Founded in 1938, the National Button Society recognized button collecting as an organized hobby. Both novice and advanced button collectors celebrate the enjoyment of collecting on this day.
Do you remember your grandmother or your mother snipping the buttons off shirts headed for the rag basket? Those buttons often collected in jars or tins.
Maybe you even played games or strung them for ornaments and crafts. The buttons were fun to stack into piles, sort by color or size, or scatter and slide across the floor or table making up different games each time.
Crafters across the country utilize buttons in creative ways. They are some of the best at finding new uses for old items. There are thousands of button collectors in the United States.
Buttons have been made of a variety of materials. Ancient buttons were formed from natural and readily available substances such as stone, shell, bone, clay, or wood.
In more modern times, metals, plastics, resins, and acrylics have been used. While buttons were usually functional to fasten two pieces of cloth together, they also served as decoration.
While buttons today can be simple disks with two or four holes allowing a needle and thread to pass through, button makers create more elaborate designs. If you can imagine it, there’s probably a button like it.
From animals and food to iconic buildings and famous people, button makers make them. They’re colorful and fun. While the fun ones may be less practical, they still function.
HOW TO OBSERVE
Do you have a fun button collection? Share it on social media. Play a game with buttons, such as tic tac toe or even checkers.
Use #NationalButtonDay to post on social media.
HISTORY
National Day Calendar® continues researching the origins of this collector holiday.
WARNING: If you suffer from koumpounophobia, please feel free to skip this national holiday.
#NationalButtonDay
@NationalButtonSociety
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