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Top Drinking Holidays for Alcohol Delivery and Pickup

Get ideas on promoting alcohol delivery and pickup during some of the year's biggest drinking holidays.

8 min read
4/19/2021
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While many businesses faced challenges in 2020, there was one area that didn't slow down: online alcohol sales. In fact, alcohol ecommerce grew by 42% in 2020 — reaching a total of $42 billion in the United States alone. With more consumers staying home and some states loosening restrictions on alcohol delivery, getting drinks delivered has quickly become the norm. Luckily, now that DoorDash for alcohol is available as a delivery partner for certain states and cities, it's easier than ever to jump on the trend.

Whether you're an alcohol retailer or a restaurant looking to add alcohol to your menu, there are a lot of ways to advertise your offerings. Keep reading to learn more about the biggest drinking holidays to get ideas on how to reach new customers and keep the alcohol delivery orders flowing.

Top drinking holidays for alcohol delivery

Make the most of the year's biggest drinking holidays by focusing on unique offerings that reflect the spirit of each celebration, and by running marketing and promotions that appeal to customers. Pop a bottle – it's time to get festive.

Fourth of July

The United States' Independence Day was practically designed for low-ABV drinking with sunny days and a long weekend off work. According to the National Beer Wholesalers Association, the Fourth of July ranks #1 in holidays for beer consumption at home or off-premise.

This year, in addition to the usual beer offerings, don't forget to highlight new hard seltzer and other low-ABV options and focus on festive flavors that will appeal to customers, like watermelon or iced tea. Since many people go out of town for this holiday, start promoting your offerings early and consider working with an alcohol delivery partner like DoorDash to get beverages to customers wherever they are.

Cinco de Mayo

What started as a day to commemorate the Mexican Army's victory in a battle with the French in 1862 has become an even bigger celebration of Mexican culture in the US. According to Nielsen, in 2013 Americans bought more than $600 million worth of beer for Cinco de Mayo, which was more than for Game Day or St. Patrick's Day that year.

For this drinking holiday, consider highlighting Mexican-specific brands and alcoholic beverages, like premium tequilas, to-go margaritas, and the kits for micheladas. If you're a restaurant, consider offering a holiday special, such as a meal with a beer, that helps customers keep the party going at home.

Game Day

When the Big Game rolls around, people love to celebrate. In 2019, Americans spent over $2 billion on alcohol leading up to and on the big day. To make the most of this popular holiday for drinking, think about offering fun football-themed foods, and flights of beer or specialty cocktails. As an alcohol retailer, consider stocking up on festive liqueurs that match the colors of the different teams, and offer a promotional pricing on Game Day.

Additionally, get inspired by reviewing the most-ordered foods on DoorDash for Game Day in 2021. Promote drinks that pair well with sports food staples like wings, french fries, and fried chicken — beer is always a good choice.

If the game is likely to go into overtime, encourage people to restock with quick delivery — DoorDash's average delivery time is in 35 minutes or less. 

The day before Thanksgiving

Surprise! The day before Thanksgiving is one of the biggest days of the year for alcohol sales (in the US, at least). And it's not just to stock up for the big turkey dinner — this day is also known as Blackout Wednesday. We encourage using this holiday as a time to promote no-alcohol or low-alcohol options to help keep people sober and safe — and consider offering alcohol delivery to encourage customers to stay at home.

St. Patrick's Day

This Irish holiday is more than an excuse to wear green and celebrate Irish culture, it's a great day to drive sales of St. Patrick's Day staples like Guinness, green beer (light-toned beer and food dye), and top-shelf Irish whiskey. As a restaurant, consider offering to-go kits for unexpected festive cocktails that play on the green theme, as well as specials on Irish-themed dishes.

National alcohol days

There's a national holiday for nearly everything you can think of, including your customers' favorite drinks! However, just because they're not officially recognized by the government doesn't mean they're less fun to celebrate.

Consider running regular promotions for these fun holidays, like National Beer Day (April 7), National Margarita Day (February 22), National Drink Wine Day (February 18), National Iced Tea Day (June 10), National Piña Colada Day (July 10), and so much more. These smaller national alcohol days are a good way to surprise and delight customers with unexpected promotions, encouraging them to celebrate throughout the year.

Everyday holidays

Don't forget to celebrate the little moments, too! Anniversaries, engagements, graduations, and birthdays (there are 365 of them a year) are all events people like to celebrate with a shared drink. Help your customers make each of these holidays special by reminding them of your unique alcohol offerings, and consider planning your marketing around DoorDash's top 10 busiest days for food sales – if people are eating, they're likely to be thirsty, too.

Maximize fulfillment with an alcohol delivery partner

As you start to build out the rest of your marketing calendar around the year's biggest drinking holidays, consider working with an alcohol delivery partner like DoorDash to help you get drinks to customers.

The process is easy: simply sign up for DoorDash alcohol delivery and a member of our team will reach out to verify your alcohol permit — as well as confirm that you're in a location where alcohol delivery is available. Once you're set up, customers can browse your offerings and make a purchase. 

Our system is designed to help businesses maintain compliance with local alcohol delivery laws and regulations by asking customers to agree that the order recipient must validate age, and having the Dasher delivering the order validate the customer's ID at the point of handoff. Businesses can also cater to customer preference by offering both delivery and pickup options.

Whatever your business looks like today, there are a lot of ways to explore drinking holiday promotions to grow your business. Here's a cheers to more sales!

Author

Ali Cottong

Ali Cottong

Copywriter

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