Make Up Your Own Holiday Day (March 26th)

Quick facts
When is it?	Every March 26th
Tagged as:	Hobbies & Activities Silly & Humorous
What's the hashtag?	#MakeUpYourOwnHolidayDay
When was it founded?	Early 2000s
Who founded it?	Jace Shoemaker-Galloway
We first published this page on:	Dec 23rd, 2017
We last updated this page:	Feb 27th, 2026

Contents

Imagine a day where you can celebrate absolutely anything you want. The possibilities are endless, from your love of pizza to your passion for pink socks. This is the spirit of Make Up Your Own Holiday Day, a unique and fun-filled day that encourages everyone to get creative and celebrate their own special holiday.

Held annually, Make Up Your Own Holiday Day is all about letting your imagination run wild and bringing your most whimsical or heartfelt ideas to life. From showing love for your favorite snack to raising awareness about important causes, Make Up Your Own Holiday Day is a canvas for your creativity!

By doing so, it not only brings us closer to our own passions but also helps us connect with others who share similar interests. So, on this day, let your imagination take the lead and create a holiday that reflects what makes you happy.

How to Celebrate Make Up Your Own Holiday Day

Getting involved with Make Up Your Own Holiday Day is all about letting your creativity shine. Here are a few playful suggestions to get you started:

Host a Silly Hat Parade

Encourage friends and family to wear their wackiest hats for a day. Whether it’s a parade around your living room or down the street, laughter is guaranteed.

Create a Kindness Day

Dedicate your holiday to performing random acts of kindness. Leave uplifting notes for strangers, pay for someone’s coffee, or help a neighbor.

Organize a Pet Appreciation Day

Pets bring so much joy into our lives. Spend the day pampering your furry friends with extra treats, long walks, and lots of cuddles.

Have a Retro Game Night

Pull out those old board games or video games from the attic and invite everyone for a blast from the past. It’s fun and nostalgic.

Cook a Mystery Meal

Pick ingredients randomly and challenge yourself to create a new dish. Invite friends to join in and see who comes up with the most delicious or unusual recipe.

Go on a Nature Scavenger Hunt

Make a list of things to find or see in nature and explore your local park. It’s a great way to enjoy the outdoors and learn something new.

Write a Letter to Your Future Self

Reflect on your current hopes and dreams by writing a letter to your future self. Seal it and open it on the same day next year to see how much has changed.Each of these ideas is a stepping stone to creating your own unique holiday.

Remember, the goal is to have fun, spread joy, and celebrate the things that matter most to you.

Why Celebrate Make Up Your Own Holiday Day?

Why do we celebrate such an unusual day? It’s simple. Make Up Your Own Holiday Day is a chance to spotlight the things we love, no matter how quirky or unconventional!

Whether we create a day to appreciate a sunrises’ quiet beauty or honor the unsung heroes in our lives, this day reminds us that joy is everywhere. It’s an opportunity to share your unique interests with the world or just with your friends and family, making every celebration deeply personal and incredibly special.

The importance of Make Up Your Own Holiday Day cannot be overstated. This day stands out as a beacon of creativity and individual expression in a world filled with pre-set holidays.

It invites us to break free from the routine and celebrate something that truly matters to us, whether niche or personal.

History of Make Up Your Own Holiday Day

The story behind Make Up Your Own Holiday Day is as unique as the day itself. It’s thought to have started in the early 2000s, inspired by Jace Shoemaker-Galloway, a well-known holiday enthusiast.

Jace loved the idea of creating new holidays so much that she wanted to encourage others to do the same.

This day was her way of sharing that passion with the world, allowing everyone to celebrate anything they could imagine. This special day has a simple but powerful message: there’s no limit to what you can celebrate.

It reminds us that sometimes, the most memorable celebrations are the ones we come up with ourselves. Make Up Your Own Holiday Day is not just about fun and games. It’s a day that embraces creativity, individuality, and the joy of celebrating life’s simple pleasures.

By inventing your own holiday, you get to highlight what matters most to you. This day proves that with a little imagination, any day can be a holiday, making our lives a bit more joyful and colorful.

The Power of Creating Your Own Holiday

Holidays are not just inherited from the past—many are created, shaped, and popularized over time. From scholarly ideas about “invented traditions” to modern marketing and cultural trends, the way we celebrate is more flexible than it seems, proving that anyone can help create a new reason to gather, reflect, or celebrate.

Invented Traditions Are A Modern Scholarly Concept

The idea that people can simply invent new holidays is not just playful; it is a studied phenomenon in history and anthropology.

Historian Eric Hobsbawm popularized the term “invented traditions” to describe seemingly old customs that are actually quite recent, often deliberately created to foster social cohesion or identity, such as new national holidays or ceremonial practices.
Most Public Holidays Are Surprisingly Recent

Many celebrations that feel timeless are less than two centuries old. Scholars of American holidays note that traditions like a fixed, national Thanksgiving only became standardized in the late 19th century, and other recurring celebrations were consolidated or nationally recognized even later, showing how flexible and negotiable the holiday calendar really is.
“Fake” or Novelty Holidays Grew With Mass Marketing

The explosion of quirky, highly specific holidays in the 20th century coincided with the rise of national advertising and greeting-card companies.

Historians have documented how businesses promoted days like Secretary’s Day (now Administrative Professionals’ Day) to stimulate sales and media attention, paving the way culturally for today’s unofficial “micro-holidays.”
Unofficial Holidays Rarely Need Government Approval

In the United States, almost anyone can declare an observance without legal paperwork, which is why hundreds of unofficial days circulate each year.

The Library of Congress notes that “national” status is often only symbolic unless an act of Congress or a presidential proclamation formally creates a federal holiday, leaving plenty of room for purely grassroots or whimsical celebrations.
Personal Rituals Help People Mark Time And Meaning

Psychologists who study rituals have found that even small, invented traditions can make events feel more meaningful and under control.

Research shows that when individuals create and repeat personalized rituals around everyday activities, their sense of enjoyment and emotional attachment increases, much like the attachment people feel to long-standing holidays.
Household “Micro-Ceremonies” Are Common Across Cultures

Anthropologists describe how families frequently build their own mini-holidays, such as a special dinner on the first day of school or a yearly “pajama movie night,” that exist only within that group.

These informal observances often serve the same purposes as public holidays: reinforcing shared identity, easing life transitions, and passing values to children.
The Calendar Itself Is A Cultural Construction

The very structure that holidays plug into is historically fluid.

The modern Gregorian calendar was adopted by different countries at different times from the 16th to the 20th century, replacing older systems like the Julian calendar.

This slow, uneven shift shows how societies’ labeling and organizing of days, including which ones become special, is always subject to revision.

Make Up Your Own Holiday Day FAQs

How do personal or “made-up” holidays affect mental health?

Psychologists note that creating and repeating personal rituals can boost mood, reduce anxiety, and give people something positive to anticipate.

Even simple, self-invented celebrations help structure time, reinforce a sense of meaning, and strengthen social bonds, all of which are linked with better emotional well-being. [1]

Are self-created holidays and traditions culturally valid, or do “real” holidays have to be old and official?

Historians and sociologists point out that many well-known holidays started as “invented traditions” designed for particular social or political purposes, then gradually became accepted over time.

From Christmas customs to national observances, traditions are often created, adapted, and reinterpreted, so a newer, homemade holiday is part of a long pattern rather than an exception. [2]

Why do people feel nostalgic or emotional about traditions they started only a few years ago?

Research on family rituals shows that once people label a repeated activity as a “tradition,” it quickly gains emotional weight and becomes tied to identity and memory.

The combination of repetition, shared participation, and storytelling helps even recent traditions feel rooted, meaningful, and connected to a sense of continuity. [3]

Can anyone create a new holiday, or does it need government approval?

Anyone can declare and promote an unofficial holiday without legal approval, simply by celebrating it, inviting others, and sharing it through communities or media.

Official public holidays, which close government offices or schools, usually require legislative or executive action, but informal observances exist entirely in the social realm rather than the legal one. [4]

How do invented holidays sometimes become widely recognized over time?

Scholars of ritual and tradition note that new observances spread when they are easy to understand, fit existing values, and are repeatedly promoted by families, religious groups, media, or institutions.

As more people participate and associate the date with particular activities or symbols, the holiday gradually shifts from a novelty into a familiar part of the cultural calendar. [5]

Are there psychological downsides to constantly inventing new celebrations?

Mental health experts suggest that while meaningful rituals are helpful, pressure to celebrate too many events or maintain unrealistic expectations can cause stress, fatigue, or financial strain.

The key is to choose a manageable number of occasions that genuinely reflect one’s values, keep plans simple, and allow flexibility instead of treating every celebration as a performance.

What is the difference between a playful “made-up” holiday and cultural appropriation?

Cultural scholars emphasize that lighthearted new holidays are usually fine when they do not borrow sacred symbols, stories, or practices from cultures to which the creator does not belong.

Appropriation becomes a concern when people use another group’s religious or cultural rituals out of context, for humor or profit, without respect or understanding, so it is safer to design celebrations around personal interests or universal themes like kindness or creativity. [6]

Make Up Your Own Holiday Day