Maybe you're the one person running Sunday, the website, and the Christmas to-do list all at once. When everything feels due right now, it's hard to tell which deadline really counts.
Here's the good news: one date protects every physical piece of your Christmas season, and you can get ready for it this week.
Why This Week Comes First
Our Christmas Media Playbook puts the print deadline the week before Thanksgiving, and that's next week. Everything physical gets submitted to the print shop then, because December print queues are brutal and this one deadline protects every piece.
Print is one of the two dates that can't move, even for a church that's starting late. The other is video.
Invite cards need to be in your hands for handout Sunday, December 6th, so people get two Sundays to pass them out. Most Christmas guests come because someone they know invited them, and families often settle their Christmas Eve plans before the second Sunday of December. Sunday, December 13th is last call.
And the invite card is only one piece of what goes to print.
Everything That Counts as Physical
It's easy to picture the invite card and stop there. The list is longer, and every item on it shares the same deadline.
- ✅ Printed invitations
- ✅ Standing signs
- ✅ Yard signs
- ✅ Community banners
- ✅ A photo backdrop
- ✅ Volunteer lanyard cards
- ✅ Greeter signs
If you can touch it or hang it on a wall, it belongs on this list.
Send It All at Once
One order with one deadline is easier to carry than seven separate ones. Our playbook has you brief the whole season at once instead of piece by piece, and print is a great place to start doing that.
If something on your list isn't designed yet, request it now so it can still make the order.
Gathering everything into one list also shows you what's missing while there's still time to fix it.
Hand Volunteers Their Materials
Volunteers get their materials in this same stretch: the signage plan, lanyard cards, and greeter signs. When those are in their hands early, December Sundays don't turn into a scramble.
In December, you'll want the backdrop up, greeters scheduled, and kids check-in stocked and decorated for Christmas. Print that's already done makes all three much easier to pull off.
Pro Tip: Walk the route a first-time guest takes on Christmas Eve, from the parking lot to the seat and kids check-in, and list every sign, card, and banner they'd see. That list is your print order.
Why It Matters
December is the month so many new and irregular people walk into your church. Getting print done now frees you to focus on those people all month, instead of chasing last-minute media for Christmas Eve.
Our playbook says it well for December: decided in September, designed in October, invited in November, and spent December being the church instead of producing content for it.
Bottom line: one list and one deadline next week keep every printed piece from running late, so you can spend December on the people who walk through your doors.
Christmas playbook · 2026 edition
Want the whole season planned out?
We put the plan we use with churches into a twelve-page playbook, worked backward from Christmas Eve. You’ll get the four decisions to settle in September, one church’s complete deliverables list, and a worksheet for writing your own. It costs an email address and nothing else.
Published by Church Media Squad on November 12, 2026.