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Culture September 14, 2017
How sweet it is to be loved by you.
If Valentine’s Day is for lovers, then what is reserved for platonic partners? Sweetest Day.
Sweetest Day falls on every third Saturday of October and it’s a day when friends give a sweet treat to their best friends. But how did this candy-filled day come to be?
Here are some facts we found about the sweetest day of the year.
The Sweetest Day was originally Candy Day? And according to the Atlantic, candy companies who were in favor of Candy Day would have promotions and articles that stated:
“The true ‘Candy Day’ spirit is apart from the idea of just stimulating a greater consumption of candy. This will naturally follow a national educational campaign exploiting the real food value of candy – pure candy. The ‘Spirit of Candy Day’ may be interpreted as a spirit of good will, appreciation and good fellowship.”
Although the cause seemed to be honorable, there was actually a sour side to this.
It’s quite simple. The candy companies wanted to make a profit. How? They sold candy higher prices on Candy Day.
The holiday went on to spread in some cities, but it wasn’t until 1921 that Candy Day really exploded. This happened because candy companies in Cleveland decided to give Candy Day a philanthropic feel by giving free candy away to orphans and the elderly. Even celebrities got in on the action by appearing on Candy Day advertisements.
Later, the day was changed to what we now know as the “Sweetest Day” to make the holiday more sentimental.
Candy companies took the Sweetest Day to the next level by claiming that the holiday came to be because of a man named Herbert Birch Kingston, who was supposedly a candy company employee who wanted to bring joy to little orphans by giving them candy. Herbert Birch Kingston was, in fact, a real person, but he was not a candy company employee. He was an advertiser.
Over the years Sweetest Day, although meant to be philanthropic and strictly platonic, somehow morphed into being a romantic holiday. More specifically, the holiday has become all about men.
During this day, women are apparently supposed to give men a sweet treat. Instead of giving them a sugary treat, men now receive cool gadgets or sexual favors. So basically it’s Valentine’s Day, but just for guys. And if you live on the East Coast or West Coast and have never heard of giving your partner a sweet sexual favor, it’s because Sweetest Day is primarily celebrated in the Midwest.
According to many sites, Sweetest Day gift ideas range from chocolate to flowers to jewelry. (You know, for those men who don’t want to pretend it’s all about them.)
Some people even give cards. But of those cards, over 80 percent have to do with love or romance. And though Hallmark is the only company to sell cards for Sweetest Day, it didn’t start doing so until the 1960s. Why does it do this? The card company shares that movie stars, such as Ann Pennington, distributed candy to 2,200 Cleveland newspaper boys. Another star, Theda Bara, also gave candy to theater-goers and patients in Cleveland hospitals. So why not celebrate that?
And as a side note, Hallmark also stands by the “legend” that Herbert Birch Kingston actually created the holiday out of kindness.
All in all, though, whether it’s a lover, platonic partner or a group of strangers, Sweetest Day should ultimately be about sharing a sweet sentiment for people you care for.
And for those people who think Sweetest Day is all about men, keep in mind that if a guy only likes you for your Sweetest Day gifts, the relationship is probably is not as sweet as you think.
