Unwrapping Christmas 2025 with Social Listening: Festive Trends Marketers Can Act on
As the year winds down, it’s a natural moment to pause, reflect, and take stock of what the past months have brought. We decided to wrap up 2025 with a meaningful social listening study exploring how the global audience is entering the holiday season — and what they’re saying about it online.
Using YouScan, an AI-powered platform for social media monitoring and consumer insights, I analyzed 85M+ mentions connected to Christmas and New Year 2026 across social networks and online media over the past month.
In this article, I’ll share how the audience is preparing for the upcoming holidays, the topics they talk about most, the trends shaping this festive season — and, most importantly, how marketers and brands can turn these insights into action.
🌍 Top countries talking about Christmas preparations
Before diving deeper into the numbers, I looked at the general picture, and the answer to where online conversations on Christmas 2026 unfold the most was kind of obvious: the United States has produced 15M+ mentions, followed by the United Kingdom (4.9M+ mentions), and Canada (1.2M+ mentions).
Surprisingly (or not), the audience shares the creative niche, with the majority in artists (686K+ authors), content creators (212K authors), and photographers (191K+ authors).
🎁 Cozy and emotion-led gift-giving ideas
Who doesn’t like gifts? Based on 642K+ online mentions, holiday gifting this year leans heavily toward comfort, usefulness, and small moments of joy.
What people want to give (and get):
Food & drink gifts: chocolates, Christmas cakes, specialty cocktails, snack boxes, gift baskets
Fashion & comfort wear: Christmas sweaters, loungewear sets, sneakers, festive dresses, socks
Stocking stuffers: pre-made gift boxes, tumblers, kids’ cups, advent calendars, beauty minis
Home comfort & décor: blankets, plush jackets, slippers, cushions, lamps, ornaments, snowflake projectors
💡Actionable insights for marketers
Package your products as “ready-made gifts” or themed bundles to reduce decision fatigue. Besides, you can lead with comfort and warmth cues (coziness, togetherness, small indulgences) in visuals and copy. Last, promote quick wins such as stocking stuffers, add-ons, and last-minute gifts that feel thoughtful but easy
🎄Visual context: Advent calendars & decorating
I bet you’ve ever unwrapped an Advent calendar (I am still on the lookout for mine!). Advent calendars continue to dominate festive visuals as the research shows, with 800K+ mentions driven by unboxings and daily reveals (believe me: they are brilliant!).
Most talked-about Advent calendar contents:
Tea
Chocolate
Bath & shower products
Rhubarb-infused cider
While giving and receiving an Advent calendar is super sweet, people also tend to craft and decorate their homes on their own, mainly to avoid consumerism. 3.5M+ mentions revolve around Christmas DIYs — from handmade ornaments and wreaths to baking cookies and paper decorations.
💡Actionable insights for marketers
Smart marketers would reframe products as rituals, not simply purchases (daily treats, self-care moments, countdown experiences). Plus, support the DIY mindset with templates, tutorials, or make-it-your-own kits, highlighting sustainability, reuse, and creativity.
🛍 Christmas & New Year shopping patterns
Holiday shopping is becoming more social than ever. With around 160K mentions, people actively share wish lists and ask followers for gift ideas — turning Christmas shopping into a group conversation.
Value matters. About 140K mentions point to shoppers flocking to discount retailers for decorations, gifts, and cozy home items that feel festive without breaking the budget.
At the same time, experiences are rising. Nearly 130K mentions highlight trips, events, and festive activities as meaningful gifts that create memories, not clutter.
Shoppers are also choosing thoughtful over mass-produced. Roughly 115K mentions reflect growing interest in handmade, personalized, and sustainable gifts.
There’s a strong shop-local movement, too. Around 100K conversations encourage supporting small businesses, weekend markets, and local makers.
And finally, impulse buys still win online. About 45K mentions revolve around TikTok Shop and Amazon finds, driven by promo codes, creators, and last-minute stocking stuffers.
🛒 What shops do people usually go to for Christmas shopping?
In our hit parade of shops with a Christmas-like ambiance, Macy’s leads.
Consumers buy home décor, shoes, clothing, beauty deals, and general last-minute holiday purchases there. For holiday skin-care sets, seasonal cups, and last-minute decor, and general holiday buys, people often mention and visit Target.
They buy Christmas décor at Hobby Lobby and choose local markets to enjoy the seasonal atmosphere.
💡Actionable insights for marketers
Turn holiday shopping into a shareable experience — encourage wish-list posts, creator-led recommendations, and social bundles, while highlighting clear value through discounts, gift sets, and impulse-friendly add-ons.
At the same time, win attention by pairing experience-driven and personalized offers with the right retail context: festive mass retailers for convenience, and local or artisanal positioning for authenticity and emotional appeal.
🍪 Festive season recipes
What are people cooking about? Holiday food online conversations involve comfort, tradition, and indulgence. Christmas cookies dominate festive chatter, followed by roast meats (like turkey and ham), Christmas cakes, hot chocolate, and Christmas chocolates.
Sure thing, other dishes are also on the table, such as deviled eggs, tamales, pozole, green bean casserole, cinnamon rolls, and lasagna. Together, these recipes paint a picture of celebrations that blend nostalgia with practicality and multicultural influences.
💡Actionable insights for marketers
This Christmas season, marketers can go all in moments, not merely ingredients. If you are a grocery producer, promote “cookie night”, holiday dinner, and cozy drinks kits instead of single products.
Such a tendency is also a perfect idea to make it easy and visual. Go all in for short recipe videos, step-by-step carousels, and quick cooking hacks that will ease the lives before the clock strikes twelve.
Besides, I see this as an open opportunity to act multicultural, highlighting diverse festive dishes to reflect holiday tables and reach a broader audience.
📺 Holiday movie marathons
Guilty! I, for one, rewatch all-time favorite Christmas movies and TV series before the New Year (Harry Potter, Home Alone, The Holiday, you name it). In fact, it turned out that it’s a shared ritual. Based on 7K+ mentions, people take a walk down memory lane and spend some quality time rewatching:
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
A Muppets Christmas Carol
Home Alone
Die Hard (it IS a Christmas movie!)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Hallmark/Netfilx holiday specials
The audience has generated over 220K mentions, containing the Home Alone movie, and with nearly 20K for the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation movie in contrast.
There is also a perfect example of how a brand jumped on the hype train during the Christmas spree and used the all-time favorite movie to the fullest. This year, McDonald’s has launched special Grinch meals, which generated tons of mentions for the brand (and, most likely, a positive boost in revenue).
Thanks to YouScan’s visual recognition abilities, I was able to catch both the McDonald’s logo and Grinch mentions in just a few seconds.
💡Actionable insights for marketers
If you’d like to leverage the popularity of holiday movie marathons and use the insights in your campaigns, align ads with predictable appointment-viewing windows, as people actively seek out and schedule time for specific Christmas-film favorites and engage in marathon behavior like double-features and rewatch cycles.
Take advantage of cross-promotional opportunities for food, beverage, apparel, and décor by associating your products with the co-viewing experiences (family, partners, pets) and comfort items (hot chocolate, pajamas, blankets) linked to Christmas movies.
For instance, run interactive formats such as polls, quizzes, and giveaways themed around iconic movies on socials: the audience appreciates some interaction this time of year.
📊 Research methodology
Collection and analysis of mentions related to winter holidays, New Year, and Christmas 2026 using YouScan – a social media and online media monitoring tool
Study period: November 11 to December 19 (39 days)
Language of mentions: English
Mentions collected and analyzed: over 85 million mentions
