Happy National Girlfriends Day! What Is This and Why Are We Celebrating It?

It seems like there is a day for everything, and almost everything has a day. There are days for food, like National Ice Cream Day or National Hamburg Day. For 24 hours, you can celebrate your pet on National Hug Your Cat Day or National Spoil Your Dog Day. If you want to get weird and gross, you can spend more time than usual in the bathroom on National Poop Day. We wish that were a joke.

The origins of national days seem mysterious and elusive, and not at all discernible. If you build it, a national day will probably come. Apparently, anyone can do it as long as they have something they want to spend a full day thinking about. Some of these days are definitely sweeter than others. On Aug. 1, you can put your pals on a pedestal thanks to National Girlfriends Day. What's that all about? Let's get into it.

Contrary to what the name suggests, National Girlfriends Day is all about celebrating your gal pals, not your partners. We'd like to think of this as a sort of Galentine's Day in August. According to the National Day Calendar website, National Girlfriends Day is meant to "encourage women across the globe to get together and celebrate their special bond of friendship."

This day recognizes that there are simply not enough holidays set aside to honor the other important relationships in your life: friendships. If you want to feel inspired, head over to X, where the oft-disturbing social media site was filled with messages of love and support from proud pals directed towards their bosom buddies.

"Female friendships are truly the modern love story," wrote @__LelloM on X. "I love my friends down! Those girls really have my heart!" Some folks didn't understand the assignment, as there were a lot of posts directed towards ladies with boyfriends. "Happy National Girlfriends Day," said @auraonx. "Reminder that if he doesn’t get you flowers, dump him." This is not a reason to dump someone! We suggest calling a friend on National Girlfriends Day so they can talk some sense into you.

The process of registering a National Day is actually pretty simple, though we can't confirm how official the National Day Calendar site is. According to them, they are the "leading platform for registering an official National Day, Week, or Month that complements your brand, nonprofit, or organization." That's good enough for us.

First, you have to fill out an application on their website. Apparently, there is a printed calendar available, so if you want to be included in that, you must submit your application by November of the preceding year. When filling out your application, be as detailed as possible, make sure your contact information is accurate, make sure your idea doesn't already exist, and be as succinct as possible.

The review process can take some time as they receive a ton of requests. Please be patient. Also, don't bother trying to declare a National Day/Week/Month for a celebrity, as that requires an Act of Congress. If your day is accepted, the National Calendar Day folks will let you know via a congratulatory email, so get cracking!