Parks & Recreation’s Leslie Knope is well-remembered for always looking after her loved ones, but there were two people who were extremely important to her, so much that she created a total of 24 holidays to celebrate with them – and here’s every one of them. Created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, the mockumentary sitcom Parks & Recreation premiered on NBC in 2009 and came to an end in 2015 after seven seasons, and even though it had a rough start, as the writers struggled to find the right tone for the series and the characters, subsequent seasons were better received and the series is now regarded as one of the best of the decade.
Parks & Recreation follows the daily lives of the crew at the Parks Department in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana, led by Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler). Over the course of seven seasons, viewers saw Leslie go from Deputy Director of the Pawnee City Department of Parks and Recreation to Governor of Indiana and quite possibly President of the United States, and they also got to know her quite well. Leslie was cheerful, optimistic, and sometimes naive, but also hard-working and very ambitious, and she was always looking after those she cared about, but there were two characters that were very close to her and thus she spent extra time and put more effort into ensuring they were always happy: Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) and Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones).
Leslie and Ann met on the first episode of Parks & Recreation when Ann attended one of her public forums to ask for help with the pit next to her house, as her boyfriend at the time, Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt), fell into it and broke both legs. This was the beginning of a strong friendship (which only saw one big fight, documented in the episode appropriately titled “The Fight”) that continued until the end of the series. On the other hand, Ben made his debut in Parks & Recreation season 2, as he arrived in Pawnee with Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe) to evaluate Pawnee’s funds. After overcoming a couple of problems and obstacles, Leslie and Ben got together and eventually married and formed a family. Ann and Ben, then, were two of the people closest to Leslie, and as such, Leslie came up with a total of 24 holidays to celebrate every milestone in her relationship with each one, and here are all of them.
Ben Wyatt’s Holidays
As mentioned above, the relationship between Leslie and Ben went through some rough patches at the beginning as they were not allowed to date because they were coworkers. When they told Chris they were together, Leslie was put on trial to see if she had been giving Ben special treatment at work, and in order to save her career and their relationship, Ben resigned from his job. After that, Leslie and Ben stayed together and even worked together when Ben served as her campaign manager when she ran for City Council. Taking into account how intense Leslie is, it was only natural that she came up with 12 holidays to celebrate with Ben, of which some are a bit too silly but very meaningful to Leslie. Here’s what they are and when they’re celebrated:
January 8th - Butt Day
- The first time Leslie looked at Ben’s butt.
March 14th - Ann Day
- A day to celebrate Ann with Ben but without Ann. As explained by Leslie, this is “a day about Ann, not Ann’s day about herself”. It’s the day Ben told her Ann was nice.
April 24th - Sex Day
- Surprisingly, it’s not a self-explanatory holiday: it’s actually about that one time Ben and Leslie walked in on two custodians having sex in a supply closet.
May 19th - Cry Day
- The first time Leslie cried in front of Ben after he gave her work to do over the weekend (happy tears, though).
June 9th - Chicken Dance Day
- To commemorate the day Ben, for some reason, did a weird chicken dance.
June 20th - Calzone Day
- The day Ben told Leslie he likes calzones, and so it’s the only day she goes with him to his favorite calzone place.
July 8th - Watch Synchronization Day
- Leslie and Ben synched their watches so they will “always be in harmony, like their hearts”.
September 3rd - Cauliflower Day
- The first time Leslie and Ben ate cauliflower together – she hated it, so they celebrate never eating it again.
September 26th - Text Message Day
- A celebration of the first time they texted each other now as a couple.
October 16th - Wildflower Day
- A very special one: the first time Leslie and Ben made out in front of the wildflower mural at City Hall.
November 19th - Sick Day
- On this day, for the first time Ben took care of Leslie because she wasn’t feeling well, so now to celebrate that, she tries to get sick on this day every year, but always fails at it.
December 26th - Post-Christmas Day
- Leslie and Ben give each other their “real” Christmas presents on this day, so they end up getting two sets of presents for each other.
Ann Perkins’ Holidays
The friendship between Leslie and Ann was the strongest one in Parks & Recreation, and their big fight in season 3 was a big milestone for them. After that, they learned to be more patient and understanding with each other, and they kept on supporting each other until the very end. Even though Ann and Chris left Pawnee in season 6, they continued being best friends, so much that Leslie went to Michigan to be by Ann’s side when she gave birth to her first child, Oliver Perkins Trager. A friendship as strong as the one Leslie had with Ann needed its own holidays, and Leslie came up with 12 exclusive holidays to celebrate with her best friend.
January 22nd - Crepe Day
- On this day, Leslie and Ann ate crepes together, and later ate waffles at JJ’s to, in Leslie’s words, “wash out the taste of the crepes, which I love, but not as much as I love waffles”.
February 15th - Valentine’s Day Day
- First is Galentine’s Day on February 13th, then Valentine’s Day on the 14th, and then this, commemorating the first time Leslie and Ann watched the movie Valentine’s Day together. They don’t watch it every year on this day, but they celebrate it.
February 16th - New Year’s Day Day
- Just like the previous one, only this time it’s the movie New Year’s Day.
March 16th - Salad Day
- This was a terrible day for them, but Leslie turned it into a holiday so they would “never forget”.
April 1st - Monica & Rachel Day
- Leslie and Ann dressed as Monica and Rachel from Friends for April Fool’s Day, but they liked it so much they left the prank behind and now do this every year.
May 21st - Ben Day
- Like “Ann Day” with Ben, “Ben Day” is the celebration of Ben without Ben, as on this day Ann told Leslie she should make out with him.
July 21st - Cheesecake Day
- On this day, Leslie and Ann ate cheesecake together and watched The Golden Girls.
August 13th - Haircut Day
- The first time Leslie and Ann got haircuts together.
August 14th - Second Haircut Day
- The haircuts were so bad they had to go to a different salon the next day to fix them.
October 25th - Red Shoe Day
- A celebration of the day Leslie and Ann wore red shoes on the same day, though Ann’s were actually more orange-y, but Leslie refuses to accept that.
November 9th - Museum Day
- The first time Leslie and Ann went to a museum together and saw an exhibit of old coffeemakers. They go to the museum every year on this day.
December 1st - Karaoke Day
- Leslie and Ann’s first karaoke together, where Leslie made everyone watch them sing “A Whole New World” for an hour.