Tag: daylight saving time

photo credit: Kalender / calendar via photopin (license)

November is around the corner, and it’s really beginning to feel like fall around here in NYC. Temperatures are dropping, and there are even a few leaves changing color. To help you prepare for your fall campaigns, here’s a full selection of November holidays, events, and awareness dates that will keep your business or organization top of mind with clients and business partners as the season changes. They’re well suited for promotional giveaways, and they range from fun occasions to more serious, meaningful remembrances.

November!

Daily Awareness Observances & Holidays

November 6 – Daylight Saving Time ends

It feels like it’s a little too soon, but yes, Daylight Saving Time is drawing to a close at the beginning of November. Savor those evening sunlight hours while you can, and don’t forget to turn your clocks back on November 6 (if you still have analog clocks or watches, that is)!

November 8 – Election Day

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that here in the U.S. we are about to have a Presidential election. And depending on where you live, there may still be time to register to vote. Whatever your political affiliation, make sure your voice is heard this year!

November 11 – Veterans Day

As we’ve written here on the blog, Veterans Day honors the many men and women who have either served or are currently serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. Originally known as Armistice Day, it was created to mark the end of World War I (also known as The Great War).

November 13 – World Kindness Day

Celebrated each year on November 13, World Kindness Day is a wonderful opportunity to appreciate the benefits of sharing kindness with the people in our lives. For more information, check out our blog post from last year on five simple ways you can give others the gift of kindness.

November 24 – Thanksgiving

Observed on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States, Thanksgiving is an occasion to give thanks for the harvest and the blessings of family and friends. As we wrote last year on the blog, Thanksgiving is a perfect occasion to express gratitude and enjoy all the benefits it has to offer. It’s also a perfect opportunity to show your appreciation with a Thanksgiving gift such a Thanksgiving greeting card or a Thanksgiving basket.

November 25 – Black Friday

Observed on the Friday immediately following Thanksgiving since 1932, Black Friday officially kicks off the holiday shopping season. Many U.S. retailers open early and offer special promotional sales on this day.

November 28 – Cyber Monday

Since the arrival of the Internet and online shopping, Cyber Monday has been observed as an online counterpart to the traditionally brick-and-mortar Black Friday. Many American consumers snap up special digital offers on Cyber Monday.

November 29 – Giving Tuesday

Created in 2012 as a response to the commercial nature of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday aims to create an international day of philanthropic giving at the beginning of the holiday season. Interested in getting involved? Here’s how businesses, nonprofits, and individual donors can be a part of Giving Tuesday.

Weekly Awareness Observances & Holidays

November 6-12: National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week

National Animal Shelter and Rescue Appreciation Week encourages people to become acquainted with their local shelters and rescues and learn how they can assist their lifesaving work. Here are ten ways you can help your local shelter or rescue. You can also celebrate pets with special branded pet accessories such as a water bowl for dogs, a flyer or Frisbee, or a pet collar.

November 12-20: National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week

Observed on the week before Thanksgiving, at a time when people across the country are giving thanks for what they have, National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week seeks to raise awareness about poverty, hunger, and homelessness while building support for the work of local anti-poverty agencies.

Monthly Awareness Observances & Holidays

Lung Cancer Awareness Month

Lung cancer claims more lives each year than breast, prostate, and colon cancers combined, with just a 16.8% five year survival rate. Lung Cancer Awareness Month promotes awareness of the dangers of lung cancer and the important work required to fund research leading to better diagnosis and treatment.

Movember

Observed each November, Movember is a movement to highlight the importance of men’s health—particularly the prevalence of young men passing away too early in life due to prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health problems. Many men grow a mustache and raise funds for men’s health during Movember. Your business can help promote awareness with a range of branded mustache promotional products including mustache key chains, mustache stickers, and mustache pens.

National Alzheimer’s Disease Month

There are nearly 15 million Alzheimer’s patients and caregivers in the U.S. Begun by President Reagan in 1983, National Alzheimer’s Disease Month aims to raise awareness about both the rise in Alzheimer’s diagnoses and the importance of honoring and supporting the caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s.

National Diabetes Month

Diabetes affects many American lives, and National Diabetes Month seeks to raise awareness about the disease and its impacts. This year’s theme is focused on managing diabetes and living well with the disease, mitigating the ways it can compromise a diabetic’s quality of life.

National Novel Writing Month

Each year, participants in the global National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo) event challenge themselves to write a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30. They track their progress online and find a fellowship of supportive fellow writers along the way.

National PPSI AIDS Awareness Month

AIDS Awareness Month aims to increase public awareness and support of people affected by the AIDS pandemic, which has caused an estimated 39 million deaths worldwide to date as of 2014. Awareness events held during this month aim to help prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS as well as to reduce the stigma and discrimination that many people living with HIV/AIDS still face today.

Wondering if there are promotional products that might be a good fit for fall or the upcoming holiday season, or do you have a particular project or campaign on your radar we can help with? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us for advice. If you have an idea in mind that might benefit from some creative brainstorming, we’d be happy to share some recommendations. Connect with us on Twitter and Facebook or call us at 877-881-6845 and we’ll be glad to advise you on custom branded promotional products that can represent your brand with style and grace.

Basking in the Sunlight: a Brief History of Daylight Saving Time

October 22, 2015 Events & Holidays

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photo credit: tictac via photopin (license)

Spring forward, fall back… are you ready for Daylight Saving Time to come to an end in the USA and Canada on November 1st? When it does, we will lose that precious extra hour of sleep and start observing shorter daylight hours until next March. We may also have to manually adjust the time on some of our clocks, watches, or older appliances. The practice of Daylight Saving Time has been in place for nearly a hundred years. (Have you noticed that we’re saying Daylight Saving Time instead of Daylight Savings Time? Here’s why!) We’d like to share a little bit of history on how and why it first began and how it has affected businesses since then.

Daylight Saving Time was first proposed as far back as 1784, when Benjamin Franklin posited the idea in his essay titled “An Economical Project,” but it was only formally enacted in Germany in 1916 for the purpose of conserving electricity during World War I. Shortly after, the United Kingdom instituted what it called “summer time” with the same intent. The United States came aboard two years later, but then repealed its Daylight Saving Time laws soon afterward in the wake of immense opposition from the agriculture industry as farmers, who suddenly had to work the fields in darkness for an hour before sunrise, protested the new measure.

American practices surrounding Daylight Saving Time varied from state to state and even city to city across the country until 1966, when the Uniform Time Act codified the start and end dates of Daylight Saving Time nationwide from April through October. Now, Daylight Savings Time hours extend even further, from March until November. Even today, not all 50 states participate in the practice. If you travel to Hawaii or Arizona, for example, you will find that Daylight Saving Time is not in place there. Arizona’s Navajo Nation, however, does observe the custom.

Does Daylight Saving Time reward us with energy savings, as was originally intended? Some claim that it does, while others say it might do precious little to save energy, and may even increase energy consumption on the whole. Similarly, some sources say research has shown that Daylight Saving Time reduces traffic accidents and incidents of crime while still others state that it actually causes more accidents than would otherwise take place were there no DST! There’s one clear benefit we can all enjoy, however: the pleasure of extra sunlight, and the time to enjoy it, during the warm spring and summer months each year.

If you know or work with people who appreciate the value of time, they may appreciate thoughtful gifts that speak to the occasion, such as attractive, well-made custom branded clocks and watches. Even tasteful custom calendars might be a fitting choice as we approach the end of Daylight Savings Time this fall and a New Year beckons not far behind.

As we progress into the fall and winter seasons, are you planning a special seasonal promotion or holiday campaign for which custom branded products featuring exceptional design can make a difference? If so, reach out to us on social media—we’re on Twitter and Facebook—or call us at 877-881-6845 and we’ll be happy to provide experienced guidance on how you can achieve your branding goals this year and beyond.