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?
- 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?
- 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.
- 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?
- 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?
- 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.
