You don’t need to be a painter or a poet to “be creative” — and thank goodness for that. National Creativity Day, celebrated every May 30, was created to invite everyone to tap into their imagination, embrace new ideas, and express themselves… in whatever form feels right.
Whether that’s cooking, songwriting, parenting, reorganizing your bookshelves by color (no notes), or mowing lines in your lawn just so, creativity comes in many shapes and sizes — and all of them are meaningful and worthwhile.
A brief history of National Creativity Day
This holiday was established in 2018 by Hal Croasmun and ScreenwritingU to highlight the power of imagination and recognize the many different ways people create.
Since then, it’s become a meaningful annual reminder to step outside our routines and make something — anything. It’s also a chance to pause and notice the small ways you’re already being creative in daily life. Your gut instinct might be to say, “Oh, I’m not a creative person.” But we’re willing to bet you are — and you just might not be giving yourself enough credit.
Creativity isn’t just about creating art — it’s part of how we live
Some people play and write music. Others design spreadsheets with complex macros, just for fun. Some build out characters and plot twists for Dungeons & Dragons campaigns; others throw together dinner with nothing but fridge scraps and a tomato stolen from the neighbor’s garden.
Those are all creative choices.
And the point is: Life and creativity are intertwined. Creativity shows up in the choices we make — the solutions we find, the risks we take, the meals we prepare, the people we share them with, the people we care for.
How the AOL staff gets creative
With that wide net for creativity in mind, I asked the AOL team to share some of the unusual, usual, and everyday ways they tap into their creativity. Not everyone’s a traditional “artist” — but they’re all finding small ways to infuse their days with creativity. Here are some of the ways our team creates.
“I have no musical or artistic abilities, but still like to feel as if I can create something worth seeing. For instance, I have a specific angle I like the mow lines to go in my backyard. I think it looks cool that way and it brings me satisfaction. Also, I hate the way my peonies can droop stems once they get heavy, so I twine them together halfway up the stems so they sit higher and look better. Takes no skill but makes me feel creative.” –Jerry
“I like to curate little treat boxes for my friends; they’re sort of like a subscription box but there’s no guarantees around when (or if) they get delivered. Pulling together little things that I think the people I love will love makes me feel like I’m being creative, and it’s such a fun way to express myself.” –Tracey
“This is very traditional creativity, but I’m a quilter!! I looooooove finding beautiful fabrics then building an entire quilt around them. But quilting is an expensive hobby and the best store for cheap fabric just closed (Joann). So it requires creativity in finding or making patterns, picking the best fabric, and finding ways to creatively use scrap fabric so you don’t need to buy a bunch of new pieces. OR finding hacks, like I use $13 Amazon sheets to back my quilts instead of spending $60+ on nice fabric.” –Kate
“I believe parenting is a kind of creativity. Playing pretend — creativity. Reasoning with a toddler — creativity. Curating a small human’s lived experience is a kind of creativity all its own; it’s one of my favorites!” –Meredith
So whether you’re making music or making dinner, designing spreadsheets or designing quilt patterns, creativity isn’t about perfection — it’s about expression. National Creativity Day is a great excuse to start something new or simply recognize what you’re already doing. However you choose to create, the important thing is this: it counts.
