National Cancer Survivors Day® is an annual, unforgettable Celebration of Life for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Now in its 33rd year, NCSD is one of the largest cancer survivor events in the world.
Held annually on the first Sunday in June, National Cancer Survivors Day® is a day for cancer survivors and their supporters to come together and celebrate life after cancer. On this day, tens of thousands of people will gather in cities across the globe to pay tribute to the cancer survivors living in their communities, to bring attention to the ongoing challenges they still face, and to advocate for resources, research, and legislation to improve their quality of life.
You can bring the National Cancer Survivors Day® celebration to the cancer survivors in your city this June with these 6 steps.
Step 1: Register Your NCSD Event
The first step to planning your NCSD celebration is to register your event (free of charge) with the National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation at ncsd.org/register.
Once you’ve registered, you’ll gain access to the exclusive National Cancer Survivors Day® Speakers Bureau Roster (which has contact information for nationally recognized celebrities and keynote speakers), plus other valuable resources, like free copies of Coping® with Cancer magazine and cancer survivor resource guides to distribute at your NCSD celebration.
There is no cost or obligation to register, but you must register your NCSD event each year to use the copyrighted National Cancer Survivors Day® name and logo.
Step 2: Choose a Location
While many NCSD events are held at hospitals and cancer centers, don’t be afraid to get creative with your location. Think amusement park, sports venue, conference center, art museum, or a local church or synagogue. You could even close off Main Street and have an NCSD block party or parade that gets your whole city involved!
Step 3: Select Your National Cancer Survivors Day® Event Theme
Planning your NCSD event around a central theme is a terrific way to add interest and create excitement about your celebration. An event theme also helps tie everything together. Check out our NCSD event themes page for some creative ideas.
Step 4: Iron Out the Details
Whether you want to host a themed celebration, an educational health fair, or a heart-pumping 5k run, the success of your National Cancer Survivors Day® event depends on how well you plan out the details. Here are a few things to consider:
- Decorations The right decor will set the tone for your event from the moment guests walk in the door. Hit up your local party supply store for decorations and novelties that go with your NCSD event theme. Then check out the NCSD Merchandise Catalog for NCSD balloons, banners, and other items to help set the stage for your Survivors Day event.
- Food Many NCSD event coordinators like to host brunches, dinners, and picnic lunches as part of their Survivors Day celebrations. Sheet cakes printed with the NCSD logo are also popular. Even if you aren’t hosting a sit-down meal, it’s always nice to have some snacks or sweets on hand for survivors to munch on. And be sure to offer up plenty of water if you’re planning an outdoor NCSD event. Having water stations stocked with our NCSD Stadium Cups is a wonderful way to help cancer survivors stay hydrated without the waste of disposable plastic bottles.
- Entertainment Lots of NCSD event coordinators like to line up a keynote speaker for their Survivors Day celebration. (You can find some great ones in the NCSD Speakers Bureau Roster.) But there are tons of other ways to entertain your guests. Have you thought about live music, dancing, arts and crafts, carnival games, a candle-lighting ceremony? Your event can be as unique and creative as you want it to be.
Step 5: Order Official NCSD Merchandise
When cancer survivors leave your event, give them something to remember it by with official National Cancer Survivors Day® keepsakes, available to order from the NCSD Merchandise Catalog. And don’t forget your National Cancer Survivors Day® t-shirts! Featuring our trademark survivor celebrating life – a symbol of triumph for the millions of people living with and beyond cancer – the NCSD t-shirt is available in sizes Small to XXXL.
Step 6: Promote Your Event
If cancer survivors don’t know about your National Cancer Survivors Day® event, then they won’t come to your NCSD event. Make sure the cancer survivors in your community don’t miss out – start spreading the word about National Cancer Survivors Day® several weeks in advance. The NCSD website has the tools you need to get the word out. You can even download customizable press releases and PSAs to send to local media.
Let the National Cancer Survivors Day® Event Planning Begin!
So that’s it – how to plan a National Cancer Survivors Day® celebration in 6 simple steps.
National Cancer Survivors Day® is a day you don’t want to miss. From its small beginnings as a grassroots survivorship movement in 1987, National Cancer Survivors Day® is now one of the largest cancer survivor events in the world. It is a day to celebrate how far we’ve come in cancer survivorship. But it is also a day to draw attention to the challenges cancer survivors still face, and to advocate for more resources, research, and legislation to improve cancer survivors’ quality of life.
National Cancer Survivors Day® 2020 is Sunday, June 7. Let the NCSD event planning begin!
