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What does your business do for the Festive/Holiday Season?

Hey Sellers,

 

It may feel like it's early to think about, but we're more than halfway to the Festive/Holiday Season!

 

giphy

 

It's never too early to plan ahead, and we love to inspire here, so:

 

What does your business do for the Holidays?

 

Fall & Autumn holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving; Festive & Winter Holidays like Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Years, Boxing Day, and any other holidays that we didn't think of!

 

Do you decorate your space?
Do you set up special Holiday Themed offerings like menu items or specials?
Do you run Events for your community?

How do you handle staffing and employees' time off?
How you handle long lines or large orders?

How do you promote and market your business during this time?

 

We'd love to see pictures too, so please share them in the comments!

 

Looking forward to seeing and hearing what you do.

️ Aylon Pesso, he/him
Small Business Evangelist, Square

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We always do fun holiday window displays!

We do a fun window for Halloween that will stay up for about 2 weeks with the merchandise changing weekly.

We'll launch our first for Christmas the first Friday in Nov, and then change it up the week after Thanksgiving for our final holiday window. For Christmas we decorate a bit more in store as well to get people in the gift giving mindset. Last holiday I put together a quick IG reel of me decorating the store the day before Thanksgiving which is when we always launch our interior decor. Check that out here: Holiday Decor Reel 

My Girlfriend's Wardrobe est. 2012

Preston & jayne est. 2023


Downtown York Pa


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I absolutely love all the decorations and the reel - thanks so much for sharing @alexandriak !

️ Aylon Pesso, he/him
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Just try to be mindful of your decorations during all holidays. The office manager is in charge of both the lobby and common areas. If they so choose, individual practitioners can handle the rest of the offices.

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Oh my, we LOVE Christmas/ Holiday season. 

We will launch at least 2 separate drink menus on for fall and then one when we move closer to winter. 

We will decorate our shop and do some fun drinks and shenanigans for families on Halloween, we will have some fall decor through October and November and we will probably start decorating for Christmas in November/first week of December!

We have a fun staff tree decorating party. 

We also take part in serving drinks at a local makers market and will sometimes have a very small version of a makers market in our shop.

We don't have any huge problems with time off requests. We do have some blackout dates through December that are pretty non negotiable (unless for serious reason) and that hasn't been a problem for us because we close our shop for Christmas through the end of the year to give our team time off with family and friends and just enjoy the Holiday!

Lovewell Tea & Coffee//
Ventura, Ca


https://www.lovewellteaandcoffee.com/
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I love the excitement and offerings @Lovewell!

 

Do you have any pictures of your holiday drinks/menus or your makers market to share?

️ Aylon Pesso, he/him
Small Business Evangelist, Square

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I put lit garland up to adorn the display cases.

Corporate will go for any hint of a holiday to run a sale so yeah, I'll have to be giving the 20% off or whatever. 🙄

 

 

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Sounds like a good way to decorate, and hopefully the sale goes well! Thanks for sharing

️ Aylon Pesso, he/him
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@Pesso 

Really just try not to go over board with decorations during all Holidays. The office manager does both waiting rooms and general areas. Rest of the offices are done bye individual practitioners if they choose to. 

Ryan Anton Schaffer RMT
www.reginamassagetherapist.com
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That's a solid way to split up the work and have some variety in the decorations! Thanks for sharing

️ Aylon Pesso, he/him
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We are closed for the season, most likely.  Though this year we are considering a trial run of being open for frozen treats all winter.  @Pesso , as a former ice cream person you’ll understand I still am ambivalent about this but a few of my employees are psyched so I’m indulging them!  LOL.  Anyway…

 

We will decorate so that it looks like we care about the neighborhood even though we are closed.

 

We will do business as usual, IF we are open.  Otherwise our banner will say “see you when ice cream weather returns!”

 

We will contribute $ to the neighborhood decorations budget because we love what the neighborhood association does and how they make us look!

 

Otherwise, winter is for me and the husband to take a much needed vacation.  Egypt, Jordan, Petra this year!  After 3 years of not being able to travel, we are going to enjoy every second of the 28 days!  I’ll post pictures.

 

Another great question.  I love seeing how other sellers handle these events.

Chip

If my answer resolves your issue, please take a minute to mark it as Best Answer. That helps people who find this thread in the future.

Piper’s Ice Cream Bar, Covington KY USA
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Oooh, let us know what you decide, @TheRealChipA!

Either way, have a wonderful trip and have all the fun!

️ Aylon Pesso, he/him
Small Business Evangelist, Square

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I decorate some for all the holidays but for Christmas I go all out.  Last year I had a tree outside the store with the mannequins and a small one inside.  I also had special ornaments made and fake gifts placed in different places.  My windows were decorated as well as my checkout stand.  Christmas music playlist blasting everyday....Fun fun times

Jacqueline
Owner of Jackie's Uniquely U Boutique
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All out or nothing, @JUYBoutique20 ! I love the special ornaments and fake gifts and music on blast - gotta get customers in the giving spirit!
Thanks for sharing-

️ Aylon Pesso, he/him
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We shift our entire line for Christmas.  Our big season is fall selling pumpkins etc.  But then we move into the Christmas season which is very much a shoulder season for us.  We sell Christmas trees and Christmas wreaths.  We spend time hanging lights to create excitement.  It is beneficial to hang the lights because it gets dark so early.

 

We do setup pre-order program for the bakery around Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

IMG_20211130_064310445.jpg

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OMG …. Love it

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Now that's impressive! 

Coco Chemistry Ltd
Artisan Chocolatier
www.cocochemistry.co.uk
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Out of interest how far out do you start your pre-order?

 

We are selling advent calendars for the first time this year, and note some companies advertise calendars for pre-orders in July, which I assume helps them calculate print runs for packaging. July seems a little early though to me and seems a little funny in the middle of the summer when it's over 100'F outside. 

Coco Chemistry Ltd
Artisan Chocolatier
www.cocochemistry.co.uk
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My pre-orders go in the day after a holiday is over generally. My halloween orders were placed last Nov 1st for the most part.

 

Granted we do an insane Halloween/Christmas/NYE/Thanksgiving.... 

 

I actually typically rarely decorate above and beyond putting the decorations on display.

 

Space is a premium in my store so typically I don't "do anything" besides dedicate an enormous amount of shelf space for seasonal.

 

This year I'm not even putting out costumes, this will be our first trial run using Square's online platform to sell costumes only online allowing my staff to focus on pulling costumes and giving me a lot more shelf space. Part of the store (1/2 of what we normally would need for costumes) will be dedicated to boxes of costumes because they're stackable.

 

I plan on getting 1-2 Ipads on stands for people to look at costumes we have in stock through our website. Before we had to dedicate twice as much space for half as many costumes and it would get super messy super quickly.

 

 

www.PartyManiaBethesda.com
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Wow that's a big lead time, @PartyManiaMD ! Great that you have the Square Online platform to sell online and keep real estate in-store open - even cooler to do the digital catalog on iPads!


️ Aylon Pesso, he/him
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I love that, @MichiganFarmsta - practical and festive all in one! Thanks for sharing!

️ Aylon Pesso, he/him
Small Business Evangelist, Square

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