December is a busy month for food content creators and the last big push in Q4. There’s no shortage of email newsletter ideas for food bloggers and food content creators. People are looking for entertaining ideas, last minute tips and recipes, homemade gifts, ideas to keep kids busy and more!
There’s more than enough ideas to keep you busy with food inspired newsletter content for December. I think we could easily send out an email a day in December and still have lots of ideas left over.
But, if you’re struggling with ideas for your food newsletter or you’ve just got too many things on your mind to brainstorm content for your newsletter audience, I’ve got a wealth of suggestions for you.
Note that this year, Christmas and Hanukkah are in alignment.
IMPORTANT DATES FOR 2024
Christmas Eve: December 24th
Hanukkah: evening of December 25 to the evening of January 2
Christmas Day: December 25th
Boxing Day and/or St. Stephens Day: December 26th is a statutory holiday in many countries outside of the US. It’s a popular day for shopping, televised sports and hosting open houses and drop-in gatherings.
Kwanzaa: December 26-January 1st
New Year’s Eve: December 31st
New Year’s Day: January 1st
ENTERTAINING
- open houses, cocktail parties, dessert tables and buffets, brunches (another great buffet opportunity), Christmas dinner, skating parties, holiday light viewing walks and rides, New Year’s eve…
- think about appetizers, desserts, drinks, items that can be made ahead of time (breakfast bakes and casseroles are very popular this year!)
- entertaining on a budget
- entertaining for different sized groups – from 3-4 people to big groups
- recipes for festive drinks that can be made in large batches for a crowd (alcoholic and non-alcoholic options)
GIFTS FROM YOUR KITCHEN
- recipes for spice mixes, hot cocoa mixes, soup mixes, cookie or pancake dry mixes (you can layer all of these in pretty glass jars)
- cookie and bar swap or platter recipes
- recipes for candied nuts, jams and jellies, chocolates and candies
- tutorials on how to put together an attractive cookie or bar platter
- templates to make your own gift tags or tutorials on how to decorate and wrap the jars of spice mix, hot cocoa etc.
KID FRIENDLY CONTENT
Lots of parents will have littles at home over the holidays and will be looking for things to keep them busy…
- recipes kids can help with
- cookie and bar decorating
- homemade gifts from the kitchen kids can help with (assembling spice mixes, dry ingredients for soups or baking mixes, etc)
LEFTOVERS
- recipes that use up leftover turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetables
- create a “leftovers” charcuterie board or turn leftover appies into a fun dinner night.
CONFIDENCE BOOSTER EMAIL
Ok this one is a bit different but hear me out. You could send an email to your list that has nothing to do with food. Everyone is stressed this time of year for a wide range of reasons.
Send an email reminding them they’ve got this! Offer up…
- some relaxation or meditation techniques (going for a walk, some easy stretching, a relaxing activity that uses their hands like knitting or colouring, using a meditation app)
- ways to cut corners while still having a fabulous holiday
- sure fire, easy recipes that are impossible to screw up
- how to combat loneliness – not everyone has family around at Christmas
- ideas for giving back
- something that reminds them it’s ok… it doesn’t have to be perfect!
- some funny memes can also go a long way!
HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDES
You can now share Amazon affiliate links in your emails (with proper disclosure) and, you can share a link to your Amazon affiliate shop (if you have one) or to blog posts that contain amazon affiliate links.
Don’t forget other affiliate programs you may be long to – share their links in your emails as well.
Last minute gift ideas and stocking stuffers are great gift guides to share in December.
NEW YEAR’S EVE
Plan to start dripping out your New Year’s even content just after Christmas. I strongly recommend having this content prepped and scheduled in advance. The week between Christmas and New Year’s seems to exist in an alternate reality where we lose track of dates and time. If you’re anything like me, you probably spend a lot of it in your PJs!
You don’t want to feel pressure to do some work but there is a limited time to get New Year’s content out so prepping and scheduling is the way to go!
SEASONAL FOODS
The next few months are a bit rough when it comes to seasonal foods but here’s what to look for:
- root vegetables and squash
- citrus fruits
- pomegranates
- kiwi
- cranberries
- winter greens (kale, cabbage, brussels sprouts, collard greens etc)
TAILOR YOUR DECEMBER NEWSLETTER CONTENT FOR YOUR EMAIL AUDIENCE
As always, these are ideas to help you brainstorm. Adapt them to fit your audience and your niche, which you know better than anyone else.
Remember that your email audience may be different from the audience that finds you through search.
Focus on what your newsletter subscribers respond to. If you have the data available in your newsletter marketing platform, look at which content they responded to this time last year. Then create newsletter content that’s a good fit. If your audience is mainly young singles, skip the kid content!
Now’s the time to get started. Plan out your December newsletter calendar and batch write your emails. Schedule them and you’re good to go!
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