Instagram ideas

Instagram ideas for the holiday season

Holiday content works when it helps people with something they’re already doing: choosing gifts, planning food, keeping a tradition or getting an order in on time. Here are 56 ideas for the busy stretch from Diwali and Black Friday through Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa, plus a short list for holidays at other times of the year.

Updated 6 October 2026 · 56 ideas

Count down to the day · 8

  1. Hanukkah, one Story a night: the menorah with one more candle lit each time, for all eight nights.
  2. Diwali, day by day: a post for each of the five days, from Dhanteras to Bhai Dooj.
  3. Kwanzaa, from 26 December to 1 January: one post a day on where that day’s principle shows up in your community.
  4. An advent calendar in Stories: a 24-square grid posted on 1 December, with one square opened each morning to show a tip, an old photo or a small offer.
  5. Twelve days of offers: one product a day, each offer ending at midnight and announced the evening before.
  6. A Countdown sticker to your last order date for delivery before the 25th, posted a week ahead and shared again on the day.
  7. Sleeps left, written with a finger on a steamed-up window each morning.
  8. Christmas Eve in three frames, at 6pm, 9pm and midnight, from the last bit of wrapping to the first present.

Help people choose gifts · 9

  1. A shared gift guide with a few other local makers, one product each, posted as a collab so it shows on every profile involved.
  2. A gift finder in Stories: three polls (who it’s for, the budget, their style), then a frame with a suggestion for each answer.
  3. A Secret Santa shortlist: five gifts at one price, for people who drew a colleague they barely know.
  4. Stocking fillers: everything under a set price on one table, shot from above, with a price sticker on each.
  5. The personalisation cut-off: the last day you can engrave, embroider or print a name and still deliver in time.
  6. Gifts that need no delivery, for people who left it late: a class, an experience or a voucher emailed the same day.
  7. A real order being gift-wrapped on camera, so buyers know it can go straight to the person it’s for.
  8. What followers are buying for whom, gathered with the Questions sticker and shared back as a list of ideas.
  9. Gifts for people who don’t want more stuff: things to eat, repairs, lessons and donations.

Food, decorations and traditions · 11

  1. The recipe that only comes out in December, with the handwritten card it lives on.
  2. The tree going up in three frames: the box from the loft, the tangle of lights, the finished thing.
  3. The oldest decoration you own and how it came to you.
  4. Latkes or doughnuts frying for Hanukkah, with the sound of the oil left on.
  5. Diwali at dusk: diyas lit one by one along the step, and a rangoli from the first line of powder to the last.
  6. A cooking timetable for the big meal, showing what goes in the oven and when, on one slide people can save.
  7. Leftover recipes for the days after, one per slide, using what’s really left in the fridge.
  8. The festive bake, with the step everyone gets wrong shown in close-up.
  9. The cards you’re sending this year, designed by you or the children, just before they go in the post.
  10. The best-lit house on your street, with the owners’ okay, or your town’s lights being switched on.
  11. The table set before the guests arrive, and the same table two hours later.

Behind the scenes of a busy season · 10

  1. Peak packing day: the stack of parcels at 9am and the empty table at 6pm.
  2. Black Friday when you don’t discount: one honest post on why, and what you offer instead.
  3. Small Business Saturday (late November in the US, early December in the UK): the other small businesses you bought from this year, from the packaging supplier to the café that keeps the team going.
  4. Giving Tuesday, the Tuesday after US Thanksgiving: the cause you support all year, and one free way followers can help.
  5. The festive packaging: the box, the sticker and the ribbon colour you only use in December.
  6. The team’s Secret Santa reveal, filmed with everyone’s okay.
  7. The team in their worst festive jumpers, one group photo, no retakes.
  8. The last hour of trading on Christmas Eve: the till, the final orders and the lights going off.
  9. Sold out until January: the products that won’t be back this year, on one frame.
  10. Who answers messages over the break, and from which date, so nobody waits for a reply that isn’t coming.

Quick festive Stories · 8

  1. The tree, the diyas or the menorah in the dark, lights only, one photo.
  2. Poll: real tree or artificial? Then a photo of yours.
  3. The mug that only comes out in December.
  4. Boxing Day: the sofa, the new socks and the film you fell asleep during.
  5. The wrapping-paper flood on the living-room floor after the presents.
  6. A Note mid-wrap: “Wrapping gifts. Out of tape and patience”
  7. The who’s-bringing-what list for the big meal, with half the dishes still unclaimed.
  8. First frost on the car windscreen, scraped into a smiley face.

Holidays through the year · 10

  1. Valentine’s Day: how two regulars met in your shop or class, told with their blessing.
  2. Holi: the same white T-shirt before and after the colours, and how you got it clean again.
  3. Eid: the table on Eid morning, the new clothes and the Eidi envelopes waiting for the children.
  4. Easter: an egg hunt map of the shop or garden, with one clue per Story through the morning.
  5. Mother’s Day: a reminder that the date differs, with Mothering Sunday in March or early April in the UK and the second Sunday in May in the US and India.
  6. Raksha Bandhan: siblings tying rakhis, and for a shop, the last day to send one abroad.
  7. Onam: the pookalam flower carpet from above, and the sadya laid out on a banana leaf.
  8. Halloween: a tour of the scariest corners of your business, from the stock room to the inbox.
  9. Thanksgiving, the fourth Thursday of November in the US and the second Monday of October in Canada: what’s on the table, dish by dish.
  10. Father’s Day: something you learned from a dad or a father figure, and the photo that goes with it.

Tips for using these ideas

  1. Plan back from your last delivery date. Gift guides do their work two or three weeks before it; posted the week of the deadline, they mostly reach people who can no longer order.

  2. Name the festival you mean and get its details right: eight nights of Hanukkah, five days of Diwali, Kwanzaa running to 1 January. “Happy holidays” covers the season, but a specific greeting done properly feels more personal.

  3. The same questions arrive every day in December: last order date, gift wrap, delivery abroad. Put the answers in a highlight named after each question, and if you use an auto-reply tool such as DMFast, set DM keywords like DELIVERY so they’re answered at any hour.

  4. Compare December posts with each other, not with a normal month. Saves on a gift guide and link taps on an order-date Story show which formats sold; note them so next year’s posts go up earlier.

  5. Ask before posting people at parties, team nights out or family dinners. A festive photo shared without asking can still cause trouble in January.

  6. Not every follower has a full table this time of year. Include the people working shifts or spending it alone, for example with a post for whoever is keeping things running on the 25th.

Questions people ask

When should I start posting holiday content on Instagram?

Gift posts from mid-November, so they land before Black Friday and well ahead of delivery deadlines. Posts for a festival work best in the week before the day itself. Diwali, Hanukkah and Eid move from year to year, so check the date before you plan.

Should I say “Happy holidays” or name the festival?

Either is fine. “Happy holidays” suits a mixed audience; naming Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali or Kwanzaa is warmer when you celebrate it or know your followers do. If you post about a festival you don’t celebrate, ask someone who does to check the details.

What are good holiday Story ideas for a business?

A countdown to your last order date, a gift finder built from polls, today’s packing pile, and a frame saying who answers messages over the break. Save the frames that stay useful all season, such as delivery dates and gift wrap, to a highlight.

Can I schedule holiday posts in advance?

Yes. Professional accounts can schedule posts and Reels in the Instagram app, and Meta Business Suite can schedule Stories too. Schedule the fixed things, like countdowns and order dates, and post the moments, like the packing pile, as they happen.

How do I run a 12 days of Christmas giveaway?

Treat each day as its own giveaway, with its own prize, closing time and winner, and state the rules every time, including that Instagram doesn’t sponsor or run it. Twelve small prizes your customers would want bring in better entrants than one big prize anyone would want.

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