Have you ever found yourself without a plan for what to sell in your bakery for the holidays? Holidays can be the busiest time of the year for bakeries, that’s why it’s so important to have a seasonal bakery calendar for exactly which holidays you will bake for, and which holidays you will sit out. Check out my tips for creating a holiday bakery schedule and be sure to use my complete list of food holidays to make sure you don’t miss a thing!
Having a seasonal bakery calendar can help you during the busiest times of the year
Avoid being overwhelmed by having a plan
Are you running your business with intention, or are you reacting to what you see other bakers doing and making decisions based on a fear of missing out?
Sitting down to write your seasonal plans down will help you to think clearly about when you want to offer sales and which holidays to skip.
Use holidays and themes as part of your content strategy
If you are often at a loss for what to post on social media, having a seasonal plan will help you to show up on social media more, and give you ideas about what to share.
Not every holiday post needs to be about a sale you are having. You can use seasons to share photos of your past work, and stay connected with your followers.
Allow enough time to promote your pop-ups and pre-sales
How far in advance have you been promoting your sales? If you’re like many bakers, it’s a few posts about a week before your sale, and then you’re so busy baking that you can’t manage to create additional posts and promotions.
When you plan your seasons ahead of time, you can decide exactly how many posts you want, and pre-design your posts so that you can still show up, even when you are busy baking.
Almost every holiday has special food associated with it
Writing a seasonal promotions calendar will give you clarity on when to have a sale and what your promotions will be. Planning ahead helps you to show up more consistently, which your customers will appreciate!
Check out these popular bakery holidays for your seasonal bakery calendar
I love having a plan for what days I’m offering specials. This list of food holidays will help you get organized so that you never miss an important food holiday again! Want even more baking holiday ideas? Check out this awesome resource.
January 2022 food and bakery holidays
January is all about winter fun! There are lots of decorating teams like snowmen, snowflakes, mittens, and more. It’s also a time when students are going back to college, starting their second semester of school, and often celebrating 100 days of school as well. See how many of these fun themes you can incorporate into your January food plan.
- 1-New Year’s Day
- 4- National Trivia Day
- 5- National Keto Day
- 6- Epiphany Day
- 9-Law Enforcement Appreciation Day
- 12- Pharmacist Appreciation day
- 13-National Gluten-Free Day
- 15- National Bagel Day
- 18- Martin Luther King Day
- 20- National Hug Day
- 21-National Banana Bread Day
- 23-National Pie Day
- 27-National Chocolate Cake Day
- 30-National Croissant Day
February 2022 food and bakery holidays
This is always a big month for bakers because of Valentine’s Day, But don’t forget about some of the other holidays that happen in February as well.
Some notable events are Black History Month, Super Bowl, kids are out of school for various holidays, there is the celebration of the Chinese New Year, as well as Mardi Gras!
- 2-Groundhog day
- 3-National carrot cake day
- 7-Super Bowl Sunday
- 12-Chinese new year
- 13- Galentine’s celebrations
- 14- Valentine’s day
- 15-Presidents day
- 16-Mardi Gras
- 17- Random acts of kindness day
- 21- National sticky bun day
- 24-National peanut butter day
March 2022 food and bakery holidays
In March you can look forward to March Madness, Saint Patrick’s Day, the beginning of spring, and kids out of school on spring break.
- 2- Read Across America and Dr. Suess’s b-day
- 5- Employee appreciation day
- 6- National dentist day
- 8- International women’s day
- 14- National pi day
- 17- St Patrick’s day
- 20- First day of spring
- 20-National promposal day
- 21-National french bread day
- 27-Passover
- 28- National something on a stick day
- 29-Palm Sunday
- 29-National mom and pop business owners’ day
- 30-National doctors day
- 31- Caesar Chavez Day
April 2022 food and bakery holidays
There are many things to celebrate in April including administrative professional stay, the Master’s golf tournament, Easter and Earth Day, as well as Major League Baseball and promposals!
- 1- April Fools
- 2- Good Friday
- 2-National peanut butter and jelly day
- 3- National handmade day
- 4-Easter Sunday
- 10- National siblings day
- 15- National tax day
- 17- Husband appreciation day
- 21-Administrative professionals day
- 22-Earth day
May 2022 food and bakery holidays
May is another huge month for bakers because we have graduations, wedding season beginning, Mother’s Day, teachers’ appreciation, recitals, and extracurricular activities with the school year wrapping up. Proms happen in May as well as first communions and Memorial Day weekend
- 2- Kentucky Derby
- 2- International Harry Potter Day
- 4-Star wars day “may the 4th be with you”
- 5- Cinco de Mayo
- 5-Teachers Day
- 6-National Nurses Day
- 9- Mother’s Day
- 13- National Apple Pie Day
- 16- World Baking Day
- 31- Memorial Day
June 2022 food and bakery holidays
June marks the official beginning of Summer and can include themes for summer sports like camping, fishing, and swimming! Father’s Day is in June, as is Flag Day.
Don’t forget that June also marks the beginning of the farmer’s market season for many people as well as the Stanley Cup and wedding season!
- 5- National Donut Day
- 14- Flag Day
- 16- National Fudge Day
- 19-Juneteenth
- 20- Father’s Day
- 21- First Day of Summer
July 2022 food and bakery holidays
If you’re looking for something to promote in July, you can celebrate Independence Day, Summer Olympics (if it’s an Olympics year), summer activities like picnics camping, and swimming, as well as weddings and farmers markets.
- 4- Independence Day
- 15- National Give Something Away Day
18- National Ice Cream Day - 21- National Junk Food Day
- 27- National Creme Brulee Day
- 28- National Milk Chocolate Day
- 30- National Cheesecake Day
August food and bakery holidays
August is traditionally a quiet month for holidays but it does include some fun themes like back to school, off to college, football season, and shark week! You can also focus your celebrations and specials around summer activities Labor Day cookouts and state fairs!
- 4- National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day
- 23- National Sponge Cake Day
- 24- National Waffle Day
September 2022 food and bakery holidays
September we see things picking up again! Kids are going back to school and college care packages are being sent. We can celebrate Labor Day and grandparents’ day. We also have an amazing opportunity to welcome in fall with football season, sweater weather, apple picking, and all things fall-related.
- 3- National Lazy Mom’s Day
- 6- Labor Day
- 12- Grandparents Day
- 13- National Chocolate Day
- 22- FIrst Day of Fall
- 29- National Coffee Day
October 2022 food and bakery holidays
There is so much to celebrate in October! October is breast cancer awareness month, there is pumpkin spice everything, World Series baseball is happening, there are loads of fall activities, as well as Dia de Los Muertos and indigenous people’s day!
- 1- National Homemade Cookies Day
- 4- National Cinnamon Roll Day
- 5- World Teachers Day
- 6-National Coaches Day
- 11- Columbus Day/ Native Americans Day
- 14- National Dessert Day
- 16- Boss’ day
- 18- National Chocolate Day
- 29- National Oatmeal Day
- 31- Halloween
November food and bakery holidays
In November you can focus your sales around election Day, Veteran Day, and Thanksgiving! Don’t forget that Thanksgiving celebrations are more than just on the day itself, office celebrations and Friendsgiving often take place the week before. November also marks the beginning of the advent calendar as well as the elf on the shelf.
- 4- Diwali
- 4- National Candy Day
- 11- Veterans Day
- 17- National Homemade Bread Day
- 25- Thanksgiving
- 26- Black Friday
- 26- National Cake Day
December food and bakery holidays
December has the potential to have many different sales events! You can start early with platters cookie sets edible gifts and care packages for coworker gifts neighbor gifts and Hostess gifts. As the end of the month approaches you can focus more on the specialty desserts that people can serve during their Christmas and other holiday celebrations.
- 4- national cookie day
- 8- National Brownie Day
- 12- Gingerbread House Day
- 15- National CUpcake DAy
- 16- National Chocolate Covered Anything Day
- 21- FIrst Day of WInter
- 23- Festivus
- 24- Christmas Eve
- 25- Christmas Day
- 26- Kwanza
Want to learn more about different bakery seasons?
Check out these articles to get inspiration for your holiday plans:
- Fall Inspired Ideas For Your Bakery Menu: A Photo Round-Up.
- Bakery-Style Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins
- Easy Rolled Christmas Sugar Cookies
- Super Easy Carrot Cake
Be sure to include the wedding and graduation season as well as other busy times in your bakery holiday calendar
Don’t rely solely on the food holidays listed above. If you know of a regional, religious, or another holiday in your area that isn’t listed, be sure to celebrate it!
How will you use this holiday planning list?
Be sure to think ahead with each season and includes as many different bakery seasons as you can in your seasonal planning. You can use the lists and ideas here to get your creative ideas flowing and be sure to check out some of the articles I linked to help you get inspiration for your holiday plans.
Got a holiday that I forgot to mention? Just drop a comment and I will add it to my calendar so that everyone can use this as a starting point for planning their own holiday celebrations!
