Christmas and New Year 2027 social posts you can schedule now

Short answer: Christmas Day 2026 is Friday 25 December. Boxing Day is Saturday 26 December, and the UK substitute bank holiday is Monday 28 December. New Year's Day 2027 is Friday 1 January. Plan gift guides, opening hours, closed days and New Year notes now, then schedule the posts and review each one before it goes live.

December gets crowded if you invent the plan on Christmas Eve. The dates for 2026 and early 2027 are already known. Christmas Day is Friday 25 December 2026. Boxing Day is Saturday 26 December. In England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, Monday 28 December is the substitute bank holiday for Boxing Day. New Year's Day 2027 is Friday 1 January. If you post in the US or the UK, you can write the month now, schedule it, and check each draft before it publishes.

The dates worth putting in the calendar

You do not need a post for every day of December. You do need the public days right, especially if you publish opening hours.

• Thursday 24 December 2026, Christmas Eve.

• Friday 25 December 2026, Christmas Day, in both the US and the UK.

• Saturday 26 December 2026, Boxing Day in the UK. Many shops run sales this day, even though the UK bank holiday moves.

• Monday 28 December 2026, the substitute bank holiday for Boxing Day in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

• Tuesday 29 to Thursday 31 December 2026, the quieter days between Christmas and New Year.

• Friday 1 January 2027, New Year's Day, a bank holiday in the UK and a federal holiday in the US.

US businesses should still treat Friday 25 December and Friday 1 January as closed days unless they truly are open. There is no US substitute weekday in 2026 for Christmas, because it already falls on a Friday.

This plan is about December and New Year. It does not replace a general holiday guide. If you need help choosing tone, or deciding which days to skip, read Holiday and festival social media posts. For the last week of November, use the Black Friday and Cyber Week 2026 calendar.

A December plan you can schedule in November

The calendar below is a starting point, not a script. Put your real hours and your real last-order date in the captions. Do not guess courier cut-offs. Look up the current dates from the courier you actually use, then write those dates into the post.

1 to 6 December

Open the month with something people can act on. A bakery can post a festive menu and the date when pre-orders close, once that date is fixed. A founder can post a gift-ready version of the product, with dispatch timing they have already checked. A coding-education creator can post a carousel that helps someone use a quieter week well, and mention a January cohort only if enrolment is truly open.

7 to 13 December

This is a good window for a bestseller, a midweek hours reminder, or a last-chance-to-order post that includes a real cut-off. If you do not yet have the courier date, wait. A late, accurate post is better than an early one that names the wrong day.

14 to 20 December

Make hours and collection times hard to miss. Say what will still ship, what is collection only, and when you close for Christmas. If you will be offline, say when you will reply again. People would rather know than guess.

Thursday 24 and Friday 25 December

Christmas Eve is for final hours and last collections. Christmas Day is for a short, sincere wish. Add opening hours only if you are open. A long sales caption sits badly on the 25th, and you do not need one to be kind.

Saturday 26 and Monday 28 December

Boxing Day matters more in the UK, where it is a trading day for many retailers. If you are running a sale or staying open, post hours and the terms. In the US, 26 December is often a quieter day. A thank you, a returns note or a simple closed-and-back-on date can be enough.

Monday 28 December is a bank holiday in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. If your high-street shop is closed and your online store is open, say that clearly. If everything is closed, a single hours post prevents a wasted journey.

29 December to Friday 1 January 2027

The days between Christmas and New Year are useful for a short year note, a look ahead, or remaining stock. Keep the claims modest. New Year's Day, Friday 1 January 2027, is a greeting plus January hours. A gym or a course can talk about a realistic start. Skip promises you cannot keep.

How this looks for three kinds of business

A bakery

Early December: the festive box, pre-order dates and Christmas week hours. 24 December: last collection time. 25 December: a short wish, and closed unless you bake that day. 26 December: hours if you open for Boxing Day, which many UK bakeries do. 1 January: when you take the shutters down.

A founder who has been running a launch

Use early December to be plain about dispatch. If the last reliable sending date is, say, a day your courier has published, put that date in the post and stick to it. After Christmas, a short note about what the product is for in the new year will do more than another urgent offer, unless you really have a sale and the stock to match.

A coding-education creator

You may not close a shop, but your audience still disappears into family days. Schedule a useful carousel for the slower week, a kind Christmas note, and a clear January start if you run a cohort. You can make those carousels in mid-November and leave them in a calendar, rather than inventing them on the 24th.

A checklist before you hit schedule

• Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day dates are correct for 2026 and 1 January 2027.

• UK captions that mention a bank holiday include Monday 28 December, not only Saturday 26 December.

• Opening hours and reply-by dates match what the team will actually do.

• Any last-order date came from your courier or your own production limit, not from memory.

• The Christmas Day post is a wish, or hours, not a leftover sales caption.

• Someone will reread each scheduled post the day before it goes live.

If you like to plan a whole month on one page, our month-planning guide sits alongside this calendar.

Enjoy the holiday, and still show up online

The point of planning in November is to stop Christmas Eve from becoming a writing day. Hours and last-order dates can still change, so leave yourself a moment to glance at those captions if they might need a tweak.

Festival mode is built for this stretch. You choose Christmas, Boxing Day, New Year's Day and the other days that matter, once, for your country. Autopilot then writes and schedules those posts in your brand's style, on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. The calendar fills while you are with family, or shut, or simply off your phone.

You can read a draft first if you want to. A person approves each post, unless you turn auto-approve on.

Start a 14-day free trial, with no card, at app.theviralmarketing.co.