January 1, 2023

2023's National Days: The Ultimate Gifting Guide

2023's National Days: The Ultimate Gifting Guide

Each and every year, there’s a bunch of weird and wonderful days that we all see on social media and on the news - a personal favourite of ours would be ‘Naked Gardening Day’... (the imagery works for itself).

 It's important for hospitality businesses to know what’s on the horizon. BUT, what is the point of getting involved as a hospitality operator? ‍Let us tell you. 

Why should you tap into a national day?

  1. Inspiration

First and foremost , it’s inspiration for new content and offerings.  Each day can provide the perfect opportunity to find inspiration and be inventive. Get people talking - create your own weird and wonderful.  Have a look through the national days coming up and see what grabs your attention. Could you create a new package to purchase, run a giveaway, tailor a menu or host a cookalong? Could you simply highlight your favourite dish that relates to that day, or unveil a secret recipe?

  1. Engagement

New, different and inspiring content is going to help drive engagement and help reach a wider audience. Think of expanding into multimedia to keep it creative. 

  1. Giving customers another reason to spend with you

Incentivise your customer base to shop with you. For example, could you partner with local small businesses to create something MORE? 

  1. Showing brand personality

National days are a brilliant way to get your brand’s personality across. Can you be cheeky with your offering? Do you want to be fun or casual? Or is it a serious, high-end offer? Or is it a cause you’re supporting that’s close to your employee’s or customer’s hearts that deserves serious attention? Are you wanting to show that you’re a brand with purpose? 

  1. Brand awareness

Tagging a national day means people outside your universe can stumble upon your content more easily. They could be a burger aficionado but unaware of your establishment - and this will give the burgers on your menu through a National Burger Day promotion a wider audience. 

PR Potential

Journalists regularly write round-ups of what is happening on national days. Google your favourite national day and hundreds of articles by both national and regional journalists are going to crop up. If you have a PR team, they’ll likely already be maximising these opportunities but, even if you don’t, you’re increasing the likelihood of PR exposure. If a journalist happens to be searching for things to include in your area then there’s a chance they’ll spot your offering. If it drives online coverage and includes links then it will support SEO too.

Top tips for maximising national day activity

  • Plan ahead so you don’t miss the boat

Add the most relevant dates to your diary and always try to look ahead by at least a month. Perhaps schedule a regular monthly internal meeting to have a quick chat about what’s coming up in the next few months.

  • Utilise all your channels

Has your website been updated in plenty of time? Have you scheduled a newsletter and some social media posts?

  • Optimise your social media posts

Ensure you’re using the right hashtags and have appropriate lifestyle imagery, graphics, gifs or videos. Consider placing a bit of social media budget behind it. Budgets might be tight (or non-existent) at the moment, but if it’s an extremely popular national day, putting a little bit of social media ad spend behind your national day post can help you get cut through the noise.

  • Limited offers

If it’s a package, consider promoting how many of these are available and for how long - if there are only 100 kits available it or it’s a ‘one day only’ offer, it might just prompt someone to make the purchase then and there.

Your calendar of dates

Here are some of our favourite hospitality-related national days. The majority of these dates stay the same date each year, but some will change, like Mother’s Day. Let us know what your favourite national day is in the comments below.

2023
January

1-31st - Dry Jan

1-31st - Veganuary

1-31st - Ginuary

11th - National Milk Day 

22nd - World religion Day

23rd - Blue Monday

23rd - Brew Monday (The Samaritans host a day to encourage others to open up)

25th - Burns Night

30th - National Croissant Day 

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February

1st - 28th - Black History Month 

5th - World Nutella Day 

5th - Yorkshire Pudding Day

9h - National Pizza Day  

14th - VALENTINE’S DAY

17th - Random Acts of Kindness Day

18th - 26th - Real Bread Week

21st - Pancake Day/Shrove Tuesday 

23rd - National Chili Day

27th - National Strawberry Day 

27th - March 12th - FairTrade Fortnight

 

March

1-30th - Marie Curie Daffodil Appeal

1 - National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day 2022

2nd - World Book Day 

7th - 14th - British Pie Week

8th - International Women's Day

9th - International School Meals Day

13th - 19th - Nutrition and Hydration Week 

14th - National Brunch Weekend

17th - ​​St Patrick's Day

17th-  Comic Relief/Red Nose Day

18th - Global Recycling Day

19th - Mother’s Day

20th - National Ravioli Day

22nd - World Water Day

22nd (until 21st April)- The first day of Ramadan  

April

1st - April Fool's Day

1st - Sourdough Bread Day

4th - International Carrot Day

7th - Worth Health Day

7th - Good Friday

9th - Easter Sunday

10th- National Siblings Day

10th - Easter Monday

12th - National Grilled Cheese Day

21st - last day of Ramadan

21st - National Tea Day

22nd National Jelly Bean Day

22nd - Earth Day

23rd - St George's Day

23rd - Great British Beef Week

May

1st - UK Bank Holiday 

1st - May Day

4th - Red Cross Week

4th - Star Wars Day

8th - Coronation of King Charles III (Bank Hol)

13th - World Cocktail Day

15th-21st - National Vegetarian Week

20th - World Whisky Day

29th - National Biscuit Day

29th - Spring bank holiday

 

June

All month - LGBT Pride

All month - Pride Month

All month - National Candy Month

1st - World Milk Day 

2nd - National Donut Day 

2nd - Fish and Chip Day

4th - 10th - National Gardening Week 

4th - National Cheese Day 

10th - World Gin Day 

15th - Beer day (Britain)

16th - National Fudge Day

18th - 26th - English Wine Week

18th  - Fathers Day 

18th - 26th - National Picnic Week

28th - July 2nd - Eid al-Adha

28th - July 4th - National BBQ Week

 

 

July

All month - Talk to Us (Samaritans)

All month - National Picnic Month

All month - Clean Beaches Week

All month - Plastic Free July

3rd - 9th- Alcohol Awareness Week

5th - NHS’ Birthday

7th - World chocolate day

18th - National Ice Cream Day

24th - National Tequila Day

 

August

1st - Yorkshire Day

4th - International Beer Day

6th - International Hangover Day 

7th - 13th - Afternoon Tea Week

12th - National Prosecco Day

24th - Burger Day

28th - Bank Holiday

 

September

All month - Sourdough September

All month - Organic September

1st - National Tofu Day

2nd - International Bacon Day

4th - 8th - Zero Waste Week

16th - 3rd - Oktoberfest

15th - 24th- Great British Beach Clean

18th - 24th - Recycle Week

25th - World Dumpling Day

30th - Macmillians Biggest Coffee Morning

 

October

All Month - Black History Month

All Month - Go Sober October

All Month - Stoptober

3rd - Taco Day 

10th - World Porridge Day

10th - 16th - National Curry Week

13th - World Egg Day

18th - World G&T Day

25th - World Pasta Day

31st - Halloween 

November

All month - Movember

All Month - National Stress Awareness Week

All Month - Veg Pledge

1st - World Vegan Day

5th - Bonfire Day 

8th - Cappuccino Day

11th - Remembrance Day

12th - Remembrance Sunday

24th - Black Friday 

27th - Cyber Monday

29th - International leftovers day

December

8th - National Brownie Day 

24th - Christmas Eve

25th - Christmas Day

26th - Boxing Day

31st - New Year’s Eve

 

P.S Don’t worry if you're going to forget ALL of these, follow our socials for monthly alerts of what's happening, when.

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