How to Add Holidays to Your Calendar: A Step-by-Step Guide for 2024

Hey there, holiday lovers! It’s your Holiday Little Assistant here. Today we’re tackling a question I get asked all the time: how to add holidays to your calendar. Whether you’re trying to remember when the next long weekend hits or just want to plan around important dates, I’ve got you covered with this complete guide.

First off, let me say this is way easier than you might think! Most calendars actually have built-in holiday features – you just need to know where to look. I’ll walk you through the process for all the major platforms so you’ll never miss another public holiday again.

Why Should You Add Holidays to Your Calendar?

Before we jump into the how-to, let’s talk about why this is such a game-changer. Having holidays automatically appear in your calendar helps with: vacation planning (hello, long weekends!), scheduling work projects around office closures, remembering cultural celebrations, and even just staying on top of when banks and government offices will be closed. It’s one of those small tweaks that makes life noticeably easier.

How to Add Holidays to Google Calendar

For all you Google Calendar users out there (which is most of us!), here’s the quick and easy way to get holidays showing up:

1. Open Google Calendar on your computer
2. Click the gear icon ⚙️ > Settings
3. In the left menu, click “Add calendar”
4. Choose “Browse calendars of interest”
5. Scroll down to “Holidays” and check the countries/religions you want
6. Boom! Holidays will now appear in your calendar

Pro tip: You can even get multiple countries’ holidays if you have international clients or family!

Adding Holidays to Outlook Calendar

Microsoft folks, don’t worry – I didn’t forget about you! Here’s how to get holidays in Outlook:

1. Open Outlook and go to File > Options
2. Select Calendar > Add Holidays
3. Check the boxes for the countries you want
4. Click OK and they’ll automatically import

Bonus: Outlook lets you add religious holidays separately if you want to customize your calendar even more.

iPhone Holiday Calendar Setup

Apple makes it super simple to add holidays to your iPhone calendar:

1. Open Settings > Calendar > Accounts
2. Tap “Add Account” and select “Other”
3. Choose “Add Subscribed Calendar”
4. Enter this URL: webcal://p30-calendars.icloud.com/holidays/US_en.ics (change US to your country code if needed)
5. Your iPhone will now display all public holidays

You can also find specialized holiday calendars by searching online for “.ics” files that fit your needs.

Frequently Asked Questions About Adding Holidays

Can I add custom holidays? Absolutely! Most calendars let you create recurring annual events for personal or local holidays that might not be in the standard lists.

Will this sync across all my devices? If you’re using the same account (like iCloud or Google), yes! The holidays will appear everywhere once you set them up.

How do I remove holidays if I change my mind? Just go back to where you added them and uncheck the boxes or unsubscribe from the calendar.

There you have it, folks – everything you need to know about how to add holidays to your calendar. Trust me, once you set this up, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it. No more scrambling to check if the post office is open or forgetting about three-day weekends until it’s too late to plan anything fun!

Thanks for reading, and happy calendar-ing! If you have any other holiday-related questions, you know where to find me – your trusty Holiday Little Assistant. Now go enjoy those well-deserved days off!