November-December 2026 WhatsApp campaign calendar: Diwali to New Year
November and December 2026 pack Dhanteras (6 November), Diwali (8 November), Bhai Dooj, Chhath (15 November), Guru Nanak Jayanti (24 November), the wedding season, Christmas and New Year into nine weeks. Plan three or four well-spaced WhatsApp broadcasts to opted-in segments, not one per festival, and let an automated flow handle the replies each one brings.
- Diwali falls on Sunday 8 November 2026, with Dhanteras on 6 November and Bhaiya Dooj on 11 November per Drik Panchang for New Delhi.
- Marketing templates for Diwali week should already be approved; submit any missing ones this week.
- Choose three or four broadcast moments across nine weeks and send each to the segment it suits, not to everyone.
- Meta can block marketing messages to people who already get many, so repeat blasts to the same list waste money.
- Accounts billed in India must move to INR billing in Meta by 31 December 2026, so check this before the year-end rush.
The key dates for November and December 2026
| Date | Occasion | Who it matters to |
|---|---|---|
| Fri 6 Nov | Dhanteras | Jewellery, utensils, electronics, vehicles |
| Sun 8 Nov | Diwali (Lakshmi Puja) | Almost every consumer business |
| Tue 10 Nov | Govardhan Puja, Gujarati New Year | Gujarat-focused businesses, sweets |
| Wed 11 Nov | Bhaiya Dooj | Gifting, sweets, fashion |
| Sun 15 Nov | Chhath Puja | Customers in Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern UP and migrants travelling home |
| Tue 24 Nov | Guru Nanak Jayanti | Punjab and Sikh communities, restaurants |
| Fri 27 Nov | Black Friday | Online brands, electronics, fashion |
| Nov to mid-Dec | Wedding season | Jewellery, venues, caterers, salons, fashion |
| Fri 25 Dec | Christmas | Bakeries, gifting, hotels, Goa and Kerala businesses |
| Thu 31 Dec | New Year's Eve | Restaurants, events, travel, gyms for January |
Hindu festival dates follow Drik Panchang for New Delhi and can differ by a day in your region, so confirm with your local panchang. Wedding muhurat dates vary by community and panchang, so take them from your own customers.
Week by week: what to send and when
- 22 Oct to 1 Nov: last checks. Confirm Diwali templates are approved, test the reply flow and clean your contact groups. Submit any missing template today.
- 2 to 8 Nov: Dhanteras and Diwali. One main offer broadcast early in the week to past buyers and warm leads. Jewellers and electronics stores send a Dhanteras-specific message by 5 November.
- 9 to 15 Nov: after Diwali. No new blast. A short drip to people who clicked but did not buy, plus Bhaiya Dooj gifting for relevant segments. Pause promotional messages to Chhath audiences in that week; a simple greeting is enough.
- 16 to 30 Nov: weddings and Black Friday. Wedding-related segments get a dedicated message. Online brands choose either a Black Friday or an end-of-November sale, not both.
- 1 to 20 Dec: year-end. Corporate gifting for B2B lists, year-end clearance for retail, early New Year bookings for restaurants and events.
- 21 to 31 Dec: Christmas and New Year. One combined greeting with a useful line, such as holiday timings or January bookings, rather than two separate greetings.
Detailed festival-specific plans are in our Diwali playbook and wedding season automation guide.
Rules that make festive broadcasts cost more or fail
- Opt-in first. Send marketing templates only to people who agreed to receive them, and honour STOP immediately.
- Per-user marketing limits. WhatsApp may cap how many marketing messages a person receives from all businesses. Blocked sends fail with error 131049, and Meta asks you to wait 24 hours before retrying. In a season when everyone is broadcasting, this bites harder.
- Every template is paid. Meta charges per delivered marketing template, and since 1 October 2026 it also charges for service replies after 1,000 free per number each month.
- Messaging limits. Your daily limit is shared across all numbers in your business portfolio, so plan big sends across days.
- INR billing. Meta asks eligible businesses whose Billing Hub Sold-To country is India to move every WhatsApp account in the portfolio to INR by 31 December 2026. From 1 January 2027 it says it will stop delivering messages for eligible accounts still billed in another currency, which would hit your New Year sends.
Current rules are summarised in new WhatsApp Business rules.
Segments that make three broadcasts feel like ten
The trick in a crowded season is to send fewer messages that each feel personal. Tag contacts into groups before November starts:
- Past festive buyers from Diwali 2025: early access or a loyalty offer.
- Wedding families who enquired about bridal, venues or catering: a dedicated message with appointment booking.
- Regional groups, such as customers in Bihar for Chhath or Punjab for Gurpurab: a greeting in their language.
- B2B clients: corporate gifting in early December.
- Cold leads: one light message only, or nothing.
A contact in two segments should get the more specific message, not both.
Write each message for its group. A past buyer in Ahmedabad can be told "Your Diwali 2025 favourite is back in a new colour". A wedding family in Patna can be offered a bridal consultation slot. A B2B client in Pune can get a corporate gifting catalogue with GST invoices. None of these needs a bigger list, only better tags and a little planning in the last week of October.
Running the season on Convo360
Convo360 handles the sending and the replies in one place, with no code:
- Templates: create and submit each festive template in WhatsApp Studio, and search existing ones before writing new copy.
- Segments: import past buyers by CSV into Contacts groups, or tag them automatically with Add to Group inside flows.
- Broadcasts: schedule each campaign to one group at a time, with retry for failed sends.
- Replies: a keyword or button-reply trigger starts a flow with a Carousel or List Menu of offers, an AI Reply step for open questions in Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali or English, and a Razorpay payment link for buy-now replies.
- Follow-up: a drip with Wait / Delay steps a few days apart reaches people who replied but did not buy.
- Testing: a Split (A/B) step compares two openings on a small group before the main send.
Start on the 14-day free trial; Meta's message charges are paid to Meta directly with no markup.
Step by step
- Confirm templates and test the reply flowBefore 1 November, make sure every festive template is approved and the reply flow has no dead ends in Preview.
- Build segments before NovemberTag past festive buyers, wedding enquiries, regional groups, B2B clients and cold leads into separate groups.
- Pick three or four broadcast momentsChoose from Dhanteras-Diwali, weddings or Black Friday, early-December year-end and New Year, by segment.
- Automate the repliesUse keyword and button triggers with menus, AI replies and payment links so the team handles only exceptions.
- Run a short drip after each broadcastFollow up with people who replied but did not buy, a few days apart, then stop.
- Check Meta billing before year-endConfirm a payment method and INR billing in Meta before 31 December 2026.
Example conversation
Industry guide: AI agents for Retail & Stores — Catalog enquiries, offers & store-visit bookings.
Plan your festive season broadcasts on Convo360
Start free in minutes — no code, no credit card. Bring your own AI keys and pay no per-message markup.
Frequently asked questions
When is Diwali in 2026?
Diwali, or Lakshmi Puja, falls on Sunday 8 November 2026 according to Drik Panchang for New Delhi. Dhanteras is on Friday 6 November, Govardhan Puja and Gujarati New Year on Tuesday 10 November and Bhaiya Dooj on Wednesday 11 November. Local dates can vary by a day.
How many WhatsApp broadcasts should I send in November and December?
Three or four well-timed broadcasts per segment usually beat a message for every festival. Each one costs a marketing template fee, and WhatsApp may block marketing messages to people who already receive many, so fewer, better-targeted sends protect both budget and reach.
Is it too late to get Diwali 2026 WhatsApp templates approved?
Not if you submit now. Template review is often quick but can take longer, and a rejection needs time to fix and resubmit. Submit by the last week of October so a resubmission still clears before Dhanteras on 6 November.
Should I send New Year greetings to my whole contact list?
Only to contacts who opted in to marketing messages, since a greeting with your brand is marketing. Add something useful, such as holiday timings or January booking slots, and combine Christmas and New Year into one message to keep costs down.
What happens if my WhatsApp broadcast hits error 131049?
Error 131049 means WhatsApp chose not to deliver a marketing message to that person, often because of per-user limits. Meta advises waiting at least 24 hours before retrying, and repeated retries can make delivery to those users worse.
Official sources
- Drik Panchang: 2026 Diwali puja calendar for New Delhi (checked 21 Oct 2026)
- Drik Panchang: Chhath Puja 2026 date (checked 21 Oct 2026)
- Drik Panchang: Guru Nanak Jayanti 2026 date (checked 21 Oct 2026)
- Meta for Developers: Per-user marketing template message limits (checked 21 Oct 2026)
- Meta for Developers: Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform (checked 21 Oct 2026)
Related reading
Available across India — see WhatsApp & AI calling automation by state and city.