Christmas Printing for Businesses: What Should You Order and When?

Christmas might still feel a little way off, but for businesses, October is often when festive plans start becoming very real.

Christmas menus need finalising. Seasonal promotions are being planned. Customer Christmas cards need designing. Retailers are preparing their festive displays, while businesses are thinking about end-of-year events, opening hours and December marketing campaigns.

That means now is a good time to start thinking about print.

Planning your Christmas printing for businesses early gives you more time to get the details right. It also avoids that last-minute rush when December suddenly arrives and everything is needed at once.

From Christmas cards and festive menus to posters, banners, stickers and window graphics, here’s our practical guide to what you might need – and when you should start planning it.

Why Start Planning Christmas Printing in October?

Nobody wants to think about Christmas too early. However, there is a difference between putting the decorations up in October and making sure your business is prepared.

Print projects involve several stages.

There is the initial idea, followed by design, artwork approval, proofing, printing, finishing and delivery.

If several people within your business need to approve something, that can add extra time too.

Starting in October means you can think properly about what you need rather than ordering individual items in a panic later.

It can also help you create a more consistent campaign.

Your Christmas cards, posters, leaflets, signage and other printed materials can all follow the same festive theme while still looking like your brand.

October: Plan Your Main Christmas Printing

October is the ideal time to identify the larger or more important pieces of print you’ll need during November and December.

Start by asking:

• Are we sending customer or supplier Christmas cards?

• Are we running a Christmas promotion?

• Do we need festive brochures or leaflets?

• Will our opening hours change?

• Are we attending Christmas events?

• Do we need Christmas menus?

• Will our shop, office or venue need seasonal signage?

• Are we producing gift vouchers?

• Will products need Christmas labels or stickers?

• Are we hosting a Christmas party or corporate event?

You don’t necessarily need to order everything immediately.

The important thing is knowing what will be required.

Once you have a list, artwork can be prepared and the different elements can be coordinated.

Business Christmas Cards

Digital messages are quick and convenient, but receiving a physical Christmas card can still feel much more personal.

For businesses, Christmas cards can be sent to:

• Customers

• Suppliers

• Business partners

• Employees

• Supporters

• Members

• Volunteers

They can be particularly effective when you work with a relatively defined customer or client base.

Rather than using a generic off-the-shelf design, branded Christmas cards can incorporate your company colours, logo and your own message.

You can keep the branding subtle. It doesn’t need to feel like an advertisement.

A simple, well-designed card with a genuine thank-you message can be enough.

If Christmas cards form part of your corporate communications, ordering them alongside your other company stationery printing can also help maintain a professional and consistent appearance.

Christmas Menus for Hospitality Businesses

Restaurants, pubs, hotels, cafés and event venues often have some of the biggest seasonal print requirements.

Christmas menus may need to promote:

• Festive lunches

• Christmas dinners

• Party nights

• Afternoon teas

• Christmas Day dining

• Boxing Day events

• New Year’s Eve celebrations

• Seasonal drinks

• Private parties

The menu itself needs to do more than list the food.

It should reflect the experience you’re selling.

Paper choice, print quality and finish can all influence how the menu feels when somebody picks it up.

Businesses may also need accompanying posters, table materials, leaflets or signs to promote their Christmas offering.

If you’re planning a festive menu, don’t forget to carefully check prices, dates, booking information and contact details before approving the artwork.

A beautiful menu with the wrong telephone number isn’t going to help fill the restaurant.

November: Bring Your Christmas Campaign to Life

By November, festive marketing becomes much more visible.

This is when many businesses start actively promoting Christmas products, events and special offers.

Your print may now move from planning into the customer-facing stage.

Christmas Leaflets and Flyers

Leaflets can be particularly useful for promoting a specific Christmas offer.

For example:

Retail businesses might advertise seasonal products or special shopping events.

Restaurants and venues can promote Christmas menus and party packages.

Service businesses could advertise gift vouchers.

Local attractions may have Christmas events to promote.

Community organisations and charities may need print for festive fundraising activities.

A leaflet gives you more room than a social media post to explain what’s happening while still being easy for customers to take away.

Ronset provides leaflet and poster printing for businesses that need promotional materials for seasonal campaigns as well as year-round marketing.

Posters for Christmas Promotions and Events

Posters are another straightforward way to get a seasonal message in front of customers.

They could advertise:

• Christmas opening hours

• Seasonal sales

• Christmas events

• Festive menus

• Late-night shopping

• Charity appeals

• Christmas markets

• Special offers

• Booking deadlines

The key is not trying to fit everything onto one poster.

A customer walking past a poster needs to understand the main message quickly.

Use a clear headline, essential information and an obvious next step.

If people need more information, a QR code can direct them to the relevant page on your website.

Christmas Signage and Window Graphics

Christmas often means temporary changes inside and outside a business.

You might need to tell customers about different opening times, direct people towards a seasonal department or simply make your premises look more festive.

Professional business signage can help communicate important information while reinforcing your branding.

Depending on your requirements, seasonal graphics might include:

• Window graphics

• Promotional boards

• Directional signage

• Sale signage

• Opening-hours displays

• Counter signs

• Event signs

• Large promotional graphics

If you’re using Christmas graphics in a window, remember that people may be viewing them from several metres away.

Keep the main message bold and straightforward.

Christmas Banners and Large Format Printing

For bigger Christmas campaigns, you may need something with more impact.

Banners and other large format printing can be useful for retail premises, venues, events, schools, charities and other organisations promoting festive activities.

A banner could advertise a Christmas fair, party night, festive sale or community event.

Again, think about viewing distance.

A banner that looks perfectly readable on a computer monitor can become much harder to understand when somebody sees it from across a car park.

Prioritise the information people actually need.

Christmas Stickers and Labels

Seasonal stickers can be a surprisingly versatile addition to your Christmas print.

They can be used on:

• Packaging

• Gift boxes

• Shopping bags

• Envelopes

• Product labels

• Promotional packs

• Christmas cards

• Gifts

• Takeaway packaging

A standard package can suddenly feel much more seasonal with the addition of a well-designed branded Christmas sticker.

This can be especially useful for smaller businesses that don’t want to invest in completely different packaging for a relatively short period.

Explore Ronset’s sticker and label printing if you’re considering seasonal labels for your products or packaging.

Don’t Forget Gift Vouchers

Christmas is an important time of year for gift vouchers.

They aren’t just for retailers.

Gift vouchers can work for:

• Restaurants

• Beauty businesses

• Experiences

• Hotels

• Leisure businesses

• Professional services

• Attractions

• Membership organisations

If you’re producing a physical voucher, think about the whole presentation.

Could it be placed inside a branded wallet or envelope? Does it feel substantial enough to give as a present? Is there enough room to clearly explain any terms or expiry information?

Print quality can make the difference between something that feels like a last-minute coupon and something that feels like a genuine gift.

December: Think About the Practical Details

By December, most major Christmas campaigns should already be underway.

However, businesses often discover they need smaller practical items.

One of the most common is Christmas opening hours.

Christmas and New Year Opening Hours

Customers need to know when you’re open.

That sounds obvious, but opening hours can appear in numerous places:

• Front doors

• Reception areas

• Shop windows

• Counters

• Noticeboards

• Collection points

If you’re printing Christmas opening hours, make them easy to read.

You don’t need elaborate artwork if it makes the essential information harder to find.

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day should all be particularly clear where relevant.

Remember to update your online opening hours too.

Can Your Christmas Print Be Reused Next Year?

Not everything needs to be disposable.

Before putting a specific year or date onto a banner, board or display, consider whether it is actually necessary.

For example:

“Join Us for Christmas”

could potentially be reused.

Whereas:

“Christmas 2026 – Saturday 12 December”

obviously cannot.

Some materials need dates. Others don’t.

Separating reusable print from campaign-specific print can make your budget work harder.

A festive display board, roller banner or general Christmas graphic may be useful for several years if the design isn’t tied to a particular date or offer.

Keep Your Christmas Print On Brand

Festive doesn’t have to mean abandoning your existing branding and covering everything in red, green, gold and snowflakes.

Your customers should still recognise your business.

Use Christmas design elements alongside your established:

• Logo

• Brand colours

• Fonts

• Photography

• Tone of voice

• Graphic style

This is particularly important when you’re running a campaign across print, your website, email and social media.

Somebody who sees your Christmas leaflet and later visits your website should immediately recognise that they have reached the same business.

Our guide to choosing the right printed marketing materials for local businesses looks further at how different types of print can work together as part of your wider marketing.

Check Your Artwork Carefully

Christmas print often contains more information than everyday business materials.

Dates, times, prices, menus, booking information and seasonal opening hours all create opportunities for mistakes.

Before approving anything for print, check:

• Dates

• Days of the week

• Prices

• Telephone numbers

• Email addresses

• Website addresses

• Opening hours

• Booking deadlines

• Event times

• Menu details

• Spelling

• QR codes

Ask somebody else to proofread it too.

When you’ve spent hours looking at the same design, it’s surprisingly easy to read what you expect to see rather than what’s actually on the page.

Ronset’s artwork guide also provides useful information when preparing files for professional printing.

Create a Christmas Print Checklist

If your business needs several different items, creating one master checklist can make things much easier.

Your list might include:

• Christmas cards

• Menus

• Leaflets

• Posters

• Gift vouchers

• Stickers

• Product labels

• Window graphics

• Banners

• Display boards

• Event signage

• Opening-hours signs

• Packaging materials

• Business cards for Christmas events

• Brochures for December meetings

• New Year promotional materials

Then add three dates alongside each item:

Artwork needed by

Approval needed by

Print needed by

Suddenly, Christmas printing becomes much easier to manage.

Think Beyond Christmas to January

While you’re organising Christmas print, it’s worth thinking a few weeks further ahead.

What happens in January?

Some businesses move immediately from Christmas into:

• January sales

• New Year promotions

• New product launches

• Updated price lists

• New brochures

• Events and exhibitions

• Recruitment campaigns

• Annual meetings

If you know you’ll need fresh materials for January, you can start preparing them before the Christmas break.

This can be particularly useful if your business returns in the New Year with an event or promotion already scheduled.

Christmas Printing for Businesses in Blackburn and Lancashire

At Ronset, we work with businesses that need everything from straightforward everyday commercial printing to more specialist promotional and large-format projects.

Based in Blackburn, we provide printing for businesses across Lancashire and further afield.

If you’re organising your Christmas marketing, using one printer for several elements can also help keep your materials consistent.

Your cards, leaflets, posters, signage and labels can all feel like parts of the same campaign rather than unrelated pieces of print.

You can find out more about commercial printing in Blackburn and what we print.

Don’t Leave Your Christmas Printing Until Christmas

The main message is simple: you don’t need to have everything printed in October, but you should start thinking about it.

Make your list.

Confirm your offers.

Get the artwork underway.

Check your dates.

Decide what needs to be reusable and what is specific to Christmas 2026.

Most importantly, give yourself enough time to get the finished result you actually want.

Whether you need Christmas cards, festive leaflets, menus, posters, banners, labels, signage or other Christmas printing for your business, Ronset can help you turn your plans into professionally printed materials.

Based in Blackburn and working with businesses throughout Lancashire and the UK, we’re here to help with Christmas print projects large and small.

Request a quote from Ronset and start planning your Christmas printing.

Further Reading

Planning your Christmas and New Year marketing? These guides may also help:

• Choosing the Right Printed Marketing Materials for Local Businesses – find out how to choose print materials that suit your audience, message and marketing objectives.

• Business Signage Blackburn – explore the different ways professional signage can help your business communicate with customers.

• Commercial Printing Blackburn: What We Print – discover the range of commercial print Ronset can produce for businesses in Blackburn, Lancashire and beyond.