Have a Party with Your Bear Day is a playful, heartwarming observance celebrated on November 16, encouraging people of all ages to celebrate their favorite teddy bears and plush companions with games, tea parties, and comforting childhood nostalgia.
The beloved teddy bear owes its creation to a November 1902 Mississippi bear hunting expedition attended by President Theodore Roosevelt. When Roosevelt refused to shoot an injured American black bear that had been captured and tied to a willow tree, the incident inspired a famous political cartoon by Clifford Berryman in The Washington Post. Inspired by the cartoon, Brooklyn candy shop owners Morris and Rose Michtom crafted a plush velvet bear cub and placed it in their shop window with a sign reading 'Teddy's Bear', creating an overnight sensation that launched the modern plush toy industry. 'Have a Party with Your Bear Day' was established as a fun family holiday inspired by the classic 1907 song 'The Teddy Bears' Picnic' by John Walter Bratton and Jimmy Kennedy. On November 16, daycare centers, elementary schools, and families stage pretend tea parties, read bear-themed stories like Winnie-the-Pooh and Paddington, and celebrate the emotional comfort and companionship that teddy bears provide to children across the globe.
