Christmas can bring extra sales and bookings, but it can also add more emails, deadlines and decisions to an already busy week. A little planning now helps you spread the work out.
Use this tracker as a starting point. Pick the tasks that suit your business and leave out the ones that don’t. You don’t need to do everything at once.
| Week | Your focus | Small actions | What you could outsource |
| 9 weeks to go | Set your priorities | Decide what you want to achieve before Christmas. Note key dates, deadlines and any planned closures. | Research dates and deadlines, organise your to-do list or set up diary reminders. |
| 8 weeks to go | Plan your marketing | Choose a few useful messages for customers, such as Christmas opening hours, seasonal offers or booking reminders. | Draft and schedule social media posts, or prepare a simple content plan. |
| 7 weeks to go | Check stock and supplies | Review what you have, what you need and when suppliers need orders. Ask about lead times. | Contact suppliers, chase quotes or organise order information. |
| 6 weeks to go | Update customers | Make sure customers know how to book, order or get in touch. Share any important cut-off dates early. | Prepare a newsletter or draft customer emails and reminders. |
| 5 weeks to go | Check bookings and workload | Look at your diary. Spot busy days, gaps and any deadlines that need attention. | Organise diary appointments, confirm event details or follow up with customers. |
| 4 weeks to go | Review money and deadlines | Check upcoming invoices, payments and costs. Make a note of anything you need to complete before the break. | Organise admin, chase outstanding replies or prepare a list of key deadlines. |
| 3 weeks to go | Confirm the details | Check orders, bookings, deliveries and supplier arrangements. Tell customers about any changes or cut-off dates. | Send confirmations, chase supplier information or prepare customer updates. |
| 2 weeks to go | Prepare for your last working days | Confirm team cover, finish urgent tasks and share your Christmas opening hours. Schedule any planned posts or emails. | Schedule social content, prepare a newsletter or organise diary and email follow-ups. |
| 1 week to go | Close the year and look ahead | Deal with essential loose ends, set an out-of-office message and write down your first priorities for January. | Tidy up admin, organise follow-up reminders or prepare a simple January task list. |
Short on time? Start here
If nine weeks feels more like nine days, choose three actions:
- Tell customers your Christmas opening hours and key deadlines.
- Check the bookings, orders or supplies that need attention first.
- Write down your top three tasks for this week and leave the rest for later.
A short, clear update is more useful than a perfect plan that never gets sent.
Need an extra pair of hands?
You don’t have to manage every Christmas task yourself. Miss Kantoor supports small businesses with admin, diary and email management, social media content, newsletters, supplier follow-ups and sales follow-up.
If you’d like help getting a few tasks off your list, contact Miss Kantoor and tell me what’s taking up your time. We can start with the jobs that will make the biggest difference to your week.