Make Your Bed Day is celebrated on September 11th of each year. Bed-making is the act of arranging the bedsheets and other bedding on a bed, to prepare it for use. It is a household chore, but is also performed in establishments including hospitals, hotels, and military or educational residences. In some circumstances beds must be made to exacting standards, demanded of nurses or military personnel.
In a hospital or other health-care environment, beds must sometimes be made while occupied by a patient. Specialised techniques are taught to healthcare staff to enable beds to be made efficiently with due care for the patient.
There are different techniques, such as “hospital corners” and “mitred corners”. Military personnel are often expected to fold the bed very tightly, in some cases so that a coin could bounce off of it.
Guinness World Records reports that the record time for two people to make a bed “with one blanket, two sheets, an undersheet, an uncased pillow, one pillowcase, one counterpane and hospital corners” is 14.0 seconds. This feat was achieved by two nurses from the Royal Masonic Hospital in London in 1993.
In June 2012, Dvice.com reported that Spanish furniture company OHEA had developed a self-making bed, which would rearrange the bedding in 50 seconds at the press of a button.