International Quirkyalone Day is a do-it-yourself celebration of romance, friendship, and independent spirit. It’s a celebration of all kinds of love: romantic, platonic, familial, and yes, self-love.
International Quirkyalone Day is not anti-Valentine’s Day. It just happens to fall on the same day. International Quirkyalone Day first got started in 2003. Now it has been celebrated in over 40 cities over the world. It keeps going strong as an alternative to Valentine’s Day.
IQD is a celebration of romance, freedom and individuality. It celebrates true romance (as opposed to the fake versions presented to us in reality dating shows), independence, creativity, friendship, and all kinds of love–including love for yourself.
IQD is NOT a pity party for single people. It’s a feel-good alternative to the marketing barrage of Valentine’s Day and an antidote to the silicone version of love presented in shows such as The Bachelor.
If you are single, International Quirkyalone Day is a call to arms to celebrate the possibilities available to single people today. If you are partnered, IQD is a vital reminder to value yourself and develop your individuality even when in a couple.
Couples (especially quirkytogethers, of course) are welcomed to attend. After all, many a partnered person complains about the contrived nature of Valentine’s Day.
Happy IQD!
Quirkyalone Day is an invitation to create a great day for yourself, whatever that means to you (and your partner if you have one and choose to celebrate with him or her). It’s a day to celebrate the things you love to do alone and the things you love to do with your friends.
Ways to celebrate include: throwing a dinner party, buying yourself new underwear, rearranging your furniture, taking a long walk without your cell phone, exploring a new part of town, organizing a card-making party, trying a new recipe, or coming to or hosting a quirkyalone party.
Founder Sasha Cagen and her friend Sara at the first annual IQD in 2003
Public radio coverage at the first IQD party
The second annual International Quirkyalone Day was celebrated in bars and cafes in Bristol, U.K., London, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Seattle, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Providence, Albuquerque, St. Paul, Atlanta, Madison, and San Francisco.
The third annual IQD was even bigger. It was celebrated in 24 cities around the world: Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Chicago, Illinois; Edwardsville, Illinois; Eldridge, Iowa; Houston, Texas; Las Vegas, Nevada; Los Angeles, California; Lynwood, Washington; Madison, Wisconsin; New Delhi, India; New York, New York; Norristown, Pennsylvania; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Ontario, Canada; Owings Mills, Maryland; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Rock Hill, South Carolina; San Francisco, California; Sedalia, Missouri; St. Paul, Minnesota; Sterling, Colorado; Sydney, Australia; Utica, New York; and Washington, DC.
Happy IQD! Roses are red, violets are blue, unleash your inner quirky, unleash your inner you!
Since then, IQD has continued to gathered steam. Check out these photos from the 2009 celebration of IQD in San Francisco at Red Hill Books here and here. More IQD party photos here and here.
Where is it coming next? To your town! Don’t ask when. IQD is a grassroots movement. Bring it there yourself.
[...] no! On Tuesday, I will be celebrating International Quirkyalone Day instead. Because I have always “preferred being single to dating for the sake of [...]