. Even better, try something new.
