What's In a Day?

Hello World!

Today is World Play Day. August 10th! You might ask... "Who gets to start a day?"

In this case, World Play Day is commemorating the 90th anniversary of The LEGO® Group, which is possibly the biggest toy company in the world. I think that counts. I learned about World Play Day from the Long Beach LEGO User Group. Today I am playing and celebrating World Play Day. I like to write blogs and to take vlogs.

The goal is to take time to play today, however you might do it. So if you want to stop here and play, I'm with you.

In 2015, I started a day. It is "2x4 Day, a Fan Created Global Day of LEGO® Brick Play" and is celebrated on April 2nd of each year. The goals are similar. Take time to play. Upload an image to your social media and tag it with #2x4day. You might ask why April 2nd? Why not February 4th? The reason is simple. After the end of year holidays and New Years' celebrations, there's not enough time to plan an event in February. I justified the date choice with the logic of European date format being ddmmyy. So 2x4 day would be the 2nd of April. The LEGO group is headquartered in Billund, Denmark. Tah Dah! I can justify any decision I make, just give me a little time. I'm working on building up 2x4 Day to be a big celebration in 2024. I hope my friends in Greece, Serbia, Romania, Australia, Australia, Peru,many other places and here in the USA and particularly Long Beach will again celebrate with me. Maybe you will celebrate with me.

So anyone can start a day. Often it is an agency that represents special interests. Melvin's Brewing apparently has a brand of beer "2x4" and celebrates 2x4 Day on February 4th.

When I look up April 2nd, I find that "2x4 Day, a Fan Created Global Day of LEGO Brick Play" is in good company. The Days of the Year calendar tells of other days celebrated on April 2nd. On that day, you may hear talk of National DIY Day, World Autism Awareness Day, International Children's Book Day, National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day, National Ferret Day, International Pillow Fight Day, National Love Your Produce Manager Day, Tangible Karma Day and International Firewalk Day. I align with most of these, as they are related to inclusiveness and play. I'm having a little trouble with National Ferret Day as I don't know that much about ferrets. International Firewalk Day is a great day to walk on LEGO Bricks!

Even as I'm writing this, I am being told of an NPR interview with a gal who started a lot of days. One person, wanting to have some days and some fun. One person! There is hope for me yet.

Starting a day doesn't need an Act of Congress, although some days are started by Acts of Congress. Those usually end up being Federal holidays, and come with paid days off for full time employees. Some of these are New Years' Day, Martin Luther King's Birthday, Washington's Birthday, Juneteenth, Labor Day. You can find the entire list on the US Department of Commerce's website.

When looking up World Play Day, to see who started it, I found that the International Toy Library Association (WHAT? There are toy libraries? I'm game for that!) celebrates World Play Day on May 28th since proposed in 1987. The goal of that day is to celebrate play with the goal of connecting generations through play. Sounds kind of like the August 10th World Play Day, it's just on a different day. I'm game for that too!

I found another, curious day of note. National Today has a listing for National LEGO Day, January 28th of each year. This makes me wonder... Who posted that listing? What nation is celebrating the day? Does The LEGO Group know of and authorize this day?

I wonder if KTLA, the local Los Angeles news channel, knows that it is World Play Day. They usually talk about what is being celebrated on any one day. There's still time, #KTLA to #justplay !

Squigglemom, Trish Tsoiasue is a local Long Beach blogger and vlogger and started the YouTube Channel Squigglefriends (Please like and subscribe!) and Squigglefriends Media a publishing agency. She likes to muse about random topics like World Play Day.