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National S’mores Day

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Today is National S’mores Day. It celebrates Girl Scout Loretta Scott Crew’s culinary invention, immortalized in the 1927 handbook Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts.

national s'mores day

S’more Puft – Brad Hill siraudio.deviantart.com

“Some More”

8 sticks
16 graham crackers
8 bars plain chocolate (any of the good plain brands broken in two)
16 marshmallows

Toast two marshmallows over the coals to a crisp gooey state and then put them inside a graham cracker and chocolate bar sandwich. The heat of the marshmallow between the halves of chocolate bar will melt the chocolate a bit. Though it tastes like “some more” one is really enough.

It isn’t clear at what point the name was shortened to S’more, but who cares? Happy National S’mores Day!

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Happiness Happens Day

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happiness happens dayToday is Happiness Happens Day.

Spiritual seeker and motivational speaker Pamela Gail Johnson founded the Secret Society of Happy People in 1998. The following year, she created Admit You’re Happy Day, the holiday which evolved into Happiness Happens Day. In 2000, she declared August Happiness Happens Month.

Per Johnson, even though she is blessed with “happy genetics” that help her naturally see the brighter side of things, she wanted life to be happy all of the time.

“What I learned was that, although you can’t be happy all of the time, you can be happy most of the time. You just need to recognize more of the happiness that’s already happening.”

Johnson has identified 31 types of happiness to help us reinterpret and enjoy all the happy moments we mistakenly classify as neutral happenstance.

A few of the types are Anticipation, Awestruck, Balanced, Hopeful, Nostalgic, and Relieved. Print out the Happiness Counter to keep score throughout the day.

Remember that happiness is contagious. If someone else is happy, listen to them. If you’re happy, tell someone. Exceptions to this rule could be made during a prison visit, a funeral service, or after your best friend washes out of clown college. Use your judgment.

Happy Happiness Happens Day!

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Corporate Baby Name Day

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corporate baby name dayToday is Corporate Baby Name Day. On August 6, 2001, AmericanBaby.com, a (now defunct) online resource for pregnancy and parenting advice, announced the results of a survey it had recently conducted. The poll asked six hundred respondents if they would sell the right to name their baby to a corporation for $500,000.

We’ve learned about many odd baby names over the years and tried our hand at tongue-in-cheek baby name generators here and here, but we’ve never seen anything like this.

Twenty-one percent stated they were willing to allow a conglomerate to brand their child “Pepsi,” “Friskies,” “Mop’n’Glo,” “Kleenex,” “Budweiser,” “Jeep,” “Windex,” “Tropicana,” or any product featured on the shelves at eye-level in the supermarket. Twenty-eight percent indicated they weren’t sure but would consider it.

The site created the study because of a couple in New York State who tried to auction off the name of their newborn boy on eBay. The bidding started at $500,000; there were no takers. They finally named him Zane on August 6, 2001, the deadline to add the first name to his birth certificate.

We wonder how many companies would pass up that opportunity today. No one would have it worse than the teacher at recess: “Taco Bell, stop picking on Charmin! Don’t make me come over there!”

Happy Corporate Baby Name Day!

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National Watermelon Day

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2025 Watermelon Queen Elanie Mason

Today is National Watermelon Day. It closely follows July’s Watermelon Month, established in 2008 by a unanimous U.S. Congressional Joint Resolution.

Today’s holiday is sponsored by the National Watermelon Promotion Board (NWPB), an organization whose strategic mission is to increase consumer demand in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico while working to develop trade with England and Japan.

NWPB raises funds by charging nine cents per hundredweight of watermelons intended for human consumption. The fee is split between producers and handlers and paid in total by importers.

Its Board of Directors decides how best to spend those fees to secure high-value print, television, and radio publicity. It is dedicated to expanding watermelon’s summertime appeal to make it an everyday, year-round choice for consumers.

Another group supporting today’s holiday is the National Watermelon Association (NWA), which welcomes all who work in the industry to join one of nine regional chapters. Its website has information on everything from creating attractive in-store displays to factoring climate change into crop planning.

Since 1964, NWA has crowned a National Watermelon Queen. The 2025 Queen is Elanie Mason. Here’s a description of her duties.

She embarks on a nationwide tour throughout her reign, blending media expertise with industry knowledge to champion watermelon consumption. From engaging supermarket shoppers to influencing policymakers, she tirelessly advocates for the prosperity of the watermelon industry.

This holiday has made us appreciate watermelon as more than just something we buy when we’re feeling nostalgic. We lug it home, resent it for taking up half the fridge, never cut into it because it seems like too much work, and finally throw it out, vowing never to buy one again. But the siren song of the watermelon is strong. In fact, there’s one in my fridge right now. Maybe this time will be different!

Happy National Watermelon Day!

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