When is Thanksgiving and when is Black Friday in 2025?

The made the lighthearted gesture on the eve of the holiday, but couldn't resist a dig at his predecessor Joe Biden, stating that the Democrat used an autopen to bless the birds - which are traditionally eaten - last year.

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Massive parades kicked off in America for Thanksgiving on Thursday, including a huge festival in New York, where Buzz Lightyear, Super Mario and Dora the Explorer were among the characters to be seen on floats.

Thanksgiving always falls one day before Black Friday, a shopping event which has crossed the Atlantic in recent years, and Britons are expected to spend £4 billion in 2025.

This data, which was found by a survey for e-commerce marketing platform Omnisend, showed that £14bn could be spent in total in 2025, despite warnings of scams.

Shoppers are set to queue up at midnight and also spend billions online in what has traditionally marked the start of the US Christmas shopping season, coming one day after Thanksgiving.

And in the past decade, the festival and the retail spree that comes hot on its heels have become well established in the UK as well.

Here are the key dates for your diary.

When and what is Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 27, 2025.

The festival is traditionally a chance for families to feast and be grateful for the harvest yield of that year.

Thanksgiving is observed in the US and also Austria, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Kazakhstan, Liberia, Saint Lucia, Switzerland, and Norfolk Island.

Tradition dictates that a dinner of turkey and root vegetables is eaten before pumpkin pie.

What is Black Friday?

Black Friday is the first Friday after Thanksgiving and sees shops sell goods at heavily discounted prices in what is considered the start of the Christmas shopping period.

Although it is only one day, many brands sell their discounted products for a week, weekend, or might even have a special midnight opening.

Black Friday originated in the US, as Thanksgiving is not a British holiday, but the influence has spread worldwide and it has been a fixture in the UK since the early 2010s.

The name has dubious origins, but it is thought that it might be the time when retailers feel themselves go “into the black,” and make a profit after being “in the red”.

While the term now connotes to shopping in the UK, for a long time Black Friday referred to the last Friday before Christmas, when the police and NHS had a hard shift dealing with revellers.

When is Black Friday 2025?

Black Friday will be on Friday, November 28 in 2025.

Is Thanksgiving a national holiday?

Thanksgiving is a national holiday in the US but not in the UK.

Britain has fewer bank holidays than many of its European neighbours, and England and Wales have fewer than Scotland and Northern Ireland.

British national holidays for the next year are:

• St Andrew’s Day (December 1) - Scotland only,
• Christmas Day (December 25),
• Boxing Day (December 26),
• New Year’s Day (January 1),
• January 2 - Scotland only,
• St Patrick’s Day (March 17) - Northern Ireland only,
• Good Friday (April 3),
• Easter Sunday (April 5),
• Easter Monday (April 6) - not in Scotland,
• Early May bank holiday (May 4),
• Spring bank holiday (May 25),
• Battle of the Boyne (July 13) - Northern Ireland only,
• Summer bank holiday (August 31)