National Make a Friend Day

Some say that the measure of our lives can be seen in our friends. We have all sorts of friends, best ones, long-distance ones and even ones that we call acquaintances.

They help us through the bad times and dance along in the good times with us.

There are friends who are the family that we choose and we would lay down our lives for. These are the bindings on our hearts that we would never want to get rid of.

On National Make a Friend Day, we can take the time to perhaps add another to this list of buddies!

How to Celebrate National Make a Friend Day

You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you

Dale Carnegie

Ready to get started? There are a few different ways that you can look at National Make a Friend Day, including some of these:

Meet a New Friend Locally

New friends can be found all around town. Spend some extra time in your favorite coffee shop. You might just find more than one new friend catching up on some reading or work while sipping on the specialities of the shop. You have that in common, walk on up and dive in.

Or hang out at another space where you might someone with common interests, like a comic book store, yarn shop, art museum and more.

Find Friends on Social Media

More comfortable with the digital side of things, you can take part in the fun as well! How many different social media apps are you using right now? I bet that most, if not all of them, will show you options of people that you can reach out to.

They may be friends of your friends or people who live in your area. This will give you a starting point in your conversation.

Write a quick note of introduction and send it off! Do this is a handful of users and perhaps by the end of the day you will have success. This is a great way to celebrate National Make a Friend Day!

Call an Old Friend

You can also use Make A Friend Day as an opportunity to revive an old friendship. If you have lost contact if one of your old school friends or college buddies, why not get back in touch with them and find out how they are doing?

Even if you have lost their telephone number, it’s a lot easier to track people down today thanks to social media.

Enjoy Some Four-Legged Friends

Not all friends are the human kind either! We’re sure you have heard the saying that dogs are a man’s best friend. If you have been thinking about bringing a pet into your family for quite some time now, Make A Friend Day is a perfect opportunity for you to do so.

Of course, you don’t need to bring a pet into your home in order to spend some time with animals. You can go to your local farm, sanctuary, or zoo and spend some time with the animals there.

This can be therapeutic, especially if you have been feeling a bit down lately. Animals are the perfect friends because they are loyal and they don’t judge. What more could you want?

Watch Some Movies About Friends

You could also spend Make A Friend Day watching some films or TV series that are based on friendship, whether you do this alone or with one of your buddies!

The most obvious place to start is with the Friends TV series, however, if you have already binged on this countless times, there are plenty of other heartwarming TV shows and movies about friendship.

Some of our favorite films about friendship include The First Wives Club, 9 to 5, Mamma Mia! The Movie, Now and Then, The Heat, Pitch Perfect, The Joy Luck Club, Sister Act, and Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. So, why not get the popcorn out and enjoy a day in front of the TV?

Learn About Make A Friend Day

There are no strangers in the world, just friends you have never met.

William Butler Yeats

It does not matter whether you have one friend, 10 friends, or more; making friends is important! A new friendship can bring new experiences to our lives.

They can bring out sides of our personalities we never knew existed. They can open doors to new interests and activities, and they can help us when times get tough.

There’s no denying it; new friends are good for the soul, and Make A Friend Day encourages you to talk to someone new in the hope that a great friendship could blossom.

Friendship is also important for our emotional help. There have been a number of studies that have shown that people with good friends feel less stressed and happier than those who don’t have any friends. Loneliness can make life difficult, and you deserve to have great people in your life to share it with.

History of National Make a Friend Day

Friendship is as old as mankind. We have any chances through the year to show those we care for how much they mean to us. There are countless times throughout the year that we can surround ourselves with all our friends and enjoy their company.

National Make a Friend Day encourages us to move beyond those set groups and meet new people. This event was founded in the early 2000s as a way of encouraging people to step outside of their usual spaces and build a new relationship.

On National Make a Friend Day, reach out and take a chance on a fellow human. Make a connection with someone new who can bring new experiences and fun into your life!

Facts About Make a Friend Day

A landmark meta-analysis of 148 studies involving more than 300,000 people found that individuals with strong social relationships had about a 50% higher likelihood of survival over an average of 7.5 years compared with those who were socially isolated—a benefit comparable to quitting smoking and greater than many well-known health interventions.  

Close Friends Shape the Adolescent Brain  

Neuroscience research shows that during adolescence, brain regions involved in reward processing and social cognition are highly sensitive to peer approval and rejection, and high-quality friendships in this period are linked to lower rates of depression and anxiety and healthier stress responses in adulthood. 

Americans Struggle More With Maintaining Friends Than Making Them

Data from the American Friendship Project, a large U.S. survey led by Colorado State University researchers, found that 51% of adults reported difficulty making new friends, but an even larger 36% said their biggest challenge was finding time to maintain the friendships they already have.

Friendship Quality in the Teen Years Predicts Health at 25 

A long-term study that followed teens into adulthood found that adolescents who had a small number of very close, high-quality friendships at age 15 showed lower levels of social anxiety and depression and better self-worth at age 25 than peers who were more broadly popular but had fewer deeply close relationships.  

Loneliness Alters the Immune System 

Research on “social genomics” shows that chronic loneliness is associated with a distinct pattern of gene expression: increased activity of genes involved in inflammation and reduced activity in genes related to antiviral responses, suggesting that lacking supportive friendships can literally change how the immune system works.  

Online Friends Often Strengthen, Rather Than Replace, Offline Bonds

Pew Research Center surveys of U.S. teens report that 81% say social media makes them feel more connected to their friends’ lives, and most say it helps them maintain friendships they might otherwise lose, indicating that digital connections frequently extend in-person relationships instead of supplanting them.  

Humans Have Natural Limits on How Many Friends They Can Keep

Anthropologist Robin Dunbar’s work on social networks suggests humans can maintain about 150 stable social relationships, with much smaller inner circles of roughly 5 intimate friends and 15 close friends, reflecting cognitive limits that help explain why deep, supportive friendships are relatively rare and valuable.