Boxing Day is the public holiday in Britain on 26 December, the day after Christmas Day. It takes its name from the old custom of giving a “Christmas box” of money or gifts to servants, tradespeople and the poor at this time of year, though the exact origin of the term is not settled. Today it means football, the races, the sales, a long walk and a great many turkey sandwiches.
For a single day with such a homely name, Boxing Day carries a surprising amount of history and no small amount of disagreement. Why is it called that, exactly? When is the holiday if the 26th lands on a weekend? And what, beyond eating cold turkey on the sofa, is one actually meant to do with it? What follows is the honest account: what Boxing Day is, where the name most plausibly comes from, the dates that catch people out, and how Britain marks the day now.
Key takeaways
- What: a British public holiday on 26 December, the day after Christmas Day, observed across the UK and much of the Commonwealth.
- The name: from the “Christmas box” of money or gifts once given to those who had given good service. The precise origin is genuinely uncertain; honest sources offer several overlapping theories, not one settled answer.
- The date: always 26 December. The bank holiday always lands on a weekday, so when the 26th falls on a weekend a substitute day is added (in 2026, Monday 28 December).
- Other names: St Stephen’s Day across much of Ireland and parts of Europe; the Day of Goodwill in South Africa.
- Today: a full programme of football, the King George VI Chase at Kempton, the sales, country walks, Boxing Day hunts, and Christmas-dinner leftovers reinvented.
What is Boxing Day?
Boxing Day is a public holiday observed in the United Kingdom and several Commonwealth countries on 26 December, the day immediately after Christmas Day. It is the second day of Christmas in the old reckoning — the “two turtle doves” of the carol — and in Britain it has been a bank holiday, outside Scotland, since 1871.
In practice it functions as the quieter, looser half of the Christmas holiday. Christmas Day is the fixed point: the church service for some, the cooking, the table, the present-giving. Boxing Day is what happens when the pressure is off — a day for sport, for visiting the relatives you did not see yesterday, for a walk to shift the excess, for the sales if that is your idea of a good time, and for doing very little if it is not. The name is old and charitable in origin; the modern day is mostly about rest, leftovers and ritual.
When is Boxing Day? The date and the bank-holiday rules
Boxing Day is always 26 December. The bank holiday attached to it, however, always falls on a weekday, so when the 26th lands on a Saturday or Sunday a substitute day off is added. This is the distinction that trips people up: the day never moves, but the day off sometimes does.
The rule, set out in the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 and applied each year by royal proclamation, works like this. When 26 December falls on a Saturday, the substitute bank holiday is the following Monday. When it falls on a Sunday, the substitute is the following Tuesday, because the Monday is already taken up by the Christmas Day substitute. The table below shows how this plays out over the next few years.
| Year | 26 December falls on | Boxing Day bank holiday observed |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Friday | Friday 26 December |
| 2026 | Saturday | Monday 28 December (substitute) |
| 2027 | Sunday | Tuesday 28 December (substitute) |
| 2028 | Tuesday | Tuesday 26 December |
| 2029 | Wednesday | Wednesday 26 December |
A few honest footnotes. Scotland gained Boxing Day as an additional bank holiday only in 1974, later than the rest of Britain, and its festive holidays are proclaimed separately. The underlying legislation does not actually use the words “Boxing Day” at all — it refers to “26th December, if it be not a Sunday” — which is a small reminder that the cosy name is custom rather than statute. And if you are weighing up annual leave, a weekend 26th is quietly good news: the substitute weekday holiday means the public holiday is not swallowed by the weekend.
If your question is the narrower one — whether your own employer must give the day off — bank-holiday entitlement depends on your contract rather than on the holiday itself, a point we cover in our short explainer on whether Boxing Day is a bank holiday.
Why is it called Boxing Day? The honest history
Boxing Day is named after the “Christmas box” — a gift of money, food or goods given to servants, tradespeople and the poor around Christmas — but historians do not agree on exactly which box came first. Anyone who tells you the origin is settled is tidying up a genuinely messy story. There are three main theories, and the responsible answer is that the name probably grew out of more than one of them at once.
The name almost certainly comes from a box. Which box, and whose, is where the historians part company.
Theory one: the servants’ Christmas box
The most widely repeated explanation is the household one. In wealthy homes, servants worked on Christmas Day itself — cooking, serving, keeping the fires in — while the family celebrated. On the day after, 26 December, they were given time off to visit their own families, and before they left their employer handed each of them a box containing money, small gifts and sometimes leftover food, as thanks for the year’s service. The boxes are where “Boxing Day” is thought to come from. This is the version Samuel Pepys gestures at in his diary, where he records giving and receiving such seasonal tips.
Theory two: the church alms box
The second theory is ecclesiastical. Churches kept an alms box — a sealed collecting box for donations to the poor — in the porch through Advent and Christmas. By tradition the box was opened the day after Christmas and its contents distributed to the needy of the parish. The day after Christmas is also the Feast of St Stephen, the first Christian martyr and a figure associated with charity, which gives the church version a neat liturgical anchor. On this reading, “the box” is the alms box, not the servant’s.
Theory three: the older custom of giving
The third position, favoured by cautious historians, is that both of the above are branches of a much older European habit of giving money and gifts to those in service or in need at midwinter, traceable to the Middle Ages, whose precise starting point is lost. On this view it is a mistake to look for a single inventor or a single box; the name settled onto a cluster of related customs.
What the record actually shows
The two datable anchors are worth stating plainly, because they are what the better sources agree on:
- The phrase “Christmas box” — meaning a seasonal tip or gift for good service — is recorded in English from the 17th century, and appears in Samuel Pepys’s diary in December 1663.
- The Oxford English Dictionary gives the earliest attestation of “Boxing Day” itself from 1743, defining it as the day after Christmas Day, when tradespeople and employees would receive a Christmas box.
- Seasonal tipping of local service workers — the postman, the dustman, the errand boy — was an established British practice by the 18th century and survived, in attenuated form, into living memory.
What none of the record does is hand us a single, certain origin for the word. The honest summary is that “Boxing Day” takes its name from the boxes used in seasonal giving, and that the church and household versions are best read as two strands of the same charitable knot rather than rival claimants to a title.
St Stephen’s Day and the Wren Day
Across much of Ireland and parts of Europe, 26 December is not Boxing Day at all but St Stephen’s Day, the feast of the first Christian martyr. The two fall on the same date and overlap in spirit — both carry the old theme of charity — but they come from different roots, one civic and English, the other religious and far older.
In Ireland the day is also marked, in pockets, as the Wren Day, or Lá an Dreoilín. Groups of “Wren Boys” in straw costumes and disguise would once go from house to house with music and a decorated pole, collecting food and coins. The custom’s origins are obscure and a little dark — older versions involved an actual wren — but the surviving form is a noisy, good-humoured procession, kept up most vividly in towns such as Dingle in County Kerry. Elsewhere the day carries other names again: in South Africa it was renamed the Day of Goodwill in 1994, and in much of central Europe it is the second day of Christmas.
How Boxing Day is celebrated in Britain today
Modern Boxing Day is built around sport, the sales, the outdoors and the remains of Christmas dinner. The charitable origin has faded into the background; what is left is a set of comfortable national rituals, most of them involving either a screen, a horse, a hill or a sandwich.
Football and the races
Boxing Day football is one of the fixtures of the English calendar. The Premier League, the Scottish Premiership and the leagues below them all run a full programme of matches. The tradition has a practical root: the games were originally arranged against local rivals so that players and supporters would not have to travel far the day after Christmas, which is why so many Boxing Day fixtures are derbies. Christmas Day football ended in the 1950s, but the Boxing Day card endures.
Horse racing has its own showpiece. The King George VI Chase, run at Kempton Park in Surrey, is the day’s headline event and the second most prestigious steeplechase in Britain after the Cheltenham Gold Cup. First run in the late 1930s and named for the reigning king, it anchors what is usually the busiest day of the British racing year, with meetings up and down the country. Boxing Day is also one of the main days in the hunting calendar, when mounted and foot packs traditionally meet, often in a town or village centre, drawing crowds of onlookers.
The sales — and their quiet decline
For decades the Boxing Day sales were a genuine event: early openings, queues in the cold, the year’s deepest discounts. They remain a fixture, stretched now into a multi-day “Boxing Week”, but they are not what they were. The arrival of Black Friday in late November, sitting only a few weeks earlier, drew much of the spending forward, and the steady shift to online shopping did the rest. UK retailers reported softening Boxing Day footfall through the late 2010s. The sales still happen; they are no longer the main event of the day for most households.
Walks, visits and doing nothing
For a great many people the real content of Boxing Day is gentler: a long walk to clear the head and the lungs, a visit to the relatives not seen on Christmas Day, a board game that ends in mild dispute, and a determined effort to use up the food. The National Trust, English Heritage and a good number of country pubs are open and busy with walkers; a Boxing Day stroll, whatever the weather, is close to a national habit and the one tradition that costs nothing at all.
The thrifty cook’s Boxing Day
If Christmas Day is the expensive day, Boxing Day is where a careful household claws some of it back — and eats extremely well doing so. The whole point of the day, gastronomically, is that you have already done the work.
- The leftovers are the meal, not an afterthought. A proper turkey sandwich — cold turkey, stuffing, a smear of cranberry, good bread — is, for many, better than the roast itself. A turkey curry stretches the last of the bird into a second dinner; a pie or a soup from the carcass stretches it into a third.
- Nothing need be bought. Surveys by Waitrose have found that around four in ten people deliberately set out to cook with leftovers on Boxing Day, with the sandwich the most popular dish and a curry close behind. A Boxing Day spent at the stove with what is already in the fridge is the cheapest good day of the year.
- The day’s best entertainment is free. A walk, a film already owned, a long lunch of leftovers and a game. You can spend a great deal on Boxing Day. You do not have to spend anything.
For the cooking itself, see our guide to leftover turkey recipes, which turns the remains of the bird into a week of proper meals, and our method for a cold glazed ham, which is arguably better on Boxing Day than it was hot the day before.
Things to do on Boxing Day
The best Boxing Day plans cost little and ask nothing of a tired cook: a walk, a sporting fixture, a long lunch of leftovers, a visit, or a deliberate day of doing nothing. If you would like the day to have a shape without it becoming a second round of hosting, here is the honest menu.
- Walk it off. A countryside or coastal walk is the classic, and the weather is not a reason to stay in — it is the point. A flask of decent coffee, sensible boots and an hour out of doors resets the whole household. Many National Trust and English Heritage sites open; the local footpath is free.
- Watch the sport. A full card of football, the King George VI Chase from Kempton, and racing on nearly every channel. Whether at a ground or on the sofa, it is the day’s reliable backdrop.
- Make the leftovers lunch. Lay out the cold turkey, the ham, the pickles and the good bread and let everyone build their own. It is the easiest meal of the year and frequently the most enjoyed.
- Pay the visit. Boxing Day is traditionally for the wider circle — the relatives, the neighbours, the friends you have not seen since the summer. A short, planned visit beats a vague open house.
- Move, if that is your thing. A Boxing Day parkrun or a brisk 5K is a growing habit, and a satisfying counterweight to the day before. Plenty of people now book a class or a run rather than a sale.
- Or do nothing at all. A fire, a film, the chocolate tin and a clear afternoon is an entirely respectable way to spend a bank holiday. Rest is the original spirit of the day, even if the original reasons have faded.
Boxing Day around the Commonwealth
Boxing Day travelled with the British Empire, and survives across the Commonwealth in recognisably related but distinct forms. The date and the name are the same; the rituals are local.
In Australia, Boxing Day means cricket — the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a fixture formalised in 1980 — and the start of the gruelling Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. In South Australia the public holiday is Proclamation Day instead. New Zealand keeps it as a statutory holiday; Canada observes it federally and in Ontario, with the old Boxing Day sales now largely eclipsed by Black Friday. South Africa, as noted, marks the Day of Goodwill. Across all of them the thread is the same: the day after Christmas, kept as a day of rest, sport and — in its older heart — goodwill.
Frequently asked questions
Why is it called Boxing Day?
It is named after the “Christmas box” of money or gifts once given to servants, tradespeople and the poor around Christmas. The exact origin is not settled: the leading explanations are the box of thanks given to servants on their day off, and the church alms box opened on 26 December and distributed to the poor. Most historians treat these as related strands of an older midwinter giving custom rather than a single source.
What is Boxing Day?
Boxing Day is a public holiday in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries on 26 December, the day after Christmas Day. Historically a day of charitable giving, it is now marked by sport, the sales, country walks and Christmas-dinner leftovers.
When is Boxing Day?
Boxing Day is always 26 December. The bank holiday attached to it always falls on a weekday, so when 26 December lands on a weekend a substitute day is added — in 2026, when the 26th is a Saturday, the bank holiday is Monday 28 December.
Is Boxing Day a bank holiday?
Yes. Outside Scotland, 26 December has been a bank holiday in Britain since 1871; Scotland added it in 1974. When the 26th falls on a Saturday or Sunday, a substitute weekday bank holiday is granted so the public holiday is not lost to the weekend.
Is Boxing Day the same as St Stephen’s Day?
They fall on the same date, 26 December, and share a charitable theme, but they are not the same thing. St Stephen’s Day is the Christian feast of the first martyr and is the usual name for the day across much of Ireland and parts of Europe; Boxing Day is the British civic name with its own, separate origin.
What do people eat on Boxing Day?
Chiefly the leftovers from Christmas dinner, reinvented. The classics are a cold turkey sandwich with stuffing and cranberry, and a turkey curry; pies, soups and a cold spread of ham and pickles are common too. Using up the food is half the point of the day.
What is open on Boxing Day in the UK?
Many large supermarkets, shopping centres and chain stores open for the sales, though often on reduced hours, and a good number of pubs, restaurants, National Trust and English Heritage sites are open. Banks, post offices and most offices are closed for the bank holiday.
Why is there football on Boxing Day?
Boxing Day football is a long-standing tradition. The fixtures were originally arranged against local rivals so that teams and fans would not have to travel far the day after Christmas, which is why so many are derbies. The Premier League and the leagues below it still play a full programme.
What is the King George VI Chase?
It is the day’s headline horse race, a steeplechase run at Kempton Park in Surrey and the second most prestigious chase in Britain after the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Boxing Day is usually the busiest day of the British racing year.
Do other countries celebrate Boxing Day?
Yes. It is observed across much of the Commonwealth, including Australia (home of the Boxing Day Test and the Sydney to Hobart race), New Zealand and Canada. South Africa keeps the date as the Day of Goodwill. In Ireland and much of Europe, 26 December is St Stephen’s Day.
Written by Linda Garrould for Christmas Countdown. Updated 14 June 2026. The history of Boxing Day is genuinely contested; where the record is uncertain we have said so rather than choosing a tidy answer. Sources for the datable facts include the Oxford English Dictionary (first attestation 1743), Samuel Pepys’s diary (1663), the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, and the gov.uk bank-holiday calendar.
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