Booking and details
Plan your visitDates Sat, Apr 18, 2026, 11am
Venue Folger Shakespeare Library
Tickets Free; no ticket required
Celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday at the Folger with fun, family-friendly activities and birthday cupcakes for all!
Join us for stage combat demonstrations, ruff-making, face painting, coloring, and a sonnet competition. Practice writing with a quill, try on some Shakespearean costumes, and see our 17th-century replica printing press in action.
Doors open at 11am for visitors to explore the exhibition galleries and Reading Room, where docents will be on hand to answer questions about the collection and the history of the Folger. Around 3:30pm we’ll sing “Happy Birthday” to Shakespeare and serve birthday cupcakes to all.
Schedule
- 11:30am: Storytime in the Reading Room
- 12pm: Stage combat demonstrations on the Folger front lawn
- 12:30pm: Sonnet competition in the Reading Room
- 1pm: Rock Creek Morris Dancers on the Folger front lawn
- 1:30pm: Printing press demonstration (Shakespeare Exhibition Hall)
- 2pm: Stage combat demonstrations on the Folger front lawn
- 2:30pm: “Swift or Shakespeare?” in the Reading Room, followed by The Fate of Ophelia dance instruction
- 3pm: Printing press demonstration (Shakespeare Exhibition Hall)
- 3:30pm: Birthday cupcakes served on the Folger front lawn
Send birthday greetings to Shakespeare
Write a birthday message to Will with a quill, stamp a favorite Shakespeare line, and seal your letter with a historic letter-locking fold. Open 11am–4pm in the Learning Lab.
Folger Fellows Salon
Join us in the Founders’ Room to hear presentations from Folger Fellows about the research they are doing with the Folger collection.
- 12pm: Jennie Youssef
- 1pm: Debbie Finklestein
- 2pm: Vicky McAlister
Printing press demonstrations
Come to the Shakespeare Exhibition Hall at 1:30pm and 3pm to see our recreation of a 17th-century printing press in action!
Make a day of it
Join us for a 2pm performance of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, and stick around to hear noted Shakespeare scholar Emma Smith deliver the annual Shakespeare’s Birthday Lecture at 7pm. Tickets for As You Like It start at $20. The Shakespeare’s Birthday Lecture is free, but registration is required.
As You Like It
Shakespeare's Birthday Lecture with Dr. Emma Smith
Not able to join us?
Here are some ideas for celebrating Shakespeare’s birthday on your own, such as writing a sonnet or cooking a festive Shakespearean meal.
