The 7th November is National Hug a Bear Day!
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The 7th November is National Hug a Bear Day.
The idea is to help us all understand how important hugging is and how it can benefit us all. This isn’t just about hugging each other – it’s about hugging teddy bears as well!
This day is about giving your lovely teddy bears and the people you love a hug! Show them you care about them and love them. We can give our pets a hug or a special cuddle on National Hug a Bear Day.
So it’s a good chance to raise awareness of the joys a bear can bring us and to raise awareness of bear charities helping bears, be they in the wild or captive. Here’s a list of bear charities – many will have ways you can sort of envelop a wild bear with love and a hug by doing something to help them.
Why not adopt a bear or become a bear carer with Free the Bears who rescue bears from captivity? These bears are in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Some are rescued from bear bile farms and others have been kept as pets. Free the Bears have bear sanctuaries where they can recover and enjoy life with all the best food, veterinary care and love! They have a wonderful calendar featuring their rescued bears - perfect for bear lovers in 2026!
You could send a bear a gift – a pot of honey, for instance. Bears love honey! And if you buy the bears the gifts of a Cub Care Kit (£18.00), Enrichment Mix (£8.00), a Pot of Honey (£11.00), a Treat Ball (£61.00) or a Bear Hammock (£51.00) gifts, you can dedicate your gift to a friend or loved one & email them an e-card. See the gifts you can send bears who've been rescued by charity Free the Bears here
Alternatively, why not send or give someone a teddy bear?
When my aunt was in hospital, I bought her a tiny teddy bear (so it wouldn’t take up much room) to remind her that we all loved her and wanted to help and support her. She could look at her bear and know that she wasn’t alone. The bear represented all of us.
Just look at that face!
Don't you want to hug Hamleys® Bear With Bowtie? So handsome!
Take a look at the teddy bears at Hamleys
and lots of bears - including Paddington, of course!
Or why not just give someone you love a big hug to celebrate National Hug a Bear Day!
Introducing Hamleys Harry Potter Gryffindor Bear
You can see more Harry Potter Bears from Hamleys here
Hugging is a very soothing action, if you like a hug – and some people don’t, so you need to bear that in mind. The verb “to hug” comes from “hugga”, which is an Old Norse word meaning to soothe. And it’s related to the German word “hegen” which translates into the verb “to cherish”. So you can see why National Hug a Bear Day was created to show how good it is to hug and to be hugged.
Hello! I'm little Brother Bear, so cute and cuddly!
I'm from English Heritage
(they've got other bears and soft toys too, but we won't mention them...)
Hugging someone means putting your arms around them and holding them tight. But the word “hug” an also refer to something that hugs ground or water e.g. the road hugs the coast – so the road stays close to the coast.
This is a good chance to think about our loved ones and what they mean to us, and the great thing about hugging is that it’s free! Happy National Hug a Bear Day!
