Stranger Things Day: When Is It and When Did It Start?

I don’t remember when I added Stranger Things Day to the Weird Holidays and Observances page. Was it the first year it was created or last year? Who knows? It’s not important really. As soon as I learned about it, I added it and it’s there now, where it will remain unless it’s ever sucked into the Upside Down. That’s all that matters.

However, it did get me to wondering when exactly it was created and who did it. A fan? Someone associated with the series?

You know me, once I get to wondering about something, I have to learn more. (Or maybe this is your first time here and you don’t know me. In which case, hello. Thanks for stopping by. Now you know I’m full of questions and always searching for answers. Feel free to Check-In below and tell me something about yourself!)

Anyway, here’s what my digging about Stranger Things Day turned up.

Stranger Things Day Observance Date

Stranger Things Day is observed on November 6.

Its Origin Story

Why is Stranger Things Day observed on November 6? Is that the day the series was released? Or is there some other significance to the date?

Netflix released the series Stranger Things on July 15, 2016. So that’s not the inspiration for the day’s origins.

To understand what is, we have to delve a bit into what the sci-fi horror series is about.

The first season takes place in the early 1980s in Hawkins, Indiana, a fictional town. We’re introduced to Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) and his friends: Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), and Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin).

The whole first season centers on Will’s disappearance into what we later learn is the Upside Down, and his friends and family’s quest to track him down and get him back with the help of a mysterious girl named Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), or “El” as they call her, who’s run away from the Hawkins National Laboratory.

That’s the crux of Stranger Things Day. It’s the day Will Byers goes missing, which was November 6, 1983.

Who Created Stranger Things Day and When?

According to Mental Floss, Netflix created Stranger Things Day in 2018, which would’ve marked “the 35th anniversary of Will Byers’s disappearance into the Upside Down.”

Netflix had a fun way of doing it too. On November 1, 2018, they released a short two-minute video of scenes from seasons 1 and 2, as well as fun fan cosplay photos and videos, to announce “it” was coming on November 6. “It” being Stranger Things Day.

see you on #strangerthingsday, nerds. pic.twitter.com/dUUlcBVlxX

— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) November 1, 2018

I love the caption, “see you on #strangerthingsday, nerds.” That’s #SoStrangerThings.

How Do You Celebrate?

I was thinking obvious things, like “See how many episodes of the first three seasons you can binge,” or “Start your day with some Eggo Waffles,” or something like that.

But then I Googled to see what others might say and came across a hilarious post with suggestions for 11 ways to celebrate Stranger Things Day. My three favorite were:

1. Call everyone you talk to that day a “dingus.”
2. Partake in some “coffee and contemplation” Hopper-style.
3. Adopt a dog or cat from the shelter and name it after a character on the show.

What do you think? Any ideas for a fun way to celebrate?

Check-In

Which Stranger Things monster scares you more: the Mind Flayer or a Demogorgon?