Holiday Email Marketing: A Complete List of Important E-Commerce Events 2023

Why you need a holiday email marketing calendar

You probably know some email marketing milestones like Black Friday or Christmas by heart — why do you need a holiday calendar? It’s not that simple — here’s how it can help you improve your emails:

• It makes planning easier. If you have an email marketing calendar, you can come up with a content plan for the entire year and start working on content copies in advance instead of cramming overnight.
• It helps you keep track of everything. Especially if you’re a solo entrepreneur with no employees to do all the marketing for you! A calendar will bring some structure into your life and make it easier and less stressful.
• It brings mindfulness into your email strategy. The choice of holidays can be an important part of your brand image and policy. Everyone sends Christmas emails — what about Blue Monday? Use the calendar to create outstanding email campaigns and give your subscribers interesting and relevant content no one else has done before.

Email marketing holiday calendar 2023

Now that you know how a holiday calendar can benefit your email marketing strategy, let’s take a look at the list of holidays you can celebrate with some emails from your brand. Keep in mind that our calendar doesn’t contain all the possible options and not all of these dates are mandatory.

January

• New Year’s Day (Jan.1) It’s a good time to start different challenges, create bucket lists to track new useful habits and build your marketing campaigns around New Year resolutions. Don’t forget to use some winter-themed email templates!

• International Mind-Body-Wellness Day (Jan. 3) This holiday reinforces the concept of self-care and highlights the importance of mental wellbeing. Use emails to send your customers wellness tips, checklists to track their mental health, and the selection of your products to improve their overall well-being and become the best version of themselves.
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Jan.16) This day is great for focusing on your company’s values and showing that you care about human rights and equality. In your email newsletter, highlight your company charities, or offer the subscribers to participate in volunteer activities by purchasing some of your products or services.
• Blue Monday (the third Monday of the year) It’s believed to be the most depressing day of the year. Use it as an opportunity to cheer your customers up with discount codes or uplifting articles from your blog.
• Get To Know Your Customers Day (the third Thursday of each quarter) It’s a perfect time to send emails with surveys, ask for feedback, and learn more about your customers.
• Chinese New Year (Jan. 22) Also called Lunar New Year, this holiday lasts for 15 whole days. Use it as an opportunity to send an email sequence and boost sales or, for example, educate your subscribers about the Chinese zodiac or holiday traditions.
• National Compliment Day (Jan.24) Brighten someone’s day and bring people joy by emphasizing their strengths! Don’t sell anything –– simply send a thank you email and show how much you value your customers.

February

• Groundhog Day (Feb.2) It’s the annual ritual in the USA, when a groundhog leaves hibernation to predict when the spring will arrive. Use this holiday as an opportunity to promote winter sales or announce spring-related products via email.
• Galentine’s Day (Feb.13) It’s an unofficial holiday for ladies to celebrate sisterhood and female friendship. It was invented by the creators of the well-known TV show “Parks and Recreations”. Share Galentine party ideas, or even create a girls-only promotional campaign –– but segment your email list first.
• St. Valentine’s Day (Feb.14) It’s a great time to cherish your relationship with the customers. Send the most loyal ones a small personal discount which can be used on Valentine’s Day only. You can also save your customers’ time and give them ready-made lists with ideal gifts for their partners. 

• Singles Awareness Day (Feb.15) It’s Valentine’s day for singles, the holiday to treat yourself and express self-love and gratitude. Choose the products that can improve the single life and send a selection to your subscribers. You can also invite the customers to make gifts for their friends, parents, and other meaningful figures.
• Love Your Pet Day (Feb.20) It’s a chance for pet moms and dads to flood social media pages with the photos of their beloved furry friends. Create a USG for brand awareness — send invitation emails for a challenge or a funny flashmob, where the users can post pictures of their pets under a special hashtag.

March

• National Dress Day (Mar.6) This holiday was created by fashion designer Ashley Lauren. If you sell women’s clothing, that’s definitely your chance! Create selections of dresses for all occasions, and give your customers discounts and promotions. Or, if you have nothing to do with fashion, start a flashmob of photos under the hashtag #NationalDressDay.
• International Women’s Day (Mar.8) Send emails that celebrate and praise girl power! Highlight the idea of women supporting women and show that your brand is concerned about feminism.

• St. Patrick’s Day (Mar.17) It’s a global celebration of Irish culture, lots of green, and lots of beer. Launch a promotional email campaign with a festive flavor. For example, give a discount on everything green in your catalog. As the clover 🍀 is also a symbol of luck, offer subscribers to take part in a raffle.
• International Happiness Day (Mar.20) This holiday recognizes the importance of happiness. Offer a generous discount, free shipping, or simply send heartwarming wishes. It’s also the best time to promote charity and volunteering.

April

• April Fools (Apr.1) Get crazy and have some fun! Play some pranks, exercise your creativity — do everything that may splash the dash of laughter.

• Easter (the date varies every year) Most Easter marketing emails have different purchase incentives. It’s not the only way though — you can send a simple warm email with Easter greetings or celebrating tips.

• National Sibling Day (Apr.10) If you have a sibling, it’s the day to honor your family bondings and express your love and gratitude. Provide your customers with a good selection of gifts with lucrative pricing for their beloved family members.
• Earth Day (Apr.22) In your Earth Day email, highlight that your brand is eco-friendly and share sustainability tricks –– for example, tell the story of your company and show that your products don’t harm the environment. Use storytelling to make your message more powerful. Or launch some charity activities and let customers contribute by purchasing from you.

May

• Cinco de Mayo (May 5) This holiday used to be a military victory celebration — but now it’s associated with honoring Mexican-American culture. It wouldn’t hurt to send an educational newsletter or give a holiday discount!
• Mother’s Day (the second Sunday of May) Celebrate maternal bonds and honor our brave and hard-working mothers!

• National Creativity Day (May 30) It’s a great day to start another UGC — like a contest for photos/sketches/videos/whatever is suitable for your brand. Email campaigns like this can drastically improve the visibility of your business.
• Memorial Day (the last Monday in May) It’s an American holiday for mourning the soldiers who died while serving the country. This holiday has different meanings for different people — be mindful if you don’t want to offend anyone with your campaign.
• National Smile Day (May 31) Share something to cheer your subscribers up. Share a good story or start a generous promotion –– it depends on the industry.

June

• Best Friends Day (Jun.8) For this holiday, offer your subscribers a card to send to their friends or choose a memorable treat for their loved ones. It’s possible to start a social media contest for the best photo or video about friendship as well.
• National Children’s Day (the second Sunday of June) Show that your brand cares about the children’s agenda: give the subscribers an opportunity to donate to related charities. The selections of gifts for kids also come in handy.
• Father’s Day (Jun.19) Get creative and launch some promotional activities dedicated to this day. Let the readers choose the best products for their fathers and great deals with reasonable pricing: use promo codes, time-limited offers, and gift selections.

• Juneteenth (Jun.19) It’s the holiday that celebrates the freedom of the last enslaved people in the US. If you’re running an email marketing campaign for Juneteenth, it is important to be mindful of the target audience and the content.

• First Day of Summer (Jun. 21) That’s the day when astronomical summer begins. You’ve probably prepared a summer collection in advance –– and that’s a perfect time to represent it to your audience. In emails, show what you have in store for hot days and tempt the readers with juicy pictures of summer vacations.
• Social Media Day (Jun.30) –– 4.62 billion people around the world now use social media, so that’s a holiday for literally everyone. Tell about your social media activities via email –– give a challenge and make a USG.

July

• Independence Day (Jul.4th) 4th of July emails lift the patriotic spirits and focus on timeless values: the unity and freedom of the nation. Try to appeal to patriotism and a shared cultural heritage. A good idea is to implement flag colors or its image in your email design template.

• National Bikini Day (Jul.5) Even if you don’t sell bikinis, you can use this holiday as a marketing opportunity. Promote any other products that may be related to the beach activities and have a summer vibe.
• World Chocolate Day (Jul.7) Treat your subscribers not with chocolate but with sweet discounts. Another option is to use choco-themed design templates.
• International Day of Friendship (Jul.30) Celebrate it by promoting personalized gifts with affordable pricing for your beloved ones and reminding readers to hug their friends.

August

• National Lazy Day (Aug.10) Encourage subscribers to tell about their favorite “passivities” –– what do they like to do when they feel like nothing to do? Launch a photo/video challenge with the hashtag #NationalLazyDay.
• Son and Daughter Day (Aug.11) If your business targets parents, motivate them to treat children with some items from your store.
• World Photography Day (Aug.19) Give your talented subscribers a chance to express themselves –– start a social media campaign where they can share their favorite pictures.
• National Beach Day (Aug.30) It’s your last chance to promote summer sales and treat customers with good discounts, so don’t miss it!

September

• Knowledge Day (Sep. 1) It’s a holiday that celebrates the beginning of a new school year. If you target school or college students and their parents, hop on the opportunity and promote back-to-school essentials. Or give a guide on how to adapt to the studying schedule after a summer break.

• Labor Day (the first Monday of September) It’s a day to celebrate and honor the achievements of industrious American workers. It’s also time to make plans for a new season.

• National Grandparents Day (Sept.10) Give your audience the ideas of heartwarming gifts both for grandparents and grandchildren and offer a generous discount.
• International Day of Peace (Sept.21) It’s the awareness day established by the United Nations to remember the key values for all humanity. Raise awareness among your subscribers by launching a volunteer campaign or supporting non-profit organizations.
• First Day of Fall (Sept.23) Summer is officially out: start promoting your autumn and winter collections! Remind customers to get ready for the cold season.
• National Cooking Day (Sept. 25) Even if your business has nothing to do with cooking, use this holiday as an opportunity to become closer to your customers and “humanize” your brand. Share your or your employees’ favorite recipes, start cooking challenges on social media –– choose whatever correlates with your marketing goals.
• World Tourism Day (Sept. 27) Engage with your customers by asking them questions about their favorite destinations, travel stories, etc. If your business has something to do with traveling, send promotional emails too.

October

• World Teachers’ Day (Oct.5) Encourage subscribers to make their teachers feel appreciated and prepare a guide on thoughtful presents from your online store.
• Halloween (Oct.31) The evening before All Saints’ (or All Hallows’) Day is the favorite holiday for people of all ages. Announce holiday drops, give a spooky discount code, and have fun with scary email design templates and pumpkins all over the place.

November

• Veterans Day (Nov.11) This is a holiday to commemorate our heroes, so don’t overwhelm your newsletter with promotions and be mindful when writing it.
• Singles’ Day (Nov.11) It’s a Chinese holiday that is also called Bachelor’s Day. It celebrates single people. Start a Single Day sale and offer subscribers to choose gifts for themselves or share ideas on spending this day with their friends and family.
• International Men’s Day (Nov.19) This holiday is good for promoting or dropping men’s products — or sending heartfelt messages to show how much you value your male audience.
• Thanksgiving (Nov.24) This day, all American families get together to have a meal and appreciate everything they already have. However, this holiday’s history is pretty disturbing — to the point many people consider not celebrating Thanksgiving anymore. You still can do a campaign but be mindful about its content.

• Black Friday (Nov.24) It’s the biggest sale of the year — start promoting your best deals and discounts.

• Small Business Saturday (Nov.25) It’s a chance to tell the customers more about your business and the people behind it. You can send promotional emails as a part of your email marketing strategy during this day as well. 
• Cyber Monday (Nov.27) It’s the biggest online e-commerce holiday. Don’t miss the chance to send some promotional emails!

• Giving Tuesday (Nov. 28) This holiday is celebrated five days after Thanksgiving. It was suggested in 2012 and it promotes the idea that every act of generosity counts. For this holiday, send emails that encourage customers to donate to charities of your choice.

December

• Green Monday (Dec.12) and Panic Saturday (Dec.17) are the busiest retail shopping days in the US. Christmas is in two weeks, so the sense of urgency is in the air! Remind the subscribers about Christmas gifts and promote “last chance” sales with the best pricing you can offer.
• National Free Shipping Day (Dec.14) This holiday was created in 2008 by Luke Knowles to encourage online shoppers. It’s quite appropriate to offer free shipping for all orders this day 😉
• Christmas Eve and Day (Dec.24–25) It’s a great time to offer Christmas gift guides, share celebration ideas or simply express gratitude to your subscribers.

• New Year’s Eve (Dec.31) Support your subscribers in the pursuit of excellence and offer them attractive holiday promotions and gift ideas.

Wrapping up

Make the most out of holidays — use them to increase brand awareness, build stronger customer relationships, and boost sales. And a holiday email marketing calendar will help you keep track of all the important holidays, plan campaigns in advance, and build effective content creation and distribution processes for your business.

Obviously, our holiday calendar doesn’t include all the possible important dates for marketing emails. But this selection can be a good starting point — use it and feel free to add or exclude the holidays that don’t fit in your marketing strategy or add your own.