National High Five Day

Someone once said that it should be required by law that high fives must be redone if the first one was not good enough! Okay, so maybe it isn’t strictly true that this should be a legal issue, but it is definitely a moral one!

The “High Five” is a sacred tradition that has been used to celebrate remarkable events in people’s day to day lives for many years.

It is required by law to redo high fives if the first one was not good enough

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Get the garbage into the can on the first throw? High Five! Just get that promotion you’ve been gunning for? High Five! Did you propose? Did she say yes? HIGH FIVE! Did you just get an excellent grade on a paper? HIGH FIVE.

Seriously, high fives can be used to celebrate just about anything! That’s why National High Five Day exists, just one more reason to use that universal gesture of excellence, the high five.

History of National High Five Day

National High Five Day is a reminder that every little success in life deserves a bit of celebration, and the high five serves as a universal form of celebration at every level of success!

The High Five, for those who have somehow gone their whole lives without knowing this, is when two people slap hands together, palms facing each other, over their heads. (Not to be mistaken for the ‘Low Five’ which traditionally takes place at waist level or lower). Did you already know that? Well, now you do! High Five!

The origin of the high five is really hard to trace, as many grassroots trends like this one can be. One story goes that the high five should be credited to Lamont Sleets Jr., who was a basketball player at Murray State University in Kentucky in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

At one point, famous basketball player, Magic Johnson, suggested that he may have invented the high five when he was a student at Michigan State University in the late 1970s.

It seems to be a more likely story, however, that the high five was invented by Dusty Baker and Glenn Burke back in 1977. Rumor has it that these two Los Angeles Dodgers baseball players were celebrating a particularly important success in a game on October 2, and it just seemed appropriate to clap their hands together over their heads.

As it turns out, the world must have agreed that it was a good idea, because since that time the high five has become a generally ubiquitous sign, appearing in every culture all over the world.

The day began unofficially in 2002, when some college students from the University of Virginia decided it would be a great idea to enjoy giving and receiving high fives (without the opportunity to say no!). The day was set to be the third Thursday in April.

Give people high fives just for getting out of bed, being a person is hard sometimes

Kid President

But National High Five Day is representative of something more important than just a good success in a baseball game. Although National High Five Day was originally developed just as something fun to do by a bunch of college students, eight years later in 2010 the founders decided that they should do something good with the hype that had been created by the day.

So they turned into a charitable organization and started choosing different worthy causes to partner with. They began providing college scholarships, raising awareness for cancer research, working to help those affected by the Boston Marathon tragedy and promoting school-based nutrition programs.

The organization continues to partner with companies and individuals who support them in raising funds for various worthy causes. 2020 saw the first % virtual National High Five Day, but that didn’t keep people from sending out good vibes and enjoying the spirit of the day!

How To Celebrate National High Five Day

Try some of these fun ways to celebrate high five day:

Give and Get High Fives

What’s the best way to celebrate this day? Well, it’s obviously super simple. Spend it giving out high fives. Give a High Five for every conceivable reason. In fact, you deserve a High Five just for reading this article, so give yourself a High Five!

Got up and out the door to work in the morning?Good job! High Five! Manage to make it through the day without high five-ing someone in the face… with a chair? Congratulations! They live to see another day!

Spend the day appreciating and encouraging (and also, perhaps, slightly annoying) coworkers, friends and family members with high fives for any and every reason.

Raise Funds for a Worthy Cause

While you’re doing this, see if you can start a fund-raiser to support the fight against cancer. One good way to do this is to get sponsorship to collect as many high-fives as possible throughout the day, and setting different donation levels based on how many are achieved! High Five to you for supporting this most important of fights.

Learn more about how to get connected by hopping on the National High Five Day website.

Celebrate with Virtual High Fives

Not into giving actual high fives in person? Feeling uncomfortable with touching so many people’s hands? Or maybe you’re working from home and not around people to give them high fives? That’s okay! There are other options so just get creative.

Some people who work from home choose to snap a picture of themselves giving a high five to their pets. Others might post a pic or meme of a high five on social media to get the word out. Still others might choose to make a donation to the National High Five Day charitable cause.

Whatever activities are chosen to celebrate this day, be sure to spread the word and raise awareness of this most important day by giving as many high fives as possible!