The International Au Pair Day is a global celebration of all au pairs and their contribution to cultural exchange around the world.
By annually celebrating together, we hope to:
- Raise the profile and visibility of au pairs, and legal au pair programs, around the world.
- Recognise and thank au pairs for what they do for host families and their children and for the part they play in fostering global understanding.
- Unite the au pair community and establish 24 November as a recognised day of annual au pair celebrations.
The International Au Pair Day is an initiative of IAPA International Au Pair Association and was presented at IAPA´s Annual General Meeting in Luxembourg in March 2019.
In 2025, we were proud to be able to celebrate the day for the 7th time and were happy to see how engagement on and around the day has grown and how more and more people were joining us in celebrating au pairs.
Our Theme in 2026:
"The Moment of Beloning"
From Stranger to Family Member
This International Au Pair Day, we’re asking au pairs, host families, and the agencies who support them to share moments and experiences of belonging.
There’s a moment in an au pair and host family relationship when it stops feeling like a stay. It starts to feel natural. It starts to feel like home. That’s the moment an au pair changes from being a stranger in the house to being a family member around the table.
This moment doesn’t happen on day one. It’s built gradually, through small things done right.
- When did you first feel at home?
- When did it start to feel natural to be part of this family?
- When did your surrounding feel like your 2nd home?
- What helped you get there, and what would you tell someone just starting out?
Together, these stories paint a real, practical picture of what belonging actually looks like inside the au pair program. We invite au pairs, host families, and agencies to share stories, photos, or videos about their experiences of belonging.
Make sure to always use #InternationalAuPairDay when posting something.
24 November 2019 marked the 50th Anniversary of the release of the “European agreement on au pair placements” by the Council of Europe in 1969.
For the first time an official set of rules and regulations was defined and established in many European countries. This European agreement serves as the basis for European and other programmes worldwide to define the au pair´s and host family’s duties and rights.
- All au pairs worldwide – former, current and future
- Host families and their children
- Au pair agencies and sponsors
- National au pair associations
- Everyone who believes in the value of au pair programmes – and the contribution they make to cultural understanding and awareness around the world
- Au pair programme ‘partners’ and other stakeholders (e.g. insurance companies, language institutes)
There are no limits to your options for celebrating au pairs but here are a few suggestions and we encourage you to share yours too:
For host families:
Think of International Au Pair Day like Mother’s or Father’s Day
– but for your au pair.
- Surprise your au pair with a thank you note or video
- Organise a surprise celebration for him/her
- Take your au pair somewhere nice
- Show your appreciation with a small gift
- Give your au pair a day off to have a fun day with other au pairs…
- Cards or artwork created by your children
- A video message from your children saying why they love their au pair
- A special family meal at your au pair’s favourite restaurant
- Show your appreciation with a small gift e.g flowers, a special book
- A framed picture of your family with your au pair – or take that photo on IAPD!
- An outing or treat e.g mani or pedi
For au pair agencies and National Associations:
- Arrange a multicultural celebration for your au pairs:
a picnic, an outing or a sight-seeing tour. Maybe invite host families and their children too. - Organise a team activity which brings everyone together e.g. a ‘bake off’ or charity sports match
- Reach out to former au pairs for testimonials and stories about their au pair experience
- Reach out to host families for testimonials about how their au pair(s) have made a difference to their family
- Share our ‘internationalaupairday.com’ website link with host families and au pairs
- Find the event on Facebook and Instagram – then ‘like’, ‘share’ and ‘comment’
- Get active on social media publishing testimonials, au pair stories, au pair Instagram takeovers, au pair videos
Use the following hashtag whenever you mention International Au Pair Day #InternationalAuPairDay
For au pairs:
- Meet up with other au pairs to show appreciation for one another
- Arrange an au pair celebration together!
- Give a ‘shout out’ to fellow au pairs on social media
- Tag International Au Pair Day on social media with a chance to win a small prize (from your agency) via a raffle or similar
- Take some ‘me time’ to relax and reflect on your au pair journey
- Create a video or photo album of your favourite au pair moments
This list will be continuously updated. If you have a great idea how to celebrate au pairs on 24 November that you want to share, drop us a line via e-mail to info@internationalaupairday.com or leave a comment on Facebook or Instagram.
Watch our video from the celebrations around the world on the first International Au Pair Day in 2019 below.
Find more videos of the footage we collected from the years 2021 to 2025
- International Au Pair Day 2021(opens in new tab)
- International Au Pair Day 2022(opens in new tab)
- International Au Pair Day 2023(opens in new tab)
- International Au Pair Day 2024
- International Au Pair Day 2025
