Calendar and Holidays

The following is a table of holidays and notable dates for both the UK and the US. (When you’re not in the US, sometimes it’s handy to be able to quickly access American dates, some are easy to forget.) The British Holidays and Notable Dates are linked to information pages about that specific day.

It is good to remember that as Mother’s Day is a month earlier in the UK, to buy your needed cards at that time to send to the US as they won’t be available at the time of the US Mother’s Day. ( There’s no guarantee all the following dates are 100% correct.)

It can be helpful to enable holidays in Outlook Calendar for both countries.

On your birthday in the UK, you open cards and gifts when you wake up in the morning. If you’re employed, you should bring cakes to share with your co-workers. (I found that one strange.)

very much the same, only at your Christmas dinner table, there is a Christmas cracker at each place setting, which you crack open at the end of the meal, for your joke and prize. Father Christmas brings presents, and calls Lapland his home, instead of our Santa at the North Pole. Children exchange cards at school, beginning in early December, and charities often bring Father Christmas down your street handing out lollies, collecting spare change. Children also are carolling for charity at your doors. Turkeys are traditional dinner fare, with stuffing and all the trimmings.

No Easter bunnies bringing easter baskets, there just seems to be more sweets in the house this day, and the occasional Easter Egg Hunt.

Be aware that most shops are closed/shut for Sundays and many Bank holidays, and to make sure you have enough supplies to get you through them, especially if you’re not driving! There are fireworks at times other than bonfire night throughout the year as well, town fairs, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve! Fireworks are legal, and you can light them at your leisure. Laws changed.