12 Fun International Days to Celebrate Every Month of the Year
Not every fun day on the calendar was dreamed up by a marketing team. Many are officially recognized by the United Nations or other global bodies — real, deliberate days meant to bring attention to something worth celebrating, worldwide, on the same date. Here's one for every month.
January — International Day of Education, January 24
Declared by the UN in 2018 to spotlight education's role in peace and development. A good day to send an old teacher a thank-you note, or donate to a literacy program.
February — International Day of Women and Girls in Science, February 11
Established in 2015 to close the gender gap in STEM fields. Universities and science museums worldwide run open days and talks around this date.
March — International Day of Happiness, March 20
Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2012, built on the idea that happiness is a legitimate measure of a country's progress, not just GDP. Bhutan, famously, championed the idea.
April — International Mother Earth Day, April 22
The UN's formal name for what most people just call Earth Day — first observed in 1970, now the anchor of environmental campaigns in over 190 countries.
May — International Day of Families, May 15
Marked since 1994 to recognize the family as the basic unit of society, whatever shape that family takes. A quiet, low-key day worth an actual phone call home.
June — International Day of Yoga, June 21
Proposed by India at the UN in 2014 and adopted almost unanimously within months — one of the fastest-adopted international observances ever. Chosen for the summer solstice, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
July — International Day of Friendship, July 30
The UN's pitch: friendship between people, countries, and cultures can inspire peace efforts. Simple enough to celebrate literally — text a friend you've been meaning to catch up with.
August — International Youth Day, August 12
Established after the UN's International Year of Youth in 1985, this day highlights youth culture, politics, and challenges — different themes are chosen by the UN each year.
September — International Day of Peace, September 21
Also known as World Peace Day, observed since 1981 with a literal, physical symbol: the UN's Peace Bell in New York is rung once at the opening ceremony.
October — International Coffee Day, October 1
Coordinated globally by the International Coffee Organization since 2015 to celebrate coffee as a drink and support the farmers who grow it. Plenty of cafés run promotions — worth checking your local spot.
November — International Day for Tolerance, November 16
Adopted by UNESCO in 1995, the year the organization also created the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for Tolerance and Non-Violence, awarded around this date each year.
December — Human Rights Day, December 10
Marks the anniversary of the UN's 1948 adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — one of the oldest and most widely recognized international observances there is.
Real days, fun days, weird days — all in one place
Fun Calendar mixes official international observances with the internet's silliest invented holidays, one new day at a time, every day of the year.
Who actually decides these?
Officially-recognized international days like these are usually adopted through a UN General Assembly resolution, proposed by a member state and voted on by the rest. That's a very different process from most of the calendar's "national days," which anyone — a company, a blogger, a hobbyist group — can simply declare and hope catches on. Both kinds are worth knowing; they just come from very different places.
Curious how the informal, crowd-invented side of the calendar works instead? Read What National Day Is It Today? (And Who Decides?)