National Awareness Days and Celebrations 2025

National awareness days provide businesses with a valuable opportunity to connect with their audience on a deeper level while supporting important causes. By aligning your brand with relevant awareness months, you can raise awareness, foster engagement, and build loyalty among your customers. Make use of these designated months to create compelling content, organise events or promotions, and collaborate with relevant organisations.

Whether it's silly dates like national cat day or serious and emotive days and month such as Mental Health Awareness Month, Women’s History Month, or Pride Month, you can leverage the power of national awareness days and months to make a meaningful impact and showcase your commitment to social issues.

Why do we celebrate awareness days?

We’ve collated a full and comprehensive list of awareness days in the UK for 2025, but why do we celebrate them? Awareness days are celebrated to bring attention to important social, health, and environmental issues. They serve as a platform to educate and inform the public about these topics.

By dedicating a specific day to raise awareness, it helps create a collective consciousness and encourages people to take action. These days also provide an opportunity for organisations, NGOs, and individuals to come together and advocate for change, raise funds for research, promote prevention, and support communities affected by these issues. Ultimately, celebrating awareness days fosters a sense of unity and empowers individuals to make a positive impact.

Are awareness days effective?

Because awareness days are designed to highlight important causes and promote education and understanding, they can be effective in spreading awareness and improve your brand’s overall image. Events like awareness months and days provide a designated time for individuals, communities, and organisations to rally their reach and impact.

Additionally, awareness days can encourage conversations, spark engagement, and inspire change. Their effectiveness ultimately depends on sustained efforts beyond the designated day, such as ongoing advocacy, support, and implementation of solutions. And when businesses authentically support causes, it helps build trust and loyalty among customers, attracts socially conscious consumers, improves brand reputation, and contributes to positive social impact.

How many national days are celebrated?

How many national days are there in the UK? There are nearly 80 UK awareness days, and they are the perfect vehicle for promoting what you do and showcasing your political standpoint as a business. National days are an opportunity to show a more creative side to your company, they’re a fantastic way to communicate with potential clients and they can be an excellent opportunity for gifting and PR opportunities. They also give customers something tangible to talk about on social media.

Knowing when UK and international awareness days in 2025 fall not only allows you to plan your promotional campaigns, but provides an opportunity for staff members to engage in something while raising awareness of workplace concerns, like mental health and green initiatives. Not every awareness day will work for your business, so you need to select causes that resonate with you as a business or individual.

National awareness days UK and international

January Awareness Days

Dry January and Veganuary. January is the perfect time to add an additional food and cocktail menu to your bistro or restaurant offering with non-alcoholic drinks and animal free food options. Dry January and Veganuary have become really popular in recent years, so if you own a bar, pub, restaurant or café, you can use this to promote your business and increase sales in one of the quieter months of the year.

• 2nd January: World Introvert Day
• 4th January: World Braille Day
• 11th January: Human Trafficking Awareness Day
• 19th January: World Religion Day
• 20th January: Martin Luther King Day and Blue Monday
• 21st - 28th January: Cervical Cancer Prevention Week
• 24th January: International Day of Education
• 25th January: Burns Night (Scotland)
• 26th January: World Leprosy Day
• 27th January: Holocaust Memorial Day
• 29th January: Lunar New Year

February Awareness Days

LGBTQ+ History Month. A very important cause and a great opportunity to get involved and raise awareness. Showing support for minorities and recognising the fight for equality, equity, and diversity.

• 3rd - 9th February: Race Equality Week
• 4th February: World Cancer Day
• 6th February: Reclaim Social Day and International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM
• 6th February: Time to Talk Day (Another of the mental health awareness days where conversations around mental health and the challenges it can bring are encouraged at work and home).
• 10th - 16th February: National Apprenticeship Week
• 11th February: Safer Internet Day
• 13th February: Galentine’s day
• 14th February: Valentine’s Day
• 20th February: National Love Your Pet Day and World Day of Social Justice
• 28th February: Rare Disease Day
• 28th February - 30th March: Ramadan

March Awareness Days

• 1st March: International Wheelchair Day and Zero Discrimination Day
• 3rd March: World Hearing Day and World Wildlife Day
• 4th March: Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day)
• 5th March: Ash Wednesday
• 6th March: World Book Day
• 8th March: International Women’s Day
• 9th - 15th March: MS Awareness Week
• 14th March: Holi
• 16th March: Disabled Access Day
• 18th March: Global Recycling Day
• 20th March: International Day of Happiness
• 21st March: World Down Syndrome Day
• 22nd March: World Water Day and Earth Hour Day
• 30th - 31st March: Eid al-Fitr
• 30th March: Mother's Day
• 31st March: International Trans Visibility Day

April Awareness Days

• 1st April: April Fool’s Day
• 2nd - 8th April: World Autism Acceptance Week
• 2nd April: World Autism Awareness Day and International Children’s Book Day
• 7th April: World Health Day
• 10th April: Siblings Day
• 12th - 20th April: Passover
• 11th April: World Parkinson’s Day
• 15th April: World Art Day
• 18th April: Good Friday (Bank holiday, UK)
• 20th April: Easter Sunday
• 21st April – 27th April: Lesbian Visibility Week
• 21st April: Easter Monday and National Tea Day
• 22nd April: Earth Day and Stephen Lawrence Day
• 23rd April: St. George’s Day
• 25th April: World Malaria Day and National Hug a Plumber Day

May Awareness Days

• 1st May: World Password Day
• 3rd May: World Press Freedom Day
• 4th May: Star Wars Day and International Family Equality Day
• 5th May: May Day and African World Heritage Day
• 10th May: World Lupus Day and Fair Trade Day
• 12th May: International Nurses Day
• 12th to 18th May: Mental Health Awareness Week
• 15th May: Global Accessibility Awareness Day
• 17th May: Endangered Species Day and Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia
• 18th May: International Museum Day
• 20th May: National Rescue Dog Day
• 24th May: World Schizophrenia Day
• 28th May: World Blood Cancer Day
• 30th May: World MS Day

June Awareness Days

• 1st to 7th June: Volunteers’ Week
• 1st to 7th June: National Gardening Week If you own a gardening business, what better time to highlight your services? Create flyers, posters or quality business cards and take advantage of the national awareness week.
• 1st June: World Reef Awareness Day and National Cancer Survivor’s Day
• 5th June: World Environment Day
• 6th June: D-Day
• 6th - 10th June: Eid Al-Adha
• 8th June: World Oceans Day
• 14th June: World Blood Donor Day
• 15th June: Fathers’ Day
• 16th to 22nd June: Learning Disability Week
• 18th June: Autistic Pride Day
• 20th June: World Refugee Day
• 22nd June: World Rainforest Day
• 23rd June: International Women in Engineering Day
• 27th June: National PTSD Awareness Day

July Awareness Days

• 1st July: International Joke Day
• 4th July: American Independence Day
• 7th July: World Chocolate Day
• 20th July: National Ice Cream Day
• 27th July: Parents’ Day
• 28th July: World Hepatitis Day
• 30th July: International Friendship Day

August Awareness Days

• 1st August: Yorkshire Day
• 8th August: International Cat Day
• 9th August: Book Lovers Day and International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples
• 12th August: International Youth Day
• 19th August: World Humanitarian Day
• 22nd August: International Day commemorating the victims of acts of violence based on religion or belief
• 23rd August: International Day for the remembrance of the slave trade and its abolition
• 26th August: International Dog Day
• 26th - 27th August: Ganesh Chaturthi
• 31st August: International Overdose Awareness Day

September Awareness Days

• 1st September: World Letter Writing Day
• 4th September: World Sexual Health Day
• 5th September: International Day of Charity and National Food Bank Day
• 8th September: International Literacy Day
• 10th September: World Suicide Prevention Day
• 12th September: Stand Up To Cancer Day
• 18th September: International Equal Pay Day
• 21st September: International Day of Peace and World Alzheimer’s Day
• 22nd to 28th September: International Week of the Deaf
• 22nd to 27th September: Organ Donation Week
• 23rd September: Bisexual Visibility Day and International Day of Sign Languages
• 25th September: McMillan’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning Put your fundraising skills to the test for this most worthy cause invest in personalised badges and selfie frames for your fundraising event.
• 29th September: World Heart Day and International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste

October Awareness Days

Black History Month (U.K.), Stoptober (where smokers try to quit for one month), Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

• 1st October: World Vegetarian Day and World Financial Planning Day
• 1st - 2nd October: Yom Kippur
• 2nd October: International Day of Non-Violence and National Poetry Day
• 4th October: World Animal Day
• 5th October: World Teachers Day
• 9th October: World Sight Day
• 10th October: World Mental Health Day and World Homeless Day
• 11th October: International Day of the Girl and World Hospice and Palliative Care Day
• 16th October: World Food Day
• 17th October: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
• 20th October: Diwali
• 24th October: United Nations Day
• 29th October: World Stroke Day
• 31st October: Halloween

November Awareness Days

Movember

• 1st November: World Vegan Day
• 4th to 8th November: Trustees Week
• 5th November: World Tsunami Awareness Day and Bonfire Night
• 9th November: World Adoption Day and Social Media Kindness Day
• 11th November: Armistice Day
• 12th November: Remembrance Sunday
• 13th November: World Kindness Day
• 14th November: World Diabetes Day
• 15th November: National Philanthropy Day
• 16th November: International Day for Tolerance
• 20th November: World Children’s Day and Transgender Day of Remembrance
• 25th November: International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
• 29th November: Small Business Saturday

December Awareness Days

• 1st December: World AIDS Day and Cyber Monday
• 2nd December: International Day for the Abolition of Slavery
• 3rd December: International Day for Disabilities
• 4th December: Wildlife Conservation Day
• 5th December: International Volunteer Day
• 6th December: Tree Dressing Day
• 9th December: International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide
• 10th December: Human Rights Day
• 14th - 22nd December: Hanukkah
• 20th December: International Human Solidarity Day
• 25th December: Christmas Day
• 26th December: Boxing Day
• 31st December: New Year’s Eve

National Awareness Months

The following awareness months are important to note for businesses that want to connect with their local community and customer bases:

• January: Dry January / Veganuary
• February: LGBTQIA+ History Month A chance to show your support for the LGBTQ+ community and highlight any work you have done to become a more inclusive and diverse workplace.
• March: Women’s History Month / Disability Awareness Month
• April: Stress Awareness Month
• May: National Walking Month
• June: Pride Month
• July: Plastic-Free July Discover our recycled and eco-friendly range of products for any events you’ll hold around this time.
• August: International Happiness Happens Month
• September: / Organic September / World Alzheimer’s Disease Month
• October: Black History Month / Stoptober / Breast Cancer Awareness
• November: Movember
• December: Decembeard

Our promotional products can effectively support your business's efforts during awareness days in the UK. With custom branding options, high-quality products, and strategic messaging, we can help you make a lasting impression and contribute to meaningful causes. Be aware of upcoming awareness days and explore our full range today to create memorable campaigns that customers will never forget.