It’s My Party Day

What the day is

It's My Party Day is observed on October 11. The premise is that a party does not require an occasion, and that waiting for one is how people end up never hosting at all.

Origin and background

The origin of the observance is not documented. The phrase comes from It's My Party, a record that reached number one in the United States in 1963, sung by Lesley Gore, who was sixteen at the time and still at school. It was produced by Quincy Jones early in his career, and its success is one of the more striking debut stories in American pop.

The song is not actually celebratory, which is a detail the day generally ignores. It is about being humiliated at your own birthday party, and its sequel record has the narrator getting her own back.

The case for casual hosting is reasonable. Research on adult friendship consistently finds that repeated informal contact maintains relationships better than occasional elaborate events, and the main barrier people report is not money or space but the sense that hosting requires a standard they cannot meet. Lowering that standard is most of what a day like this is for.

Mid-October is a practical slot. It is late enough for the evenings to feel like an occasion, early enough to precede the crowded end of the year, and close enough to Halloween that a theme is available to anyone who wants one.

How to take part

• Invite people for a specific time this week rather than proposing something vague.
• Keep it small and keep it short. Four people for two hours is a party.
• Do not cook something new. Host with food you have made before, or buy it.
• Ask people to bring one thing each. Most guests prefer having a job.
• Tidy one room properly and close the doors on the rest.
• Play the song. It is two and a half minutes and considerably sadder than you remember.