How many days until Christmas 2026?

That’s the number. It updates every time you open this page, so you can bookmark it and come back.

The rest of this page is for people who’d like Christmas to feel less like a sprint at the end. I’ve listed the dates worth knowing this year and a loose week-by-week plan. Nothing in it is strict. It just spreads the work out so December has some room in it.

Christmas 2026 falls on a Friday

Which is good news if you work a normal week. Christmas Eve is a Thursday, Christmas Day is a Friday and Boxing Day is a Saturday, so most people get a proper long weekend without taking much leave.

In the UK, because Boxing Day lands on a Saturday, the bank holiday moves to Monday 28 December. That gives you a four-day weekend from Christmas Day.

Dates on the way

Last posting dates and online delivery cut-offs change every year and depend on where you live, so check with your post office and the shops you’re ordering from. As a rough rule, if you want something to arrive without paying for express shipping, aim to have it ordered by the second week of December.

A week-by-week plan that doesn’t take over your life

I like planning backwards from the day. It turns “I should really start thinking about Christmas” into a short list for this week, which is much easier to do.

Nine or more weeks out: write the list

Just one list. Who you’re buying for, whether you’re hosting, where you’re going, and a rough budget. You don’t need to decide anything yet. Getting it out of your head is most of the stress gone.

Seven to eight weeks out: book anything that sells out

Train tickets, flights, a table at a restaurant, a babysitter for the work party. These get more expensive or disappear as December gets closer, and they take ten minutes to sort now.

Five to six weeks out: buy the hard presents

The ones you’ve been putting off because you don’t know what to get. Black Friday falls in this window, so if there’s something specific on your list, it’s worth waiting for the sales.

Three to four weeks out: cards, post and anything abroad

Write the cards. Post anything going overseas. If you’re sending presents to family in another country, this is the latest I’d leave it.

Two weeks out: the food

Order the turkey (or whatever you’re having), plan the menu and make a shopping list split into “can buy now” and “has to be fresh”. Buy the first half.

The last week: wrap, and then stop

Wrap everything in one evening with something good on TV. Buy the fresh food. Then, as far as possible, stop. The last few days before Christmas are the best bit, and they’re much better when you’re not in a shop.

Keep the countdown on your phone

If you’d like this number on your Home Screen rather than in a browser tab, Days Left does exactly that. Add Christmas as an event, set it to repeat every year, and pin it. The widget shows the days left, and on the 26th it quietly resets to count down to next year.

Here’s how to set it up on iPhone and on Android. And if Christmas has you thinking about how fast the year has gone, there’s a live year progress counter too.

For the kids: counting sleeps

Younger children don’t really get “64 days”. Sleeps work better, and the number is the same: one sleep for every night between now and Christmas morning. A paper chain with one loop per sleep, torn off each morning, is still the best countdown ever invented. Start it when the number gets under 25 or so, unless you want a very long paper chain.

Quick answers