The best Christmas card business messages fit one relationship in one or two lines: "Thank you for your trust in 2026. Happy holidays and all the best for 2027." Or: "Season's greetings and a quiet end of the year. We are back on 4 January." Or, for a French-speaking client: "Joyeux Noël et meilleurs vœux pour 2027."
Below are twenty messages to copy, sorted by relationship, with neutral wording for clients who do not celebrate Christmas and lines in French and Dutch for clients in Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Then print or digital, and a plan for December 2026, when Christmas falls on a Friday.
Twenty messages by relationship
| For | Message |
|---|---|
| A long-standing client | Thank you for your trust in 2026. Happy holidays and all the best for 2027. |
| A long-standing client | Another year of good work together. Merry Christmas and see you in January. |
| A long-standing client | Thank you for choosing us again this year. Wishing you a restful holiday. |
| A new client | Glad we started working together this year. Here is to a first full year in 2027. |
| A new client | Welcome aboard, and happy holidays from all of us. We look forward to what comes next. |
| A supplier | Thank you for always delivering when it mattered. Season's greetings to the whole team. |
| A supplier | No project without your deliveries. Thank you, and a good 2027. |
| A partner | Together we went further than either of us alone. To a new year of shared wins. |
| A partner | Thank you for a great collaboration in 2026. Warm wishes for the holidays. |
| Your own team | What we built this year, we built together. Enjoy the break. |
| Everyone | Season's greetings and a quiet end of the year. We are back on 4 January. |
| Everyone | Happy holidays and a healthy, happy 2027. |
| Everyone | Time to pause and say thank you. Warm wishes for the season. |
| Everyone, with a smile | The year is done. The coffee will be ready in 2027. Happy holidays. |
| A client who may not celebrate Christmas | Wishing you a peaceful end of the year and a good start to 2027. |
| A client who may not celebrate Christmas | Season's greetings and our best wishes for the year ahead. |
| A French-speaking client | Joyeux Noël et meilleurs vœux pour 2027. Merci pour votre confiance. |
| A French-speaking client | Nous vous souhaitons de belles fêtes de fin d'année. Au plaisir de vous revoir en 2027. |
| A Dutch-speaking client | Fijne feestdagen en alle goeds in 2027. Bedankt! |
| A Dutch-speaking client | Prettige kerstdagen en gelukkig nieuwjaar. Tot in januari. |
Belgian clients read Dutch in Flanders and French in Wallonia; Brussels can be either. A wish in the client's own language stands out more than a polished English one. If you need more variations, an AI assistant can draft them with the right brief; see ChatGPT prompts for marketing. Read every line before it goes out: a holiday wish that sounds machine-made does more harm than none.
- Fix copy and design
- Print in, addresses ready
- Last day to post on paper
- Last day for a digital card
- Christmas Day, a Friday
- New Year's Day
- First working day: New Year wishes
- Step
- Latest
- Holiday
Our planning, not a postal deadline: check your postal service's last posting dates in November.
What a business card does, and what it does not
A Christmas card is not a sales letter. It reminds a relationship that you exist and that you valued the year's work. Put a discount code or an offer in it and it becomes a flyer. What does work: a reference to something specific ("our first site together in Leeds"), a photo of your team if you have one, and your name signed by hand under the printed message.
Merry Christmas or Season's Greetings
For an international client list, the safest choice is a warm wish that does not assume a religion: "season's greetings", "happy holidays", "a peaceful end of the year". Keep "Merry Christmas" for clients you know celebrate it. Timing differs by country too.
| Market | What to keep in mind for 2026 |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Christmas Day is Friday 25 December; the Boxing Day bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December |
| Belgium | Two languages; school holidays in Flanders run from 21 December to 3 January |
| Netherlands and Germany | 26 December is a second Christmas holiday; many offices close until the new year |
| Clients in Orthodox countries | Christmas is celebrated on 7 January, so a New Year card lands better than a Christmas one |
| International mixed lists | A neutral season's greeting avoids the question entirely |
Print or digital
Both work, for different goals. A printed card stands out, because little real post arrives in December, and a handwritten line makes the difference; save it for your twenty to fifty most important relationships. A digital card or email reaches everyone on your list for almost nothing, but competes with a full inbox. If you make a digital card with images or video, use real footage of your own team or work; a realistic image made with AI must be disclosed in the EU since August 2026, as explained in AI-generated content labelling. A short team video also works on LinkedIn. Need new team photos? See corporate photoshoot ideas.
Put your logo small at the bottom, in your house colours, and let the message do the work. A large logo in the middle turns a card into an advert. Use the same typeface as on your site and quotes, so clients recognise you without looking for the logo; it is the visual side of your tone of voice.
The plan for December 2026
- Mid-November: fix the messages and design, check addresses.
- Early December: print in, sign and address the cards.
- By mid-December: post paper cards. Royal Mail and bpost had not published their 2026 last posting dates on 25 October; check them in November and post early for cards abroad.
- 15 to 22 December: send digital cards, on a Tuesday or Wednesday morning.
- Monday 4 January 2027: the first working day, the moment for your New Year wishes.
For the other key dates of the year, use the marketing calendar 2027, and plan your January posts in a content calendar. If you also sell online in December, read Christmas marketing ideas for small businesses.
Questions about business Christmas cards
What do you write in a business Christmas card?
One line that fits the relationship, a wish for the holidays and the new year, and your name. Thank them for something specific from the year if you can. Three to five lines are enough.
Is it better to say Merry Christmas or Season's Greetings to clients?
Merry Christmas for clients you know celebrate it, Season's Greetings or Happy Holidays when you do not know, or when the list is international. Nobody is offended by a warm, neutral wish.
When should business Christmas cards arrive?
Before the last working week. In 2026 Christmas falls on a Friday and many offices empty from 21 December, so post paper cards by mid-December and send digital ones between 15 and 22 December.
Can I email a Christmas card to my whole client list?
To existing clients in the EU and UK, usually yes, with an unsubscribe link. To consumers who are not clients, only with consent. Generic company addresses are treated more loosely than personal ones.
After the card: the first weeks of January
A card opens a conversation that can continue in January: people who got your card in December open your email faster in January. Plan your first posts and your New Year message in a content calendar, so the holidays do not end in three silent weeks. On LinkedIn, a short look back at the year with a team photo works better than a generic wish; the LinkedIn algorithm in 2026 explains why. On Instagram a reel of your work beats a photographed printed card, as the Instagram algorithm shows. And put next year's card in your plan now, with a date in November.
Emailing a card to a list: the rules
A digital Christmas card sent to your whole list is commercial email, even without an offer in it. In the EU, you may email existing clients without separate consent if you got their address in a sale and they can unsubscribe for free; consumers who are not clients need to have opted in. Business addresses are treated more loosely, but a named employee's address is personal data under the GDPR; the GDPR checklist for your website covers it.
Show your name and company as the sender and add an unsubscribe link. If you send in volume, Gmail and Outlook require SPF, DKIM and DMARC on your domain and one-click unsubscribe; without them your wish lands in spam. How to write a newsletter explains the set-up. Send a test to a Gmail and an Outlook address first.
How VBS makes your Christmas card
We design your printed card and the digital version in your house style, write the messages in your clients' languages, and set up the email so it reaches the inbox. If we have footage of your team or your work, we use it; for Les Terrasses de Durbuy we made a launch reel, a golf reel and carousels at the end of 2025. Read about our social media management and corporate video work. We work from Ghent, Belgium, for companies across Europe. Book a call by mid-November and the mid-December posting date is easy.