If you know me, then you know that I am incredibly indulgent. I treat myself to a dirty martini every single time something good happens with my writing career and a cheap dress every time I feel like I’ve been eating healthy enough to enjoy the process of trying on a new, cheap dress. I love a party, and so I like to simulate that idea of celebration as much as possible. Sometimes this involves spending money, yes, but sometimes it’s as simple as turning my phone off and settling into two whole hours of So You Think You Can Dance with a pint of Adonia by Ciao Bella Greek Frozen Yogurt (go buy some the minute you finish reading) in my favorite pajama shirt (it’s my Dad’s old button work down that I refer to as my sleep suit).   

If you know R, then you know that he is somehow more indulgent than I. On Labor Day he insisted that we buy 1.75 lb lobsters from The Bristol Farms because it was the last day of summer, and lobsters feel like a summer thing, so we have to buy them today and have a lobster feast in the backyard. Yes, Labor Day is a holiday, so a celebration is not technically out of the ordinary, but he had us celebrating a free weekend with no plans awhile ago (brunch! a movie! let’s finally get you that new computer!), so there’s that too.

Here’s the thing. Life is rough. It’s stressful, overwhelming and sometimes painful. Many of us spend 75% of our time doing something we don’t want to do as a means to afford things we want/need. There are only really five major holidays in the American calendar. Sometimes just calling something a celebration is all you need to feel like it’s more special than any other home-cooked meal or take-out sushi or evening on the couch.

Bottom line: you need to be celebrating more things, more often. This may feel silly at first – are we really about to have a dance party in our living room because I had a really good meeting today? – but you’ll very quickly learn that celebration, like exercise according to Elle Woods, makes you happy. And being happy makes you more happy. And when you’re happier you want to celebrate more, so it’s just a vicious, beautiful cycle.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Event: The First Day Of Fall – the changing of the seasons is no small deal, especially if you live in a place that actually has seasons. 
• Activity: Go find something you can pick (apples are popular around this time, I believe), and pick it. If you’re aggressive you can make a whole day out of it and turn those apples into apple pie and eat that applie pia ala mode while watching something like LEGENDS OF THE FALL (get it?), but that’s up to you (and the man you may have to convince to join you…).
• “Plus Up” It: Bring a Flask Fall makes me think of brown liquor, and brown liquor makes most things more fun. So if you can RESPONSIBLY incorporate a cup of cheer into your Fall-themed activity, please do! 

• Event: You Made Something Great Happen At Work – This isn’t the same as getting a promotion. If you get a promotion you best celebrate with a nice, big dinner featuring a nice, big bottle of wine. This simple celebration applies to you somehow saving the day and/or pushing a project forward expertly. It is most appropriate if you’ve recently had a shit time at work and this success is the only thing that’s keeping you from quitting!
• Activity: Mad Men Cocktails Night. Don and Roger it up for the evening. If you don’t have the proper supplies, go buy them. Want a cigar to go with that snifter of giddy, go for it. I cannot endorse splurging on a 1940s-style smoking jacket, but if you can swing it, make it happen. 
• “Plus Up” It: Fudgie The Wale Cake. Ice cream cake somehow tastes better when it’s in the shape of a happy-go-lucky ocean mammal. I did some research, and it turns out Fudie wasn’t invented until 1970, and we’re only up to the late 60s in Mad Men time, but it’s close enough. 

• Event: The First Day Of School – I don’t go to school anymore, but that doesn’t mean I can’t celebrate with a ravioli dinner like we used to do at my Mommom and Poppop’s house on the night of the big first day. 
• Activity: The Clown Surprise! In case your Mommom and Poppop aren’t around to make you ravioli, I recommend one of those Friendly’s sundaes with the upside down ice cream cone as the clown hat. 
• “Plus Up” It: Buy yourself a “first day of school outfit.” Just because you’re going to work in it and no one took your picture doesn’t make it any less delightful to wear something brand spanking new.  

• Event: The Anniversary Of… – I unfortunately don’t remember the exact date I, say, graduated from college, but if I did I would celebrate by dancing to Kelly Clarkson’s “Sing You’ve Been Gone” on repeat while drinking Busch Lites (right girls?). Perhaps you broke a major bone? Sang in a huge competition? Won some fairly impressive spelling bee? Call your Mom, she’ll remember.
• Activity: Go back to that time or place in your life and celebrate exactly as you would have at the time. Examples include binge eating fruit roll ups, dinner at a famous suburban chain restaurant (so, Red Lobster), or – if this is a middle school memory – slow dancing with your special someone to Boyz II Men.

For even more inspiration you can check here for a whole list of those random “legitimate” holidays like “National Hot Cross Buns Day” or “I Want to Start a Business Day” – both of which are apparently, TODAY!

And feel free to share all your celebratory suggestions in comment!