October is just the start of the busy holiday season. Work ahead with these October email newsletter ideas for food bloggers and food content creators.
October is when things really start to get busy for food bloggers and content creators and you will have no shortage of content ideas.
A lot of food content creators up their send email send frequency as we get into Q4 – especially if their audience is focused on baking or entertaining. This isn’t necessary – especially if you’re already emailing multiple times a week – but it is a great way to give your traffic an additional boost through the season where RPMs tend to be at their highest.
But, you’ll definitely want to plan for this. As we’ve talked about before, repurpose your older content in your emails – the more of it you have, the less work you’ll have to do! Work as far ahead as you’re able to – it will be less work in December!
SEASONAL HOLIDAYS
Canadian Thanksgiving: October 14th (2024) Halloween: October 31st Diwali: Oct 29 – Nov 3 (2024) with the main festivities happening on Nov 1.
Canadian Thanksgiving is a huge food holiday so even if you’re an American content creator, it’s worth making mention of it – perhaps you could put together a mini guide of links to your most popular Thanksgiving content and pop it in one of your emails.
Halloween – more down below (it deserves it’s own section!)
Diwali runs from October 29th – November 3 (2024) with the main festivities happening on November 1st. Mid October is a great time to start trickling out content if this is a good fit for you.
If you have digital products (ebooks, shopping lists, menu planners etc,) around preparing for any of the remaining holidays in the year – Halloween, Thanksgiving, Diwali, Hanukkah, Christmas, or New Years now is the time to be actively promoting them to your list every week for the remainder of the year.
HALLOWEEN
Halloween content is becoming almost as big as Christmas and people are looking for a lot of fun ideas and activities – and they’re planning in advance! Halloween planning seems to happen earlier and earlier every year. I think you can safely start promoting your Halloween content in early October – earlier if your audience is looking for it!
This is a great time to flex your creative muscles with spooky content:
Pumpkin: It’s all things pumpkin from now until… well… the end of the year really! Don’t just focus on sweets. Remember savory applications, beverages and using up all the remains of the pumpkin to avoid waste and jack’o’lantern ideas
Party foods: the spookier, creepier and more fun, the better: Halloween charcuterie boards, anything with eyeballs in it (pasta, punch, brownies), ghoulish cocktails – let your imagination go to town, and fun baked goods that look like monsters and scary creatures!
Halloween with kids: this is a great time to get kids in the kitchen and people are looking for tutorials and easy, fun recipes kids will want to help with.
School treats: cupcakes, bars, cookies, alternatives to sweets, nut-free – if you can make them spooky that’s even better
Entertaining menus: horror movie night, pre-trick or treating fuel, trick or treating after parties, fireworks block parties, adults only costume parties, party goody bags, budget friendly ideas
Cakes: more and more Halloween cakes are showing up as showstoppers for a party
Leftover candy recipes… so much candy… 🤣
SPORTS
It’s tailgate season! Sports are in overdrive in the fall: hockey, college football, NFL, CFL, World Series baseball… that all adds up to a lot of game day weekends!
Pull out your game day recipes: snacks, dips, wings, finger foods, chili – all the favourites!
Canadians, don’t forget Grey Cup is in November – I know from my own food blogging days that a lot of people search specifically for Grey Cup recipe ideas and it’s an under-served niche.
**Don’t forget to add in vegetarian and vegan options as well as some alcohol-free beverages – all of these are continuing to grow in popularity and it’s rare to host a gathering these days that doesn’t include meat and alochol-free guests!
PIE SEASON
Some may not agree but I think pie season is the best season!
Apple, pear, pumpkin, pecan, sweet potato, mince… and don’t forget the savoury ones! There’s also tarts, galettes, lattice tops… can you tell I love pie?
With pie comes pastry so pull out your pastry tutorials and videos and includes those in your emails too.
COMFORT FOOD
It’s full on comfort food season and comfort food email content always does well, regardless of your food niche.
casseroles
soups
hearty pasta dishes
roast dinners
breads, buns and biscuits
potato dishes
anything with melted, bubbly cheese
Think of ways you can put a spin on these for your audience:
budget-friendly
diet specific: gluten-free, dairy-free, keto, etc
meal planning and prepping, batch cooking
meat-free
easy, weeknight friendly, under 30 minutes, etc.
SEASONAL PRODUCE
Almost all the typical North American summer produce is finished by October and we’re heading into the season of root vegetables, squash, hardy greens and alliums (onions, garlic, leeks etc)
apples, crab apples, quince
pears
cranberries
pomegranates
carrots, parsnips, turnips, beets
winter squash, pumpkins
potatoes and sweet potatoes
Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower
leeks, onions, fresh garlic
kale, Swiss chard, cabbage
TAILOR YOUR OCTOBER NEWSLETTER CONTENT FOR YOUR EMAIL AUDIENCE
How you proceed with your emails for October will depend on your audience. You know them better than anyone else. Remember that your email audience may be different from the audience that finds you through search.
Focus on what your newsletter subscribers respond to. If you have the data available in your newsletter marketing platform, look at which content they responded to last fall. Then create newsletter content that’s a good fit. If your audience doesn’t care about sports, skip the sports content!
Now’s the time to get started. Plan out your October newsletter calendar and batch write your emails. Schedule them and you’re good to go!
Want More Tips?
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A detailed list of September food observances makes it easy for food content creators to brainstorm blog and email content ideas.
If you’re a food content creator and you’re looking for ideas for September content for your email newsletters or social media channels check out all of these September food holidays. You’ll find lots of ideas and you can use them to brainstorm recipes or come up with fun food videos for your YouTube channel. They also give you a great opportunity to share content from your archives.
There is quite literally a day for almost any type of food so you should be able to find suitable topics for your food blog’s niche!
Many of these observances are based on dates in the United States but are often celebrated in the food community at large. I’ve tried to note where a month, week or day is tied to a specific country other than the USA. And I’ve also noted where a day is observed globally.
Some food observance dates do shift from year to year but these dates should be current for 2024
September Month-Long Food Observances
Biscuit Month (North American style biscuits)
Bourbon Month
Breakfast Month
California Wine Month
Cannoli Month
Chicken Month
Condiment Month
Fruits and Vegetables Month
Honey Month
Hunger Action Month
Italian Cheese Month
Mushroom Month
Organic Harvest Month
Papaya Month (conflicting dates report that it’s also celebrated in June)
Potato Month
Rice Month
Shake Month
Sourdough Month (also called Sourdough September)
Whole Grains Month
September Food Week Observances
Sept 1-7: Waffle Week
Sept 2-8: Zero Waste Week
Sept 8-14: Chef Appreciation Week
Sept 9-15: Biscuit and Gravy Week
Sept 9-22: Fairtrade Fortnight
Sept 20-Oct 6: British Food Fortnight
Sept 23-Oct 2: Ontario Garlic Week
Sept 29-Oct 5: Wild Rice Week
September Food Days
September Food Days: Sept 1-7
Sept 1: Burnt Ends Day
Sept 1: Cherry Popover Day
Sept 1: Gyro Day
Sept 1: Tofu Day
Sept 2: Blueberry Popsicle Day
Sept 2: Grits for Breakfast Day
Sept 2: World Coconut Day
Sept 3: Baby Back Ribs Day
Sept 3: Welsh Rarebit Day
Sept 3: Afternoon Tea Creator, Anna, Duchess of Bedford’s Birthday
Sept 4: Eat and Extra Dessert Day
Sept 4: National Macadamia Nut Day
Sept 4: National Spice Blend Day
Sept 5: Cheese Pizza Day
Sept 5: World Samosa Day
Sept 6: Chianti Day (first Friday in September)
Sept 6: Coffee Ice Cream Day
Sept 6: Food Bank Day (first Friday in September)
Sept 7: Acorn Squash Day
Sept 7: Beer Lovers Day
Sept 7: International Bacon Day (first Saturday in September)
Sept 7: Salami Day
Sept 7: Tailgating Day (first Saturday in September)
September Food Days: Sept 8-14
Sept 8: Date Nut Bread
Sept 9: I Love Food Day
Sept 9: International Boxed Wine day
Sept 9: Steak au Poivre Day
Sept 9: Wiener Schnitzel Day
Sept 10: Ants on a Log Day (second Tuesday)
Sept 10: Port Wine Day (International Port Wine Day is Jan 27)
Sept 10: TV Dinner Day
Sept 11: Hot Cross Buns Day
Sept 12: Blackberry Day (UK)
Sept 12: Chocolate Milkshake Day
Sept 13: 9×13 Day (as in the 9×13 baking dish)
Sept 13: Cachaça Day (Brazil
Sept 13: Celiac Awareness Day
Sept 13: Fortune Cookie Day
Sept 13: International Chocolate Day
Sept 13: Kids Take Over the Kitchen Day
Sept 13: Peanut Day
Sept 13: Snack a Pickle Day
Sept 14: Black and White Cookie Day
Sept 14: Cream Filled Donut Day
Sept 14: Eat a Hoagie Day
Sept 14: Gobstopper Day
September Food Days: Sept 15-21
Sept 15: Brunch Day (third Sunday in September)
Sept 15: Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie day
Sept 15: Cheese Toast Day
Sept 15: Crème de Menthe Day
Sept 15: Double Cheeseburger Day
Sept 15: Linguine Day
Sept 16: Choose Your Chocolate Day
Sept 16: Guacamole Day
Sept 16: Cinnamon Raisin Bread Day
Sept 17: Apple Dumpling Day
Sept 17: Beignet day
Sept 17: Monte Cristo Day (Croque Monsieur)
Sept 18: Cheeseburger Day
Sept 18: Red Velvet Cake Day
Sept 18: Rice Krispie Treats Day
Sept 19: Butterscotch Pudding Day
Sept 19: Pawpaw Day
Sept 20: Bakery Day
Sept 20: Fried Rice Day
Sept 20: International Grenache Day (third Thursday in September)
Sept 20: Pepperoni Pizza Day
Sept 20: Punch Day
Sept 20: Queso Day
Sept 20: String Cheese Day
Sept 20: World Paella Day
Sept 21: Beef Stroganoff Day
Sept 21: Chai Day
Sept 21: International Eat an Apple Day (third Saturday in September)
Sept 21: Pecan Cookie Day
Sept 21: Sponge Candy Day
September Food Days: Sept 22-28
Sept 22: Eat Local day
Sept 22: Ice Cream Cone Day
Sept 22: White Chocolate Day
Sept 23: Great American Pot Pie Day
Sept 23: Snack Stick Day
Sept 23: Za’atar Day
Sept 24: Cherries Jubilee day
Sept 24: Horchata Day
Sept 24: Mofongo Day
Sept 25: Cooking Day
Sept 25: Crab Meat Newburg Day
Sept 25: Food Service Workers Day
Sept 25: Lobster Day
Sept 25: Quesadilla day
Sept 25: World School Milk Day (last Wednesday in September)
Sept 26: Better Breakfast day
Sept 26: Chimichanga day
Sept 26: Dumpling Day
Sept 26: Eat Dinner with Your Kids Day
Sept 26: Key Lime Pie Day
Sept 26: Pancake Day
Sept 27: Chocolate Milk Day
Sept 27: Corned Beef Hash Day
Sept 27: German Butterbrot Day (last Friday in September)
Sept 27: Hug a Vegetarian Day (4th Friday in September)
Sept 28: Drink Beer Day
Sept 28: International Poke Day
Sept 28: Strawberry Cream Pie Day
September Food Days: 29-30
Sept 29: Biscotti Day
Sept 29: Coffee Day
Sept 29: Goose Day
Sept 29: International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste
Want more email tips? Subscribe to my monthly newsletter! Each month I write an exclusive newsletter full of tips, tricks and ideas for food content creators and their email lists!
As we enter September, email newsletter content ideas are plentiful for food bloggers and food content creators. The hard part will be narrowing down your content for the next few months!
For most food bloggers and food content creators, September is the kick off to the busiest season of the year!
There’s no shortage of things to write about over the coming months. This is the time of year where food plays a crucial roll and everyone has a lot to do!
How can you start to make things easier for your most engaged audience members?
MAKE AN EMAIL CONTENT PLAN
There are so many ideas for email content over the next 4-5 months that it can be almost overwhelming. My best suggestion is to take a few moments to sit down and craft out a content plan to get you through early January. It will help alleviate some of the stress! If you need help, check out this post on planning out your email content (Step 4 is particularly helpful for this time of year.)
If you’ve been neglecting your newsletter subscribers, now is the time to show them some love. You want them to be interested and full of anticipation for how you’re going to help them get through the next four months as they head back to school or work, look forward to Thanksgiving and Halloween and start to plan their holiday season.
FOCUS ON YOUR EMAIL AUDIENCE
Remember that this list of ideas is meant to help kickstart your brainstorming. Choose topics that are obviously a good fit for your audience. But don’t shy away from other, less obvious, topics. Instead, look to see if there’s a way you can adapt them to fit your audience
For example: lunchbox ideas. These don’t just have to apply to school lunches. Adults head back to work after vacation. Budgets are still a little stressed this year to maybe more adults are brown bagging it or meal prepping to avoid waste. They need lunches too. Maybe they work from home and get too absorbed in their work to be bothered with lunch so meal prepping is ideal for them.
Your audience might be looking for budget friendly hacks or maybe they’re vegan, or don’t eat dairy or they follow a keto diet. Take the lunchbox idea and adapt it to fit your content and audience.
SEASONAL HOLIDAYS
Here are some holidays and significant content themes for September; Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) runs from Sept 15-17, it’s officially PSL season and, of course, the kids are back in school! Looking to the future, Rosh Hashanah runs from October 2-4 and Canadian Thanksgiving is October 14th
Back to School is always huge in September and remember that Labour Day is early this year (2024) so all kids will be back in class by September 3rd. Read more on Back to School ideas below
Rosh Hashanah starts at sundown on Friday, October 2 and runs till sundown on Sunday, October 4th – there are multiple foods associated with this holiday and you will want to start sharing content in late September
pumpkin everything is going to be everywhere for the next 3-4 months – pace yourselves! 🤣 (and make sure to recycle your old pumpkin content in your emails!)
Canadians, start trickling out your Thanksgiving content in late September – people plan menus well in advance when they are hosting and entertaining.
Americans, don’t neglect your Canadian readers – Canadian Thanksgiving is second only to Christmas in terms of food prep and consumption (this is also where segmenting your email list by country can be super helpful!)
If you have digital products around preparing for Canadian Thanksgiving (ebooks, shopping lists, menu planners etc,) now is the time to be actively promoting them to your list every week in September. REMEMBER: you can also promote them again for US Thanksgiving!
If you have digital products for Halloween (ebooks, project plans, party planning etc), start promoting to your list weekly in mid-late September.
Apples! September is apple season: cakes, pies, galettes and tarts – but don’t forget savoury apple ideas as well!
BACK TO SCHOOL
Back to school is such a big topic it deserves it’s own section!
lunchbox ideas:
snacks
mains
treats
hot and cold foods (and how to store them)
food safety
sustainable packaging
bento boxes
cookies, muffins, bars
alternatives to pre-packaged food
allergen-free or friendly
make ahead/meal prepped
budget friendly
lunches for adults
breakfasts:
grab-n-go
quick and easy
overnight prep
weeknight dinners:
one pot or sheet pan
under 30 minutes
under 20 minutes
meal prep
freezer friendly
pantry planning, kid approved, Instant Pot, Air Fryer, slow cooker
snacks:
after school munchies
high energy fuel for sports or after school activities
snacks for studying, focus and concentration
easy snacks
diy snack packs or refrigerator snack drawers
energy and granola bars and balls
classic lunchbox and cookie jar cookies
food tips for surviving in a dorm or shared accommodation
COMFORT FOOD
September (and even early October) weather can be a mixed bag but odds are good that there will still be a lot of hot days ahead. Pay attention to weather across the continent and not just where you live before you get too carried away with comfort food.
Having said that, the days are shorter and the nights will be starting to cool off so start to sneak in some lighter comfort foods. Soups, lighter pasta and potato dishes are all good options for September.
SEASONAL PRODUCE:
There’s a little bit of everything available in September!
apples
pears
plums
blackberries
figs
grapes
cranberries
pomegranates (late Sept)
most other summer fruits are still available but are at the very tail end of their season
carrots
corn
summer squash, cucumbers, zucchini
green beans
tomatoes
eggplant
peppers
winter squash, pumpkins, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, celery and sweet potatoes (the Thanksgiving foods!) all start to appear in mid to late September depending on geography
OTHER SEPTEMBER FOOD CONTENT IDEAS
holiday budget planning – this year, more then ever, people will be budget focused this upcoming holiday season. September is a great time to start talking and writing about how to plan for the holidays on a budget – including pantry planning, entertaining, cookie and bar swaps etc.
Now’s the time to get started. Plan out your September newsletter calendar and batch write your emails. Schedule them and you’re good to go!
WANT MORE TIPS?
Want More Tips?
Want more email tips? Subscribe to my monthly newsletter! Each month I write an exclusive newsletter full of tips, tricks and ideas for food content creators and their email lists!
A detailed list of August food observances makes it easy for food content creators to brainstorm blog and email content ideas.
If you’re a food content creator and you’re looking for ideas for August content for your email newsletters or social media channels check out all of these August food holidays. There’s lots of ideas here and you can use them to brainstorm recipe ideas or come up with fun food videos for your YouTube channel. They also give you a great opportunity to share content from your archives.
There is quite literally a day for almost any type of food so you should be able to find suitable topics for your food blog’s niche!
Many of these observances are based on dates in the United States but are often celebrated in the food community at large. I’ve tried to note where a month, week or day is tied to a specific country other than the USA. And where a day is observed globally, that has been noted as well.
Some food observance dates do shift from year to year but these dates should be current for 2024
Want more email tips? Subscribe to my monthly newsletter! Each month I write an exclusive newsletter full of tips, tricks and ideas for food content creators and their email lists!
For food bloggers and food content creators, August email newsletters can be a little challenging. Not because of a lack of content but because we’re bridgingtwo very different seasons.
August is an awkward month for food content emails. We’re in the heart of summer vacation and the hottest weather of the year but at the same time, back-to-school is right around the corner. In many parts of the US and eastern Canada, kids go back to school as early as mid August.
So… some people are looking for back to school content and others aren’t even opening their emails as they soak up their last few days of freedom.
Much of July’s content suggestions, particularly canning and preserving, outdoor entertaining and cool kitchen ideas are still relevant for August (get the full July list here).
Note that for 2024, Labour Day lands on September 2 which makes it very early. That means everyone will be starting to prep for Back to School during the last week of August.
Labour Day (the first Monday in September), other civic holiday long weekends
one last kick at the can for summer – this is a popular weekend for having friends over and entertaining outdoors. For many people this is their second New Year’s Eve as school and regular work routines resume after the weekend and summer unofficially comes to a close
SEASONAL FOOD & CONTENT:
It’s stone fruit season!
blackberries with raspberries and blueberries at the tail end of production
stone fruits: apricots, nectarines, peaches, plums
pears and grapes in some areas (September for others)
while many fruits are at the tail end of their summer production, most are still available in August with cranberries, apples and rhubarb being the exceptions.
almost all vegetables. Squash is just coming in, potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, corn and carrots are all flourishing. It’s actually easier to list the veggies that aren’t available yet! Asparagus has long since finished and pumpkins, red and yellow onions and Brussels sprouts are still a month away.
Depending on where you live, kids go back to school in late August or after Labour day weekend in September. University and college kids mostly go back after Labour day. Start dripping out content in late August but keep this list handy as you plan September as well. Here are a few to get you started:
lunch box ideas
allergy friendly (peanut-free in particular!)
eco-friendly packaging ideas
budget friendly (10 lunchbox ideas that cost less than $X)
hot lunch ideas (and how to keep them hot)
lunch box sweets and homemade treats
making lunch box veggies exciting
after school snacks
quick and easy
fuel for sports or activities
quell the pre-dinner munchies
grab-n-go breakfasts
easy breakfasts ready in 10 minutes or less
budget friendly cooking tips for college kids
dorm friendly meal ideas or dorm friendly foods
cooking basics for kids on their own for the first time
weeknight dinners
30-45 minutes or less
one pot meals
10 ingredients or less
meal prep and batch cooking
foods that fuel study sessions or help with mental focus
how to avoid the morning breakfast/lunchbox prep crunch
tips on getting your kitchen and pantry organized for meal prep and back to school.
As always, these are suggestions – adapt them to fit your niche and your audience.
WANT MORE TIPS?
Want more email tips? Subscribe to my monthly newsletter! Each month I write an exclusive newsletter full of tips, tricks and ideas for food content creators and their email lists!
