Here is another one for the obscure holiday list. Actually, National Doughnut Day is a real holiday, and one that you can have fun with at home. You can even score some free donuts, too. Here is the real story behind the holiday, some ideas on how to celebrate it, and a list of places offering free donuts.
In spite what you might think, National Doughnut Day did not start out as a promotion to advertise donuts. Instead its origins go back to World War I. During the war, Salvation Army volunteers provided doughnut to soldiers. The volunteers often cooked the doughnuts right in the helmet of the soldiers. Hmm, one only hopes that they were able to wash out the helmets before wearing them, or perhaps this was also the invention of a hot oil treatment for hair. American infantrymen were often called doughboys. Was this a coincidence?
The holiday was officially establishes in 1938 by the Chicago Salvation Army in order to raise funds during the Great Depression and also to honor those Salvation Army volunteers who prepared the doughnuts. It occurs on the first Friday of June.
To celebrate at home, you can try your hand at making your own doughnuts, decorate coloring pages of doughnuts, or purchase doughnuts and hand them out to others as a random act of kindness. Kids love to celebrate silly holidays, and there is something that is quite silly about a doughnut, even though the meaning behind the holiday is more profound.
Two places that are honoring National Doughnut Day are Krispy Kreme and Southwest Airlines. They are giving away batches and batches of free doughnuts. Make sure to get yours! I’ve also spotted a number of local bakeries that are doing the same. Dunkin Donuts, as far as I know, is not honoring the holiday with any freebies.
Will you be celebrating National Doughnut Day?
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. Starting June 1st, don’t miss her articles in the Baby Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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