Las Vegas Weekly

June 1, 2009 · 7:55 PM

National “Make Up Your Own Holiday” Day!

By Deanna Rilling

June 3 is National Tattoo Day... or is it?

Photo: Deanna Rilling

Often at the Weekly our staff receives e-mails touting special events or promotions for assorted holidays. Most are a given, like St. Patrick’s, Memorial Day, Halloween, etc. There are awareness days one could support, such as National Condom Day (appropriately on February 14), National Cancer Survivors Day (June 7), or the International Day of Peace (September 21).

But for shits and giggles, there are also the random days we’re totally willing to celebrate. For example, National Hugging Day (January 21), No Pants Day (May 1, plus a no pants subway ride in NYC in January) or Talk Like a Pirate Day (September 19). Arrr, pass the rum, matey.

For me, looking for silly holidays to commemorate probably stems from high school, thanks to my friend Amanda. In the hodge-podge that was her room décor (picture gum wrapper foil lampshades and postcards in lieu of a wallpaper border), she had a "Just in Case You Need an Excuse to Party" poster on her bedroom door. At the time, I didn’t understand this very poster was probably a handy reference guide for adults than could be translated into “just in case you need an excuse to drink.”

I had never doubted the validity of random holidays until today. Sure, the origins are questionable, but with some stealthy Googling, most are referenced by multiple sources. … which brings me to National Tattoo Day, purported to take place on June 3.

You’d think at the Art-n-Ink Tattoo Festival last weekend, someone somewhere would mention such a day, but there was nothing. The only thing that tipped me off to National Tattoo Day’s inky existence was an e-mail from a local PR company about a 10 percent off sale at Club Tattoo inside Miracle Mile Shops on Wednesday in honor of the day. This led me to wonder if other tattoo shops in town might offer deals on June 3.

At least 30 minutes and multiple search engines later, the only reference to “National Tattoo Day” was in Vegas-related blogs regurgitating the info from the same press release about Club Tattoo.

Wait, there was one link about a National Tattoo Day in New Zealand, but the subsequent journal entry was basically irrelevant and took place on January 10, 2007.

I continued the search, but to no avail. The National Tattoo Association has nothing on such a day, nor did any major tattoo Web site or magazine. Go ahead, you try to find something.

In an era when you can brand just about anything, are certain holidays fabricated purely as an excuse to have a sale or attract customers? Like free Slurpee Day, for example, on July 11, but at least that one has been around for a while and is associated with a delicious and free beverage.

What began as a simple search for deals on National Tattoo Day has unearthed a stranger phenomenon: an obsession with celebrating meaningless commercial holidays. There’s even a day designed to celebrate it: March 26 is designated as the actual “Make Up Your Own Holiday Day.” So even though we’re two months late, we’ve decided we can create our own, too.

We’re declaring Thursday, June 4 the official “Las Vegas Weekly Day.” In honor of the occasion, everyone in the valley gets free copies of the magazine. And as a special bonus, you all receive unlimited access to our Web site. Party on, Vegas.

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