August Awareness and Observance Themes

• Admit You’re Happy
• American Adventures
• Artist Appreciation
• Back To School
• Black Business Month
• Breastfeeding
• Cactus
• Child support Awareness
• Children’s Eye Health and Safety
• Crayon Collection
• Edinburgh Fringe Festival
• Family Fun
• Get Ready for Kindergarten
• Glenn Miller Festival (UK)
• Golf
• Happiness Happens
• Hug
• Immunization Awareness
• Inventors
• Minority Donor Awareness
• Motorsports
• Mutt-i-grees Rescue
• National Parks
• Psoriasis Awareness
• Read a Romance Novel
• Reading Festival (UK)
• Romance Awareness
• Science, Medicine, and Technology
• Spinal Muscular Atrophy Awareness
• Tomboy Tools
• Traffic Awareness
• Truancy Prevention
• Water Quality
• What Will Be Your Legacy
• Win with Civility

August Food Themes

• Catfish
• Celery
• Coffee
• Family Meals
• Fennel
• Kiwifruit
• Orange
• Panini
• Papaya
• Peach
• Picnic
• Sandwich

August 2017 Daily Specials  (the * means that the special day does not fall on the same date each year)

Aug. 1

• Armed Forces Day
• Clown Week begins
• Colorado Statehood 1876
• Dahomey Independence Day 1960
• GI Joe action figure introduced 1964
• Girlfriend’s Day
• Francis Scott Key born 1779
• Anne Frank made her last diary entry 1944
• Lammas Day
• Lughnasa
• Author Herman Melville born 1819
• Oxygen Discovered
• Raspberry Cream Pie Day
• Respect For Parents Day
• Rounds Resounding Day
• Scrabble Week begins
• Simplify Your Life Week begins
• Spiderman Day
• Switzerland Independence Day 1291
• US Air Force Day
• Yorkshire Day

Aug. 2

• Escalator Patented 1892
• Author Holling C. Holling born 1900
• Ice Cream Sandwich Day
• Engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant born 1754

Aug. 3

• Braham Pie Day (1st Fri.)
• Columbus Set Sail 1492
• Panama Canal opened 1914
• Watermelon Day

Aug. 4

• Musician Louis Armstrong born 1901
• Gallop International Tribal Indian Powwow
• Mathematician Sir William Rowan Hamilton born 1805
• Mustard Day (1st Sat.)
• President Barack Obama born 1961
• Rock for Life Week begins
• US Coast Guard Day
• US Dept. of Energy created 1977
• World War 1 began 1918

Aug. 5

• Astronaut Neil Armstrong born 1930
• Exercise With Your Child Week begins *
• Family Day (1st Sun.)
• Farmers’ Market Week (1st full week)
• Forgiveness Day (1st Sun.)
• Fraud Awareness Week (1st full week)
• Friendship Day (1st Sun.)
• International Assistance Dog Week (1st Sun.) Kids Day (1st Sun.)
• Little Orphan Annie comic strip first appeared 1924
• Psychic Week  (1st full week)
• Sisters’ Day (1st Sun.)
• Upper Volta Independence Day 1960
• Work Like A Dog Day

Aug. 6

• Actress/Comedian Lucille Ball born 1911
• Bargain Hunting Week begins * (1st Mon.)
• Bolivia Independence Day 1825
• Scientist Alexander Fleming born 1881
• Fresh Breath Day
• Hiroshima Day
• Jamaica Independence Day 1962
• Root Beer Float Day
• Sandwich invented 1762
• Poet Alfred Lord Tennyson born 1808
• Wiggle Your Toes Day

Aug. 7

• Ivory Coast Independence Day 1960
• Spy Marta Hari born 1876
• Lighthouse Day
• Night Out (1st Tues.)
• Particularly Preposterous Packaging Day
• Professional Speakers Day
• Purple Heart Day
• Sea Serpent Day

Aug. 8

• Ornithologist Florence Merriam Bailey born 1863
• The Date to Create
• Feeding Pets of the Homeless Week
• Frozen Custard Day
• Great Train Robbery 1963
• Happiness Happens Day
• Mimeograph Machine patented 1876
• Odie Day (Garfield’s dog)
• Smokey the Bear Ad Campaign begins 1944
• Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Night

Aug. 9

• Book Lover’s Day
• Chinese Valentine’s Day / Daughter’s Festival
• Electric Washing Machine patented 1910
• Indigenous People Day
• International Art Appreciation Day
• Scientist/Inventor Marvin Minsky born 1927
• Singapore Independence Day 1965
• Veep Day

Aug. 10

• Duran Duran Appreciation Day
• Ecuador Independence Day 1822
• President Herbert Hoover born 1874
• Lazy Day
• Missouri Statehood 1821
• Mount Rushmore Construction began 1927
• President Richard Nixon resigned 1974
• Smithsonian Day  (Institute established 1846)
• S’mores Day
• Snoopy’s Birthday
• World Lion Day

Aug. 11

• Daughters and Sons Day
• Garage Sale Day (2nd Sat.)
• Kool-Aid Days (2nd weekend)
• Play In The Sand Day
• Presidential Joke Day

Aug. 12

• Echo 1 launched 1960
• Elvis Week (week with the 16th)
• Glorious 12th/ Grouse Season begins
• Middle Child Day
• 1st PC introduced 1981
• Model T Ford went on sale 1908
• Phonograph invented 1877
• Resurrect Romance Week (2nd full week)
• Smile Week (2nd week)
• Umpire Appreciation Day (2nd Sun.)
• Vinyl Record Day
• World Elephant Day
• Youth Day

Aug. 13

• Bambi first premiered 1934
• Author/Film Director Alfred Hitchcock born 1899
• Lefthander’s Day
• Annie Oakley born 1860
• Weird Contest Week begins (2nd Mon.)

Aug. 14

• Creamsicle Day
• Navajo Code Talkers Day
• Pakistan Independence Day 1947
• V-J Day/World War 2 ends 1945
• Wiffle Ball invented 1953
• Wizard of Oz premiered 1939
• Woodstock Music Festival 1969
• World Lizard Day

Aug. 15

• Napoleon Bonaparte born 1769
• Chauvin Day
• Chef Julia Child born 1912
• Chocolate Chip Day
• India Independence Day 1947
• Panama Canal opened 1914
• Relaxation Day
• Republic of Congo Independence Day 1960
• South Korea Independence Day 1945

Aug. 16

• Airborne Day
• Cyprus Independence Day 1960
• Gold discovered in the Yukon 1896
• Roller Coaster Patented 1898
• Tell a Joke Day

Aug. 17

• Berlin Wall Construction begins  1961
• Black Cat Appreciation Day
• Missionary William Carey born 1761
• Davy Crockett born 1786
• Gabon Independence Day 1960
• Hug Your Boss Day (3rd Fri.)
• Indonesia Independence Day 1945
• Meaning of “Is” Day
• Men’s Grooming Day (3rd Fri.)
• Thrift Shop Day
• Wrench patented 1835

Aug. 18

• Afghanistan Independence Day 1919
• Bad Poetry Day
• Virginia Dare born 1587
• Geocaching Day (3rd Sat.)
• Homeless Animals Day (3rd Sat.)
• Explorer Meriwether Lewis born 1744
• Mail Order Catalog Day
• World Honey Bee Day (3rd Sat.)

Aug. 19

• Aviation Day
• Aviation Week begins  (week with the 19th)
• “Black Cow” Root Beer Float Day
• Chef’s Appreciation Week (3rd week)
• President Bill Clinton born 1946
• Hot and Spicy Food Day
• Potato Day
• Inventor Orville Wright Born 1867)
• World Humanitarian Day
• World Orangutan Day

Aug. 20

• Civil War ends 1866 (US)
• Cupcake Day (3rd Mon.)
• President Benjamin Harrison born 1833
• Radio Day
• Viking 1 launched 1975
• Voyager 2 launched 1977
• World Mosquito Day

Aug. 21

• Gemini 5 launched 1965
• Hawaii Statehood 1959
• Mona Lisa Stolen 1911
• Poet’s Day
• Senior Citizen’s Day

Aug. 22

• Be an Angel Day
• Eat a Peach Day
• Hoodie Hoo Day (Southern Hemisphere)
• Tooth Fairy Day

Aug. 23

• Day For The Remembrance of The Slave Trade & Its Abolition
• Ride the Wind Day
• Valentino Day

Aug. 24

• St. Bartholomew’s Day
• US Capitol Building and White House burned 1814
• Daffodil Day (4th Fri.)
• Knife Day
• Mt. Vesuvius Erupted 79AD
• Pluto Demoted 2006
• Strange Music Day
• Waffle Iron Patented 1869 / Waffle Day

Aug. 25

• Banana Split Day
• Bat Weekend begins (last full weekend)
• Be Kind to Humankind Week begins
• Inventor Joshua Lionel Cowen born 1877
• Ivan the Terrible born 1530
• Kiss and Make Up Day
• Neighborhood Day (last Sat.)
• Notting Hill Carnival
• Second-hand Wardrobe Day
• Uruguay Independence Day 1825

Aug. 26

• Inventor Lee DeForest born 1873
• Dog Day
• Chemist Antoine Lavoisier born 1743
• Mother Teresa born 1910
• Women’s Equality Day – 19th Amendment Ratified 1920

Aug. 27

• Julius Caesar lands in Britain 55 BC
• Chemist/Engineer Carl Bosch born 1909
• The Duchess Who Wasn’t Day  (Author Margaret Wolfe Hungerford)
• Global Forgiveness Day
• President Lyndon B. Johnson born 1908
• Just Because Day
• 1st Tarzan story published 1912

Aug. 28

• Bow Tie Day
• Cherry Turnover Day
• Crackers Over the Keyboard Day
• Dream Day (Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have a Dream” speech 1963)
• Race Your Mouse Around the Icons Day
• Radio Commercials Day
• Author Leo Tolstoy born 1828

Aug. 29

• According to Hoyle Day
• Day Against Nuclear Tests
• Engineer Charles Franklin Kettering born 1876
• More Herbs, Less Salt Day
• Sarcoidosis Awareness Day

Aug. 30

• Author/Illustrator Donald Crews born 1938
• Frankenstein Day  (Author Mary Shelly born 1797)
• Holistic Pet Day
• Slinky Day
• Toasted Marshmallow Day
• Whale Shark Day

Aug. 31

• Kinetoscope patented 1887
• Love Lawyers Day
• Malaysia Independence Day 1957
• Pony Express Day
• Princess Diana killed 1997
• 1st Solar Power Car demonstrated 1955
• Trail Mix Day
• Trinidad and Tobago Independence Day 1962

Free PDF –   Special Days in August

August Resources  for teaching and learning suggestions with August’s themes, holidays, and daily specials!

My “Go-To” list of calendar based teaching resources for every month.

E-book with 100 activities –   August’s Special Days Activity Companion

Special Days – Blog Series

Special Days and the Evolution of Morning Calendar Time

Special Days and Biographies

Special Days and Geography

Special Days and Science

Special Days Archive    – Direct links to the most recent Special Days and Resource Lists for every month.

I make my monthly Special Days lists by using several sources including old calendars,  holiday books, newspapers, and the web. If you know of a special day that I do not have listed, please comment and let me know what it is so I can add it in.   Below are the links to my favorite online calendar resources for August.

http://www.se7en.org.za/se7ens-august

http://food.unl.edu/fnh/august

http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/august.htm

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/august.html

https://whatismyspiritanimal.com/animal-holidays-celebrations/

http://projectbritain.com/calendars/aug.html

http://aglobalworld.com/international-independence-days/country-independence-day.php

Happy August!

betty jo