Weird U.S. Holidays in September (2025)
September is full of unique celebrations—and most have nothing to do with food, unlike other months! This month’s unusual celebrations trend more toward revisiting your childhood, bringing out your inner creative self, and engaging with others.
The entire month of September also celebrates all sorts of surprising things:
Thanks to Taylor Swift’s appearance on the “New Heights” podcast, a lot of people might take part in Sourdough September.
Revisit one of the odder parts of gym class, as it’s National Square Dance Month!
Even though Potato Day was a fun August holiday, September is National Potato Month.
Source: National Day Calendar
As we really get into fall and the kids go back to school, there is no better time to find unexpected reasons to celebrate.
Let’s dive into weird holidays in September 2025!
September 1: National No Rhyme (Nor Reason) Day
On this silly September holiday, we celebrate all those words that (technically) have no rhymes. Why? No reason!
I say “technically” because dialects and accents can matter.
But when it comes to perfect rhymes – ones where every part matches from the final stressed vowel to the end of the words – and the typical pronunciation, there are quite a few words to choose from! Wikipedia lists about eighty words with no perfect rhymes. A few of my favorites are zigzag, sudsed, and monster.
Celebration Ideas
Watch the all-rhyming episode of How I Met Your Mother.
Try to speak entirely in rhyme for the day. If you do this during a meeting, please comment and let me know how it went.
Do dramatic readings of Dr. Seuss books.
September 2: National Another Look Unlimited Day
Another Look Unlimited Day falls on the day after Labor Day every year. It’s the fall’s answer to spring cleaning, reminding us to go through all of our belongings and clear out the things that, as Marie Kondo put it, don’t spark joy. (Do I have an annotated copy of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing? Yes. Yes, I do.)
Use this neat September holiday as inspiration to declutter and clean. Remember to do some research into what the best local donation places are. Maybe one will even come pick your items up from your house!
Celebration Ideas
Have a fashion show using your old clothes. It could help you decide what to keep!
Host a clothing swap party. Everyone brings the clothing they want to get rid of, and you can all take what you want! And this can tie into the fashion show part if you’re feeling brave (perhaps after a few glasses of prosecco…).
Buy yourself a treat after donating your goods. It can be hard to part with stuff, and getting some ice cream or another favorite snack could make you feel a bit better.
September 3: National Skyscraper Day
In the late 1800s, urban business was booming in the U.S. So, buildings began to get taller and taller to accommodate the influx of stores, companies, and people. When the word “skyscraper” came into existence in the 1880s, it applied to 10- to 20-story buildings. Now, it’s more likely to be used for unbelievably tall buildings.
This lofty celebration in September reminds us of just how clever people can be. I don’t know about you, but I can’t go into a place like New York City and look up in awe at these buildings we so often take for granted. A human being had to imagine and design them! Real people had to build them!
On National Skyscraper Day, we get to celebrate the buildings that define city skylines, give people and businesses places to be, and (possibly – no spoilers!) give Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan a place to meet in Sleepless in Seattle.
Celebration Ideas
Check out the Empire State Building’s TikTok. It’s one of my favorite accounts on there!
Visit the Skyscraper Museum. If you’re in NYC, that is.
Play with LEGOs or blocks. See who can build the tallest tower!
September 4: National Macadamia Nut Day
When I was a kid, I always thought of macadamia nuts as super fancy. Fancy or not, these Australian native nuts come with some pretty significant health benefits. Macadamia nuts seem to help with a bit of everything thanks to their high levels of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats. They could also lower the risk of metabolic syndrome and diabetes, as well as boost skin and bone health.
Not too shabby for something we usually consider a treat! This delicious September holiday is a great day to go for something fancy and have some macadamia nuts.
Celebration Ideas
Make food containing macadamia nuts.
Visit a local bakery and try a macadamia nut treat.
Learn how to spell “macadamia.” This may be a celebration just for me... Even writers have words they just can never spell correctly on the first try!
September 5: National Be Late for Something Day
Can you believe someone actually got on top of things enough to create the Procrastinator’s Club of America? The club was created by Les Waas, more or less as a joke, in 1956. He even registered the club as a business in Philadelphia! (Though he didn’t get around to that until 1966.) Waas said it was about “the philosophy of relaxation through putting off until later those things that needn’t be done today.”
(Despite that philosophy, I doubt he missed too many deadlines as the writer of nearly 1000 advertising jingles, including that of Mister Softee.)
The club created National Be Late for Something Day, and we can all be grateful for the permission to put something of little importance off until tomorrow. Use this September celebration as an excuse to relax a bit!
Celebration Ideas
Sleep in.
Stop and smell the roses…on your way to something. These could be literal or figurative roses.
Have breakfast for dinner. Because this means you’re eating breakfast super late.
September 6: National Fight Procrastination Day
Yes, really.
Take yesterday, but make it the opposite. Everything is now essential and needs to get done.
Immediately.
Celebration Ideas
Do not sleep in.
Ignore all roses.
Have dinner for breakfast. You’ll be ahead of the game!
September 7: National Beer Lover’s Day
National Beer Lover’s Day is celebrated every September 7. (Maybe because you need to recover from Fight Procrastination Day?) People have been drinking beer for thousands of years, and variations of the drink exist all over the world.
The United States has nearly 10,000 breweries of all shapes and sizes. While Minneapolis may be synonymous with beer, it doesn’t have the most breweries per capita – that goes to Portland, OR, at 4.38 breweries per 100k residents. (Minneapolis comes in 17th, while, perhaps surprisingly, Salt Lake City is 8th!)
Celebration Ideas
Visit a local brewery.
Have friends over for a few beers.
Try an alternative to beer.
September 8: Star Trek Day
Star Trek premiered on September 8, 1966, and changed the trajectory of not just sci-fi but television in general. This holiday has been celebrated unofficially for a long time, but Paramount+ formalized it in 2020. Each year, the streaming service hosts something akin to a virtual Star Trek convention, complete with special guests and episodes that are free to stream. (However, at the time of writing, there have been no announcements from Paramount+ about 2025 festivities.)
Why is Star Trek important enough for us all to celebrate, even if we’re not Trekkies? Well…
It made the public more interested in space exploration (and resulted in the names of several asteroids!).
The race to create and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine was called “Operation Warp Speed,” after a concept from the show.
It was the first American program to show a kiss between a Black person and a white person. (The first American show to feature an interracial kiss was actually I Spy, and that kiss was between a Vietnamese woman and a white man.)
Apple co-creator Steve Wozniak said Star Trek inspired his work
It ignored traditional gender and racial roles when it came to things like leadership roles aboard the ships
The list goes on and on! You could say this September holiday is…out of this world! (Sorry.)
Celebration Ideas
Binge-watch Star Trek. If you can’t find episodes streaming, your local library could have DVDs of the show. (P.S. September is National Library Card Sign-Up Month. If you don’t have a card, go get one!)
Master the art of the Vulcan salute.
Listen to an album by one of the cast members.
September 9: National Teddy Bear Day
What do a president, a hunting trip, the Washington Post, and a candy shop owner have in common? They all contributed to the creation of the teddy bear! National Teddy Bear Day celebrates a stuffed bear that can be found in nearly every child’s room (and some adults’ rooms!).
Long story short, President Theodore Roosevelt was having bad luck on a hunting trip, so his assistants tied a bear to a tree for him to shoot—and he refused to engage in such unsportsmanlike behavior. A political cartoonist for the Washington Post published a satirical cartoon, which inspired a candy shop owner and his wife to create a stuffed animal with the moniker “Teddy’s Bear.” And the rest is history.
Quite the start for a sweet stuffed toy that can be found in most children’s—and many adults’—rooms! Thankfully, the only drama surrounding them these days seems to be the bedtime panic that occurs when Teddy is nowhere to be found. On this snuggly September celebration, take some time to appreciate the stuffed animal that brings comfort to so many people.
Celebration Ideas
Find your childhood bear. Or maybe you already did while celebrating National Another Look Unlimited Day.
Make a stuffed bear. Sure, you could go to Build-a-Bear. But you could also make your own from scratch!
Watch a movie about a stuffed bear. Winnie the Pooh and Paddington come to mind.
September 10: National Swap Ideas Day
Watch out, Tom Roy! Another obscure holiday creator has entered the chat. The late Robert L. Birch was a librarian who created celebrations like Swap Ideas Day, National Trivia Day, and Lumpy Rug Day. He also brought us the Puns Corps…and if you’ve ever known a librarian, the idea of them being super into puns should come as no surprise. And that brought about the Puns Corps Holiday Inventors’ Kit.
But that’s enough about Bob Birch. National Swap Ideas Day reminds us that our ideas can’t become reality if they stay in our heads. No matter how serious or off-the-wall your idea is, today is the day to tell someone else about it. Who knows? Maybe they’ll have something to add!
This unexpected September holiday is also a great day for businesses to hold brainstorming sessions for new or existing projects, giving everyone a chance to have their voice heard. That new person in the entry-level position may have the insight everyone needs to make something work, but you’ll never know without their swapped idea!
Celebration Ideas
Host a PowerPoint Party. Friends can come over and give PowerPoint presentations about their ideas. You can provide a theme if you prefer. (It’s a lot more fun than it sounds! Check out videos of people having these get-togethers on TikTok or watch Smartypants on the Dropout streaming network.)
Start a journal. Ideas rarely come to us fully fleshed out. Jot them down as they come to you, and work out the details later!
September 11: National Make Your Bed Day
There are two kinds of people in this world: People who make their bed every day, and people who think, “I’m just going to sleep in it again tonight, so why bother?” (I’m in the latter camp.) Making your bed can actually be good for your mental health by helping you build a morning routine, avoid the unconscious stress of a messy home, and more.
On the other hand, making the bed could affect your creativity, be less hygienic than leaving it messy, and make you wake up earlier, which could make some of us pretty darn grumpy in the morning.
But hey, give it a whirl on this neat September holiday. See if making your bed is a good idea for you!
Celebration Ideas
Take a nap. This will let you make your bed twice!
Wash your sheets. Yes, you. Did you know you’re supposed to wash them every week?
Learn to fold a fitted sheet. So many people find it to be such an amazing skill—myself included—that a man in Edinburgh got a couple of hundred folks to watch him fold a fitted sheet!
September 11 is also a day of remembrance for the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
September 12: National Video Games Day
The first known mention of National Video Games Day comes from a 1991 edition of Chase’s Calendar of Events, which said the celebration was sponsored by David Earle, the recipient of Kid Vid Warriors. It was initially celebrated in July, but September 12th became the official day in 1997.
Video games may be associated with kids, but every generation – Gen Alpha to the Silent Generation – all play them! While video game statistics show that Gens Alpha and Z play a lot more than the older generations, we have to remember: Many people in those generations don’t have the same kinds of demands on their time as older generations do. Who knows what the numbers would be like if Millennials through Silent Gen folks didn’t have to worry about things like work and kids/grandkids?
(And yes, even your great-grandparents might be playing – 36% of Silent Gen, who are about ages 80 through 97, report playing games for at least one hour per week!)
This fun September celebration reminds us that it’s okay to sometimes take a break and play a video game for a little bit.
Celebration Ideas
Head to the arcade.
Dust off an old video game system. If you have an N64 or Sega Genesis buried in your basement, grab it and see if it still works!
Watch a movie based on a video game. There are a lot!
September 13: National Peanut Day
When you’re the number one snack nut in the U.S., you definitely deserve your own tasty holiday! Nearly all households in the country eat peanut butter, and the average kid will have eaten 1500 PB&Js by the time they finish high school.
(Not me. I don’t like jelly. PB & honey, marshmallow fluff, or bananas are my faves!)
Think back over the past month. How many things did you eat containing peanuts or peanut butter? Chances are, it’s more than you realized! PB appears in cookies, on sandwiches, in curries, as an ice cream topping, in granola bars, and more!
On the flipside of that, though, peanut allergies can be really dangerous. Before spending time with someone who has a peanut allergy or with people you don’t know well, make sure any foods you offer are peanut-free.
Celebration Ideas
Find a new peanut-based recipe.
Try a nut-free alternative to peanut butter. Everyone should get to celebrate today!
Taste peanuts in a new way. Have you tried peanuts and Coke? Or boiled peanuts?
September 14: National Live Creative Day
For some reason, as we age, many of us give up our creative pursuits. Drawing, painting, crafting, singing, writing, imaginative play… they all fall by the wayside. This imaginative September holiday is a day to bring back your favorite creative activity. It doesn’t matter how “good” or “bad” you are at it; just taking the time to be creative could boost your mental health!
Did you know that spending time away from your technology can also help you be more creative? Without YouTube there to help you, you have to solve problems on your own or find other ways to entertain yourself!
Not sure what to do? Don’t remember what it was like to be creative? Personally – and this is just me – I would recommend getting onto TikTok or YouTube and watching people draw, dance, and generally have fun. Just remember to try it yourself afterward!
Celebration Ideas
Revisit a creative hobby.
Enroll in an imaginative class at a local community college or center.
Head to the art museum, a theatre, or another arts venue.
September 15: National Make a Hat Day
It’s literally what the name says: Make a hat today.
What’s cool about this crafty September holiday is that there are no rules! You can put that creativity you took hold of just yesterday to work. The hat can be knitted, cut out of construction paper, made by folding newspaper…if it goes on your head, it’s a hat!
Celebration Ideas
Make a hat. You could crochet one, sew one, make and decorate a paper crown, or fold an origami hat!
Go thrifting for hats. You could decorate these later.
Use something that’s not a hat as a hat. A bucket! A lampshade! Your cat! (Okay, don’t use your cat. Seriously, they won’t like it. I don’t take responsibility if you try this.)
September 16: National Play-Doh Day
If you close your eyes and think back to your youth, chances are you can still smell that unique Play-Doh smell. Today is the day to move past imagining and actually play with Play-Doh.
Hasbro created National Play-Doh Day in 2006 to celebrate this beloved creative outlet. Play-Doh allows people of all ages to express themselves in expressa unique way. It’s also an excellent method for connecting with your kids or students, helping them epxress their feelings and build their fine motor skills
If you want to take extra steps, there are tons of Play-Doh accessories to choose from.
(Just don’t eat the “ice cream” or “spaghetti.” It’s not toxic, but it’s pretty gross. Um. I’ve been told.)
Celebration Ideas
Create things out of Play-Doh. Creative or realistic, animals or plants…the possibilities are endless!
Make homemade play-dough. (This isn’t the Hasbro product, so it gets a less exciting spelling.
Turn your leftover peanut butter from National Peanut Day into peanut butter play-dough.
September 17: National Apple Dumpling Day
Another hyper-specific food holiday in September, National Apple Dumpling Day, celebrates a treat that’s not as American as apple pie. Apple dumplings have been around since the 1700s, and they were one of the most common foods farmers ate in that century!
Though not celebrated on this date, Sinking Spring, PA, has an Apple Dumpling Festival in May. And it’s a big deal, complete with rides, a Teen Miss Apple Dumpling competition, and live music.
Celebration Ideas
Go to an apple orchard. It’s that time of year!
Visit a local pastry or donut shop.
Learn to make apple dumplings.
September 18: National Hug a Greeting Card Writer Day
I don’t think we’ve seen a day more niche than this one. Today, you are under strict orders to find a greeting card writer and hug them. (Ask first.) According to the Greeting Card Association, the concept of greeting cards goes back as far as ancient China and Egypt, where people would send greetings to one another on items like scrolls. Europeans began exchanging more official greeting cards in the 1400s, and the rest, as they say, is history!
Greeting cards exist for every situation, both expected (like Christmas) and unexpected (like congratulating someone on a divorce). No matter the type of card, the people who write them deserve a hug – I’m sure they don’t need a thank you card!
Celebration Ideas
Make greeting cards. Then hug the rest of the people making greeting cards.
Find a greeting card writer and hug them. Hallmark is based in Kansas City, so make plans to visit for this unusual September holiday.
Figure out what to write in a greeting card. Who else is really bad at thinking of what to write to the recipient?
September 19: International Talk Like a Pirate Day
International Talk Like a Pirate Day brings me – and I’d wager a lot of Millennials – back to my youth. Writer Dave Barry got hold of a celebration between friends and published a column about it. I wonder if Barry knew that Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which came out in July of 2003, was going to be the hit it was. I certainly remember finding out about this special event that year, when pirates were in. (It would be a few more years before vampires became the IT thing.)
A silly September holiday taken very seriously, take this day to use your free will to talk like a pirate. Do so on client calls at your own risk.
Celebration Ideas
Spend the whole day talking like a pirate. Just like I said back on the 1st, if you do this during a meeting, report back.
Watch a pirate movie. The Johnny Depp fan favorite is an option, but I’d even argue that Peter Pan could be. (Note: I did not say to pirate a movie. That’s how you get computer viruses. And pirates should only get scurvy.)
Take a boat ride. With permission. Do not steal a boat. You are not really a pirate.
September 20: National (Rum) Punch Day
I’ve seen this September celebration called both Punch Day and Rum Punch Day, so it’s kind of a choose-your-own-adventure! Punch is a staple at potlucks and college parties, though with different levels of care put into its creation.
Punch is typically enjoyed during special events, so it definitely deserves to be honored itself! Though…should you really celebrate this day with punch? It seems a bit rude to drink the very thing you’re celebrating on its own holiday.
Celebration Ideas
Find a new punch recipe.
Host a party. Punch is a staple at parties.
Try a new rum mixer. Rum mixed with something is basically punch, right?
September 21: International Escapology Day
While many of us have gone to escape rooms (and perhaps some of us are still trying to get out…), that’s not what this day is about. International Escapology Day celebrates escapologists (also called escape artists) – you know, the people who put themselves into straitjackets, coffins, or even underwater and try to get out.
It’s not exactly the safest profession or hobby, so be sure to start small if you want to get into it. Diving directly into being buried alive? Probably unwise! Don’t get yourself in a bigger bind than intended on this seemingly magical September holiday.
Celebration Ideas
Go to an escape room.
Watch a magic or escape show.
Play a game that involves escaping from something or someone.
September 22: National White Chocolate Day
Is white chocolate really chocolate? Chocolate expert Megan Giller says yes! It just doesn’t have cocoa solids in it; it is still made with cocoa butter, as are dark and milk chocolates. No word on whether your cocoa butter skin products would be considered chocolate, but I wouldn’t recommend eating them to find out.
White chocolate is usually the base of other flavors (like fruits) or an addition to desserts (like macadamia nut cookies) rather than eaten alone. But this unique September celebration is a great day to find out if you like it by itself – after all, this is National White Chocolate Day, not National Stuff with White Chocolate Day!
Celebration Ideas
Grab a white mocha as you start your day. If this is already your regular order, consider adding raspberry or blackberry syrup.
Make a white chocolate dish.
Try a white chocolate candy bar.
This is also the first day of fall in 2025.
September 23: National Checkers Day
There’s no playing around on National Checkers Day…unless you play with your dog! This strange September holiday is also called National Dogs in Politics Day because it commemorates the time future president Nixon tried to convince the American people that he had not misused his political funds. (This is not the time he said he wasn’t a crook. That came later.)
What does this have to do with Checkers? That was the name of Nixon’s Cocker Spaniel, whom he used to appeal to the public because…well, who doesn’t love a puppy? And the speech worked! He was able to stay as President Eisenhower’s VP candidate as a result of pulling at people’s heartstrings by talking about how his daughter immediately fell in love with a puppy that just showed up as a gift.
Celebration Ideas
Go to the dog park. Ideally with a dog.
Watch the movie First Dog. I haven’t seen it, but I may watch it today. Especially since Dolly Parton wrote original songs for its soundtrack!
Play checkers. Hey, we don’t always have to follow the rules! Except for the rules of checkers. Ignoring those rules can lose you friends.
September 24: National Punctuation Day
This is potentially my second-favorite weird holiday of all time, the first being National Grammar Day (March 4). Without punctuation, things would be a lot less clear!
You know the phrase “For want of a nail, the kingdom was lost?” Well, there have been several instances when, for lack of a punctuation mark, a lawsuit was lost. When things are even a little bit unclear, there is room for interpretation, and “well, that’s not what I meant” doesn’t hold up in court.
That’s not the only way punctuation has caused problems. Spend a few minutes on LinkedIn. You’ll likely see people arguing about whether the em-dash indicates AI or not. (It doesn’t, by the way. People trained AI, so it’s using what people use.)
There are a lot of punctuation marks that aren’t in use, but many people think should be. YA couple of my favorites are the interrobang, which would replace the “?!” you so often see, a rhetorical question mark, which is a backwards “?” that makes it clear that a question is rhetorical, and the snark mark, which is, well, to indicate that you’re being snarky.
I know I’ll be celebrating this practical September holiday. I hope you’ll join me!
Celebration Ideas
Make Punctuation Mark Cookies. Inspired by The Phantom Tollbooth!
Take a pause. A lot of punctuation marks indicate a pause, so spend a few minutes winding down today.
Create phrases that change meaning based on their commas. “Let’s eat Grandma!” and “Let’s eat, Grandma!” mean totally different things, and only one of them is allowed by law.
September 25: National One-Hit Wonder Day
National One-Hit Wonder Day reminds us to celebrate those who got their 15 minutes of fame, but no more. While we usually think about this in terms of music, it really can be anyone who is known for one specific success.
A one-hit wonder doesn’t have to disappear from the public consciousness altogether to be a one-hit wonder, though! Think about Rick Astley. He had his one hit, “Never Gonna Give You Up,” then vanished for a decade or two…until someone started the Rick Roll. Luckily, Rick rolled with it, celebrating the fact that he was a one-hit wonder.
This catchy September holiday reminds us to appreciate those who worked really hard and succeeded…but not forever.
Celebration Ideas
Make a one-hit wonder playlist. Dance party optional, but recommended.
Watch That Thing You Do. The band is called the Oneders, after all!
Listen to other songs by one-hit wonders. Having only one hit doesn’t mean the rest of the music is bad—it just means no other singles they released didn’t take off.
September 26: National Dumpling Day
National Dumpling Day has nothing to do with the National Apple Dumpling Day; it’s the appetizer or main course comprising dough and (usually) some kind of filling. The insides are generally meat or veggies, but they can be sweet too!
Dumplings are usually associated with Asian food, but they actually come from all over the world! Turkey, the Mediterranean, Brazil, and even the United States all have their own kinds of dumplings. They just need to be fried, boiled, or steamed and dough that’s able to be eaten in one bite.
(So, be smarter than me and let them cool off before trying to eat them!)
TMI Food Group submitted this enjoyable September celebration to the National Day Calendar in 2015, and it's been observed ever since.
Celebration Ideas
Visit a local restaurant that serves dumplings.
Host a dumpling potluck. Everyone brings their favorite kind of dumpling.
Make dumplings. Serious Eats published a list of dumpling recipes from around the world!
September 27: National Ghost Hunting Day
I might have spoken too soon about my favorite unique celebrations! National Ghost Hunting Day has been celebrated on the last Saturday in September since 2016, when National Day Calendar and Haunted Travels teamed up to create this spooky celebration.
Ghost hunting involves going to an allegedly haunted location and trying to find its ghostly residents. It’s different from a ghost tour, as ghost tours focus on telling guests about the hauntings rather than the guests trying to make contact with anything.
The paranormal community (which refers to ghost enthusiasts, not ghosts) has its own cohort of celebrities, from Ed and Lorraine Warren (whose careers sort of inspired the Conjuring series of movies) to Ryan and Shane of the comedy-paranormal show Ghost Files, to Zak Bagans, who…well, is an entity onto himself. Some employ technology, others bring in psychics, and all have the goal of proving that the other side is here and ready to talk to us.
But not all ghost hunters are on television. Some are in your own town, ready to help you out with your own hauntings or invite you along on an investigation. On this creepy September holiday, let’s celebrate those who do what most of us are too scared to do: Spend all night in a dark house, abandoned asylum, or shuttered school talking to whatever may be listening.
Celebration Ideas
Go on a ghost tour. Most major cities have them.
Visit a haunted location. You’d be surprised by how many there are!
Have a Supernatural marathon. And maybe have some pie while you watch. (IYKYK)
September 28: National Ask a Stupid Question Day
Teachers invented National Ask a Stupid Question Day in the 80s in an attempt to get kids to become less afraid of coming across as “stupid” when asking a question. (I have zero idea how telling kids “all questions are stupid today” makes them feel smarter when they ask a similar question on a different day, but hey, here we are.)
For the rest of us, today this not-so-stupid September celebration can be like April Fool’s Day. Ask a question, and if someone gives you the side eye for how “stupid” it is, you can just say, “Ha! Ask a stupid question day!” Just go for it.
Celebration Ideas
Just ask the dang question. We all have the thing we’re afraid to ask. Just do it!
Visit the subreddit “No Stupid Questions.”
Talk to a toddler or young child. Their questions remind us that we all started from zero, and you (hopefully) wouldn’t ever call their questions “stupid!”
September 29: National Coffee Day
The National Coffee Data Trends report showed that as of January 2025, 66% of Americans drink coffee every day. As wild as it sounds, that’s more than any other beverage! And, while the slogan may be “America Runs on Dunkin’,” most of us are making coffee at home. Heck, I’m sitting here drinking a cup of coffee out of my banned books mug as I type!
(Seriously, folks, you do need to drink water.) (And yes, that message is to me as much as you.)
Enjoy a cup or two of your favorite coffee on this indulgent September celebration.
Celebration Ideas
Try a new local coffee shop.
Visit a coffee roaster. You might have one near you! If you’re in Kansas City, check out The Roasterie.
Attend a coffee tasting.
September 30: National Chewing Gum Day
Is gum food?
Today is a great day to ask that question! What we do know is that over the past 5,000 years – roughly the amount of time that piece of chewing gum was stuck under your classroom desk – gum has served a lot of purposes. It’s been medicinal, used to stick things together, for enjoyment, and to help keep teeth clean and gums fresh.
But, unless we’re talking about that chewing gum from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, gum is meant to be spit out! The FDA says it’s food, even though it has technically inedible components. It contains paraffin wax and ingredients you could find in glue and caulk. (Doesn’t that make you want to participate in this special celebration?)
No matter what, it’s not sticking on your system for seven years – probably. Just don’t overdo it on this weird September holiday.
Celebration Ideas
Chew some gum. I mean…it would be weird to not have this here.
Watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I guess you could watch the newer Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but I prefer the Gene Wilder version.
Try to beat the Guinness World Record for the largest bubblegum bubble. You need to submit evidence for it to count, though.
Excited for More Odd Holidays?
You’re in luck! I’ll publish a post about upcoming odd holidays toward the end of each month. So far, you can find:
You can also find a printable calendar, which includes each weird September holiday and spaces where you can write your plans for that day.
See you next month!
Click here for your PDF of weird September holidays!
