Events and seasons
Seasonal marketing ideas, from Mother's Day restaurant promotions to Halloween
A year of UK dates for pubs, restaurants and cafes, from Mother's Day and Easter to Halloween, Bonfire Night and the bank holidays. For each one you get when it falls, when to start posting, and menu and offer ideas.
9 min read
Seasonal marketing works best when you plan the year ahead and start posting early, whether it is a Mother's Day restaurant promotion in spring or a Halloween party in autumn. Almost every big date in the hospitality calendar is either fixed or follows a simple rule, so you can add them all to your calendar now. Below you will find each UK date as a rule (or as a date checked on gov.uk), when to start posting, and menu and offer ideas you can adapt.
The year at a glance
| Occasion | When it falls in the UK | Start posting |
|---|---|---|
| Burns Night | On or around 25 January (a Scottish celebration) | 2 to 3 weeks before |
| Valentine's Day | 14 February | About 4 weeks before |
| Pancake Day | Shrove Tuesday, 47 days before Easter Sunday | 1 to 2 weeks before |
| Mother's Day | The fourth Sunday of Lent, three weeks before Easter Sunday | 4 to 6 weeks before |
| St Patrick's Day | 17 March (a bank holiday in Northern Ireland) | 2 to 3 weeks before |
| Easter | Moves each year with Easter Sunday | 3 to 4 weeks before |
| May bank holidays | Usually the first and last Mondays in May | 2 weeks before |
| Father's Day | The third Sunday in June | 3 to 4 weeks before |
| Summer bank holiday | Usually the last Monday in August (the first Monday in August in Scotland) | 2 weeks before |
| Halloween | 31 October | 3 to 4 weeks before |
| Bonfire Night | 5 November | 2 to 3 weeks before |
| Christmas and New Year | 25 and 31 December | September, for party bookings |
Because Easter moves, so do Mother's Day and Pancake Day. Find Easter Sunday first, then count back.
Tip
Put a reminder in your calendar on the day you should start posting for each date, not on the date itself. Our social media content calendar guide shows a simple way to lay the year out.
Mother's Day restaurant promotion ideas
Mothering Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Lent, three weeks before Easter Sunday, so it lands on a different date each year, in March or early April. In 2027, Easter Sunday is 28 March (between the Good Friday and Easter Monday bank holidays on gov.uk), so Mothering Sunday is 7 March. Big family groups need planning, so start posting four to six weeks before, which in 2027 means late January or early February.
Menu and offer ideas:
- Mother's Day dining promotion: a set lunch with two or three sittings, a children's menu, and a small touch for each mum, such as a flower or a chocolate with coffee.
- Mother's Day buffet promotion: for large family groups, a buffet or sharing feast in a separate room or area. Post what is included, the group sizes you can take and the deadline for pre-booking.
- Mother's Day cafe promotions: afternoon tea for two, brunch, or cakes to pre-order and take home.
- Gift cards for people who cannot be there on the day.
Post ideas: the menu reveal, a "book her table" reminder with your sittings, a behind-the-scenes shot of the kitchen getting ready, and a thank-you post afterwards. Keep the wording warm and wide, such as "mum, gran or whoever looks out for you". The day is hard for some people, so invite rather than push.
St Patrick's Day
St Patrick's Day is 17 March every year, and a bank holiday in Northern Ireland. Start posting two to three weeks before.
- Irish-inspired specials: a stew, soda bread, or a dish braised in stout.
- A live Irish music session. If you are adding live music, check your music licence covers it: gov.uk explains the licence to play live or recorded music.
- A family afternoon before the evening crowd arrives.
- A Facebook event for the night. Events hosted by a Facebook Page are public, so anyone can see them.
Keep the focus on music, food and atmosphere rather than drinking, and make your alcohol-free choices part of the post.
Easter
Easter moves each year. Good Friday and Easter Monday are bank holidays in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; Scotland has Good Friday but not Easter Monday. In 2027, Good Friday is 26 March and Easter Monday is 29 March (checked on gov.uk on 29 September 2026). Start posting three to four weeks before.
- Easter Sunday lunch, with roast lamb and a spring vegetarian dish.
- A children's Easter egg hunt in the garden, with booked time slots.
- Hot cross buns and Easter baking for cafes.
- A spring menu launch.
- Long weekend opening hours, posted a week before and pinned to the top of your Page and profile.
Father's Day
Father's Day is the third Sunday in June. Start posting three to four weeks before.
- A Sunday roast or steak special.
- A tasting flight of local beers or ciders in small measures.
- A barbecue in the garden, if you have one.
- Gift cards for dads who are hard to buy for.
- A match on the screens, if a big fixture falls that weekend. Check the fixture list before you promise it.
As with Mother's Day, keep the wording wide: "dads, grandads and anyone who has been a dad to you".
Bank holidays
The May bank holidays are usually the first and last Mondays in May. The summer bank holiday is usually the last Monday in August, or the first Monday in August in Scotland. Scotland also has 2 January and St Andrew's Day (30 November), and Northern Ireland also has St Patrick's Day and the Battle of the Boyne (12 July). When a bank holiday falls on a weekend, a substitute weekday, normally the following Monday, becomes the bank holiday.
The 2027 dates on gov.uk, checked on 29 September 2026, are the early May bank holiday on 3 May, the spring bank holiday on 31 May, and the summer bank holiday on 30 August (2 August in Scotland).
Ideas for any bank holiday weekend:
- a beer garden opening or barbecue for the first sunny one
- live music or a family day
- an "open all weekend" post with your hours, posted a week before and again the day before
- a round-up post of everything on over the weekend
Tip
Write a sunny-day post and a rainy-day post in advance, and pick one on the morning. Garden tables if it is fine; the fire, board games and a roast if it is not.
Halloween pub ideas
Halloween is 31 October, which is a Saturday in 2026. Check which day of the week it falls on each year: a Friday or Saturday suits a late party, while a weekday Halloween might mean a family afternoon on the day and a party on the nearest weekend. The clocks go back on the last Sunday in October (25 October in 2026, according to gov.uk), so darker evenings arrive just before it.
Halloween party ideas for pubs:
- a fancy dress night with a prize for the best costume
- a horror film night or a spooky quiz
- a pumpkin carving afternoon for families
- themed cocktails and mocktails, and a dark special on the menu
Halloween pub decorations ideas:
- pumpkins, carved on camera for a short video
- cobwebs, bats and orange or purple lighting
- LED candles in jars, which give the glow without a naked flame
- a decorated photo corner, so guests take and share their own pictures
Start posting three to four weeks before a ticketed party, with a Facebook event and a countdown sticker in your Instagram stories. People can set a reminder from the sticker, and everyone who does is notified when the countdown ends. Post the decorating as behind-the-scenes content the week before. If you run a family afternoon, keep drinks out of those posts. For more event formats, see our pub event ideas.
Bonfire Night
Bonfire Night, or Guy Fawkes Night, is 5 November. Check the dates of any firework displays near you and plan around them. Start posting two to three weeks before.
- Warm-up food before or after a display: soup, sausages in a bun, jacket potatoes, hot chocolate, and mulled cider with an alcohol-free version.
- A fire pit in the garden, if you can run it safely.
- An early evening slot for families.
If you are thinking of hosting your own display, follow the Health and Safety Executive's guidance on organising firework displays and check with your local council first.
Other dates worth planning for
- Burns Night (on or around 25 January): a Burns supper menu of haggis, neeps and tatties, and a whisky tasting in small measures.
- Valentine's Day (14 February): see our Valentine's Day menu and promotion ideas.
- Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday): pancake specials with sweet and savoury toppings.
- When the clocks change: they go forward on the last Sunday in March and back on the last Sunday in October. Lighter evenings mean garden posts; darker ones mean the fire and cosy corners.
- School holidays: term dates vary across the UK, and your local council publishes them. Plan family offers around half-term.
- Christmas and New Year: see our Christmas marketing ideas for pubs and restaurants.
- Local events: your town's markets, fairs, festivals and fixtures.
How Cheers helps
Cheers makes a year of dates easier to manage. Describe each occasion once and the AI writes Facebook and Instagram versions in your venue's voice, ready to review, edit, approve and schedule in the planner calendar. Event posts, such as a Halloween party or an Easter egg hunt, get a date strip on the image and go out as a feed post and story pair, while weekly recurring posts look after regulars like your Sunday roast. Cheers publishes to your Facebook Page and Instagram automatically, checks each post before it goes and emails you if anything fails.