Random Anvil

Random Date Generator

Pick one random day, or a list of them, from any date range. Every calendar day is eligible by default. Choose Working days only to skip weekends and public holidays.

Settings

Holiday coverage and sources

National or federal rules only. UK means England and Wales. Regional, company and exceptional holidays may differ; add those in the custom box. This is a recurring-rule calculator, not a complete historical holiday archive.

Official references: US federal holidays · UK bank holidays · Australia by state and territory · Canada federal general holidays · Germany holiday calendar. Reference links checked October 14, 2026; this does not certify every historical or future date.

For Canada, this calculator uses next-weekday substitutes as a planning convention; employer schedules may use a different day.

Output options

Result

Holiday rules version . National / federal holidays only — add regional or company days in the custom box. Calculations run in your browser. Shared URLs include your settings; see the privacy page.

What this tool does

Pick one date or a list from any range. By default all calendar days can be selected, including Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. For scheduling, choose Working days only to exclude weekends and the selected country’s public holidays. Copy the result, download CSV or JSON, or share the settings. Set a seed when you need the shared settings to reproduce the same random draw.

Use All calendar days for a draw across an unrestricted date range. Use Working days only when the result needs to avoid days off: the tool applies its built-in holiday rules and lists excluded dates for review. Add regional or company exceptions for your own schedule.

Optional holiday exclusions

When Exclude public holidays is on, the tool uses national or federal holidays for the United States (with observed dates, so a holiday falling on Saturday is taken on Friday), the United Kingdom (England & Wales bank holidays with substitute days), Canada (federal statutory holidays), Australia (national public holidays) and Germany (nationwide gesetzliche Feiertage). Regional days such as US state holidays, Scottish bank holidays or Bavarian feast days are not included by design — paste them into the custom box and they are excluded too.

After each run the tool lists exactly which holidays were skipped in your range, so you can check the calendar it used.

Common uses

Tips

Turn on Show weekday to display the weekday of each result; this option changes the output, not which days can be selected. To limit results to Monday–Friday, choose Working days only or use the random weekday generator. Use a seed to reproduce the same draw with the same settings. For a worked example of inclusive date ranges, formats and Excel formulas, see random date between two dates.

How to do this in Excel instead

For any calendar day, use =RANDBETWEEN(DATE(2026,1,1),DATE(2026,12,31)) and format the cell as a date. For working days instead, put holidays in H2:H20 and use =WORKDAY(start-1, RANDBETWEEN(1, NETWORKDAYS(start, end, H2:H20)), H2:H20), with start and end referring to your range. The corresponding mode here is Working days only; the default All calendar days mode does not exclude weekends or holidays.

Frequently asked questions

Can I exclude both weekends and holidays?

Yes. Choose Working days only to exclude Saturday, Sunday and the selected country's national holidays. You can turn either rule off, change which weekdays count as the weekend, and add custom dates.

Which countries are supported?

United States, United Kingdom (England & Wales), Canada, Australia and Germany, at the national or federal level. Regional holidays can be added in the custom dates box.

Are observed holidays handled?

Yes. For the US a holiday that falls on Saturday is excluded on Friday and one on Sunday is excluded on Monday, matching the federal schedule. The UK, Canada and Australia use their substitute-day rules; Germany has no substitute days.

Can I get the same random dates again later?

Enter any text in the Seed field. The same seed with the same settings always returns the same list, and the Share settings button copies a URL that reproduces it.

Is there a limit?

Up to 1,000 dates per run within a range of up to 50 years, between 1900 and 2100. Everything is calculated in your browser.