Plan a year in an afternoon
A marketing calendar for 2027 lines up every date that touches your campaigns, social media and shop: the Belgian winter sales starting on Saturday 2 January, Valentine's Day on a Sunday, Easter on 28 March, Mother's Day on 9 May in Belgium and much of Europe, the summer sales on 1 July, Black Friday on 26 November and Saint Nicholas on a Monday. Knowing them in October means no campaign built in a panic in November.
Below are the 2027 dates for Belgium and the Benelux, with the Flemish school holidays, notes for other markets, when to start preparing each moment, and how to turn the calendar into a plan your team actually follows. Our free template has the dates filled in.
Every date for Belgium
| Date | Moment | Start preparing |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday 2 January | Belgian winter sales start (to 31 January) | Early December |
| 8 to 14 February | Flemish half-term | Mid January |
| Sunday 14 February | Valentine's Day | Mid January |
| Sunday 28 March | Easter, Easter Monday 29 March | Late February |
| 29 March to 11 April | Flemish Easter holidays | Early March |
| Thursday 6 May | Ascension, days off 6 and 7 May | Early April |
| Sunday 9 May | Mother's Day in Belgium (Antwerp: 15 August) | Early April |
| Sunday 16 and Monday 17 May | Pentecost | Mid April |
| Sunday 13 June | Father's Day in Belgium | Mid May |
| Thursday 1 July | Summer sales and summer holidays start | Early June |
| Wednesday 21 July | Belgian national day | Mid June |
| Wednesday 1 September | Back to school | Early August |
| Sunday 31 October | Halloween | Early October |
| Friday 26 November | Black Friday, Cyber Monday 29 November | Late October |
| Friday 3 December | Belgian pre-sales freeze for clothing, shoes, leather | Plan offers to 2 December |
| Monday 6 December | Saint Nicholas, a big gift day in Belgium | Early November |
| Saturday 25 December | Christmas | Early November |
The Belgian sales rules are in Belgium's sales period 2027. This year's Black Friday, 27 November 2026, is in Black Friday 2026 in Europe.
Selling in several markets
A European calendar is a set of national calendars. Mother's Day in the UK falls in March, in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany in May. Saint Nicholas is a bigger gift moment in Belgium and the Netherlands than Christmas for some families. School holidays differ per country and, in Belgium, per language community. Keep one row per market in your planning and do not assume one date fits all. Our content calendar template has holidays for four countries filled in for exactly that reason.
- Belgian winter sales start
- Flemish spring half-term (to 14 February)
- Valentine's Day
- Easter
- Flemish Easter holiday (to 11 April)
- Mother's Day in Belgium (Antwerp: 15 August)
- Father's Day in Belgium
- Belgian summer sales and school holiday start
- Belgian national day
- Back to school
- Halloween
- Black Friday
- Belgian pre-sales freeze starts for January 2028
- Saint Nicholas
- Christmas
- Offer or sales
- School dates or Belgian freeze
- Holiday or gift day
School holidays follow the Flemish calendar. Mother's Day differs per country, for example 7 March 2027 in the UK. Check each market.
One moment prepared in four weeks
- Four weeks before: choose and writeWhich offer, for whom, with which message. One line you use everywhere.
- Three weeks before: make the visualsPhotos, a reel, the visual for your ad and your email.
- Two weeks before: set it all upLanding page, ads, email and posts scheduled and approved.
- The week itself: run and watchA daily look at what works, adjust budget and posts.
Which moments fit your business
Not every date is for everyone. A calendar with twenty campaigns delivers twenty half campaigns. Pick two or three per quarter that fit your customers:
- A gift shop or online storeValentine's Day, Mother's and Father's Day, Saint Nicholas, Christmas, Black Friday and the sales. For December, see Christmas marketing ideas for small businesses; for what changes next year, the digital marketing trends 2027.
- HospitalityValentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, the terrace months and the year end. School holidays decide who travels and who stays home.
- A B2B service businessthe new year (resolutions and budgets), the restart after Easter, September and the year end. Gift days matter less than the moments decisions are made. A good year-end email does more than a card; see business new year wishes.
- A holiday rentalschool holidays, long weekends around Ascension and Pentecost, and the moments people book, often months ahead.
A date becomes a campaign
A date is only a campaign once it has an offer, a message and a channel. For each moment, fix:
- The offer. A product, a package, a discount or simply a reason to contact you.
- The message. One line that says why now. "Mother's Day on 9 May: order by 5 May for delivery in time."
- The channels. A post and a reel, an email to your customers, an ad on Google or Meta, a banner on your site.
- The budget. What you want to spend and what it must bring. Work it out with the marketing budget calculator.
- The measurement. What you count afterwards: sales, enquiries, new followers.
Put those five per moment in your calendar; plan the channels with the social media plan template, and the year on one page with the marketing plan template.
Calendar questions we get most
When is Mother's Day 2027?
In Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany on Sunday 9 May 2027, the second Sunday of May. In the UK, Mothering Sunday falls on 7 March 2027. Other countries differ, so check each market.
When is Easter 2027?
Sunday 28 March 2027, with Easter Monday on 29 March.
When do the sales start in Belgium in 2027?
Winter sales on Saturday 2 January, because 3 January is a Sunday. Summer sales on Thursday 1 July.
When is Black Friday 2027?
Friday 26 November 2027, with Cyber Monday on 29 November.
What each channel needs, per moment
| Channel | How far ahead | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Google Ads | Two weeks, budget a month | Search volume rises in the days before the moment |
| Meta Ads | Three weeks | Ads need a few days to learn |
| Social media | Three to four weeks | Making visuals takes the longest |
| Two weeks | Copy, segment and testing | |
| Your website | Four weeks | A landing page must be found before the rush |
| SEO | Two to three months | A new page needs time to rank |
That last row is why a fixed page per moment pays off: a Mother's Day or Black Friday page that returns every year is already in Google by May or November. What ads cost per month in Europe is in how much does Google Ads cost and how much do Facebook ads cost in Europe.
The year in four seasons
- January to MarchSales, Valentine's, springWinter sales, Valentine's Day on Sunday 14 February, half-term, Easter at the end of March.
- April to JuneMother's and Father's DayEaster holidays, Mother's Day 9 May, Ascension, Pentecost, Father's Day 13 June in Belgium.
- July to SeptemberSummer sales, holidays, schoolSummer sales from 1 July, Belgium's national day on 21 July, back to school on 1 September.
- October to DecemberBlack Friday and the holidaysHalloween, Black Friday 26 November, Saint Nicholas, Christmas and New Year.
Also in your 2027 calendar
Beyond holidays, some 2027 dates touch your marketing technically: Dynamic Search Ads move to AI Max automatically from February, website certificates get shorter on 15 March, and AI content labelling applies. See new EU rules in 2027. If you plan social content, read the social media trends for 2027 too.
The mistakes we see
Too many moments, so none is done well. Starting in the week itself, when visuals still have to be made. A new offer page every year instead of improving the same one. A discount that ignores the EU 30-day reference price. And a calendar in a shared folder nobody opens. Put it where your team looks every week.
How VBS plans your year
From Ghent we run social media management with a monthly plan and our own visuals, and set up Google Ads and Facebook and Instagram ads for each moment, per market. For Les Terrasses de Durbuy, a holiday villa in the Belgian Ardennes, we made a month of content with reels and carousels around the December 2025 holidays. Want to plan your year together? Book a call.