January 13, 2022

2022's National Days

2022's National Days

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 the 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’s 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. Although we are living in strange times, this provides 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 aNational 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.

2022
January

1-31st - Dry Jan

1-31st - Veganuary

1-31st - Ginuary

16th - World religion Day

17th - Blue Monday

17th - Brew Monday (The Samaritans host a day to encourage others to open up)

25th - Burns Night

 

February

1st - Chinese New Year 2022

5th - World Nutella Day 

6th - Yorkshire Pudding Day

9th - National Pizza Day  

14th VALENTINE’S DAY

17th - Random Acts of Kindness Day

19th - 27th - Real Bread Week

27th - national Strawberry Day 

21st - 6th - FairTrade Fortnight

 

March

1st- Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day

1st - National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day 2022

1st-30th - Marie Curie Daffodil Appeal

3rd - World Book Day 

7th - 14th - British Pie Week

8th - International Women's Day

10th - International School Meals Day

17th - ​​St Patrick's Day

18th Comic Relief/Red Nose Day

19th - Global Recycling Day

22nd - National Ravioli Day

22nd - World Water Day

27th - Mothers day

 

April

1st - April Fool's Day

2nd - National Peanut Butter Day

2nd - Sourdough Bread Day

2nd - Ramadan begins

7th - Worth Health Day

9th - National Siblings Day

12th - National Grilled Cheese Day

15th - Good Friday (bank hol)

17th - Easter Sunday 

18th  - Easter Monday *Bank Holiday*

21st - National Tea Day

22nd National Jelly Bean Day

22nd - Earth Day

23rd - St George's Day

 

May

2nd - UK Bank Holiday 

2nd - Ramadan ends

4th - Red Cross Week

4th - Star Wars Day

15th-22nd - National Vegetarian Week

23rd-30th - English Wine Week

27th - Fish and Chip Day

29th - National Biscuit Day

June

All month - LGBT Pride

All month - Pride Month

All month -National Candy Month

1st - World Milk Day 

2nd - Spring Bank Holiday

3rd - Queen's Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday

5th - National Gardening Week

11th - World Gin Day

14th - Nutrition and Hydration Week

19th - 26th - National Picnic Week

19th - Fathers Day 

 

July

All month - Talk to Us (Samaritans)

All month - National Picnic Month

All month - Clean Beaches Week

All month - Plastic Free July

4th - 11th - National BBQ Week

4th - 11th - National Donut Week

5th - NHS’ Birthday

7th - World chocolate day

13th - World French Fry Day

24th - National Tequila Day

 

August

1st - Yorkshire Day

1st - Bank Holiday 

2nd - 9th - Afternoon Tea Week

5th - International Beer Day

6th - International Hangover Day

13th - National Prosecco Day

13th - International leftovers day

25th - Burger Day

29th - Bank Holiday

 

September

All month - Sourdough September

All month - Organic September

1st - National Tofu Day

3rd - International Bacon Day

5th - 9th - Zero Waste Week

13th - Jeans for Genes Day

17th - 3rd - Oktoberfest

17th - Great British Beach Clean

19th - 26th - Recycle Week

24th - Macmillians Biggest Coffee Morning

26th - World Dumpling Day

 

October

All Month - Black History Month

All Month - Go Sober October

All Month - Stoptober

1st - National Brunch Weekend

3rd - 10th - National Curry Week

14th - World Egg Day

19th - World G&T Day

25th - World Pasta Day

31st - Halloween 

November

All month - Movember

All MOnth - National Stress Awareness Week

All Month - Veg Pledge

All Month - World Vegan Day

5th - Bonfire Day 

7th - Alcohol Awareness Week

11th - Remembrance Day

13th - Remembrance Sunday

13th - World Chicken Day

20th - National Sangria Day

December

24th - Christmas Eve

25th - Christmas Day

26th - Boxing Day

31st - New Year’s Eve

 

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