COUNTDOWN TIMER

Christmas, New Year's Day, Independence Day, Valentine's Day and Halloween sit on fixed dates — only the weekday changes. Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday in November), Mother's Day, Father's Day and Memorial Day move every year because they're defined by a weekday, not a date. This page works out the next occurrence either way, so you don't have to remember which kind you're dealing with.

Easter isn't fixed to the calendar at all: it's the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the March equinox, so it can land anywhere from March 22 to April 25. That's why it's calculated rather than looked up — and why any yearly repeat you put in a calendar app will drift unless you re-check the real date each year.

This timer counts down in your device's time zone, which is what you want for a personal date. But if you're counting down to something scheduled elsewhere — a launch, an auction close, a filing deadline published in another zone — convert it first with our time zone converter, because the target may fall on a different calendar day where it's happening.

A countdown only helps while the page is open. For anything you genuinely can't miss, put it in the calendar you actually use: our free reminder tool creates a Google Calendar event or a downloadable iCal file, with the lead time you choose, entirely in your browser — no account and nothing stored on our servers.