Most of us have been doing a lot of time traveling lately, remembering past days when we could jump on a plane and be somewhere totally different in just a few hours. Or daydreaming about future trips and where we may be able to go in the hopefully not so distant future. Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day takes our memories and fantasies to the next level and gives us a chance to break out of our daily ruts and imagine a totally different reality. If you’ve been looking for a reason to dream and get a little silly then celebrating Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day could be just what you’re looking for. Gas up that DeLorean and let’s get going! 

Here are 6 ways to get your time travel on: 

Dress up!

Many of us have been wearing our pajamas a lot more lately and opportunities to dress up for events are happening less and less. Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day is a great excuse to mix it up and put together a costume from another time period. Why not turn some sheets into a toga, put together an outfit worthy of exploring the old west or don your dressiest duds and pretend to be at 1950’s cocktail party? Or use tin foil and other household items to dress up like a futuristic time traveler. Dressing up can boost your mood, give the members of your household a fun occasion to get excited about and bring more than a few smiles.

Watch a Historical Movie or Series

While not as exciting as the Delorian in Back to the Future, Netflix, Hulu and other streaming platforms may be the best and most easily accessible time traveling machine we have. Just pick the time period you want to travel too and find a film or series that can take you there. The struggle, sword fights and inconvenience the characters in these historical dramas endure can also help you feel pretty grateful for the modern advantages we have today. Combine with dressing up in the costumes of the day for an extra fun event. 

Write a time traveling letter to a friend

Writing a letter to a friend or family member while pretending you are  living in the past or future is a fun challenge. Start by picking a time period that interests you and then imagining or researching what the concerns of the day might be. Are you living on Mars in the year 3,000 with no one for company but a robot named Steve? Are you sailing the high seas on a pirate ship seeking treasure and not sure when you’ll be home again? Or maybe you want to travel back to Harlem in the 1940’s and write your letter on the cocktail napkins of a smokey jazz club? Whoever receives your letter will have just as much fun reading it as you will writing it, so don’t forget to add the stamp and get it in the mail.

Watch a Time Traveling Movie

If you love watching characters deal with awkward and dangerous situations then you can’t go wrong with the time traveling genre. And since Stephen Hawking thought time travel was a real possibility, maybe these movies are more realistic than we think. Though Back to the Future is probably the most famous time traveling movie, there were some before and many after this 1985 classic was released. On the lighter side there are films like Groundhog Day and Hot Tub Time Machine. If you are feeling like a more intense experience check out The Terminator, Planet of the Apes Looper or 12 Monkeys. 

Use historical words or make up futuristic ones

Making up or using historical words is just down right fun, which is why National Talk Like a Pirate Day has become so beloved. But pirates weren’t the only ones with cool words. If your house is a futuristic spaceship traveling to another planet then maybe the microwave is called a zip zap and your cat is a furry robot. Or maybe you want to travel really far back to prehistoric times when we didn’t have much language at all. Can you get through your day with just grunts and gestures, especially that zoom meeting with your supervisor?

Read a Time Traveling Book

Authors have long been fascinated with time travel and all the interesting possibilities it creates. Classic time traveling novels include A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, Kindred by Octavia Butler, The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov or The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. For more contemporary versions of the time travel genre try The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu or An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim. Or if you are feeling creative try writing your own short story with a time traveling theme.

How will you celebrate Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day?