Records were made for breaking. In fact, there’s a whole day dedicated to it!

This Guinness World Record Day, you don’t need to out-jump Jessica Ennis or overtake Usain Bolt to see your name added to the illustrious Guinness Book of World Records. Instead, there’s a whole host of other weird and wonderful achievements that don’t require such athletic prowess.

What are you waiting for? Grab your sweatbands, turn on ‘Eye of the Tiger’ and see if you can break some of these ridiculous records.

Most Smarties/M&Ms eaten in one minute

If you ever struggle for something to do at lunchtime, may we recommend investing in a pair of chopsticks, a blindfold and a tube of Smarties? With the blindfold wrapped around your head, try and see how many sweets you can pick up with chopsticks and eat within a minute. Ashrita Furman (USA) managed 20. Now it’s your turn, grasshopper.

Largest bubble gum bubble blown

On your marks, get set, BLOW! The current holder of the biggest bubble gum bubble (a mouthful in itself!) record is Chad Fell (USA). The Alabama-based blower blew a bubble with a diameter of 50.8cm (20 inches) – about the same size as a large football!

Fastest time to peel and eat an orange blindfolded

Perhaps one of the healthier world records, this activity involves peeling and eating an orange as quickly as possible. Fortunately, it involves two people, meaning you can get a friend in on the action. The time to beat is 17.15 seconds, so it may take some practice! Try having a go during your next home bingo night.

Largest cup of tea

As if the absence of a cup of tea emoji isn’t annoying enough, the record for the largest ever brew goes not to the tea-loving UK, but the Burgher Recreation Club in Sri Lanka. Come on Britain, create an 11ft mug of the stuff and bring the record back home!

Most straws stuffed in the mouth

If you followed our recent post for creating five magnificent mocktails, it’s possible that you will have a whole heap of unused straws laying around the house. If so, you will need more than 400 of them to beat Simon Elmore’s (UK) record for most straws stuffed in the mouth. However, as impressed as we are, we wouldn’t recommend it.

Most telephone directories torn in one minute by a woman

Got a stack of telephone directories cluttering up a cupboard? Do what Lindsay Lindberg (USA) did and see how many you can tear up in a minute.

We aren’t just talking about a couple of pages here: the tenacious Texan holds the record for tearing through five telephone directories from front to back cover, each with 1000 pages!

If you’re looking to give it a go, maybe practice on something a little less weighty, first, like a magazine.

Largest game of bingo

We couldn’t compile a list of world records without paying homage to the greatest game on earth: bingo! The largest recorded bingo session was set in Bogotá, Colombia, where 70,080 participants played a gigantic version of the game.

You may need to flick through one of those telephone directories if you want a chance of breaking the record…

Memorising Pi

Maths question: can you remember the first three digits of Pi? If you said 3.14, you’re well on your way to breaking the world record.

The current record holder, Rajeev Meena, memorised Pi to 70,000 places, which is pretty incredible when you know that it also took him nearly 10 hours to recite the whole figure. Time to get some of those old school books out!

Farthest distance to blow a pea

If you struggled with bubble blowing, you may want to pass on this one. This record involves using one consecutive breath to blow a pea as far as possible. The current record goes to Andre Ortolf from Germany, who blew a pea an incredible 7.51 metres (24 feet, or 7.66 in)! *Heads straight for the freezer*

Fastest time to decorate a Christmas tree

For many, decorating the Christmas tree is an exciting experience that’s enjoyed at a leisurely pace. But not for Sharon Juantuah (UK). Born in Essex, Sharon holds the world record for decorating a Christmas tree in the fastest time – an eye-watering 36.89 seconds! So when you’re unboxing the tinsel this December, why not give it a go? We’re sure yule be great (sorry).

Is there a world record you’d like to beat? Do you know a world record holder? We’d love to hear from you!