December is packed with opportunities, and we've done the hard work for you. Every month, we round up the key marketing dates your small business should have on its radar and give you actionable ideas for each date you can actually use. Small budget, small team, big ideas. That's what we're about.
New here? We're CoLab Marketers; we do this every month, and we'd love for you to stick around.
Monthly theme
Christmas / Festive season
December is officially the festive season, and for small businesses, it's one of the biggest marketing months of the year. People are shopping, booking, eating out, planning parties, buying gifts and generally looking for an excuse to treat themselves or someone else.
But Christmas marketing doesn't have to mean sticking a Santa hat on your logo and calling it a day. Think about how your business can make life easier, more enjoyable or a little more festive for your customers.
How to use this:
Create a Christmas gift guide featuring your products, services, vouchers or experiences. Make it ridiculously easy for customers to choose.
Show the people behind your business. Christmas parties, decorations, festive traditions and behind-the-scenes moments all make easy, human content.
Create a festive version of something you already offer, whether that's a seasonal menu, Christmas package, limited-edition product or themed service.
Help your customers solve a December problem. Last-minute gifts, party prep, keeping active over Christmas or finding somewhere for a festive catch-up are all great places to start.
Key awareness weeks
4–12 December: Hanukkah
Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is celebrated by Jewish communities across the UK and around the world. If it's relevant to your customers, team or local community, it can be a lovely opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the occasion.
How to use this:
Share a simple Happy Hanukkah message with customers who celebrate.
If someone on your team celebrates Hanukkah and is happy to be involved, invite them to share a favourite tradition or what the celebration means to them.
Highlight local Hanukkah celebrations or community events your audience might find useful.
If you're creating specific products, menus or content around Hanukkah, make sure there's a genuine connection rather than simply using the celebration as a sales opportunity.
Mid-December onwards: Christmas parties & festive season
By mid-December, Christmas is well and truly underway. Work parties are happening, diaries are filling up and people are squeezing in dinners, drinks, appointments and catch-ups before Christmas.
This isn't just an opportunity for restaurants and bars either. Salons, gyms, beauty businesses, retailers and service businesses can all tap into what their customers are doing at this time of year.
How to use this:
Talk about availability. If you've only got a few appointments, tables or spaces left before Christmas, tell people.
Create content around getting ready for Christmas parties, whether that's outfits, beauty treatments, food, fitness or anything else relevant to your business.
Show your own Christmas celebrations. Your audience wants to see the people behind the business too.
Create a festive collaboration with another local business. Think Christmas events, giveaways, packages or bundles that introduce you both to new audiences.
26–31 December: Twixmas
Ahhh, Twixmas. That strange little week where nobody knows what day it is, leftovers count as breakfast and everyone's scrolling on their phone significantly more than usual.
It's also a useful marketing window. Christmas is over, people have gift money to spend and attention starts shifting towards New Year's plans.
How to use this:
Run a Boxing Day or end-of-year offer if discounting makes sense for your business.
Start introducing your January services, bookings, memberships or appointments while people are thinking about the new year.
Create relaxed, entertaining content designed for people scrolling from the sofa.
Share a roundup of your year. Your favourite moments, biggest wins, funniest behind-the-scenes moments or most popular products all make easy end-of-year content.
Key dates
1 December: Giving Tuesday
After the shopping frenzy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday shifts the focus towards doing something good. It's a global movement encouraging people and businesses to support charities, communities and causes they care about.
How to use this:
Donate a percentage of the day's sales to a charity that means something to your business.
Spotlight a local charity or community organisation and tell your audience why you support them.
Give your time instead of money. Take your team volunteering and share what you're getting involved in.
Ask your audience to recommend local causes that deserve more attention and use your platform to give them a boost.
5 December: Small Business Saturday UK
If there's one date made for the CoLab Marketers community, it's this one. Small Business Saturday is all about celebrating small businesses and encouraging people to shop, eat, book and spend locally.
How to use this:
Tell your story. Remind people who's actually behind your business and what supporting you means.
Shout about other small businesses you love. Tag them and encourage your audience to discover somewhere new.
Team up with neighbouring businesses to create a local shopping trail, giveaway or special event.
Thank your customers. A simple post celebrating the people who keep your small business going can be more powerful than another sales message.
10 December: Christmas Jumper Day
Time to dig out the questionable knitwear. Christmas Jumper Day is an easy, light-hearted content opportunity and one that pretty much any business can get involved with.
How to use this:
Get the team in Christmas jumpers and take a group photo. The worse the jumpers, the better.
Let your audience vote for the best or worst jumper.
Turn it into a fundraiser and encourage customers to get involved too.
Don't have a team? Get yourself, your dog, your mannequin or whatever else you've got into something festive. We're not judging!
18 December: Mad Friday
The final Friday before Christmas is traditionally one of the busiest nights of the festive season, as Christmas parties, work drinks and festive catch-ups all collide.
For hospitality businesses, it's an obvious opportunity, but there are plenty of ways other businesses can join the conversation too.
How to use this:
Restaurants, pubs and bars: shout about remaining tables, special menus or what's happening on the night.
Beauty and wellness businesses: promote those final pre-party appointments.
Create a funny or relatable "getting ready for Mad Friday" piece of content relevant to your audience.
If your business isn't relevant to the night itself, don't force it. Sometimes simply joining the conversation with entertaining content is enough.
19 December: Super Saturday
The final Saturday before Christmas is one of the biggest last-minute shopping moments of the festive season. People are officially in "I really need to finish my Christmas shopping" mode.
How to use this:
Position your products, services, experiences or vouchers as easy last-minute gifts.
Create a "gifts under £X" or "gifts for the person who has everything" guide.
Make buying as easy as possible. Clearly communicate opening hours, collection options, availability and gift voucher information.
Service business? Sell the experience rather than a physical present. Treatments, classes, memberships, consultations and experiences can all make brilliant gifts.
21 December: Start of Winter / Winter Solstice
The shortest day of the year marks the official start of winter and gives you a seasonal content opportunity without everything having to be about Christmas.
How to use this:
Lean into cosy winter content that fits naturally with your brand.
Share your team's winter essentials or favourites and ask your audience for theirs.
If your product or service solves a winter problem, now's a good time to remind people.
Use the shortest day of the year as a creative hook. Think "shortest sale of the year", a quick-fire offer or a short-form piece of content.
24 December: Christmas Eve
The presents are (hopefully) wrapped, the out-of-office replies are on, and Christmas is finally here. For most businesses, Christmas Eve isn't the time for a huge campaign. It's a chance to be human.
How to use this:
Wish your customers a Merry Christmas and thank them for supporting your business this year.
Share a behind-the-scenes glimpse of your team's Christmas Eve.
If you're open, clearly communicate your opening hours so customers aren't left guessing.
Share any final useful information, whether that's last collections, bookings, deliveries or digital gift vouchers for those very last-minute shoppers.
25 December: Christmas Day
Unless Christmas Day is a key trading day for your business, keep this one simple.
How to use this:
Share a warm Christmas message with your customers and community.
Schedule your post in advance so you're not thinking about Instagram while you're eating Christmas dinner.
Avoid the hard sell. You've got plenty of other days in December for that one.
26 December: Boxing Day
Christmas might be over, but for plenty of businesses, Boxing Day marks the beginning of another big spending period. Customers are browsing sales, spending Christmas money and starting to think about what comes next.
How to use this:
Launch a Boxing Day offer or sale if it works for your business.
Promote gift vouchers, experiences or services to people looking to spend Christmas money.
Start teasing what's coming in January.
Use email to reach customers directly rather than relying entirely on a very busy social feed.
31 December: New Year's Eve
And just like that, 2026 is done. New Year's Eve gives businesses a chance to celebrate the year that's been while starting to build excitement for what's coming next.
How to use this:
Share your highlights from 2026. Big wins, favourite projects, brilliant customers or moments that made you laugh.
Thank your customers and community for supporting you throughout the year.
Share what's coming in 2027 and give people something to look forward to.
Hospitality or events business? Make sure your final availability, timings and booking information are impossible to miss.
Want help turning these ideas into actual content, campaigns, or a full social media strategy? That's exactly what we do at CoLab Marketers. Get in touch, we'd love to help.
Please note: while we do our best to make sure all dates are accurate at the time of publishing, we always recommend double-checking before planning your campaigns, as dates can occasionally change.
