Holiday email marketing calendar 2026: every key date from November to January

What does the 2026 holiday email marketing calendar look like?

The 2026 holiday email season runs from Singles' Day on Wednesday 11 November to the end of the January sales. The peak sits in one tight week: Black Friday falls on Friday 27 November 2026, Cyber Monday on Monday 30 November and Giving Tuesday on Tuesday 1 December. December then turns on shipping deadlines (Green Monday and Free Shipping Day in mid-December, Super Saturday on the last Saturday before Christmas), and January opens with Epiphany on 6 January and the winter sales across Europe.

This page gives you every key date with its weekday, the markets where it matters, what to send and how far ahead to prepare it. Copy the table into your own plan, keep the dates that fit your audience and drop the rest.

Key takeaways

• Black Friday 2026 is Friday 27 November; Cyber Monday is Monday 30 November. The whole peak, from Thanksgiving to Giving Tuesday, fits between 26 November and 1 December.
• Christmas Day 2026 is a Friday, so the last full shopping weekend is 19–20 December and the UK Boxing Day bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December.
• Decide offers and segments 3–4 weeks before each date, finish templates 2 weeks before, tease 7–10 days before and send the main email on the day or the evening before.
• January dates differ by country: France's winter sales start on the official date set by the government, Italy's saldi on the dates set by each region, and Belgium's and Spain's sales in early January.
• Raise sending volume gradually from early November so mailbox providers are not surprised by a sudden spike on Black Friday.

What are the key holiday email dates for November 2026 to January 2027?

The table below lists every date that drives holiday email campaigns in the 2026–2027 season, in calendar order. The "Start preparing" column is the latest sensible date to have the offer and the audience decided; teasers usually go out 7–10 days before the date itself.

Weekdays matter more this year than usual. Christmas on a Friday means a full working week of last-minute buying from 21 to 23 December, and New Year's Day on a Friday gives many people a long weekend to browse the January sales.

How far in advance should you prepare holiday emails?

Work backwards from each date: decide the offer and the audience 3–4 weeks before, have the templates built and tested 2 weeks before, and schedule the teaser 7–10 days ahead. The same countdown works for every row of the calendar above.

Deliverability needs the longest run-up. Since February 2024, Gmail and Yahoo require bulk senders to authenticate with SPF, DKIM and DMARC, to offer one-click unsubscribe and to keep spam complaints below 0.3%. A list that has been quiet since summer and suddenly receives four emails in a week is the classic way to land in spam on Black Friday. Increase volume step by step from early November, starting with your most engaged contacts. The 15 holiday email mistakes to avoid covers the other traps, from untested discount codes to missing plain-text versions.

When should you send each holiday email in 2026?

Send the main email on the morning of the event in your recipient's time zone, and place reminders on the days in between rather than stacking several emails on the same day. Below are the two sequences that matter most this season.

Black Friday to Giving Tuesday: day-by-day sequence

1. Fri 20 Nov — teaser: what is coming and when, with a sign-up for early access.
2. Tue 24 Nov — early access for your best customers (purchased in the last 12 months).
3. Thu 26 Nov, evening — "starts tomorrow" reminder. In the US keep it short and warm; it is Thanksgiving. Our guide to Thanksgiving email campaigns covers the tone.
4. Fri 27 Nov, 6–8 a.m. — Black Friday launch to the full engaged list.
5. Sat 28 Nov — best-sellers and what is running low, to openers who did not click.
6. Sun 29 Nov — resend to non-openers with a new subject line.
7. Mon 30 Nov — Cyber Monday: online-only deal or final hours.
8. Tue 1 Dec — Giving Tuesday appeal or a "thank you" with no offer.

For offer types and subject lines specific to the day itself, see how to make the most of Black Friday with email marketing.

Sending three times more in December than in March? Mailpro is priced by emails sent, not by the number of contacts you store, so the bill follows your calendar. See Mailpro pricing

December: the shipping-deadline sequence

1. Wed 2 – Sun 6 Dec — gift guides by budget or recipient. Our 30+ Christmas newsletter ideas gives you the content for these sends.
2. Mid-December — Green Monday and Free Shipping Day: free delivery, guaranteed before Christmas.
3. A few days before your carrier's cut-off — "last day for standard delivery" reminder. Check each carrier's holiday deadlines page and state your cut-off in the subject line.
4. Sat 19 – Wed 23 Dec — e-gift cards, click-and-collect and express delivery for late shoppers.
5. Thu 24 Dec — short thank-you, opening hours, digital gift card for the very last minute.
6. Sat 26 – Thu 31 Dec — Boxing Day and after-Christmas sale, gift-card spending ideas, year in review.

January: sales and a fresh start

January is for sales in Europe and for re-engagement everywhere. Send the new-year greeting on 1 or 2 January, then the sales launch on the local start date: early January in Belgium and Spain, the official start date set by the government in France, and the dates set by each region in Italy. Mid-January is the right moment to clean the list of contacts who ignored the whole season. The benefits of a New Year newsletter explains what to put in that first email of 2027.

How do holiday dates differ by country?

Black Friday, Christmas and New Year are shared, but the dates around them change from one market to the next. If your list spans several countries, segment by country and use the local date in each send.

The segment that matters most here is not demographic but geographic. Holiday email segmentation shows how to split a list by country, purchase history and engagement so each contact only receives the dates that apply to them.

How many emails should you send between November and January?

A sensible approach is to roughly double your usual frequency during the peak weeks, and to send the extra emails mainly to engaged contacts. A practical rule: your engaged segment (opened or clicked in the last 90 days) can receive two to three emails a week from Black Friday to 23 December; everyone else should get your one or two best messages of the season, not all of them.

• November: one teaser, the Black Friday sequence above (four to six emails for engaged contacts), one Giving Tuesday or thank-you email.
• December: one gift guide per week, one shipping-deadline reminder, one last-minute email, one greeting.
• January: one new-year email, one sales launch, one re-engagement email to contacts who stayed silent all season.

This seasonal calendar sits on top of your normal rhythm, not instead of it. For the year-round cadence, see our emailing calendar examples; for how the holiday quarter fits into the full year, see the email marketing plan 2026.

How do you turn this calendar into your own plan?

1. Pick five to seven dates. Keep the ones your customers actually buy around. A B2B software company may keep only Black Friday, the last working day before Christmas and New Year; a fashion shop keeps nearly all of them.
2. Assign one goal per date. Revenue, donations, sign-ups or goodwill. A date with no clear goal becomes a "happy holidays" email nobody needed.
3. Map each date to a segment. Country first, then engagement and purchase history.
4. Prepare the templates in one batch. One master design, with variations for each date, saves hours in December.
5. Schedule everything you can in November. Pre-scheduled sends free you to watch results and adjust during the peak.
6. Write down the results. Open, click and revenue per date become the starting point for the 2027 calendar.

Frequently asked questions

When is Black Friday 2026?

Black Friday 2026 is on Friday 27 November, the day after US Thanksgiving (Thursday 26 November). Cyber Monday follows on Monday 30 November and Giving Tuesday on Tuesday 1 December.

When should I start sending holiday emails?

Start preparing in October and send the first holiday teaser around 10 days before Black Friday, so on 17–20 November 2026. If you are starting in early November, focus on the Black Friday sequence and the December shipping deadlines first.

Should I send an email on Christmas Day?

Only a short greeting, or nothing at all. Christmas Day (Friday 25 December 2026) is a low-attention day; sales emails perform better on 24 December for digital gift cards and from 26 December for after-Christmas sales.

When do the January sales start in 2027?

In France the soldes d'hiver start in early January, on the official date set by the government. In Italy the saldi start in early January on the dates set by each region; in Belgium and Spain the sales also open in early January. In the UK and the US retailers set their own dates, usually from 26 December; in Germany retailers also choose their own dates, and the traditional Winterschlussverkauf comes in late January.

What is Free Shipping Day 2026?

Free Shipping Day is a US online shopping day when participating retailers offer free delivery guaranteed before Christmas Eve. It is a mid-December date announced each year by the organisers, close to Green Monday.