HOLIDAY MESSAGES TO CUSTOMERS
Holiday messages to customers — Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year and the thank-you note
Short messages a small business can send as they are — by email, by text, on a card or as a post — for every holiday from Thanksgiving to New Year's, plus a printable holiday card and thank-you card in Word and PDF. Free, no sign-up.
Copy, paste, send · Cards in Word and PDF · Free
The short answer
A good holiday message to a customer does four things in four sentences: thanks them for something specific, wishes them well for the holiday, says when you're open — and sells nothing. It comes from a person with a name, not from “the team”, and it's short enough to read on a phone in the checkout line.
Send it the week before the day, not on it: the Monday or Tuesday before Thanksgiving, the second week of December for Christmas and Happy Holidays, the first working days of January for New Year's. Inboxes are quieter then, and the message lands before the customer leaves for the holiday.
The messages below are written to go as they are — swap the [brackets], pick the channel, send. The printable cards are further down; the holiday hours sign and the gift certificate are the season's other two printables.
Thanksgiving messages to customers
Thanksgiving is the easiest message of the year to write, because the holiday is already about thanks. Say what you're thankful for — their business, by name — and leave it there. Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26, 2026.
Email, to every customer. Subject: Thank you, from [Your business name] — Happy Thanksgiving. Hi [First name], before the long weekend starts, a quick thank-you. [Your business name] is a small business, and every job you've trusted us with this year has kept [the two of us / our crew of four] working. We're closed on Thursday and back on [Friday / Monday]. Have a warm Thanksgiving. — [Your name]
Text message. Happy Thanksgiving from [Your name] at [Your business name]! Thank you for your business this year — it means a lot. We're closed Thu, back [Fri / Mon]. Enjoy the long weekend.
For a long-time customer. Hi [First name], I was going through the year's jobs and realized you've been a customer since [2021]. That kind of loyalty is why a business like ours is still here. Thank you — and Happy Thanksgiving to you and [the family / the dogs]. — [Your name]
For a customer whose job you finished this year. Hi [First name], thank you for choosing us for [the kitchen / the new fence / the fall cleanup] this year. We enjoyed the work, and we hope it's serving you well as the house fills up this week. Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at [Your business name].
Social post. Happy Thanksgiving, [Town]. To every customer who trusted a small local business this year — thank you. We're closed Thursday and back [Friday / Monday]; Small Business Saturday is the 28th, and we'd love to see you. 🦃
Voicemail greeting or auto-reply. Thanks for calling [Your business name]. We're closed for Thanksgiving on Thursday, November 26, and back on [Friday, November 27] at [9 am]. For anything urgent, [text this number / email address]. Happy Thanksgiving.
Christmas messages to customers
Use “Merry Christmas” when you know the customer celebrates it — most of your regulars, you'll know. When you don't, the Happy Holidays messages in the next section do the same job. Christmas Day is Friday, December 25, 2026.
Email, to every customer. Subject: Merry Christmas from [Your business name]. Hi [First name], as the year winds down, thank you for being a customer of ours in 2026. We're closed from [Thursday, December 24] and back on [Monday, December 28]; our January calendar is open now if you'd like to get ahead of it. Merry Christmas to you and yours. — [Your name] and the team at [Your business name]
Text message. Merry Christmas from [Your name] and everyone at [Your business name]! Thank you for your business this year. We're closed [Dec 24–27] and back [Mon the 28th]. Enjoy the break.
Card, to a customer you see often. Dear [First name], thank you for another year of letting us [look after the lawn / cut your hair / keep the house clean]. We look forward to seeing you in the new year. Merry Christmas and all the best for 2027 — [Your name], [Your business name]
Card, to a long-time customer. [First name], some customers become part of the business — you're one of them. Thank you for [five] years with us. Merry Christmas from all of us at [Your business name], and here's to [a sixth].
To a business customer. Hi [First name], thank you for the work this year — the [monthly maintenance / office cleaning / fleet detailing] has been a pleasure to do for a team like yours. We're closed [Dec 24–27] and back on the 28th with the usual schedule. Merry Christmas from everyone at [Your business name].
Social post. Merry Christmas from [Your business name]. Thank you, [Town], for keeping it local this year. We're closed [Dec 24–27] and back [Mon Dec 28]. 🎄
Happy Holidays messages — when you don't know what they celebrate
“Happy Holidays” is not a dodge; it's the right message for a list of customers you don't know personally, and it covers everything from Thanksgiving to New Year's in one send.
Email, to every customer. Subject: Happy Holidays from [Your business name]. Hi [First name], thank you for trusting a small local business this year — it's the reason we're still here and still [two people / a crew of four]. Our holiday hours are [closed Dec 24 to Jan 3, back Monday, January 4]; the website takes bookings and messages the whole time. Happy Holidays from all of us at [Your business name]. — [Your name]
Text message. Happy Holidays from [Your name] at [Your business name]! Thank you for your business this year. We're closed [Dec 24 – Jan 3] and back [Mon Jan 4]. Rest up.
Card. Dear [First name], thank you for being part of our year. Wishing you and your family a warm, restful holiday season — we'll see you in January. With thanks, [Your name], [Your business name]
For a customer who found you this year. Hi [First name], you became a customer of ours in [March] — thank you for taking a chance on a business you'd never used before. We hope [the work / the first visit] lived up to it. Happy Holidays, and we'd love to see you in 2027. — [Your name]
Social post. Happy Holidays, [Town]. However you celebrate, thank you for choosing small this year. Our holiday hours are on the website; the door reopens [Mon Jan 4]. ✨
New Year messages to customers
The New Year message looks forward: a thank-you for the year just gone and one sentence about what's next — a new service, the January calendar, a change of hours. It's not the place for a price change; that's a letter of its own, sent in December (below).
Email, to every customer. Subject: Happy New Year from [Your business name]. Hi [First name], thank you for making 2026 a good year for a small business. In 2027 we're [adding Saturday appointments / taking on a second van / offering gutter guards] — more on that soon. We're back on [Monday, January 4], and the calendar is open now. Happy New Year. — [Your name]
Text message. Happy New Year from [Your name] at [Your business name]! Thank you for 2026. We're back [Mon Jan 4] — the January calendar is open if you'd like to get in early.
“See you in January” — with the booking link. Hi [First name], Happy New Year! If [the spring clean / the annual service / the next cut] is on your list, January and February are our quietest months — pick a time that suits you at [your website/book]. Thank you for a great year. — [Your name]
Thank-you for the year, from the owner. Hi [First name], a personal note before the year ends. [Your business name] started in [2019] with [one van and a borrowed trailer]; this year [we hired our first employee / we passed 200 customers]. None of it happens without people like you choosing us. Thank you, and Happy New Year. — [Your name], owner
Social post. Happy New Year, [Town]. Thank you for a 2026 we'll remember — [the new shop / our 500th job / the first hire]. Back on [Mon Jan 4]. See you then. 🎉
Thank-you notes to customers
A thank-you note needs no holiday. The best ones go out within a week of the job, name the job, and are signed by the person who did it. Handwritten on a card beats email for anything over a few hundred dollars. A thank-you gift — a credit for a referral, a gift certificate in the card — is the one exception to “sell nothing”: it's a gift to someone who already did something for you, not an offer.
After a job. Hi [First name], thank you for choosing [Your business name] for [the bathroom tile / the deep clean / the full detail]. We enjoyed the work, and we hope it's exactly what you pictured. If anything isn't right, call me directly on [your phone] — I'd rather fix it than have you live with it. — [Your name]
Handwritten card, after a big job. Dear [First name], thank you for trusting us with [the kitchen]. A project like that is a big decision, and we're grateful you made it with us. Enjoy it — and if you ever need us, you know where we are. [Your name], [Your business name]
To a customer who referred someone. Hi [First name], [the Garcias] called this week and said you'd sent them. There's no better compliment a small business can get. Thank you — [the next visit is on us / we've put a $25 credit on your account]. — [Your name]
To a first-time customer. Hi [First name], thank you for trying [Your business name] this week. Taking a chance on a business you haven't used before isn't nothing, and we don't take it for granted. We'd love to be the people you call next time too. — [Your name]
Year-end thank-you to a long-time customer. Hi [First name], as the year closes I wanted to say thank you for [five] years as a customer. Businesses like ours live on people like you coming back. Here's to the next one — and please pass on our best to [the family]. — [Your name]
Thank-you with a gift certificate. Hi [First name], thank you for a great year. Enclosed is a [$25] gift certificate — use it yourself or pass it to a friend who could use [a clean / a cut / a tidy yard]. Happy Holidays from all of us. — [Your name] (The <a href="/guides/gift-certificate-template">gift certificate template</a> is free, Word and PDF.)
FREE PRINTABLE · WORD AND PDF
The holiday card to customers
A one-page card for the customers who deserve more than an email: your business name, the greeting, a line of thanks and room for a message in your own hand. Letter size, landscape — fold it once, or print at two to a page for a smaller card. Free, no email address, no sign-up.
Template · replace the [brackets]
| [Your business name] | |
| Happy Holidays | |
| To our customers, with thanks | |
| [Thank you for a wonderful year] | |
| [Your message — e.g. Working on your home this year has been a pleasure. Wishing you and your family a warm and restful holiday season, and we'll see you in January.] | |
| Warm wishes from all of us at [your business name] · [your website] |
The Word file is a standard .docx you can edit in Word or any app that opens Word documents; the PDF prints as-is. Card stock, “Actual size”, cut along the border.
THE THANK-YOU CARD
The thank-you card to customers
For any week of the year: a card that says thank you for a job, a referral or a year of business, with To and From lines and a message block to write in.
Template · replace the [brackets]
| [Your business name] | |
| Thank You | |
| For being our customer this year | |
| [It means a lot to a small business] | |
| To | [Customer's name] |
| From | [Your name] |
| [Your message — e.g. Thank you for trusting us with your [kitchen / lawn / dog] this year. We're looking forward to seeing you in the new year — and if there's ever anything we can do better, call me.] | |
| [Your business name] · [your website] · [your phone] | |
Keep a stack printed with your details filled in; the message is the only line you write each time.
Next year's list, kept for you
Know who to thank next December
Add what you do, your town and your business name to the sentence, and Zarla builds your website from that one line. The people who fill in your form, book an appointment or pay an invoice land in your Contacts list — one list to export when it's time to send the cards.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.
LINE BY LINE
What goes in a holiday message to a customer
Four lines and a sign-off. Every message above follows it.
| The line | What to write |
|---|---|
| The thank-you | Thank them for their business this year — and for something specific if you can: the job, the years, the referral. “Thank you for your business” alone reads like a receipt. |
| The wish | Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year — one of them, once. Match it to the customer: Merry Christmas to the people you know celebrate it, Happy Holidays to the list. |
| The hours | When you're closed and the day you're back, in a single line. It's the one piece of information the customer actually needs, and it saves a phone call on December 26. |
| The sign-off | A person's name. “[Your name], owner” or “[Your name] and the team at [Your business name]” — never “the team” alone, never “Management”. |
| What to leave out | The offer, the discount, the upsell. One sentence pointing at the open January calendar is fine; a coupon code turns a thank-you into an ad, and people can tell. (A gift to a customer who referred someone is a gift, not an offer.) |
STEP BY STEP
How to send holiday messages to customers
An hour in November covers the whole season.
Pull the list
Everyone who bought from you this year: the contacts in your dashboard, the invoices, the booking calendar, the phone. Split it in two — the regulars you know by name, and everyone else.
Pick a channel for each half
Regulars get a card or a personal text; the rest get one email. A text to someone who's never texted you feels like a cold call — use the channel they already use with you.
Write one message, then personalize the first line
Take the message above that fits, fill in the brackets once, and change only the first sentence per customer — the job, the years, the dog's name. Thirty seconds each.
Add the hours
One line: closed from, back on. Put the same dates on the website, the door and your Google Business Profile the same day.
Send the week before
The Monday before Thanksgiving; the second week of December; the first working days of January. Cards go in the mail a week earlier than that.
Reply to every reply
A holiday message gets more replies than anything else you send. Answer each one by hand — it's the conversation that books January.
WHICH CHANNEL
Email, text, card or post?
Each channel suits a different customer and a different length.
| Channel | Best for | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Everyone on your list at once; customers you've emailed before (invoices, quotes, confirmations). | Four to six sentences and a subject line that says who it's from. | |
| Text message | Regulars who already text you; anyone whose job you confirmed by text this year. Never a list that didn't give you their number for it. | Two or three sentences. Sign it with your name. |
| Card, by mail or by hand | Your best customers, long-time customers, anyone whose job ran into four figures. Delivered with the last visit of the year if you can. | Two handwritten sentences on the printed card. |
| Social post | The town — customers and not-yet-customers at once. Pin it; add the hours. | Two lines and the reopening date. |
| Voicemail and auto-reply | Whoever calls or emails while you're closed. Set it the day you shut and change it the day you're back. | Dates, the reopening day, and one way to reach you if it's urgent. |
Where the offer goes instead
Keep the sale out of the message, and put it where people are already looking for one: a gift certificate by the register and on the website for the gift-buyers; the Small Business Saturday post for the day's offer; a January-booking line on the website for the people who'd rather come in when it's quiet.
If your website is on Zarla, the customers who filled in your form, booked an appointment or paid an invoice this year are already in your Contacts list, so the “pull the list” step is an export rather than an afternoon. The holiday hours go on the site in one line of chat, and if your prices change in January, send the price increase letter in December — separately from the thank-you.
Holiday messages to customers: common questions
Four things: thank them for their business this year (and something specific if you can), wish them well for the holiday, say when you're closed and the day you're back, and sign it with a person's name. Leave out the offer — a thank-you with a coupon in it reads as an ad. Four to six sentences by email, two or three by text.
Merry Christmas to the customers you know celebrate Christmas — most of your regulars, you'll know. Happy Holidays to a list you don't know personally; it isn't a dodge, it's the message that fits everyone from Thanksgiving to New Year's in one send. Many small businesses send both: Merry Christmas cards to regulars, a Happy Holidays email to the list.
The week before the day, not on it: the Monday or Tuesday before Thanksgiving, the second week of December for Christmas and Happy Holidays, and the first working days of January for New Year's. Cards go in the mail a week earlier. Inboxes are quieter in the week before, and the message reaches people before they leave for the holiday.
No. One sentence pointing at your open January calendar is fine; a discount code turns a thank-you into a promotion, and customers can tell the difference. Put the offer where people are already looking for one — a gift certificate by the register, the Small Business Saturday post, a line on the website.
Use the channel the customer already uses with you. Text the regulars who text you about jobs; email everyone you've invoiced or quoted by email; send a card to the customers whose work ran into four figures or who've been with you for years. A text to someone who never gave you their number for texting feels like a cold call.
Name the job, say you enjoyed the work, invite them to call you directly if anything isn't right, and sign it with your own name. Send it within a week of the job. For anything over a few hundred dollars, handwrite it on a card — the printable thank-you card on this page is free in Word and PDF.
A short year-end note in December — thank you for the year, your holiday hours, the day you're back — to everyone who bought from you, by email to the list and by card to your regulars. The owner's name on it matters more than the wording; the messages on this page are written for that.
Yes. The holiday card and the thank-you card download free as a Word document and a PDF — no email address, no sign-up. Fill in your details in Word and print a stack, or print the PDF and write the message by hand. Letter size, landscape; print two to a page for a smaller card.
Start the new year with a website that keeps the list
Add what you do, your town and your business name, and Zarla builds the site from that one line — with your contacts, bookings and invoices in the same dashboard.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.