As of 20 October 2026. The dates are worked out from the calendar and the Swedish Public Holidays Act, the rules have been checked against the Swedish Consumer Agency (Konsumentverket), the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) and Google’s help centre, and the search patterns are our own reading of Google Trends. The sources are listed at the end. The sections on gift cards, Christmas gifts and VAT are a summary, not legal advice.
Christmas Eve 2026, which is the main day of celebration in Sweden, falls on a Thursday, and so does New Year’s Eve. That leaves only three working days between Christmas and New Year, Monday to Wednesday 28–30 December. Here is a week-by-week plan from week 44 to Epiphany for shops, restaurants, salons and service businesses. Swedish businesses usually plan in ISO week numbers, so we use them here too.
When should a local business start planning for Christmas?
Now, in week 44. Customers start looking well before December, and whatever you want them to find has to be published before then. This is how Swedish searches looked last season, according to our reading of Google Trends (Sweden, web search, read on 19 October 2026):
| Search (in Swedish) | Reaches half its peak around | Peak |
|---|---|---|
| julbord stockholm (Christmas buffet in Stockholm) | week 42 | November |
| julbord (Christmas buffet) | week 46 | weeks 48–49 |
| black friday | week 46 | week 48 |
| julmarknad (Christmas market) | week 47 | week 49 |
| julklappstips (Christmas gift ideas) | week 48 | week 51 |
| presentkort (gift card) | week 50 | week 52 |
| nyårsmeny (New Year’s Eve menu) | only rises around week 52 | – |
The figures show relative search interest for each term, not the number of searches, and the timing may shift by a week or so this year. The pattern is still clear: the julbord is booked in October and November, Christmas presents are researched in December and gift cards are bought last.
The Christmas plan week by week, from week 44 to New Year
Decisions and pages first, the Google profile and emails next, and in December the day-to-day work: answers, reminders and deliveries.
| Week | Dates | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 44 | 26 Oct–1 Nov | Decide what you will offer: julbord menu and price, Christmas offers, gift cards and whether you take part in Black Friday. Decide your hours for all of Christmas and New Year. Check your hours for All Saints’ Day, Saturday 31 October, a public holiday in Sweden. |
| 45 | 2–8 Nov | Publish the pages: the julbord or Christmas offer with prices, the gift card and any Black Friday campaign page. Put your Christmas hours on your website. Father’s Day in Sweden is Sunday 8 November. |
| 46 | 9–15 Nov | Add special hours for Christmas and New Year to your Google profile. Publish a post about the julbord or Christmas offer. Email your existing customers. |
| 47 | 16–22 Nov | Check that the details match on your website, Google profile, Facebook and Instagram and in your booking system. Open December in the booking system and plan staffing. |
| 48 | 23–29 Nov | Black Friday on Friday 27 November and the first Sunday of Advent on 29 November. Publish your New Year’s Eve menu if you have one. |
| 49–50 | 30 Nov–13 Dec | Cyber Monday on 30 November. Highlight the gift card and the last order date for delivery before Christmas. Lucia and the third Sunday of Advent fall on Sunday 13 December. |
| 51 | 14–20 Dec | Remind people of your Christmas hours in a post and pin it to the top. Check that your delivery promises hold. The fourth Sunday of Advent is 20 December. |
| 52 | 21–27 Dec | Christmas Eve on Thursday 24, Christmas Day on Friday 25 and Boxing Day on Saturday 26 December. Keep the gift card on sale online right up to Christmas Eve. |
| 53 | 28 Dec–3 Jan | The days between Christmas and New Year, New Year’s Eve on Thursday 31 December and New Year’s Day on Friday 1 January. Ask December customers for reviews and prepare January. |
| 1 | 4–10 Jan | Epiphany on Wednesday 6 January, a public holiday in Sweden. Remove the Christmas content and publish January’s offers. |
The year 2026 has 53 ISO weeks, so New Year’s week is week 53, not week 1. Make your decisions early and let December be about answering, reminding and delivering.
What do shops, restaurants, salons and service businesses need?
The same plan applies to everyone, but the emphasis differs.
Shops
- Black Friday or not decides what November looks like. We cover the decision and the rules further down.
- Gift ideas with prices. A page with presents in a few price ranges answers what customers search for in December, in our assessment.
- The last order date for delivery before Christmas. We have not found the carriers’ last posting dates for Christmas 2026 (20 October 2026). Add them to your website once your carrier publishes them, and only promise dates you can keep.
- Sundays in Advent. If you are usually closed on Sundays but open during Advent, add each Sunday as a special date in your Google profile: 29 November and 6, 13 and 20 December.
How to build a page that sells is covered in The website that actually creates customers.
Restaurants and cafés
- The julbord with menu, price, dates and how to book, on your website and in a Google profile post. In a survey by Visita, the Swedish hospitality industry association, ahead of Christmas 2025, 45 per cent of respondents said their employer would treat them to a julbord, 50 per cent in the private sector and 38 per cent in the public sector. Visita estimated that around 5.8 million julbord meals would be served in restaurants in 2025. If workplace groups are part of your audience, make a page for them with what is included, the largest group you can take and how to book. That is our assessment.
- The right VAT on Christmas food. VAT on restaurant services is 12 per cent, while food for takeaway is charged at 6 per cent from 1 April 2026 until 31 December 2027, according to the Swedish Tax Agency. If you sell both a julbord on the premises and Christmas food to take home, they carry different VAT rates. Prices for consumers must be shown including VAT.
- The New Year’s Eve menu can go live as early as weeks 48–49. Searches for New Year’s Eve menus only rise around Christmas, according to our reading, so publishing early gives the page time to be found. That too is our assessment.
- Opening hours. According to Google’s guidelines, a restaurant uses the hours when diners can sit down and eat, and otherwise its takeaway hours.
More advice is available in Visibility for restaurants and Visibility for cafés.
Salons, spas and other bookable services
- Gift cards often suit you better than discounts, because they are sold before Christmas and used later, when the calendar has room. That is our assessment.
- Open December in your booking system early, but only the appointments you can staff.
- Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are not public holidays in Sweden, so customers cannot assume whether you are open. Say so in your profile, on your website and in your booking system.
More on salons is available in Visibility for hairdressers and Visibility for beauty salons.
Tradespeople, consultants and other service businesses
- Say when you are closed and when you are back, in your Google profile, on your website and in an email auto-reply.
- Use quieter weeks for January. According to our reading of Google Trends, Swedish searches for heat pumps peak in week 1 and for bathroom renovations in January and February. Service pages that are ready in December have time to be found.
- Ask for reviews from the people you have helped this autumn, before the contact goes cold. How to do it is covered in How to get more Google reviews without nagging.
Black Friday or not?
Only if it suits your margins and your capacity. Keeping your usual prices is also a choice, and for a service business with a limited number of appointments it is often the simplest one.
If you do take part, this is what applies in Sweden:
- The 30-day rule. If you cut a price, the lowest price you have charged in the last 30 days must be shown next to the campaign price, and the discount is calculated from that price. On Black Friday 2026 the rule also covers services.
- The withdrawal function. Since 19 June 2026, online stores must have a clearly labelled function for withdrawing from a purchase, such as “ångra avtalet här” (withdraw from the contract here).
- The offer goes in a post, not in your Google profile’s name or description.
The full week-by-week walkthrough is in Black Friday 2026 in Sweden: a checklist for local businesses. To work out your own prices, our 30-day rule calculator (in Swedish) shows which earlier price you may display and the discount in per cent.
Gift cards: what applies to validity and withdrawal?
You decide how long the gift card is valid. What matters is that the customer is told at the time of purchase. This is what the Swedish Consumer Agency says (page reviewed on 16 February 2026):
- The validity period is decided by the business. If none is stated, the gift card is valid for ten years.
- The burden of proof lies with the shop: it is the shop that must be able to show that the customer was given the information at the time of purchase. So print the validity period on the card, at the till and on the receipt.
- Change in cash is not something customers can count on when they spend less than the card’s value. The shop decides the terms for its gift cards.
- Bought online, a gift card can be returned within 14 days, and the refund must be made in the same way as the payment. If the customer has already used part of the card, they are entitled to get back the part that has not been used.
- Bought in a shop, there is no statutory right of withdrawal. The shop may offer returns or exchanges voluntarily.
- If the business goes bankrupt, gift cards usually stop being valid, and customers often have little chance of getting their money back.
So if you sell gift cards online the customer has a right of withdrawal, and in our reading the requirement for a withdrawal function in the online store then applies as well. We cover it in the Black Friday checklist.
Christmas gifts to employees. When an employer buys gift cards as Christmas presents for staff, the tax rules come into play. According to the Swedish Tax Agency, a Christmas gift is tax-free if its value is at most SEK 600 including VAT for the 2026 income year. If the value is higher, the whole gift becomes taxable from the first krona, and a gift card that can be exchanged for cash counts as money. If you sell gift cards to businesses, it may therefore be sensible to offer one that stays within the limit and cannot be redeemed for cash. That is our assessment, and the Tax Agency’s page lists further conditions.
Searches for gift cards peak in week 52, according to our reading, which is the week of Christmas Eve. A digital gift card that can be bought and sent straight away can therefore sell right up to Christmas Eve.
Which opening hours should be in your Google profile at Christmas?
Every day on which your hours differ from normal, plus the public holidays even if your hours are the same. Google recommends confirming your hours for official holidays even when they do not change, so customers can see that the information is accurate.
| Date | Day | Public holiday under Swedish law? |
|---|---|---|
| Saturday 31 October | All Saints’ Day | Yes |
| Thursday 24 December | Christmas Eve | No |
| Friday 25 December | Christmas Day | Yes |
| Saturday 26 December | Boxing Day | Yes |
| Monday–Wednesday 28–30 December | Between Christmas and New Year | No |
| Thursday 31 December | New Year’s Eve | No |
| Friday 1 January 2027 | New Year’s Day | Yes |
| Wednesday 6 January 2027 | Epiphany | Yes |
This is how it works in the Google profile, according to Google’s help centre:
- Special hours are added under Edit profile, Hours and Special hours, one date at a time. They cover changed hours and closures of up to six days in a row.
- Temporarily closed is what you should choose if you are closed for seven days in a row or more. Closing from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Day inclusive is nine days. Google says temporarily closed businesses may rank lower than open ones for broad searches, and you have to mark the business as reopened yourself.
- Regular hours are required. Special hours only appear if the profile is set to open with main hours.
With Julens öppettider 2026 (Christmas opening hours 2026, in Swedish), you enter your usual hours and choose what applies on each holiday. You get a ready-made text for your website and social media and a list of the dates to add in Google. How special hours, temporarily closed and the Swedish public holidays work in detail, including for 2027, is covered in Opening hours, holidays and exceptions in your Google profile.
What should you post in December?
What customers need in order to buy from you before Christmas: what you offer, how to book or buy, when you are open and the last day for delivery.
| Weeks | What the posts are about |
|---|---|
| 45–46 | The julbord, the Christmas offer or the Christmas range: what it is, what it costs and how to book or buy. |
| 47–48 | The preparations behind the scenes, and Black Friday if you take part. |
| 49–50 | The gift card and the last order date for delivery before Christmas. |
| 51 | Your Christmas hours, pinned to the top, and a reminder about the gift card. |
| 52–53 | A thank you to your customers, your hours around New Year and when you are back to normal. |
- The Google profile has three types of post: updates, offers and events. An offer needs a title, dates and times, and an event a title and start and end dates. Posts can be scheduled, so you can set up all of December’s posts in November.
- No phone numbers in posts. Google may remove posts with unverified contact details, such as phone numbers. Attach a Call now button instead, which uses your profile’s verified number.
- The same details everywhere. Different prices, dates or opening hours in different channels make you harder to trust, and AI services such as ChatGPT may repeat the wrong one, in our assessment. More in How your business shows up in ChatGPT.
- Produce in advance. December is often the busiest month, so film and photograph in November. That is our assessment.
When and how often to post is covered in Best time to post and how often, and what social media can deliver in Social media for business in 2026. The easiest way to reach existing customers is an email, covered in Email marketing for local businesses.
How do you prepare January while it is still December?
Use the days between Christmas and New Year to tidy up, ask and plan.
- Ask for reviews from December customers while the visit is fresh. Ready-made wording is available in Review request templates, SMS and email.
- Remove what has expired: Christmas offers, the julbord page and Black Friday campaign text. Google Ads can pick up offers from your website, so old campaign text could otherwise live on in your ads.
- Check your opening hours. Special hours only apply on the chosen days, but if you marked the business as temporarily closed, you have to reopen it yourself.
- Publish January’s offers if January is your season. According to our reading, Swedish searches for gyms peak in week 1.
- Plan the next occasion. Valentine’s Day is Sunday 14 February 2027, and Easter falls with Good Friday on 26 March, Easter Sunday on 28 March and Easter Monday on 29 March. Add your Easter hours to your Google profile in February, in our assessment.
- Write down what worked: bookings, sales and enquiries compared with last year. It becomes the basis for next year’s plan.
The Christmas plan on one page
Frequently asked questions
When should a business start planning for Christmas?
Ideally in October. According to our reading of Google Trends, Swedish searches for julbord (the Christmas buffet) reached half their peak around week 46 last season, and searches for julbord in Stockholm as early as week 42. Make your decisions in week 44, publish your Christmas pages in week 45 and add your Christmas opening hours to your Google profile by week 46.
Which days are Christmas and New Year in Sweden in 2026?
Christmas Eve is Thursday 24 December 2026, Christmas Day Friday 25 and Boxing Day Saturday 26 December. New Year’s Eve is Thursday 31 December and New Year’s Day Friday 1 January 2027. Epiphany is Wednesday 6 January. Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are not public holidays under Swedish law, but many businesses keep different hours on those days.
How long is a gift card valid in Sweden?
The business decides the period of validity, but if none is stated the gift card is valid for ten years, according to the Swedish Consumer Agency. The shop has the burden of proving that the customer was given this information at the time of purchase, so print the validity period on the card and the receipt.
Can a customer cancel the purchase of a gift card?
If the gift card was bought online, the customer can withdraw from the purchase within 14 days, according to the Swedish Consumer Agency, and the refund must be made in the same way as the payment. If it was bought in a shop, there is no statutory right of withdrawal, although the shop may offer returns voluntarily.
How much can a tax-free Christmas gift to employees cost in Sweden in 2026?
At most SEK 600 including VAT for the 2026 income year, according to the Swedish Tax Agency. If the value is higher, the whole gift becomes taxable from the first krona. A gift card that can be exchanged for cash counts as money and is not tax-free.
Do you have to take part in Black Friday?
No. Keeping your usual prices is a perfectly reasonable choice, especially for service businesses with a limited number of appointments. If you do cut prices in Sweden, the lowest price of the last 30 days must be shown next to the campaign price.
Sources
All web pages read on 20 October 2026 unless stated otherwise. The rules may change.
- Public holidays and dates, in Swedish
- Lag (1989:253) om allmänna helgdagar (the Public Holidays Act), riksdagen.se, amended up to SFS 2004:1320. Weekdays and ISO 8601 week numbers worked out by Synlighetsverket.
- Gift cards, Christmas gifts and VAT, in Swedish
- Presentkort och tillgodokvitto (gift cards and credit notes), the Swedish Consumer Agency, reviewed 16 February 2026
- Julklappar och andra gåvor till anställda (Christmas presents and other gifts to employees), the Swedish Tax Agency (the limit for the 2026 income year, gift cards that can be exchanged for cash)
- Livsmedelsmomsen sänks till 6 procent (VAT on food cut to 6 per cent), the Swedish Tax Agency, 26 February 2026 (restaurant services 12 per cent, takeaway 6 per cent)
- Black Friday and price reductions, in Swedish
- Prissänkningar – regler för företag (price reductions for businesses), the Swedish Consumer Agency, reviewed 15 September 2026
- Further sources on the 30-day rule and the withdrawal function are listed in the Black Friday checklist
- The julbord, in Swedish
- Allt fler arbetsgivare bjuder anställda på julbord (more employers treat staff to a julbord), Visita, 19 December 2025. The survey was carried out by Infostat among 1,130 people in a randomly recruited web panel, 10 November–1 December 2025.
- Google
- How to set Special hours, Google Business Profile Help
- Mark your business as closed, Google Business Profile Help
- Guidelines for representing your business on Google, Google Business Profile Help (opening hours for restaurants)
- Create & manage posts on your Business Profile, Google Business Profile Help
- Business Profile photos, videos & posts content policy, Google Business Profile Help (unverified contact details, Call now)
- Our own observation
- Google Trends, Sweden, web search, weekly data for “julbord”, “julbord stockholm”, “black friday”, “julmarknad”, “julklappstips”, “presentkort”, “nyårsmeny”, “gym”, “värmepump” (heat pump) and “badrumsrenovering” (bathroom renovation), last season, read by Synlighetsverket on 19 October 2026