The year is full of holidays, and I’m not talking the standard celebration days where work is closed, or the religious holidays or that loved or hated day, your birthday. I’m talking about delicious holidays. Holidays you hear about in passing on facebook or a forward from a friend. There is almost a holiday for every day of the year, and it’s a food holiday. For example, today, September 7th is National Acorn Squash Day, and who doesn’t want to celebrate that?! I thought it would be fun to be able to plan a little in advance, let your customers know with a calendar on your website or in store and celebrate a holiday or two a month. At first I was skeptical, but it turns out, these are all approved and mandated. Some are holidays that last only a day, some a week and some a whole month. It’s kind of funny…if you want to know more about how it is done, check out this blog post from Stay Free Magazine
http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/13/holidays.html. And after you check that out, check out September and October’s holidays and add some fun to Back to School month and the much anticipated (for kids) Halloween. For just about every holiday dealing with a baked good, I can help you. I’ll put a star next to items I have a product that matches it!
September is the start of Wine Season, and Oyster season. It is also National Biscuit Month*, National Bourbon Heritage Month, National Breakfast *, National Chicken Month, National Honey Month*, National Mushroom Month, National Organic Harvest Month*, National Papaya Month, National Potato Month, National Rice Month, and the biggie….National Whole Grains Month***. Shoot me an e-mail or give me a call if you need some help putting any of these types of item on your menu. Now, in September Wine and Oyster season start, and then we have the week long holidays, which include National Waffle Week*, Biscuit and Gravy Week*, which works perfectly with the National Biscuit Month, Vegetarian Awareness week, and National Wild Rice Week. On to the daily holidays, and even though we missed them, I’ll include the first week of September so you can plan ahead for next year, put a few of these dates on your calendar right now!
9/1 – National Cherry Popover Day
9/2 – National Blueberry Popsicle Day
9/3 – National Welsh Rarebit Day and we just missed International Bacon Day, it’s a floating food holiday. It happens the Saturday before Labor Day.
9/4 – National Macadamia Nut Day
9/5 – National Cheese Pizza Day*
9/6 – National Coffee Ice Cream Day
9/7 – National Acorn Squash Day
9/8 – National Date Nut Bread Day
9/9 – Wienerschnitzel Day
9/10 – TV Dinner Day
9/11 – National Hot Cross Bun Day*
9/12 – National Chocolate Milkshake Day
9/13 – National Peanut Day and Snack a Pickle Time
9/14 – National Cream Filled Donut Day and Eat a Hoagie Day*
9/15 – National Linguine Day
9/16 – National Guacamole Day
9/17 – National Apple Dumping Day (Does an apple dumpling a day count the same as an apple a day?)
9/18 – National Cheeseburger Day*(I have the buns!)
9/19 – National Butterscotch Pudding Day
9/20 – National Rum Punch Day
9/21 – International Banana Festival and National Pecan Cookie Day
9/22 – National Ice Cream Cone Day
9/23 – National White Chocolate Day
9/24 – National Cherries Jubilee Day
9/25 – Crab Meat Newburg Day
9/26 – National Pancake Day*
9/27 – National Chocolate Milk Day and National Corned Beef Hash Day…,just maybe not together.
9/28 – Drink Beer Day
9/29 – National Coffee Day
9/30 – National Hot Mulled Cider Day
I have really really been missing the boat with holidays in September! There is a lot I’m ready to get behind, what a yummy month!! Now, let’s see what we need to eat in October.
Pudding Season begins in October and October is Eat Country Ham Month, Fair Trade Month, National Apple Month, National Applejack Month, National Caramel Month, National Chili Month*, National Cookie Month*, National Dessert Month*, National Pasta Month, National Pickled Peppers Month, National Pizza Festival Month*, National Popcorn Poppin’ Month, National Pork Month, National Pretzel Month*, National Seafood Month, and Vegetarian Awareness Month. I’m full already. For the week long festivities the first week of October is National Chili Week, the second week is American Beer Week, National Food Bank Week and National School Lunch Week, the third week is National Kraut Sandwich Week and Pickled Peppers Week and the fourth week is Chicken Soup for the Soul Week.
10/1 – World Vegetarian Day and Homemade Cookies Day
10/2 – National Fried Scallops Day
10/3 – National Caramel Day
10/4 – National Taco Day and National Vodka Day
10/5 – National Apple Betty Day
10/6 – National Noodle Day
10/7 – National Frappe Day
10/8 – National Fluffernutter Day and National Pierogi Day
10/9 – Moldy Cheese Day…delicious.
10/10 – National Angel Food Cake Day*
10/11 – National Sausage Pizza Day*
10/12 – National Gumbo Day
10/13 – National Yorkshire Pudding Day
The second Thursday of October is also National Dessert Day*. This year, it falls on October 13th. The second Friday of October is World Egg day which would be October 14th.
10/14 – Chocolate Covered Insects Day
10/15 - National Chicken Cacciatore Day…do I hear garlic bread*?
10/16 – World Food Day
10/17 – National Pasta Day and Four Prunes Day
10/18 – National Chocolate Cupcake Day*
10/19 – National Seafood Bisque Day
10/20 – National Brandied Fruit Day*
10/21 – National Pumpkin Cheesecake Day and Caramel Apple Day*
10/22 – National Nut Day
10/23 – National Boston Cream Pie Day* and National Canning Day
10/24 – National Bologna Day
10/25 – Good and Plenty Day and National Greasy Foods Day
10/26 – Pumpkin Day and Pretzel Day* and Mince Meat Day
10/27 – National Potato Day and American Beer Day
10/28 – National Chocolate Day and Wild Foods Day
10/29 – National Oatmeal Day*
10/30 – National Candy Corn Day and Buy A Donut Day*
10/31 – Trick or Treat for UNICEF and National Candy Apple Day
Besides the pretzels and maybe candy corn, I think I’m leaning towards September being the tastier month. Although National Cupcake Day could be pretty great and National Dessert Day. As a matter of fact, I think that is one everyone should aim to promote at their bakeries! Let’s make it mainstream! I’ve listed the link so you can check these out for yourself, but I’ll post again next month for October and November. Let me know if you decide to highlight any of these holidays and what your customers think of them!
http://www.thenibble.com/fun/more/facts/food-holidays.asp http://www.stayfreemagazine.org/archives/13/holidays.htmlhttp://www.freestockphotos.biz/stockphoto/8499
