National Best Friends Day
National Best Friends Day is a day to celebrate the best friends in your life. Find out National Best Friends Day history and how to make sure you have the best possible relationship with your friends in this article.
When is National Best Friends Day?
National Best Friends Day lands on June 8th of each year!
A Brief History of National Best Friends Day
There really isn’t any information online as to how this day started. But that’s OK!
Some media outlets report that Congress first recognized this day in 1935, but we here at National Day Ideas can find no hard evidence of that. If you have some, please contact us, and let us know so we can be as accurate as possible!
Regardless, it’s really important to have good friends. It’s even better when you have one friend who you can really, really trust and gets you in a way that no other friend does.
A lot of people, when they grow up, might not feel like they have a best friend. But I can tell you from experience, that it’s never too late. Your best friend might just be around the corner, or they might be one of your old friends, a pal you grew up with, that you feel a fond kinship for and your relationship just needs to be reignited and cultivated!
Or your best friend might even be an immediate family member. A sister or a brother a mom or a dad or a cousin. Best friends come in all shapes, sizes and connections.
Amazing Qualities of a good Best Friend?
First, a best friend is someone who really values you. They treat you with respect and prioritize your feeling and needs.
Second, best friends are kind and thoughtful and would never ask you to compromise yourself or your integrity.
Third, a best friend sticks with you through tough times and tells you like it is but in a kind way.
And it goes both ways! A good best friend relationship is built on trust, common ground and mutual respect.
Having a best friend might take some extra effort at times. Making your friendship a priority, having a deep level of emotional intimacy and trust takes vulnerability and a strong foundation of trust.
But the effort is worth it. Circumstances in life change, sometimes rapidly, and having a best friend there can be a bulwark of support and compassion.
A best friend is the ultimate support system!
Ways to Honor Your Best Friend
When you have such an immense love for a friend, how on earth can you show them that you appreciate that they are important to you, in other words, that they are your biggest support?
Here are a few ways to make sure they know how much you love them:
- Write them a heartfelt letter detailing all of their best qualities and why you value them
- Create a short video filled with photos of the two of you together with your favorite music
- Keep a journal for a year of all the conversations you have and note down all of the helpful advice they give and all of the fun you have together. Then give it to them for their next birthday!
Ideas for Celebrating National Best Friends Day
What can you do with your Best Friend on National Best Friends Day? Let’s see!
- If the two of you love physical exercise, plan some outdoor activities like taking a nice walk or hike or go to a local water park or amusement park
- If you both love movies, plan a fun night out with dinner and a movie. One of you pick up the dinner tab and the other pay for the movies!
- If you happen to live far apart, first, make sure to send a card, and then plan a fun facetime session and eat the same dinner, drink the same wine and serve the same dessert!
Gift Ideas for Your Best Friend
If you want to do more than just spend time with your best friend, you can shower them with a gift or two:
- Send a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Farm Girl Flowers have some lovely ones.
- Create a hardcover, physical photobook of using your favorite photos of the two of you.
- Send a gift basket filled with their favorite spa supplies: bath bombs, bath oils, lotions and soaps.
Things You Can Say to Your Best Friend When Times Are Tough
The hardest thing in life is to watch someone you love go through it. But what is the meaning of friendship, if it’s not to be there when things get tough?
Here are some healthy things you can say to your bff when she’s struggling:
- I’m so sorry this is happening.
- I’m here for you.
- I love you.
- It’s OK to be feeling exactly what you are feeling.
- This totally sucks, but you’re not alone.
Be very careful with your advice! Best friends often look to each other for advice, but if things are really bad, take a step back and encourage your friend to reach out and get professional help. You are there to commiserate with them, to hold space for them and their feelings, to love them unconditionally. Even to take their side.
And if they are exhibiting destructive behavior, a best friend should step in and call them on it. Yes, you might be jeopardizing your friendship by asking hard questions, but when you truly, deeply love someone, sometimes, you have to put their well-being, and sometimes their literal life, first.
But if you are not a medical professional, you might not be equipped to deal with the more serious issues of mental health and physical ailments.
Know your limits. That’s an important part of being a best friend too!
FAQs about BFFs
How do you know when someone is your best friend?
Well, this might be hard to delineate. But when you form bonds the way best friends do, it might be something that is just understood.
But if you want to test it out, just casually drop using the term best friend and see how you friend reacts. Watch their body language. See what expression they make on their face.
These will tell you if your friend agrees. If you see positive signs, use the term again a few days or weeks later. Then, if you hear them reflect it back, you’re probably safe to adopt the term best friend.
If they seem to stiffen or you see some anxiety on their face, then keep working on your relationship, growing deeper bonds and creating more opportunities for trust!
Should I call someone my best friend in front of other people?
Only if you have heard them use the term with you like mentioned above. I, personally, would never feel comfortable using introducing someone as my best friend if we had never used the term together on our own at some point.
If you both agree that you are best friends, then absolutely, you should use than terminology when you introduce someone.
Be sparing with its use though. If you have 1001 best friends, they might not believe it when you say they are your best friend.
How long does it take to become best friends with someone?
Have you ever hit it off with someone immediately? You feel an instant kinship and connection?
Yes, it might be tempting to feel as if they are your best friend from the get-go, but give it time. Obviously there is not magic number of days, weeks or years, but this kind of friendship requires walking through both joyful and stressful situations.
You have to be sure someone will keep your secrets, show gratitude for you and be there for fun times and for not so fun things.
All in all, a best friend is someone that knows you inside and out and vise versa, no matter who long you’ve known one another!
Interesting Stats about Best Friends
- Close friends share DNA You might wish your BFF could be your sister; now a recent study suggests that close friends share about one percent of their DNA, making them as close genetically as fourth cousins.
- If you are happy with your friends, then most likely, you are happy with your life. 29. 36% of the people quit smoking watching their friends quit.
- Forty-three percent would bail their best friend out of jail, while a quarter (25 percent) would actually take their place in jail.
- The results showed that Americans would do almost anything for their besties, including traveling across the country (42 percent) and keeping their secrets (36 percent).
- Women without companions are 66% more likely to succumb to any disease than the ones with companions. 15.
So, make sure to celebrate your BFF on June 8th! They deserve it!
