Life

10 Ways To Celebrate National Best Friends Day

by Jessica Learish
bojanstory/E+/Getty Images

I feel like I have a lot to celebrate today, because June 8 is National Best Friends Day. This is a celebration of those thick and thin friends for life — the ones who know your favorite pizza toppings, all of your most embarrassing secrets, and are always first in line to receive the judgmental screenshots that you then delete from your phone. But since this holiday is not as culturally ingrained as Mother's Day or Father's Day, there are no hard and fast rules for ways to celebrate National Best Friends Day.

Serious question — does anyone really only have one single best friend after high school? Maybe I'm really lucky, or maybe I'm just conceited enough to think that a lot of my friends think of me as a bestie (brags everywhere), but I can think of a few best friends and a few different ways I'd like to celebrate. If you're lucky enough to have best friends who are friends with each other, you can work all of these activities into one epic fiesta of friendship.

Here are some of my best ideas for how to celebrate best friends day with, in the now decade-old words of Meredith Grey, your person (or people!).

1. Recreate your first wild night out

Maskot/Maskot/Getty Images

You may be a little older than when you first met, but I'm sure you remember the first time you and your best friend went out and had a ridiculously good time. Relive the magic by visiting the same places and recapturing a bit of the weird and wacky spirit that you bonded over in the first place.

2. Have a favorite pizza toppings duel

Carina König / EyeEm/EyeEm/Getty Images

Order two pizzas, see which one wins. You might both just pick your own favorite, but you may discover that your best friend's favorite pizza is just what your pizza universe has been missing... since the last time you ordered pizza together anyway.

3. Watch Game 3 of the NBA Finals

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images Sport/Getty Images

Game 3 of the NBA finals is tonight, so hit up your favorite sports bar (or couch) for a chance to see Stephen Curry drop 40 points on Cleveland. This is what I'll be doing, perhaps with multiple pizzas as well.

4. Have an 'Orphan Black' marathon

Nothing says "you're like a sister to me" than a lengthy Orphan Black marathon. It's the most feminist show currently on television, and the depictions of female friendship and the complexities of 21st century women (even women who share the same DNA). Don't forget the popcorn!

5. Dress up as each other and hit the town

This one is kind of hilarious. Find an outfit that is totally your BFF's style, and wear that out to your favorite bar. You may confuse any other friends you run into, but that's half the fun. It's a totally oddball way to celebrate your love for each other.

6. Have a beach day

VladGans/E+/Getty Images

Is there anything more fun than hitting the sand for a day of sunburned gossip by the sea? I think not. Take a half day at work, and hit the beach. There won't be anybody there except for maybe the other BFFs that decided to observe the occasion.

7. Have a BFF selfie contest

Here are the rules — you both have to be in each picture, and you alternate turns taking said selfies. They can be candid, posed, half-candid half-posed, secret sniper selfies, or even abstract selfies, but you have to post one within a one hour time frame. That gives you plenty of time to find the best, worst, or most hilarious selfie to try to outdo your BFF. Then, let the masses decide which one is the best. This is still a democracy, after all.

8. Cook a feast together

Fly View Productions/E+/Getty Images

Who needs a restaurant when you have a pair of enterprising humans to put their collective culinary chops to work to make a real deal meal right at home?! Teamwork is fun!

9. Build a fire and make s'mores

Rohane Hamilton / EyeEm/EyeEm/Getty Images

Perfect for the friends who have known each other since childhood — making s'mores around a fire is definitely something I associate with my closest friends.

10. Don’t plan anything, and be spontaneous

This is definitely why you became BFFs in the first place, so don't plan a single activity and see where the wind takes you. Those memories you've made from the days full of wandering around new neighborhoods, sneaking onto roofs, or people-watching outside of the nearest Sprinkles cupcake shop are the ones you value most anyway, so go ahead and make some more. It's Best Friends Day!

Images: Getty Images (7); Giphy