Who Is Starting to Get Ready for the Upcoming Spring Season?  – Written by Fatima, GiGi’s NYC Participant

They are a lot of special holidays to celebrate in March 2025. These include Ash Wednesday, Employee Appreciation Day, International Women’s Day, Daylight Saving Time, National Napping Day, Saint Patrick’s Day, National Global Recycling Day, National Let’s Laugh Day, and World Down Syndrome Day. March is a busy month! Let’s get into it.

Ash Wednesday is celebrated on Wednesday, March 5th this year, and a lot of people celebrate the occasion in a lot of different ways including going to church and getting ashes, fasting, and praying. A lot of Christians attend special Ash Wednesday church services. The service usually includes a sermon, scripture reading, and communal confession. Worshipers may leave the service in silence. At an Ash Wednesday service, a priest or pastor places ashes on foreheads in the shape of a cross. The ashes come from the previous year’s Palm Sunday palms that have been burned and blessed. The ashes are a reminder of mortality, sorrow for sins, change, and forgiveness. Many Christians abstain from eating or eat only one large meal, and they don’t eat meat that day. Some Catholics give up meals and donate the cost to Catholic Relief Services. Many Christians pray and reflect on life choices and mortality. Some Christians seek forgiveness for sins. This day is the first day of Lent, the solemn 40 days Christians observe in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, before beginning his public ministry. On this day I’m planning on going to church and getting ashes before Dancing Dreams and then making a nice dinner without any meat.

Employee Appreciation Day is celebrated on Friday, March 7th this year, and a lot of people celebrate the occasion. It is common on this day to recognize employees, show gratitude, have fun, acknowledge employees’ contributions and efforts in person and remotely, give personalized gifts or cards, send a thank-you note, and share a special message. It is also good to ask employees how they like to be thanked. Some other ideas of celebrating this day include playing games and socializing, throwing a team happy hour, taking a field trip, hosting a lunch or dinner for the whole team, organizing a themed dress-up day, hosting a company-wide game day or trivia challenge, offering surprise snack breaks or happy hours, gifting employees swag boxes, organizing team-building activities, creating a commemorative video, organizing a mini company retreat, offering educational classes or learning experiences, and offering tickets to a live show or sporting event.

International Women’s Day is Celebrated on Saturday, March 8th this year. The 2025 theme is For ALL Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment. International Women’s Day is a day to recognize the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. It’s also a day to call for action to accelerate gender equality. It’s a great time to recognize the inspirational women in your life. Send messages of appreciation to the important women in your life. Advocate for equality. Challenge inequality and discrimination. Participate in the #AccelerateAction campaign. Call out poor treatment of women, and support organizations that advocate for women’s rights. Support women-owned businesses. Buy products from women-owned businesses. Donate to charities that support women. Other ways to celebrate include hosting a book club, learning session, or high tea. On this occasion I am planning on going out for dinner with Peter Colombos and having him pay for it to celebrate international women’s day. 

Daylight Saving Time is celebrated on Sunday, March 9th this year, and a lot of people celebrate the occasion in a lot of different ways. For example, some people get balloons with each hour written on them to be popped. You can also fill bags with small treats to be opened each hour until it’s time to spring the clocks forward. What better way to celebrate springing forward than with some actual springing!

National Napping Day is celebrated on Tuesday, March 11th this year, and a lot of people celebrate the occasion in a lot of different ways including by taking naps, learning about sleep health, sharing on social media, and creating a comfortable napping environment. Learn more about sleep health and hygiene, and make sure you get enough sleep at night. On this day I plan on taking a half hour nap on the couch after coming home from college at Molloy University. 

Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated on Monday, March 17th, and a lot of people celebrate the occasion in a lot of different ways. Many people get into the spirit by dressing in green clothing, eating green colored food, and holding Irish-themed parties. Irish clubs and pubs often hold parties or have special deals. It is popular to enjoy Irish dishes like corned beef and cabbage, Irish stew, and soda bread, drink Guinness, Irish whiskey, or other Irish beverages, and bake leprechaun cookies decorated with shamrocks and four-leaf clovers. People in New York City and the surrounding area also like to attend the large parade in Manhattan to see floats, marching bands, and Irish dancers. There are also big St. Patrick’s Day parades in Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia. Other people like to go on a pub crawl, listen to Irish music, such as traditional folk songs or modern pop hits, learn about Irish history, culture, and traditions, read about the life of St. Patrick, learn a few Irish phrases, and watch a classic Irish film. On this day I plan on cooking corned beef and cabbage for dinner to celebrate the occasion to have in the house.

National Global Recycling Day is celebrated on Tuesday, March 18th, and a lot of people celebrate this day in a lot of different ways. It’s popular to participate in local events, raise awareness, reduce waste, participate in local events like a community clean-up, host a recycling drive, take part in a competition to inspire recycling, encourage community leaders to support recycling, educate others about recycling and its benefits, reduce waste, promote recycling, reusing, and repurposing items, participate in a plastic-free challenge, and work with your local government. Global Recycling Day was established in 2018 to recognize the importance of recycling and encourage people to take action too. On this day I am planning on taking the recycling out for people in my neighborhood that have a lot of recycling in their house. 

National Let’s Laugh Day is celebrated on Wednesday, March 19th, and a lot of people celebrate in different ways including telling jokes, going to a comedy show, or watching a comedy movie. National Let’s Laugh Day is a positive manifestation for world peace and is intended to build up a global consciousness of brotherhood and friendship through laughter. The celebration day was started in India in 1998 by Dr. Madan Kataria who wanted to test the idea that laughter is good for people’s health.

World Down Syndrome Day is celebrated on Friday, March 21st this year. This is a global awareness day which has been officially observed by the United Nations since 2012. The goal is to help people understand and support those with Down syndrome better. The theme for World Down Syndrome Day 2025 is Improve Our Support Systems. This theme encourages governments to improve support systems for people with Down syndrome and their families. People with Down syndrome need support to live and be included in the community, like everyone else. We have the right to support that meets our needs and gives us choice, control, and dignity.

Happy International Women’s Day to all the ladies from Gigi’s Playhouse. Happy World Down Syndrome Day to everyone who has Down syndrome.

Happy March! Happy spring season! See you all in April 2025!

With a lot of love and happiness, 

Fatima