The way to make Halloween and Bonfire Night pay in 2026 is to treat them as one fortnight of evening trade. Halloween falls on Saturday 31 October and Bonfire Night on Thursday 5 November, six days apart, so a takeaway, café, pub or shop can run one offer, one window, one Google Business Profile post and one email across both. Decide what you are selling by Friday 23 October, put it live on Monday 26 October, give it a real end date and take it down on Friday 6 November.
Why do Halloween and Bonfire Night matter more than usual in 2026?
Halloween is on a Saturday, so evening trade usually split between a school night and the nearest weekend lands on one day. Bonfire Night is a Thursday; gov.uk says you must not set off fireworks between 11pm and 7am but that the cut-off on Bonfire Night is midnight, so households lighting their own will want food first. Check whether displays near you are on the Thursday or the weekend, which decides the evening you staff. The clocks go back one hour at 2am on Sunday 25 October, so evenings are darker from the Monday before Halloween, and the Poppy Appeal has its national launch on 22 October, inside the same fortnight.
What does UK search interest do in the fortnight before 5 November?
Google Trends figures are relative and shift between pulls, so treat the shape as the fact. Pulled on 12 October 2026 for the UK over five years, interest in "bonfire night" peaked in the week containing 5 November in four of the five years from 2021 to 2025, and in the week ending 4 November in 2023; the queries listed alongside it are "bonfire night fireworks", "bonfire near me" and "bonfire night near me". "Halloween marketing" is below the reporting threshold; its related queries are "halloween marketing ideas" and "halloween marketing campaigns". Those are "near me" searches that land on Google Maps, so your Google Business Profile is where the offer belongs; if yours is not set up, start with our Google Business Profile setup guide.
What can a takeaway, café or pub sell for Saturday 31 October and Thursday 5 November?
Sell what you already make, in a bundle with a time attached: the bundle gives people a reason to choose you and the time gives you control of the kitchen.
- Takeaway. A family bundle for the Saturday, collected or delivered between 5pm and 7pm before trick-or-treating, and a "before the fireworks" version on the Thursday with a 5pm to 6.30pm slot. A takeaway in Gravesend might take Thursday pre-orders until Wednesday night so the evening is cooked in sequence.
- Café. Halloween is daytime trade on a Saturday: a children's hour, a themed bake, a hot chocolate deal. On the Thursday, a café near a display might sell hot drinks and traybakes to take out from 5pm.
- Pub. A costume night on the Saturday and a quiz or food deal on the Thursday. If you light candles or pumpkins, the London Fire Brigade says "Any clothing can catch fire if it touches candles, tea-lights, fireworks, or sparklers" and suggests battery-operated candles or glow sticks; put that on the poster.
- Salon. Halloween nails and hair for Friday 30 and Saturday 31 October, promoted from Monday 19 October.
Price it plainly: one price, no "was" figure, no percentage, which stays away from the savings-claims rules the pricing post later in this series covers.
What can an independent shop do with a two-week window, and what are the rules on selling fireworks?
A shop has two windows in a row: Halloween until 31 October, then Bonfire Night and Remembrance from Sunday 1 November. Change the display on the Sunday morning and buy Halloween stock to be gone by Saturday night.
Gov.uk says the public can buy fireworks, including sparklers, from registered sellers for private use only on 15 October to 10 November, 26 to 31 December, and the three days before Diwali and Chinese New Year; outside those dates a licence is needed. Our Diwali 2026 guide covers the dates and events for that week. GOV.UK also says category 2 and 3 fireworks cannot be bought by anyone under 18 and that fireworks must not be set off in the street or other public places. If you are not already a registered seller, treat this as a decision for next year and speak to your council's licensing team first.
How do you promote it for nothing: a Google Business Profile Offer post, one email, one Reel?
The Offer post. Google's help page says an Offer post requires a title, dates and a time, automatically includes a "View Offer" button, and can carry a coupon code, link and terms; posts older than six months are archived unless a date range is set, so set one. A version for a hypothetical takeaway:
Halloween family bundle, Saturday 31 October. Runs 26 to 31 October, 5pm to 7pm. Two large pizzas, two sides and a drink, [price], collection or delivery. 40 bundles available. Pre-order by 8pm on Friday 30 October.
The ASA says "Promotional offers should not normally be extended beyond their closing dates" and that limits on availability must be made explicitly clear; "subject to availability" might not be enough. Falsely stating that a product will only be available for a limited time, or only on particular terms for a limited time, in order to elicit an immediate decision is banned practice 7 of Schedule 20 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, which the CMA's guidance says applies to commercial practices from 6 April 2025. So the end date and the 40 must both be real.
The email. You can email past customers without fresh consent if the three conditions in regulation 22(3) of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations are met: you obtained their details "in the course of the sale or negotiations for the sale of a product or service", the marketing is about your "similar products and services only", and they were given "a simple means of refusing" at collection and in each message since. The ICO calls this the soft opt-in and says it does not apply to prospective customers or bought-in lists. One email on Monday 26 October: three lines, one link, an unsubscribe link.
The Reel. One vertical video of the bundle being made or the window being dressed, posted that Monday from a phone. Putting a few pounds a day behind it locally is performance marketing. After the weekend, ask for reviews while people are pleased, with our guide to getting more Google reviews.
Which local events can you attach to?
- Gravesend. On 12 October the Gravesham council events page listed no bonfire display, only Armistice Day on 11 November and the lights switch-on on 14 November.
- Dartford. Dartford council's events page lists a Remembrance Sunday service on 8 November and the Big Christmas Switch On on 14 November, and no fireworks.
- Leicester. The city council says its Diwali Day event is on Sunday 8 November and that there will be no public fireworks display. Diwali gets its own post on Saturday 17 October.
- London. London Poppy Day is Thursday 29 October, a collection day rather than a promotional hook.
For showing up in these "near me" searches, see our guide to local SEO in Kent.
How do you handle the Poppy Appeal and Remembrance in the same fortnight?
The Legion's dates are the national launch on 22 October, London Poppy Day on 29 October, the Festival of Remembrance on 7 November, the March Past the Cenotaph on 8 November and Armistice Day on 11 November. Gov.uk guidance published on 8 October 2026 confirms the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph on Sunday 8 November, with the two-minute silence at 11am. In Gravesend the council and the Legion hold an Armistice Day event at the Civic Centre on 11 November from 10:45 to 11:30.
Remembrance is not a promotion: no offer tied to it, no poppy on a sale graphic, no "lest we forget" above a menu. Pause scheduled posts and emails on the mornings of Sunday 8 and Wednesday 11 November so nothing lands at 11am. To help, use the collector finder and the free fundraising pack on the Legion's page rather than improvising.
What should be ready by Friday 23 October?
| Date | What to have done |
|---|---|
| Fri 23 Oct | Offer decided: contents, price, number available, end date. Post, email and Reel drafted |
| Mon 26 Oct | Offer post live, email sent, Reel posted. Clocks went back the day before: check the lit window |
| Sat 31 Oct | Halloween. Pre-orders cooked in slots; staff the evening |
| Sun 1 Nov | Window changes to Bonfire Night; Halloween stock cleared |
| Thu 5 Nov | Bonfire Night. Early collection slots; fireworks cut-off is midnight |
| Fri 6 Nov | Offer ends and comes down. Review requests go out |
| Sun 8 and Wed 11 Nov | Nothing promotional scheduled for 11am |
If you would rather not do this yourself
Most of this is an hour on Friday 23 October and ten minutes a day after that. If you would rather hand over the posting, the Offer post and the email for this fortnight and the run-up to Christmas, our social media marketing service does that; we work from your real stock and dates, and nothing goes out without your say-so.