World Smile Day 2023: Date, theme and origins

World Smile Day is held on the first Friday of October every year
World Smile Day was introduced by Harvey Ball, who invented the smiley face
PA Archive
Nuray Bulbul6 October 2022

World Smile Day is a relatively new holiday with fascinating origins.

It is celebrated around the globe and commemorates a man who wanted to put a smile on the face of employees of a life insurance company.

As the name suggests it’s a day where smiling is highly encouraged. But what is the purpose of World Smile Day and how was it introduced?

When is World Smile Day 2023?

World Smile Day takes place on Friday, October 6. The aim of the day is to do a simple act of kindness to make someone else smile.

What is the theme of World Smile Day?

The theme is “do an act of kindness, help one person smile”. The same theme is followed every year.

All you have to do is help one person smile, and once you’ve done it, you are encouraged to tell the world on your social media platforms through the hashtag #worldsmiledaychallenge or #wsdchallenge.

History of World Smile Day

World Smile Day honours commercial artist Harvey Ball, who created the smiley face in 1963 to increase the morale of the employees of a life insurance company.

As the smiley face went on to become the most recognised symbol of goodwill and happiness on the planet, Ball became concerned about the over-commercialisation of his symbol. He thought it lost its true meaning.

He came up with World Smile Day in 1999 to devote one day each year to smiles and kind acts throughout the world.

Ball’s idea was to become the smiley face - which knows no politics, no geography and no religion. He declared that the first Friday in October each year would henceforth be World Smile Day.

Ball passed away in 2001, but the tradition has continued every year since 1999.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in