A Bit Of History

Singles' Day is a Chinese Holiday that originated in Nanjing University in 1993. From Chinese, the name translates to "bare sticks holiday." Get it? Ones? Bare sticks? As a holiday, Singles' Day really took hold and grew on the Internet. While Singles' Day originated as Bachelors' Day, it's grown to be fully inclusive and is widely embraced throughout China, and interest in the holiday has been spreading throughout the rest of the world!

Singles' Day is essentially a fun festival that exists as a counterpoint to Valentine's Day. Singles' Day celebrates friendship, and exists as a strong affirmation that people should be happy regardless of their relationship status, which is something Timmy can get behind.

As the holiday has developed, the symbolism of its date and meaning has evolved. According to Wikipedia,

• "1": The figure of "1" symbolizes an individual, a single person
• 2x"1": Two individuals, finding each other, and being together on one side of the special date (11.11)
• 2x(2x"1"): A celebration of 2 (and more) different and separate couples, each comprising two single individuals finding each other on the special date (11.11)

Singles' Day Celebrations

In China, lots of young people spend time with their friends, especially the single ones. People go out together for a night on the town, sing karaoke, and often find new friends due to all the other people celebrating. As Singles' Day's awareness and celebration has grown, the ways in which people have celebrated it have also changed. Some people are using the day to celebrate their soul-mates, saying they are "the only one." And, in what may be the strangest aspect of Singles' Day, lots of people get married .

They also shop. A lot.

The Single Best Way To Geek Out

Be that as it may, we've just discussed how Singles' Day is all about inclusion. And we want to help you celebrate with the Single Best Way to geek out, which is, of course, picking up some great new loot from us here at ThinkGeek. (Yeah. Okay. We might be a little biased.) But in service of your Singles' Day shopping, we've marked down some of our best products.

Here are a few of our favorites, which honor some single characters from our favorite fandoms.

• Orpheus - The Saddest Music Machine
• IAMA Groot Watch - Exclusive
• Star Trek TNG Garden Gnomes
• Twerkbot9000 - Exclusive
• Feisty Pets

Ready to start your celebration? Treat yo'self to something special, and remember, in the words of Batmanuel,

"Alone" is a pathetic predicament. "Lone" is an aesthetic choice.

Shop our Singles' Day Sale products now. Whether you're looking for apparel, collectibles, vinyl records, jewelry, plush, statues, housewares, or something else entirely, we've got something to scratch your geeky itch.