Creating a Day countdown in Freemarker

cjdinger if you dont have issue using javascript there you can use this pure js script . this will work fine according to your requirement

<script>

var d = new Date();
var curr_date = d.getDate();
var curr_month = d.getMonth();/* Returns the month (from 0-11) */
var curr_month_plus= curr_month+1; /* because if the month is  4 it will show output 3 so we have to add +1 with month*/ 
var curr_year = d.getFullYear();
function dstrToUTC(ds) {
    var dsarr = ds.split("/");
     var mm = parseInt(dsarr[0],10);
     var dd = parseInt(dsarr[1],10);
     var yy = parseInt(dsarr[2],10);
     return Date.UTC(yy,mm-1,dd,0,0,0); }
    function daysTogo(ds2) {
    var now =curr_month_plus+ '/' + curr_date + '/' + curr_year;

     var d1 = dstrToUTC(now);
     var d2 = dstrToUTC(ds2);
     var oneday = 86400000;
     return (d2-d1) / oneday;    }
    var b;   
    eventDate = "4/18/2016";
    alert(+daysTogo(eventDate)+" days to go!");


</script>

If my post is helpful and answers your question, please give "Kudos" and "Accept it as a Solution."