We have discussed a creative way for reverse mortgage professionals to celebrate with seniors all year long: unusual monthly holidays that, with a little ingenuity, could be customized as ongoing marketing events.

Have you taken advantage of this idea? if not (or even if so), here’s a mid-year update of the National Day Calendar to help you spice up summer. You can have some fun with these.

For instance: June 26^th is National Beautician’s Day. Many older women have a dedicated, long-term relationship with their hairdresser. Perhaps you’ll want to organize a Beautician Bake Off, where elders honor their hair stylists with a delicious baked gift. (If they don’t bake, they can always buy a nice pie — or a bag of donuts, depending on their stylist’s taste. Men bake, too — and men have hair stylists, even if they call them barbers).

June is replete with yummy celebrations, all great opportunities to throw an informal gathering for prospects: National Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day (June 9th), National Peanut Butter Cookie Day (June 12^th), National Fudge Day (June 16^th), National Pralines Day (June 24th), and National Chocolate Pudding Day (June 27th). Several of the Day pages even include recipes.

Or maybe you’d simply like to invite your clients and prospects to bring their specialties to a dessert potluck. It’s one day when calories don’t count!

And of course, the yummy days continue into July…after all, the 4^th is our national eat-all-you-can-cook-out — um, Independence Day — celebration. But July 3^rd is also intriguing: it’s National Compliment Your Mirror Day, a wonderful opportunity to boost seniors’ self-esteem. Similarly, July 26^th is National Disability Independence Day, which commemorates the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. It’s a chance to recognize and discuss the benefits of HECMs for the Differently Abled.

The entire month of August is Admit You’re Happy Month, another super opportunity to create a roundtable discussion with your target audience about what makes them happy and encourage them to share their happiness suggestions with those who may be feeling less upbeat. After all, it’s no accident that Pharrell Williams’ song Happy reached more than 250 million YouTube views within six months of upload.

Finally, remember that July 18 is the quarterly “Get to Know Your Customers Day”, a perfect reason to combine any of the above ideas and more into an informal schmooze that seniors can happily anticipate. Especially if you happen to have some fudge on hand.