How important is Friendship Day? For me, most years, it’s been one of those “non-traditional holidays” that tend to sneak up on me! Appropriately, then, if you’re wondering, YES, this year’s Friendship Day is actually behind us already – it was August 5^th! The honest truth is, I didn’t actually forget, I just got really mixed up about my dates and timing for this post! Whoops! With the business of summer and my sweet sister moving away, life has been a bit crazy! You’ve been there too, right?

Speaking of my sister moving away, she really is one of my best friends, and it has really gotten me thinking about how our friends are such important parts of our lives. So much so, in fact, that I *gasp* don’t think we should worry about the official date of Friendship Day to focus our attention on showing our  friends how much we  appreciate them! Although I miss my sister the most, I have had other dear friends move away recently, and ones who have lived far away for a long time. 🙁  I have been realizing lately just how easy it is to take our friends for granted! Busy schedules and life in general contribute to this problem for sure, and we have to make a conscious effort to spend time with our friends!

Friendship Through the Eyes of a Child

With my children at the ages where they’re really starting to make friends, let me tell ya, they want to see their friends ALL THE TIME! These have been real “teachable moments” for me about the importance of friends; they listen to our stories, participate in (or at least tolerate) our imaginations, go on outings with us even if it’s not their favorite because they know it makes us happy, and they can teach us new things (like how to share and take turns)! We as adults can learn from our friends, too, and ought to take notes on the things our friends are great at that they might be able to help us improve on! Iron sharpens iron, you know!

My kiddos even talk about their friends that live far away; it seems like they keep them at the forefront of their minds! Whether your friends are close by or far away, make a point to remind them how much they mean to you and how much you appreciate them! You could make them a card (Hey, look! I even have a free printable one here!), or something else to share the magic of friendship! Speaking of magic, the kids and I made these fun “Magic of Friendship” wands that they gave as gifts to their friends this Friendship Day! Check out how we made them below! 🙂

How to Make Magic Wands the Easy Way

For this project, you will need:

Small wooden dowels like these 

Ribbon

Peel-n-stick or regular foam sheets, like these 

Glue gun

Poms, rhinestones, jewels, and/or embellishments of your choice (We used these!)

Scissors

First, glue ribbon to one end of a dowel, then wrap around the dowel until you get to the other end, and secure with glue.

Cut 2 matching desired shapes out of foam and cover one end of the dowel.

Tie ribbon right underneath the shape, then glue in place.

Decorate with jewels and poms as desired!

I hope you feel inspired to recognize the incredible friends in your life! In fact, why not share this post with them via the social media buttons below? 🙂 Thanks for being my friend!