Get Your Website Ready for the Holiday Season (Without the Stress)
It’s that time of year again. You know, the one where you suddenly remember your website is still featuring your summer hours and the banner on your homepage hasn’t been updated since… well, you can’t quite remember when.
Whether you’re a non-profit gearing up for your year-end campaign, a service-based business managing holiday schedules, or you’re selling products that make the perfect gift, your website could do with a little seasonal love. The good news? You don’t need to redesign your entire site. You just need to make sure it's giving people what they actually need and showing them you're paying attention to the season they're living in.
Start With What People Actually Need To Know
Before you get excited about snowflake animations (please don’t!), or spend an entire afternoon debating whether your site needs a candy cane cursor, take a breath. The festive bells and whistles are tempting, but they’re rarely what your visitors actually need. Focus on function first, then add the fun stuff. Start by thinking about what people are coming to your site for this season: information, solutions, and ways to connect with what you do.
If you’re closing or changing hours: Put this information everywhere. Your homepage banner, your footer, your contact page. Someone will still email asking if you’re open on Christmas Day, but at least you tried.
If you have deadlines people need to know about: Similarly to your holiday hours, make any deadlines impossible to miss. Last order dates for Christmas delivery, final donation dates for matched gifts, last booking slots before the break, enrollment deadlines for 2026 programmes. Whatever your version is, put it front and centre.
If you’re running a seasonal campaign or promotion: Your homepage should tell people exactly what’s happening and how to get involved. Whether it's a year-end giving campaign, a holiday sale, or a special service package for the new year, make it the first thing people see.
If you're a great gift option: Help people see that. This might be the time to add a gifts category, create a simple gift guide, or highlight your gift cards more prominently.
Next: Check Off Some Quick Wins
Now that you've sorted the essential information, here are some quick updates that'll make your site feel more current without too much effort. After all, December is already chaotic enough without adding “redesign entire website” to your to-do list. You don’t need to tackle all of these at once — simply set an hour aside this afternoon to check two or three off your list.
Update your homepage hero section: If you could have your visitors do just one thing when visiting your site this season, what would it be? That's what should be in your hero section. Put your most important message in your headline, then choose a seasonal image that makes sense for your work.
Check your CTAs: Look at every button and link on your homepage. Are they asking people to do things that made sense in September but don't anymore? Update them to reflect what you actually want people to do right now. If you're fundraising, your CTA should be about donating. If you're trying to get bookings before you close, it should be about booking. If you're selling gifts, it should be about shopping. Don't make people guess what the current priority is.
Add an announcement bar: Adding an announcement bar to the top of your site is perfect for time-sensitive information that everyone needs to see. Keep it short, make it clear, and link it to the relevant page so people can take action immediately. Click here for a quick guide on how to add an announcement bar to your site.
Update your 404 error page: Just in case people land on a broken link, show them a helpful holiday-themed message with links to your most important current pages (your campaign, your gift guide, your contact page). This turns a frustrating experience into something useful. Check out how to create a custom 404 page here.
Review your navigation menu: Does every item in your main navigation still make sense? Is there something seasonal you should add temporarily?
Update your services or products page: Are there seasonal offerings you should be highlighting at the top? Gift certificates, year-end packages, holiday booking options, express shipping? Don't make people scroll past your standard services to find the time-sensitive stuff.
Highlight your year's impact: If you've achieved things this year that your audience cares about, now's the time to show them. Add this to your homepage or create a simple “2025 Impact” page. People want to know their support, purchases, or partnership with you leads to something real. December is when they're paying attention and deciding where to invest their money and trust for the year ahead.
Now Let’s Tackle The Behind-The-Scenes Stuff
These are the unglamorous bits that nobody thinks about until something goes wrong. None of this is exciting. But future you — the one dealing with a panicked client email on December 24th or trying to figure out why your contact form hasn't been working for two weeks — will be very grateful you sorted these now.
Test your key flows: Walk through every important action someone might take on your site like you're a first-time visitor who's never seen it before. If you're fundraising, go through the entire donation process from start to finish. If you're selling, add something to cart and complete checkout. If you take bookings, try to book an appointment. Look for anything confusing, any unnecessary steps, any broken links or error messages. December is absolutely not the time to discover that your donation button hasn't worked for three weeks or that your payment processor has been sending confirmation emails into the void.
Check your forms: If you’re asking people to fill out forms on your site, make sure they work and that someone is responsible for monitoring them. If you need, you can add seasonal specific messaging — such as your expected response times over the holidays — to the post-submit section of your form. You can see how to do add this in Squarespace here.
Test on mobile: Most people will visit your site on their phones while commuting, standing in shop queues, or yes, hiding from family obligations. Double-check how your site looks on a small screen and make sure everything actually works. Can people read your text without zooming? Do your buttons work? Is your navigation usable? Does your donation or checkout process function properly? Head here if you need a refresher on using the Squarespace mobile editor.
Check for broken links: Click through your main pages, navigation menu, and footer links to make sure everything goes where it's supposed to go and that linked pages are still relevant.
Finally, It’s Time For The Fun Stuff: Sprinkle A Little Holiday Joy Across Your Site
When it comes to seasonal updates, there’s a big difference between acknowledging it’s December and turning your website into a digital Santa’s grotto. The goal is for your site to feel current and thoughtful, not like you're trying to win a decorating competition. And remember, whatever you add should feel like a natural extension of your brand. Don’t abandon your visual identity just because it’s the holidays.
Before you dive in, think about who your audience actually is. While Christmas dominates the season in many western countries, your visitors might be celebrating Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule, or simply enjoying the winter season without any specific observances. If you know your audience leans a particular way, make sure you reflect that. And if you serve a diverse community, keep your seasonal more general — winter, holidays, end of year — rather than assuming everyone’s decorating a tree.
Swap your imagery: If your homepage hero shows summer activities or bright sunshine, switch it out for something that matches the current vibe. It doesn’t have to scream Christmas, it just needs to feel like it's happening in the same season your visitors are living in.
Consider your industry's expectations: If you’re in retail, hospitality, or gifting, people expect festive and you can lean in. On the other side, if you’re a consultancy or service-based business, there are less expectations and it makes sense to stay more subtle. If updating the visuals doesn’t make sense for your brand, you can acknowledge the season through a blog post or winter message instead.
Update your homepage copy: Small tweaks can make a big difference. "Start your journey today" could become "Start your journey this winter." "Join us" could become "Join us this holiday season."
Add something small but delightful: This could be a simple illustrated wreath in your header, a subtle winter pattern in your footer, or seasonal icons next to certain headings. One thoughtful touch is better than ten rushed ones.
The goal isn't to transform your site into a winter wonderland. It's to show that you're here, you're present, and you're paying attention to what matters to your audience right now.
And That’s a Wrap!
Getting your website ready for the holidays doesn't have to be a massive undertaking. You know your audience better than anyone, socus on what'll actually make their experience better.
The point of these updates isn't to have the most festive website on the internet. It's to make sure your site is doing its job: giving people the information they need, making it easy for them to take action, and showing that you're present and paying attention.
Pick the changes that matter most for your situation. If you're running a major year-end campaign, your priorities are different than someone just managing holiday hours. If you serve a diverse audience, your approach to seasonal updates will look different than a business with a very specific demographic. There's no one-size-fits-all checklist here, so just use what makes sense for you.
And if you get to January and realise you forgot to update something? It’s fine! Your website is a tool, not a performance. As long as it's helping your audience do what they came to do, you're doing it right.