True Life: We Celebrated A Different “Holiday” Every Day For A Month. This Is Our Story.

Lee Groeger - 06/14/2016

Everyone knows the popular Apple catch phrase, “There’s an app for that™.” Well, that may very well be true—OK, it’s definitely true—but I’m here to tell you about the latest phenomenon: there’s a day for that. For what, you ask? For anything. Literally, anything. In fact, as I am writing this, people everywhere are celebrating National Bourbon Day, National Flag Day, National Pop Goes the Weasel Day, and National Strawberry Shortcake Day. Maybe, somewhere out there, some overeager enthusiast is washing down a slice of Strawberry Shortcake with a nice bourbon while waving the American flag and singing Pop Goes the Weasel. Point being, there really is something for everyone.

jellybean-earthdayI’ve celebrated a National Coffee Day here and a National Doughnut Day there, (hmm, I’m seeing a theme here) but to really understand what this festive trend is all about, I knew it would require a deep dive. So, I asked my trusty co-workers to join me in celebrating an unconventional “holiday” every day for an entire month and document it on social media. After all, we coordinate these types of commemorations for our clients all the time! And so, we did. Here’s what we learned.

People love food.

All told, we celebrated 31 holidays in 30 days. The bonus holiday was the result of feeling morally obligated to celebrate Earth Day, but in our heart of hearts, really wanting to celebrate Jelly Bean Day. So, we compromised. The moral of the story here is that a third of those 31 days were food or beverage related. And why shouldn’t they be? Eating is a social activity. It brings people together! Case in point, on the days we celebrated food holidays, lo and behold, our friends from marketing, creative, digital, and other departments in the building were on hand—serendipitously, it seemed—for whatever we needed!

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Celebrating is exhausting.

grilled-cheese-dayWhen this idea popped into my head, I couldn’t have guessed the amount of time it would ultimately require, not just to do it, but to really do it right. Lucky for us, we had a few crackerjack interns who were able to help with some of the logistical stuff, like driving to Morristown to pick up grilled cheese and tomato soup from The Committed Pig (worth it). That aside, as a group of PR professionals, we are creative thinkers, so this was like a playground for us. The result was more than a few after-hour “workshopping” sessions. But, with a little practice, we hit our stride, and for the greater good, we persevered!

We love networking as much as you would expect.

Whenever it’s possible to patronize a small business here in Morris County, surrounding Northern New Jersey communities, or anywhere in New Jersey, we do. As you might imagine, this project presented that opportunity on several occasions! We got to meet a whole bunch of local proprietors and their staffs, most of whom had no idea any of these holidays were taking place. It was gratifying to share with them some of the ways they could leverage this “national day” craze to benefit their business. And let’s be honest—given our line of work, it would have been an act of extreme self-control not to. Cheers to our friends at Barry’s Pharmacy, Montville Nails and 7-Eleven® in Montville; Quickchek® in Lake Hiawatha; Bow Tie Caldwell Cinemas 4; Tiff’s in Pine Brook; The Sound Exchange in Wayne; Cricket Hill Brewery in Fairfield; and Pete’s Restaurant & Pub, The Committed Pig, and Raul’s Empanadas in Morristown.

It was fun!

This started off as a silly idea that turned out to be a great exercise in creativity. I don’t think any of us had ever dedicated much brain power to identifying untraditional uses of an eraser, but as it turns, out, there are quite a few!

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And when was the last time you had chair races at work? Never, you say? Neither had we, until we found out it was Fun at Work Day! You’ll want to see this.

We got schooled.

Aside from being astonished simply by the vast subject matter covered through all of these observances, we also learned a thing or two. For example, you can get rid of the garlic smell on your fingers by running your hands under cold water while rubbing a stainless steel object. Did you know that? Well, we didn’t, until National Garlic Day. Since we shared our endeavors via social media, we tried to make our posts engaging and educational, so those kinds of facts ending up proving useful (and, incidentally, great fodder for small-talk).

The celebrations will continue…occasionally.

This was a blast. We bonded as a team, connected with local businesses, welcomed new social media followers, and learned some fun new facts, but every day is a little zany! That said, we’ll definitely keep celebrating notable, fun, and maybe sometimes wacky holidays every now and again (I’m lookin’ at you, National Chocolate Day).

To see all the photos and videos documenting how we celebrated all 31 holidays, visit our Facebook and Instagram pages. Now, go find something new and fun to celebrate! You really never know what you’ll find.

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