Planning your 2026 vacations already? Craving for the long weekend away in air-con weather?
Goody Feed’s got your back. Here’s a month-by-month breakdown of when you should apply for leave (assuming you have 14 days’ leave entitlement and work Mondays to Fridays), so that you can get 50 days’ worth of long weekends in 2026.
January
In January, there’ll only be one public holiday — New Year’s Day. It falls on, duh, 1 January, which is a Thursday.
Do you smell an opportunity already? Because we do.
If you just take leave on 2 January, Friday, you’ll have a four-day long weekend to celebrate the new year.
Just make sure you’re not indulging in buffets on vacation if your new year’s resolution was to eat healthier.
- Remaining Leave Entitlement: 13 days
- Total Days of Long Weekends: 4 days
February
All you ang bao hoarders already know what public holiday falls in February — it’s none other than Chinese New Year. In 2026, Chinese New Year will fall on 17 February and 18 February, which is a Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
You could just take leave on 16 February, Monday, and score a five-day long weekend. But you could do better — if you also took leave on 19 February, Thursday, and 20 February, Friday, you’ll score a nine-day holiday!
Perfect for sticking around long enough to collect more ang baos, but also perfect if you’d like to take a solo trip elsewhere to avoid the annual “eh, until now still no girlfriend?“.
- Remaining Leave Entitlement: 10 days
- Total Days of Long Weekends: 13 days
March and April
Hari Raya Puasa is slated to fall on 21 March, which is a Saturday — that likely gives you a day off in lieu. Good Friday falls on 3 April, which is a Friday — that gives you a three-day long weekend.
Not many leave opportunities to exploit here, but a holiday is a holiday nonetheless. We’re not complaining!
- Remaining Leave Entitlement: 10 days
- Total Days of Long Weekends: 19 days (including the Hari Raya Puasa day off in lieu)
May
The month of May is when it gets spicy — there are not one, not two, but three public holidays in May.
First, there is Labour Day on 1 May 2026, which falls on a Friday. No leave opportunities here, but you get a three-day long weekend.
Second, Hari Raya Haji is slated to fall on 27 May, which is a Wednesday. Third, Vesak Day falls on 31 May, which is a Sunday — this means that 1 June, Monday, is a public holiday (as long as your rest day falls on 31 May)!
All you visionary leave planners should already see the opportunity here — if you take leave for the four remaining working days in the week of 27 May, you’ll get a ten-day holiday from 25 May to 1 June.
But of course, you should also take note that the date for Hari Raya Haji is subject to change.
- Remaining Leave Entitlement: 6 days
- Total Days of Long Weekends: 32 days
December
Yes, you read the header right — we’ve skipped straight to December for your final leave application fiesta. Why did we skip June to November?
Unfortunately, there aren’t any public holidays in June, July, September, and October. While there are public holidays in August and November, you’ll smell a better opportunity for taking leave in December.
Specifically, National Day falls on 9 August, Sunday, which gives you a public holiday on 10 August, Monday (as long as your rest day falls on 9 August). Deepavali falls on 8 November, Sunday, which gives you a public holiday on 9 November, Monday (as long as your rest day falls on 8 November).
Three-day weekends are great, but you can score an even longer weekend if you save your remaining leave entitlement for December.
Guess what’s the public holiday falling in December? Of course, it’s Christmas — it falls on 25 December, which is a Friday in the 2026 calendar.
While Santa comes bearing gifts, you’ll go to HR bearing yet another a leave application.
Hopefully you won’t end up on HR’s naughty list in 2027…
If you apply for leave for the period starting from 28 December, Monday, to 31 December, Thursday, you can take advantage of the New Year’s Day public holiday on 1 January 2027, Friday, and the weekend which follows too!
That gives you a ten-day holiday.
- Remaining Leave Entitlement: 2 days
- Total Days of Long Weekends: 48 days
And for your remaining 2 days’ leave entitlement — well, just take it with whichever long weekend you desire to take it with, and it’ll give you 50 days’ worth of long weekends.
Or don’t — how you’d like to plan your leave applications is ultimately up to you!
You can also watch this video for a TLDR of the leave planning we talked about above:
Here’s the REAL reason why everyone is hanging plushies on their bags, simplified for you:
