Happy Towel Day: A Celebration of the Greatest Dad Hack and My Favourite Author

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Ok… I admit it. I’m a little late. Towel Day was seven days ago. It’s been celebrated every year since 2001 to commemorate one of my favourite authors, Douglas Adams. And I missed it.

Not the carrying a towel bit, mind you. I always have one handy. I simply forgot the celebration. I was too busy celebrating National Wine Day.

“A towel, [The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy] says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.”

From The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

It is a universally known fact that the essential (and often heavy) parenting kit contains a diaper-changing mat, at least one small wiping/drying device, a blanket (woobie), and other items that can be easily replaced by one item – a towel.

I use a microfiber camping towel. It’s perfect.

• Lightweight
• Compact
• Quick-Drying
• Velvety Soft
• Dirt-Repellant
• Available in Multiple Colors

My son loves his. It’s lime green. He’s had it for a long time and has dragged it across beaches, used it as a pillow, hidden behind it for a solid peek-a-boo session, and slept under it during long road trips. It has a stain of dubious origin in one corner and is a bit frayed on another from chewing.

Thank you, Douglas Adams, for the tip and the great adventures.

What hacks have saved your day? Feel free to share in the comments section.