Diwali Out of Office Message: 12 Templates

Picture a founder in Pune filling in your contact form at 6:40 pm on Friday 6 November. She wants a quote for 40 seats. Your office shut on Thursday evening, the shared inbox is quiet, and the page tells her “Thanks, we’ll be in touch.” Nobody owns her enquiry until Wednesday, and by then she has called two other vendors. A Diwali out of office message fixes the inbox, but most templates stop there, and the lead on your form is where the money leaks.

This guide gives you 12 Diwali out of office message templates for email, web forms and booking pages, each paired with the lead-cover step it needs: who owns new enquiries, what you can promise, and what to answer first when you’re back. We build LiftUp, a CRM, so I’ll mark the one section where the product matters. The templates work in any inbox.

Dates to put in your Diwali out of office message

Diwali 2026 falls on Sunday 8 November. That cuts both ways: nobody loses a working day on the day itself, but the days around it decide how long you’re really shut. The Government of India’s holiday order for 2026 (DoP&T, 3 July 2025) lists Diwali as a holiday on 8 November and the days around it as restricted holidays.

Day	What the sources say
Fri 6 Nov	Dhanteras in popular calendars, not on the central list
Sun 8 Nov	Diwali, a holiday on the central list (Naraka Chaturdasi is a restricted holiday)
Mon 9 Nov	Govardhan Puja on the central list; some calendars say Tuesday
Wed 11 Nov	Bhai Dooj on the central list; some calendars say Tuesday

The order also notes that some states observe Diwali a day earlier, and the sources disagree on the last two days, so use your own state’s list and write the closure as a range with a return date: “closed Friday 6 to Tuesday 10 November, back Wednesday 11 November”. That is the example I use below.

Your buyers abroad are working. Diwali isn’t on the US federal holiday list, and Wednesday 11 November is Veterans Day there. It isn’t one of the eight 2026 bank holidays in England and Wales either. Once UK clocks go back on 25 October and US clocks follow on 1 November, London is 5.5 hours behind India and New York is 10.5 hours behind. A New York buyer’s Monday 9:00 am is 7:30 pm in India.

The cover plan behind every Diwali out of office message

Every template below points back to three decisions. Make them first, because a message that promises what nobody has agreed to is worse than silence.

Name one owner for new enquiries

“The sales team” isn’t an owner. Pick one named person per product or brand who reads new enquiries each day you’re closed, even if that’s a ten-minute check. If you can’t spare anyone, say so in the message and move your promise to the first working day. Our guide to setting a lead response SLA goes deeper on who owns a lead and who owns a missed deadline.

Make a reply promise you can keep

A promise has three parts: a weekday, a clock time and a time zone. “By 10:00 IST on Wednesday 11 November” can be checked. “As soon as possible” can’t. Promise a first reply from a named person, not a finished quote, and add half a day of slack for a first morning that goes badly.

The third decision, the order you clear the backlog in, comes after the templates.

Diwali out of office message templates 1 to 3: for email

Put these three in an auto-reply, and keep each short. A good Diwali out of office message gives dates, a name and a time.

Template 1: short personal auto-reply

Subject: Away for Diwali, back Wednesday 11 November

Hello,

I'm away from Friday 6 to Tuesday 10 November for Diwali and I'll read your note on Wednesday 11 November. You'll have a reply from me by 6:00 pm IST that day.

If it can't wait, write to [Name] at [email]. They'll see it sooner.

[Your name]

Use it when the mailbox is yours alone. The cover step: the backup must be someone who will read the address before you’re back.

Template 2: auto-reply with a named backup

Subject: Diwali break: who to contact until 11 November

Hello,

I'm out until Wednesday 11 November. Until then:

New enquiries and quotes: [Name], [email]
Invoices and payments: [Name], [email]

Everything else waits for me, and I'll answer it by 5:00 pm IST on the 11th.

[Your name]

This one suits owners who split cover by topic. Tell each person on the list before the break, or you’ve handed them a job they don’t know about.

Template 3: shared sales inbox

Subject: We received your message (office closed until 11 November)

Thank you for contacting [Company]. Our office is closed from Friday 6 to Tuesday 10 November for Diwali.

Your message is in our shared inbox. [Name] reads it first on Wednesday 11 November, and you'll hear from a person by 10:00 IST (4:30 am London, 11:30 pm Tuesday in New York).

Existing clients with an urgent issue: [urgent address].

Send this from enquiries@ or sales@, where strangers write. It states the promise in the sender’s time zone, which is what a stranger needs.

Set up the out of office message in Gmail and Outlook

In Gmail, open Settings, choose See all settings, stay on General and switch on the vacation responder. Set the first and last day, a subject and your message. Google’s help page says it runs from 12:00 am on the first day to 11:59 pm on the last, replies to most people once, and replies again if the same person writes more than 4 days later while it’s still on. A five-day closure trips that rule. It skips spam and mailing lists, and you can limit replies to contacts.

In Outlook, Microsoft’s guide covers automatic replies, with a “Send replies only during a time period” option. Replies to people outside your organisation go to every sender, newsletters and junk included, so limit them to contacts unless the mailbox is a public enquiry address. POP and IMAP accounts need a rule instead, and Outlook has to stay open.

Diwali out of office message for forms and booking pages: templates 4 and 5

A visitor on a form or booking page isn’t reading an inbox. They see one line on screen, and these two lines are all they get.

Template 4: contact-form thank-you line

Thanks, we have your enquiry. Our office is closed for Diwali until Wed 11 Nov. A person will reply by 10:00 IST that day.

It’s 122 characters, so check your form’s limit first. Change it back on the 11th, or the form will announce a closure for the rest of the year.

Template 5: booking page note

We're closed for Diwali from 6 to 10 November. Pick any slot from Wednesday 11 November. Times show in your own time zone.

The note only helps if the calendar agrees with it. A buyer who sees open slots on Monday 9 November will book one. Remove them with a date block if your tool has one. If not, switch off the closure weekdays, but switching Monday off hides every Monday until you switch it back.

Templates 6 to 9: tell people before you close

Send these about a week early. A Diwali out of office message that arrives the afternoon you close reads as an apology.

Template 6: list-wide closure notice

Subject: Our Diwali closure: 6 to 10 November

Hello [First name],

[Company] is closed from Friday 6 to Tuesday 10 November. We reopen on Wednesday 11 November.

Support tickets sent during the break are answered from the 11th. For anything urgent, use [urgent address].

Happy Diwali from all of us.

Skip the festive graphic. Put the dates in the first line and use the client’s first name, because identical mass greetings read as a formality.

Template 7: key-account personal note

Hi [First name],

Quick heads-up: I'm away from 6 to 10 November for Diwali. [Name] has your account and knows about the [project] timeline. If the [milestone] needs a decision, tell me by Wednesday 4 November and I'll sort it before I go.

I'm back on the 11th.

[Your name]

Write this one by hand for your top ten accounts.

Template 8: note for US and UK buyers

Hi [First name],

Our India office is closed from Friday 6 to Tuesday 10 November for Diwali, which lands on Sunday the 8th. That covers Friday, Monday and Tuesday, three of your working days.

A reply will be waiting for you on Wednesday morning. [Name] starts at 10:00 IST with everything sent during the closure.

If you need a decision before we close, send it by Wednesday 4 November.

Buyers abroad won’t know what Diwali means for your hours. Explain the gap in their terms and give them a date, which is what Templates 1 to 3 leave out.

Template 9: sign-off deadline

Subject: Send sign-offs by Wednesday 4 November

Hello [First name],

We're closed from 6 to 10 November. To have your quote or proposal reviewed before then, please send what we need by Wednesday 4 November.

Anything that arrives later is picked up from Wednesday 11 November.

This is the cover step in writing: it tells people where they stand in the queue.

Templates 10 to 12: for your team and your return

Template 10: internal cover handover

Diwali cover, 6 to 10 November

Owner of new enquiries: [Name] for [product A], [Name] for [product B]
Check times: 10:00 and 17:00 IST on 6, 9 and 10 November
Hot lead rule: forward to [Name] with a one-line summary
Urgent clients: [urgent address], read by [Name]
First day back: Wednesday 11 November, backlog order as agreed

Everyone gets this one, including people who aren’t on cover.

Template 11: urgent-contact line for clients

Urgent issues during our closure: write to [urgent address] with "URGENT" in the subject. [Name] checks it at 10:00 IST on Monday 9 and Tuesday 10 November.

Staff one shared address, not a personal number, and promise only the check times you’ve actually assigned. If nobody can watch it, leave this template out.

Template 12: “we’re back” follow-up

Subject: Re: your enquiry from [date]

Hi [First name],

Thanks for writing while we were closed. I'm [Name]. I've read your note about [topic].

[One specific next step or answer.] If a call is easier, here's my booking page: [link].

Send it only after you’ve read the enquiry and have something specific to say. As a mass reply to everyone who wrote, it looks like a second auto-reply.

Clear the backlog after your Diwali out of office message

On the first morning back, the inbox sorts itself by arrival time, which is the wrong order. Agree this one before you leave and stick to it:

1. Hot leads first. If you score leads, start with the top band. Our lead scoring model example shows where hot, warm and nurture start.
2. Oldest first within a band. The buyer who wrote on Friday has waited longest.
3. Unowned leads next. Give each one a name before you read the next, so none sits in the pile.
4. Quiet leads last. Anyone you had contacted who has gone silent can wait until the afternoon.

Send Template 12 as you go, not in a batch. When the week is over, run through our CRM data cleanup checklist while the break’s stray entries are still easy to spot.

Keep new leads moving while you are away

This is what a Gmail reply can’t do: decide where the next lead goes. Here is what LiftUp does, and where it stops.

Hand open leads to your cover person

Before you leave, go through your open leads and reassign every hot one to whoever is on cover, by hand. A lead stays with its owner while they’re away, so a hot enquiry left in your name waits for you, not for them.

Reply deadlines don’t pause

On Starter and up, LiftUp sets a reply deadline of 4 hours for a hot lead (score 70 and up), 12 hours for a warm one (40 and up) and 24 hours for the rest. Each is counted in plain clock hours from the moment the lead arrives. Nothing pauses for Diwali or a weekend.

So the Pune founder’s lead, if it scores hot at 6:40 pm on the 6th, is due at 10:40 pm that night, and the deadline passes unanswered if nobody is on cover. On your return, the needs-attention queue (Starter and up) lists new leads unassigned for over 24 hours, quiet leads, missed deadlines and overdue tasks. Use it as your starting list.

Form text, alerts and booking pages

Each embedded form has an editable thank-you message of up to 200 characters, so Template 4 fits with room to spare. New-lead alerts can go to a notification inbox and to Slack, per product, so point both at whoever is on cover. Booking pages take hours by weekday, with no way to block a single date, so switch the closure weekdays off and back on again on the 11th.

Who LiftUp isn’t for

If you’re under ten people and every enquiry lands in one shared inbox, you don’t need a CRM to get through a five-day closure. A Gmail auto-reply and a written rota will do. LiftUp also has no WhatsApp, SMS or calling, so none of these messages can go out through it. If you’re weighing what a CRM costs at your team size, our CRM software price in India guide has the rupee figures.

Next step

Before the week is out, fill in three lines: the owner of new enquiries, your reply promise and the backlog order. Then pick the templates that fit, send the closure notice a week early and set your auto-replies. Our CRM feature page covers lead scoring and reply deadlines, and the Zoho comparison is there if you’re coming from Zoho. If you’d like to see lead scores, reply deadlines and the needs-attention queue on your own leads, book a 30-minute LiftUp demo.