How to Celebrate Benjamin Franklin's Birthday

Ben Franklin's contributions to the world are so many and varied that it would take a whole book just to list them all. Celebrate his birthday on Jan. 17 with all the pomp and circumstance it deserves. But don't forget to have fun too!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Celebrate the Revolutionary

1. Read the Declaration of Independence of which Benjamin Franklin was the oldest signer. He was 70 years old when he put his name on that famous document.

2. Read Franklin's satirical essay on how a great empire may be reduced to a small one.

Celebrate the Inventor

3. Turn on every electric light in the house and thank Ben Franklin for the discovery of electricity.

4. Warm up next to a Franklin stove in a general store.

5. Cook frozen foods. Ben Franklin was responsible for the observations that eventually led to the modern refrigerator and freezer. Each year, the Franklin Award is given by the frozen food industry in his honor.

6. Wear your eyeglasses. Franklin invented the bifocal lens for eyeglasses.

Celebrate the Organizer

7. Mail a letter. Franklin created the first post office in the American colonies.

8. Visit your local library. Ben Franklin was a member of the Library Company, which opened the first public library in the Colonies in 1731.

9. Drop by your local fire station with a birthday cake. In 1732, Franklin created the Union Firefighting Company, the first volunteer fire company in the Colonies.

10. Take another birthday cake to your nearest hospital. Franklin also was instrumental in establishing the first hospital in what was to become the United States of America.

Celebrate the Author and Philosopher

11. Read Poor Richard's Almanac.

12. Save a penny, because a penny saved is a penny earned!

13. Visit the University of Pennsylvania and the Benjamin Franklin National Monument in Philadelphia.

14. Walk the Freedom Trail in Boston.

15. Learn some French.