Free tool
Plan months of festival campaigns before the rush starts
Pick a starting month, a 3- or 6-month horizon and your business type — get a month-by-month WhatsApp campaign calendar built around India's key marketing moments, with lead times included.
Plan your campaign window
Dates are verified per year — lunar-calendar festivals (Diwali, Holi, Eid, Raksha Bandhan…) shift annually and are listed on their correct 2026 dates.
22 moments across 3 months for e-commerce / d2c
January 20267 moments
- 1Thu
New Year's DayModern
Fresh-start energy — resolutions, planners, fitness and 'new year new you' campaigns
Idea: New Year's Day gifting reminder with a one-tap shop-now button.
- 12Mon
National Youth DayNational
Swami Vivekananda's birthday — youth, education and motivation-themed content
Idea: National Youth Day sale broadcast — free shipping window for 48 hours.
- 13Tue
LohriReligious
Punjabi bonfire harvest festival — sweets, dry fruits and winter-wear promos in the North
Idea: Lohri wishes with a curated collection — respectful tone, soft offer.
- 14Wed
Makar SankrantiFestival
Kite-flying and til-gud harvest festival — first big pan-India festive hook of the year
Idea: Festive Makar Sankranti drop with a countdown broadcast + festive gift guide.
- 15Thu
Pongal (Thai Pongal)Festival
Tamil Nadu's biggest harvest festival (Jan 15-17 holidays) — huge South India retail window
Idea: Festive Pongal (Thai Pongal) drop with a countdown broadcast + festive gift guide.
- 23Fri
Vasant Panchami / Saraswati PujaFestival
Spring onset and goddess of learning — education, books, yellow-themed campaigns
Idea: Festive Vasant Panchami / Saraswati Puja drop with a countdown broadcast + festive gift guide.
- 26Mon
Republic DayNational
National holiday — patriotic themes and the year's first big e-commerce sale event
Idea: Republic Day sale broadcast — free shipping window for 48 hours.
February 20269 moments
- 7Sat
Rose DayModern
Valentine week opener — flowers, gifting and couple-targeted promos begin
Idea: Rose Day gifting reminder with a one-tap shop-now button.
- 8Sun
Propose DayModern
Valentine week day 2 — rings, cards and romantic dining offers
Idea: Propose Day gifting reminder with a one-tap shop-now button.
- 9Mon
Chocolate DayModern
Valentine week day 3 — chocolate and confectionery gifting peak
Idea: Chocolate Day gifting reminder with a one-tap shop-now button.
- 10Tue
Teddy DayModern
Valentine week day 4 — soft toys and cute-gift bundles
Idea: Teddy Day gifting reminder with a one-tap shop-now button.
- 11Wed
Promise DayModern
Valentine week day 5 — sentimental messaging and personalized gifts
Idea: Promise Day gifting reminder with a one-tap shop-now button.
- 12Thu
Hug DayModern
Valentine week day 6 — warm, emotional brand storytelling
Idea: Hug Day gifting reminder with a one-tap shop-now button.
- 13Fri
Kiss DayModern
Valentine week day 7 — beauty, lipstick and date-night promos
Idea: Kiss Day gifting reminder with a one-tap shop-now button.
- 14Sat
Valentine's DayModern
Peak romance retail — gifting, dining, jewellery and couple experiences
Idea: Valentine's Day gifting reminder with a one-tap shop-now button.
- 15Sun
Maha ShivratriFestival
Great night of Shiva — devotional content, fasting foods, temple-town tourism
Idea: Festive Maha Shivratri drop with a countdown broadcast + festive gift guide.
March 20266 moments
- 4Wed
HoliFestival
Festival of colours (Holika Dahan bonfire Mar 3) — colours, sweets, apparel and party campaigns
Idea: Festive Holi drop with a countdown broadcast + festive gift guide.
- 8Sun
International Women's DayGlobal day
Women-first campaigns, offers and brand purpose storytelling
Idea: International Women's Day themed content + a small storewide code for the day.
- 19Thu
Ugadi / Gudi PadwaFestival
Telugu-Kannada and Marathi New Year — auspicious for gold, auto and property purchases
Idea: Festive Ugadi / Gudi Padwa drop with a countdown broadcast + festive gift guide.
- 21Sat
Eid-ul-FitrReligious
End of Ramzan — festive feasting, new clothes and Eidi gifting surge
Idea: Eid-ul-Fitr wishes with a curated collection — respectful tone, soft offer.
- 26Thu
Ram NavamiFestival
Lord Rama's birthday — devotional themes; big processions and regional retail
Idea: Festive Ram Navami drop with a countdown broadcast + festive gift guide.
- 31Tue
Mahavir JayantiReligious
Jain festival honouring Lord Mahavira — values-led and vegetarian-food messaging
Idea: Mahavir Jayanti wishes with a curated collection — respectful tone, soft offer.
How it works
Three steps, no signup
Set your window
Choose the starting month and year, a 3- or 6-month horizon, and the business type that matches you — the campaign ideas adapt to it.
Review the moments
Fixed-date days show exact dates; movable festivals appear in their usual month window, clearly flagged so you confirm the date for your year.
Export and brief your team
Copy the calendar or download it as a .txt file, then drop it into your campaign brief with the lead-time checkpoints already attached.
Planning guide
Work backwards from the festival, not forwards from today
Most festival campaigns fail on logistics, not ideas. The send date is fixed — Diwali will not wait for your creative review — so the only variable you control is when you start. Working backwards from the festival, a realistic timeline looks like this: campaign brief and offer locked about three weeks out, creative and copy finished two weeks out, message templates submitted for approval at least one week out, and the broadcast scheduled for the day before or the day of the moment. Template approval is the step teams most often forget: on the WhatsApp Business API, marketing messages must use templates Meta has reviewed, and a rejection means a rewrite and a fresh review. One week of buffer absorbs exactly one revision cycle.
The Diwali stretch deserves special treatment. Nearly every consumer business in India concentrates its spend into the same two weeks, which means your message lands in an inbox already crowded with offers — and every marketing message you pay for is competing for the scarcest attention of the year. The stronger play is to warm your audience earlier: a useful, low-pressure touch in September (a gift guide, an early-access list, a booking reminder) costs the same per message but earns replies while competitors are quiet. By the time the festival week arrives, you are messaging people who have recently engaged with you, which typically improves both read rates and conversion.
Spacing matters as much as timing. WhatsApp scores every business number with a quality rating driven by how recipients react, and blocks or reports can lower your messaging limits right when you need them most. To protect it during a heavy festival quarter:
- Leave several days between large broadcasts rather than stacking sends in the same week.
- Segment each send — a Raksha Bandhan gifting offer and an Independence Day sale should not go to identical lists.
- Suppress contacts who have not engaged in months; they are the likeliest to block.
- Use the quiet months the calendar surfaces (often April and July) for re-engagement, so festival sends land on a warm audience.
A calendar on paper is the easy half. The hard half is executing it — segmented broadcasts, approved templates and someone answering the replies. That is the part worth setting up well before the first festival on your list.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Why don't movable festivals show an exact date?
Festivals like Diwali, Holi, Raksha Bandhan and Navratri follow lunar calendars, so their dates shift every year — Diwali can land anywhere from mid-October to mid-November. This tool never guesses those dates; it flags the usual month window and asks you to confirm against the current year's calendar. Fixed-date days such as Republic Day (26 January) and Christmas (25 December) show exact dates.
How far in advance should I plan a festival WhatsApp campaign?
A workable rule of thumb: lock the campaign brief about three weeks before the festival, submit message templates for approval at least a week out, and schedule the send for the day before or day of the moment. For the Diwali stretch, start earlier — most businesses compete for the same week, so audiences you have warmed up in September respond better than cold lists blasted in late October.
Why does template approval need its own lead time?
Marketing messages on the WhatsApp Business API must use pre-approved templates, and Meta reviews each one before it can be sent. Approval often takes minutes to a couple of days, but a rejection forces a rewrite and a fresh review — which can sink a date-sensitive campaign. Submitting a week early leaves room for one full revision cycle.
Can sending too many festival broadcasts hurt my account?
Yes. WhatsApp assigns each business number a quality rating based on how recipients react — blocks and reports drag it down, and a low rating can reduce your messaging limits. Space large broadcasts several days apart, segment so each message is relevant to its audience, and suppress contacts who have not engaged in months.
Is anything I enter stored on your servers?
No. The generator runs entirely in your browser — your month, horizon and business type never leave the page. The copy and download buttons produce a plain-text calendar you can paste into any brief or planning doc.
Still have questions?
Book a demoMore free tools
Keep your stack sharp
UTM URL Builder
Tag campaign links with clean UTM parameters you can actually report on.
Open toolWhatsApp Campaign Planner
Plan audience, timing, template and follow-ups for your next campaign.
Open toolBusiness Profile Optimizer
Score your WhatsApp Business profile and get a prioritised fix list.
Open toolSend-Time Planner
Pick the best send windows by audience routine, and avoid quiet hours.
Open tool
Turn the calendar into campaigns
Schedule broadcasts, manage templates and answer every reply from one inbox on the official WhatsApp Business API. 7-day free trial, no card required.