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- Food & Beverage
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- Date change rule:
- Every March 28
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National Something On a Stick Day skewers up fun every March 28, inviting everyone to enjoy their favorite foods served on a convenient stick. Whether it’s a classic corn dog, a sweet candy apple, or a gourmet shish kabob, this day celebrates the joy of portable, easy-to-eat treats. Get creative in the kitchen, visit a local food truck, or explore fairground favorites to join the delicious festivities!
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Expected National Something On a Stick Day Deals
While we await official 2027 promotions, history shows that National Something On a Stick Day often inspires creative deals from food brands and restaurants. Look for special offers on corn dogs at places like Sonic Drive-In and Dairy Queen, or discounted skewers at Asian-inspired eateries. Candy shops like See’s Candies might feature lollipops or chocolate-dipped fruit on sticks. Grocery stores such as Kroger or Walmart may highlight frozen appetizers like mini corn dogs or chicken skewers. Even specialty dessert brands like Dole could offer deals on their popular Dole Whip on a stick. We will update this page with confirmed live deals as March 28 approaches.
Platform Guide for National Something On a Stick Day
Tag @nationaltoday_ and use #SomethingOnAStickDay. Share photos of your favorite skewered treats, from gourmet kabobs to classic corn dogs.
TikTok
Tag @www.nationaltoday.com and use #SomethingOnAStickDay. Film a quick video showcasing your top three foods on a stick or a DIY recipe.
Mention National Today (facebook.com/nationaltoday) and use #SomethingOnAStickDay. Ask your friends to share their most creative food-on-a-stick ideas.
National Something On a Stick Day Hero
Carl and Neil Fletcher
History of National Something On a Stick Day
The use of sticks — skewers of wood — in the preparation and consumption of food items goes back a long way. A very long way. An archeological site in Germany contained a stick with a burnt tip, indicating its use in the cooking of meat over a fire, from 300,000 years ago, the Lower Paleolithic era.
From ancient Greece, Homer’s “Iliad” makes mention of cooking meat on skewers. In the absence of a metal grill to set over a wood fire, piercing your meat with a sharpened stick and holding it over the flames to cook while you turn it and adjust its height above the flames for ideal doneness is a no-brainer. Perhaps this is the sole reason that this method has been around for millennia.
There’s even a story, popular among medieval scholars, of Turkish soldiers in the crusades using their swords as spits to cook meat with. Make that thing a multitasker!
So the next time you are out camping and you cook your hot dog at the end of a sapling branch you’ve found, know that you’re in good company — humans have cooked meat that way for almost as long as there have been humans. And National Something On a Stick Day is the perfect time to reflect on that.
National Something On a Stick Day timeline
In the streets of the cities of Japan, food vendors begin to sell yakitori — teriyaki chicken on a skewer stick — from their charcoal fire pits.
A San Francisco-area youth accidentally leaves a sugary soda mix outdoors overnight, only to discover the next morning after the liquid had frozen that he could lick the treat off the wooden stirrer, thereby inadvertently inventing the Popsicle.
The Cozy Dog Drive-In in Springfield, Illinois, is the first restaurant to serve corn dogs on a stick — or so it is claimed.
Turkish chefs introduce the shish kabob to the Greeks, who add chunks of tomato and vegetables to the skewered meat, then leak the recipe to the Americans who in turn increase the size of the meat cubes.
How Businesses Can Celebrate National Something On a Stick Day
Local businesses can embrace National Something On a Stick Day with creative culinary offerings and promotions. Restaurants could introduce special ‘on a stick’ menus, featuring everything from savory chicken skewers to dessert pops. Bakeries might offer cake pops, fruit tarts on sticks, or decorated cookies on a stick. Food trucks could highlight their most popular skewered items or create new, unique combinations. Retailers selling grilling supplies could run promotions on skewer sets and related ingredients, encouraging customers to host their own ‘on a stick’ parties.
National Something On a Stick Day FAQs
When is National Something On a Stick Day?
In 2027, this fun culinary holiday lands on Sunday, March 28, making it an ideal day for family gatherings centered around creative foods on a stick.
What are some popular foods on a stick?
Beyond the traditional, popular options also extend to cake pops, chocolate-covered bananas, grilled halloumi skewers, and even Caprese salad on a stick, showcasing the versatility of this serving method.
When did food on a stick become popular?
This trend continued with the development of frozen treats like popsicles and ice cream bars in the early to mid-1900s, solidifying the stick as a convenient and fun way to serve a wide range of foods.
What are the benefits of eating food on a stick?
Additionally, it can make food more appealing, especially for children, and allows for creative presentation, turning simple ingredients into an engaging culinary experience.
National Something On a Stick Day Activities
Get that backyard firepit blazing
March 28 isn’t the height of summer, but even in temperate climates, it shouldn’t be too chilly to gather the kids around the campfire to cook hot dogs and marshmallows on sticks or skewers over the flames. No flicking your stick, though, because molten marshmallow on your cheek is never fun!
Host a shish kabob grill out
Have a dinner party centered around your grill, and use official bamboo skewers to make kabobs of lamb, beef, chicken, tofu, and/or veggies, in this more sophisticated open-flame celebration of taste.
Make your own popsicles
If you don’t want to invest in specialized popsicle makers for your freezer, with the prefabricated drip-proof handles, there’s a simpler alternative — fill your regular ice-cube trays with Kool-Aid or other sweet liquid, cover the trays with plastic wrap, and insert a toothpick through the plastic into each cube, to serve as a handle after freezing takes place. Mini-pops!
FIVE AMAZING FACTS ABOUT HOT DOGS
An unusual brainchild
Officials in the German cities of Frankfurt and Coburg will dispute the claim, but it’s generally accepted that the hot dog as we know it was invented by Viennese citizens Emil Reichel and Sam Ladany, who introduced the food item to American diners at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.
“That doesn’t belong in a tube.”
Apollo 7 astronauts had the freeze-dried ice cream removed as part of their space-bound menu, but one meal that survived on through Apollo 11 was the great American hot dog.
The numbers don’t lie
In 2015, Americans spent more than 2.5 billion dollars on hot dogs, and it’s estimated that between Memorial Day and Labor Day, U.S. citizens will consume 7 billion hot dogs.
Too much of a good thing?
In the 2015 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, a contestant named Matt Stonie, a.k.a. ‘Megatoad,’ ate 62 hot dogs in just 10 minutes.
“It’s mine, all mine!”
In 1927, Stanley S. Jenkins applied for a U.S. Patent — granted in 1929 — for a machine that combined a regular hot dog with cornmeal batter and fried it into — you guessed it — a corn dog.
Why We Love National Something On a Stick Day
It cuts down on cleanup time
What do you do with a popsicle stick, or a corn dog stick, or a shish kabob skewer, when you’re done eating? Toss it. We can’t say for a fact that food tastes better when you know you don’t have to do the dishes after you eat, but it sure seems that way!
It leaves one hand free
Whether being on your smartphone or tablet at the dinner table is accepted depends on your family’s preferences, but if you’re alone and busy, it sure helps to be able to eat with one hand — your food on a stick — and send out that PDF with the other.
It reminds you that summer is on the way
When you celebrate National Something On a Stick Day on March 28, warmer days are right around the corner, so it’s especially good to practice your ice-cream-bar eating skills and perfect the ‘dripless finish.’ Sweet, cold, and mess-free. What could be better?
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