In the United States it is difficult to forget when the Fourth of July rolls around, you can target another important day that happens only a couple weeks earlier. Flag Day doesn’t compete much with the Fourth in terms of recognition, but it’s still a great opportunity to promote yourself or your company. Don’t compete with the crowd of Independence Day promos when you can lead the pack by starting a little earlier than everyone else. The obvious promotional item to use for Flag Day would be a flag, but there are a lot of other appropriate items to choose from.

It isn’t the biggest retail holiday of the summer, but Flag Day has been around for quite a while. Officially, June 14th is Flag Day in the United States, recognized back in 1916 by then President Woodrow Wilson but it wasn’t actually selected as a federal holiday. The 14th was chosen especially because it was this day that the Stars and Stripes became the official national flag. Flags and banners have been one of the central summer promotional items for a long time, so hunting and purchasing some flags for Flag Day is a pretty obvious way to go. You can’t do too much customization with the US flag, only indirectly. The degree of customization you can obtain with Stars and Stripes is usually restricted to just little extras like special borders, definitely not something stitched onto the actual stars and stripes. Even though giving out US flags would be agreeable, you’re going to want to dig a little deeper. Some flags can have stamping on the dowel they’re attached to, particularly the little flags you see everyone wave at parades. You might even be able to get your hands on flags that have an all-purpose patriotic theme that also have room for your company name or logo.

Focusing on other patriotic promotional items might be the way to go, too. There are not just hundreds of flags being sold out there; there are also hundreds of diverse kinds of flag items. Recently lapel pins shaped like the American Flag became famous thanks to the political landscape, but they can also come in a variety of other similar shapes. People also treat Flag Day as an opportunity to give gifts to loved ones. It’s not really a hallmark holiday that compares to the monster that is Valentine’s Day but there are lots of little things like chocolates or keepsake boxes with flag themes.

You’ll see there are in reality a lot of summer holidays if you take a look at your calendar, and a lot of them aren’t given the notice they might deserve. Flag Day is just one of those holidays and taking advantage of it will let you obstruct any Fourth of July promotions your competitors may be considering, giving you an edge! Just remember there are a finite number of flags around every year to sell and depending on how patriotic we are feeling as a nation during any given year, sometimes they are sold out weeks in advance. So, plan ahead and show your colors this year!