National Best Friends Day: Date + 35 Ways to Celebrate

National Best Friends Day is on June 8 every year in the United States. The next one is Tuesday, June 8, 2027. It's an unofficial "national day," not a federal holiday, so there's no day off, just an excellent excuse to tell your best friend they're your person. Below: how it differs from the other friendship days, 35 ways to celebrate, messages you can copy, and ideas if your best friend lives far away.

When is National Best Friends Day?

National Best Friends Day falls on June 8 each year, according to holiday calendars like National Today. Upcoming dates:

Its origin is fuzzy. Popular holiday sites say Congress created it in 1935, but that story is hard to trace to an official record, so treat it as a fun, social-media-era tradition rather than an official one. Today it's mostly celebrated online, with throwback photos and tributes posted on June 8.

Is National Best Friends Day the same as Friendship Day?

No. National Best Friends Day (June 8) is specifically about your best friend. Friendship Day celebrates friendship more broadly, and its date depends on where you live.

The United Nations proclaimed July 30 the International Day of Friendship in 2011, with the idea that friendship between people and cultures can inspire peace. The first-Sunday-of-August tradition is most associated with India, where Friendship Day falls on August 1 in 2027. Dates for other countries come from Wikipedia's Friendship Day overview, which notes that several Latin American countries fold friendship into February 14 or celebrate Día del Amigo on July 20.

So if you miss June 8, you get a few more chances in the summer.

How do you celebrate National Best Friends Day?

Celebrate by doing something that's specific to your friendship: relive a memory, make a new one, or tell them out loud what they mean to you. Here are 35 ideas, from free and five-minute to a full day out.

Quick and free ideas

1. Post a throwback photo with a caption only they'll fully understand.
2. Send a voice note listing three favorite memories of the two of you.
3. Screenshot your first-ever chat and send it with "look at us."
4. Make a friendship playlist with one song per year you've known each other.
5. Write a "top 10 reasons you're my best friend" list. Make number 7 ridiculous.
6. Call them, no agenda. Not a text. An actual call.
7. Make a sticker of their funniest face and use it all day.
8. Change your lock screen to a photo of the two of you and send proof.
9. Recreate an old photo together and post them side by side.
10. Tag them in a story with a sincere caption. Yes, sincere.

Things to do together

1. Go back to where you met, whether it's a school, a job, or a terrible party.
2. Have a picnic with each other's favorite snacks.
3. Do a "yes day" where you each get to pick one activity the other can't veto.
4. Take a class together: pottery, dance, cooking, climbing.
5. Get matching somethings: bracelets, socks, phone cases, or a tiny tattoo if you're brave.
6. Watch the movie you've watched together more than any other.
7. Cook a dish from a place you want to travel to together.
8. Do a photo-booth run and keep one strip each.
9. Go thrifting and buy each other an outfit under $15.
10. Plan your next trip, even if it's two years away. Make the spreadsheet.

Sentimental ideas

1. Write a real letter and mail it, so it lands on June 8.
2. Make a memory jar with 20 handwritten memories on folded paper.
3. Build a shared photo album of every year you've been friends.
4. Record a "remember when" voice memo together and keep it.
5. Write a friendship time capsule to open on National Best Friends Day five years from now.
6. Give a small gift that references an inside joke. Our list of sentimental gifts for your best friend has more ideas.

With a group of friends

1. Host a best friends dinner where everyone brings a dish and a story.
2. Play a "how well do you know me" quiz in pairs.
3. Give out superlatives: Most Likely to Text Back in 3 Days, Best Hype Person.
4. Do a group photo in the same pose every year on June 8.

At work or school

1. Write a thank-you note to a work best friend.
2. Bring them coffee the way they like it.
3. Leave a sticky note on their desk or locker.
4. Eat lunch together away from your desks.
5. Introduce two of your friends who'd love each other. Friendship is a group project.

What should I text my best friend on National Best Friends Day?

Keep it real and specific. A line that names a memory or a quality only they have beats any generic quote.

• "Happy National Best Friends Day to the person who knows all my passwords and most of my secrets."
• "I'd still pick you as my best friend if I had to start over. Happy Best Friends Day."
• "You've seen me at my worst and stayed anyway. Thank you. I love you."
• "Remember [specific memory]? I still laugh about it. Happy Best Friends Day."
• "Thank you for being my emergency contact, my hype person, and my therapist (unpaid)."
• "If we were a duo in a movie, we'd definitely be the ones causing the plot."
• "I don't say it enough, but you make my life so much better."
• "Happy June 8. Clear your calendar next weekend, I'm planning something."
• "Every good story I have, you're in it."
• "Best friends day, every day, but today I'm saying it out loud."

Even better, say it as a voice note. They'll hear the laugh in your voice, and they can replay it later. For more lines, see these voice note ideas for your best friend.

How do you celebrate National Best Friends Day long distance?

Long-distance best friends can celebrate by doing the same thing at the same time, or by sending something that arrives on the day.

• Schedule a video call and eat the same takeout from your own cities.
• Mail a care package timed to arrive on June 8 (send it a week early).
• Watch a movie in sync and keep a running commentary in your chat.
• Send a voice note playlist: a short message every hour of the day.
• Plan your next visit on the call, with dates.
• Make a shared digital album and both add your favorite photo from each year.
• Order them food delivery to their door as a surprise.

Our guide to long distance best friend ideas has plenty more, and things to send your best friend covers the little surprises.

How do you make National Best Friends Day a tradition?

Pick one thing you'll repeat every June 8: the same photo pose, a yearly voice memo, a letter you both write, or a dinner spot. Small repeated rituals add up to years of memories you can look back on.

A voice memo is an easy tradition to keep: each June 8, record a few minutes about what happened in your friendship that year. In ten years, you'll have your voices growing up side by side. That's the idea behind Tucket, which we're building now. When it launches on iPhone and Android, you'll be able to keep a private pocket just for your best friend, filled with their voice notes, laughs, and favorite photos, and share it so you both add to it. See how it works for best friends.