Celebrate World Smile Day the First Friday in October
How will you spread smiles for the day?
Smile. And help at least one other person do the same on the 1st Friday in October.
Why?
Because it’s World Smile Day, and that’s what the day’s all about.
According to the official World Smile Day website: “Do an act of kindness. Help one person SMILE!”
The day was the brainchild of Harvey Ball, creator of the smiley face (in 1963). He felt that his creation had become overly commercialized, and it had lost its original meaning. So he wanted a day when we should all smile and do kind acts.
He also decided the day should be an annual event on the first Friday in October. The first World Smile Day happened on October 1, 1999 in Worcester, MA (his hometown).
Harvey died in 2001, but his day lives on. The Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation honors him and his creation, and it sponsors World Smile Day every year.
About the Smiley
Mr. Ball was a commercial artist, and he created his now-famous smiley for the State Mutual Life Assurance Company. The company was apparently looking for something to improve company morale.
It worked like gangbusters.
The smiley got more and more popular, peaking in the early 1970s. Interest faded for a while, but the smiley made a comeback in the 1980s.
And, of course, what would email, Facebook and other electronic communications be without the smiley? Boring! That’s what.
We love our smilies so much, the US Postal Service even issued a smiley stamp.
Scroll down for some ideas on celebrating this unofficial smiley holiday.
Ideas For Celebrating World Smile Day
Clearly you’re just going to have to turn the frown upside down for at least one day.
And help others do the same.
You can do this all on your own of course. But wouldn’t it be more fun to get friends, family, and even your whole community involved?
The World Smile Day website offers some suggested activities to make the day special.
Suggestions include:
- Taking selfies with smiley masks
- Serving meals to the homeless
- A smiley flash mob
- More
The site also has smiley supplies to help you get in the smiley mood and spread smiles wherever you go:
You might also find inspiration from our Random Acts of Kindness Day post.
Follow World Smile Day on Facebook to see how others are celebrating and get more ideas!
How do you plan to celebrate this day?
Future World Smile Days
We know you wouldn’t want to miss a chance to smile, so here’s a list of the dates for celebrating World Smile Day for the next few years.
- 2019 – Friday, October 4
- 2020 – Friday, October 2
- 2021 – Friday, October 1
- 2022 – Friday, October 7
- 2023 – Friday, October 6
- 2024 – Friday, October 4
- 2025 – Friday, October 3
- 2026 – Friday, October 2
- 2027 – Friday, October 1
- 2028 – Friday, October 6
- 2029 – Friday, October 5
[…] World Smile Day: Be the reason someone smiles today! It’s not hard. Smiles are infectious, so just smiling at someone can do the trick. Or, if you want to get a bit more involved, do something kind for at least one person. And remember, since smiles are infectious the person you made smile will probably go on to make more people smile. 🙂 […]