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National Button Day

Hobby · November 16

A day for buttons: the small fasteners on coats and shirts, and the jars, tins and collections where spare ones end up.

National Button Day falls on Monday, November 16, 2026. That is 20 days away.

Buttons are one of the oldest ways to hold clothing closed, and one of the most overlooked. A disc with a few holes, or a shank on the back, slips through a slit in fabric and stays put. That is the whole trick, and it has worked for a very long time.

They come in more materials than most people expect. Plastic is common now, but buttons are also made from wood, metal, shell, horn, glass and bone. Some are plain and practical. Others are tiny pieces of decoration, carved, painted or stamped with patterns.

Many households have a button jar or tin somewhere, filled with spares that came in little bags on new clothes and the survivors of coats long gone. Tipping one out onto a table and sorting by color or size is oddly absorbing. Collectors take this further, hunting for old or unusual buttons at thrift stores and estate sales and keeping them on cards or in boxes.

Buttons also turn up in crafts: sewn onto cards, glued into mosaics, or strung into bracelets. Spare buttons are a choking hazard, so keep loose ones away from small children and pets.

If a shirt has been missing one for weeks, sewing it back on takes a needle, some thread and about ten minutes.

Ways to celebrate

• Sort through a button jar and see what old clothes you can remember.
• Sew a loose or missing button back onto a favorite shirt.
• Look for interesting buttons at a thrift store or flea market.
• Make a simple card or picture using spare buttons.
• Ask an older relative about buttons they have saved.

Dates

All national days on November 16

Also on November 16

• National Fast Food Day
• Have a Party With Your Bear Day

Categories: Hobby days