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Every day is a day of something, big or small. So, for those looking for niche and alternative holidays, we made a calendar so you don’t miss a thing!
Day Without Art is an annual event that occurs on December 1. On this day, since 1988, art galleries, communities, and businesses have been mourning AIDS victims and spreading HIV awareness. Contributions include shutting down museums for one day, blank exhibitions like “A Space Without Art”, donating to AIDS-related charities, or even sending staff to volunteers.
If you’re making a newsletter for an art-related organization, it’s appropriate to send a special email. However, don’t send anything promotional unless you’re encouraging subscribers to donate — spreading awareness in your Day Without Art newsletter is a much better choice.
Cyber Monday occurs on the first Monday after Thanksgiving; in 2024, it falls on December 2. It’s a big shopping event similar to Black Friday but with a focus on online store sales. So, if you’re running an e-commerce business, be sure to send some tasty discounts to your subscribers!
Retrofuturist motifs and neon colors are common in the Cyber Monday email design — here’s a fun example we found on Really Good Emails. The pixel art, the green text on the black background that resembles coding software, what’s not to like about it?
Giving Tuesday occurs on the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving — in 2024, it’s December 3. It’s dedicated to generosity and charity. On this day, you can donate money, food, or other necessities to fund people in need, give blood, spread awareness on the causes that need contributions, and so on.
Is this day even appropriate for emails? Yes — for example, you can send an email stating that you donate all or some of the proceeds to a charity. Or just encourage people to donate, like in this example from Partners Coffee.
In 2024, Faux Fur Friday occurs on December 6, the first Friday of the month. This holiday celebrates fake fur in all shapes and colors. If you’re running a fashion brand or a clothing store that sells faux fur coats, it’s your day. Throw a solid discount, provide tips on styling faux fur clothes, underline that your brand is free from animal cruelty (if it is, obviously), and so on.
Green Monday occurs on the second Monday of December (December 9 in 2024) and it’s another busy shopping event similar to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. You can interpret green however you want: money, eco-friendliness, Christmas approaching, or just the color green.
Or green smoothies you’ll make with the blender you’ll buy with a discount, like in this email campaign from Blendjet:
National App Day occurs on December 11, and, you guessed it, it’s all about mobile apps.
For mobile startup owners, it means everything from subscription discounts to in-app bonuses — the latter will work well in gaming email marketing. However, e-commerce business owners can take part too. For example, offer discounts specifically for purchases made in your store’s mobile app, if you have one.
Every month has a wacky food-related holiday. In December, it’s National Cocoa Day — the 13th day of the month is dedicated to this hot and rich drink that’s perfect for the cold season.
By the way, your business doesn’t have to be food-related to take part in the celebration! For example, Outdoorsy, an RV rental service, shares cocoa recipes and also some rental vehicles, which is all you need for a solid winter road trip.
In 2024, Free Shipping Day falls on December 14, and it was created in 2008 to extend the online shopping season. So, if you want to order Christmas presents online and save on delivery, it’s your time to shine.
The holiday’s name is pretty self-explanatory: offer your subscribers free shipping in a short and sweet email campaign. National Free Shipping Day doesn’t have its own colors and symbols, so feel free to use Christmas and winter-themed graphics like snowflakes and gift boxes in your email design. This email from Craftsy is a nice example:
December 15th is the day to celebrate kitschy red and green sweater designs with deer, Christmas trees, snowflakes, and other holiday-related things. If your store is selling one of these, give your subscribers a discount on all ugly sweaters.
You don’t have to go out of your way in terms of email design and creativity for such a small observance — however, we like this “knitted” email from Ragstock. An email about the Ugly Sweater Day which is itself an ugly sweater, what a concept.
Regifting Day is celebrated on the third Thursday of December — in 2024, it falls on December 19. This day is about giving the gifts you don’t need to others as a sustainable practice. So, if you want to take part, send a newsletter talking about sustainable gifting, promoting upcycled or recycled products, or offering an eco-friendly gift guide.
Panic Saturday, also known as Super Saturday, is the final busy shopping event that occurs the last Saturday before Christmas — in 2024, it’s December 21.
The name speaks for itself: it’s the last opportunity to buy Christmas gifts for your loved ones. For email people, it means an opportunity to stimulate sales with last-chance offers. You can even add a countdown timer GIF to create the ultimate panic-inducing email!
Another (less evil) strategy is actually helping your subscribers reduce the pre-Christmas gifting panic by sending gift guides, life hacks — or, like Spiceology, instructions on where to buy your products.
Yule is a neopagan winter festival that coincides with the winter solstice (December 21) but, depending on the tradition, doesn’t have to be directly related to it. The celebrations are similar to Christmas and include signing, tree decorating, exchanging gifts. If your brand has to do anything with neopaganism, esotericism, or the occult, send an educational newsletter about the history of Yule and appropriate rituals.
If not, use the darkest night of the year for anything you’d like to send. There are many “solstice savings” newsletter examples online. However, we love this one sent by Rooted — it’s a great example of how you can combine promotional content with something your subscribers would actually find useful.
December 25th, despite being the Catholic Christian holiday first and foremost, is the climax of the winter holiday season in many countries. Most people don’t associate it with the birth of Jesus Christ anymore — instead, they think of decorated trees, Santa Claus, ugly sweaters, gingerbread cookies, and the red and green color palette.
Team Selzy loves Christmas as much as you do — so we prepared a detailed guide on Christmas email ideas with awesome examples to inspire your campaigns this holiday season!
Boxing Day has nothing to do with fighting — it’s a holiday celebrated the day after Christmas (December 26th) in many countries. The name is traced back to the tradition of donating to those in need, including putting money in church donation boxes. Common holiday pastimes include attending sporting events, shopping, charity, or just staying home with your family and treating yourself to Christmas leftovers.
A great idea for a Boxing Day email campaign is to promote the sale as the last sale of the year so you can use the sense of urgency for your own good — here’s an example:
Compared to Christmas, New Year’s Eve doesn’t seem that big of an observance, especially in the Western and English-speaking world. However, even Americans stay up past the Times Square Ball Drop. So, sending a digital postcard to your customers will be more than welcome. C’mon, even the second season of Euphoria started at a New Year’s party!
To make your email marketing life easier, Selzy collected New Year newsletter ideas and tips in the guide that are definitely worth checking weeks before the deadline.
From December 6 to December 12, 2024, celebrate Grace Hopper’s birthday and all things computer science. This week highlights the importance of learning coding and computer science and encourages young people to take part in Hour of Code.
Want to use this observance in your email marketing strategy? Share fun history facts about computer science, offer discounts and deals for coding online courses, invite your subscribers to Hour of Code, or just send some niche memes about programming.
The 125th Christmas Bird Count, hosted by the National Audubon Society, will occur from December 14, 2024, to January 5, 2025. It’s essentially a sight- and sound-based bird census across North America where everyone can take part. The collected population data will help ornithologists compare different regions, look for patterns, especially long-term.
It’s quite a niche observance but it’s a good choice for businesses that deal with anything related to birds or birdwatching. Discounts on binoculars, bird-themed merch, identification books, or even tours to birding hot spots — all of these deserve an email in December.
Hanukkah, Chanukah, or “festival of lights”, is a Jewish winter holiday that is celebrated from December 25 to January 2 this year. It commemorates the recovery of Jerusalem, and observing it includes nightly candle lighting, singing songs, and preparing holiday foods like latkes.
If you want to cater to your Jewish subscribers, you can send a pretty standard promotional “30% off” holiday newsletter — you can’t go wrong with a good deal.
The name of this holiday comes from the Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza”, meaning “first fruits” and the holiday itself is rooted in ancient African ”first fruit” celebrations. Kwanzaa was created in 1966 as a response to the racist Watts Riots, and it honors African American and pan-African communities and their cultural heritage. It’s celebrated from December 26 to January 1.
This holiday is especially relevant for Black-owned businesses — however, even Hallmark has a Kwanzaa movie, so everyone is invited to the party. The best strategy for a Kwanzaa newsletter is sending something educational. Here’s a great example:
We already mentioned Giving Tuesday but what about other days of the week? In fact, the entire December is dedicated to donations, volunteering, and other kinds of charity. So, if you missed the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving, feel free to run non-profit email marketing campaigns right until New Year’s Eve!
December is a hard month for those struggling with SAD, also known as seasonal depression or winter blues. It affects 7.1% of the US population — some of them may be your subscribers!
If you want to contribute to the cause, send an informational newsletter with lifehacks on alleviating the blues or general facts about the disorder. And, if your business deals with health supplements or gadgets, offering help with your products is also a great choice.
Here’s a decent example from Karmacist. In their email, the brand offers nutritional tips for fighting seasonal depression, appropriate supplements, and even a discount.
Here’s a less sad (pun intended) observance for your December email marketing plan. National Learn a Foreign Language Month has been celebrated since the noughties, and it’s all about appreciating other cultures, highlighting the benefits of speaking other languages, and everything related.
Celebrate the cause with your subscribers if your business is related to education. You can promote discounts on books in foreign languages or language courses, share stories about getting lost in translation, provide learning tips, invite your customers to talk about their cultural backgrounds, and so on.
You may craft a perfect email but it won’t get opened if your subject line is boring and drowns in the inbox. Here’s what to try:
Every holiday, federal or obscure, is a thing on its own, and it’s hard to give one-size-fits-all tips on all the campaigns you’d love to send in December. And if you’re an experienced email marketer, basic advice like “use clear CTAs” won’t cut it. However, we can’t leave you without any recommendations, so here are some less obvious things to do while working on your December newsletter:
