Holiday hours and closure emails: templates to tell customers when you're closed

Holiday hours email templates: what to send, when, and where

A holiday hours email tells customers exactly when you close, what still works while you're away, and when you reopen. The six templates below cover the cases most businesses need at the end of the year: changed store hours, a full office closure, reduced support coverage, a pause in shipping and order processing, the out-of-office auto-reply, and a short SMS. Copy them, replace the bracketed fields, and send the first notice two to three weeks before you close.

This guide is about the practical notice, not the seasonal greeting. Each template ends with one friendly closing line, and that's it.

Key takeaways

• Every closure notice needs five facts: the exact dates with weekdays, what is closed, the last day to order or book, an urgent contact route, and the reopening date and time.
• Send the first email 2–3 weeks before the closure, a reminder about one week before, and an SMS the day before for customers with open orders or appointments.
• Switch on the auto-reply on shared inboxes (support@, info@, orders@), not only on personal mailboxes.
• Email is one channel among several: also update the website banner, Google Business Profile special hours, voicemail and checkout pages on the same day.
• Keep the notice informational. Once you add a promotion, it becomes a marketing email and the usual consent rules apply.

What should a holiday closure email include?

A holiday closure email should answer the questions customers would otherwise send you. If one of these is missing, expect it to arrive in your inbox on 23 December:

1. Exact dates, with weekdays. "Closed from Thursday 24 December to Friday 1 January" beats "closed over the holidays", which every reader interprets differently.
2. What is closed and what is not. The shop may be closed while the webshop keeps taking orders; the office may be closed while an on-call line stays open.
3. The last useful date. Last day to order for delivery before Christmas, last appointment, last day to send documents.
4. An urgent route. One email address, help-center link or on-call number, and what counts as urgent.
5. Reopening date and time, with time zone if your customers are spread across countries.
6. A subject line that carries the dates. Many people read only the subject: "Closed 24 Dec–1 Jan, back Monday 4 January" does the job even unopened.

Short sentences and clear labels matter more here than in any other email. Our guide to email microcopy covers how to write labels, buttons and one-line instructions that readers understand at a glance.

When should you send a holiday hours notice?

Send the first holiday hours notice two to three weeks before the closure, then a reminder about a week before. For businesses that take bookings or ship orders, add a last-minute SMS. Here is a sample schedule for a closure from Thursday 24 December 2026 to Friday 1 January 2027, reopening Monday 4 January:

The 2026 calendar is awkward: Christmas Day and New Year's Day both fall on a Friday. In the UK, Boxing Day (Saturday 26 December) moves to a substitute bank holiday on Monday 28 December, and in Scotland the 2 January holiday moves to Monday 4 January 2027. If you serve Scottish customers, say so in the email rather than letting them assume you're open that Monday.

You don't need to be at your desk to hit these dates. In Mailpro™, scheduled email sending lets you prepare the main notice and the reminder in one sitting and have them go out on their own.

Template 1: holiday store hours email

Use this template when you stay open but with changed hours. A short day-by-day list is easier to scan than a paragraph.

Subject: Our holiday hours: open until 3 pm on 24 Dec, closed 25–26 Dec
Alternative subject: Holiday opening hours at [Store name], 24 Dec to 2 Jan
Preview text: Regular hours return on Monday 4 January.

Hi [First name],

Here are our opening hours for the holiday period at [Store name, address]:

Thursday 24 December: 9 am – 3 pm
Friday 25 December: closed
Saturday 26 December: closed
Monday 28 to Wednesday 30 December: 10 am – 6 pm
Thursday 31 December: 9 am – 3 pm
Friday 1 January: closed
Saturday 2 January: 10 am – 5 pm

Our regular hours return on Monday 4 January. Our online shop stays open throughout: [link].

Need something before the 24th? Order online for in-store pick-up until [date] at [time].

Thank you for shopping with us this year, and see you soon.
[Name], [Store name]

Template 2: office closed for the holidays email

This is the classic "office closed for holidays" email for service businesses, agencies, accountants, law firms and B2B suppliers. It goes to clients, not just to subscribers.

Subject: Office closed 24 Dec–1 Jan, back Monday 4 January
Alternative subject: [Company] holiday closure: dates and urgent contacts

Dear [First name],

Our office will be closed from Thursday 24 December 2026 to Friday 1 January 2027. We reopen on Monday 4 January at 9:00 [time zone].

To keep your projects on track:

• Please send any documents or approvals we need before Friday 18 December.
• Requests received during the closure will be handled in order of arrival from 4 January.
• For genuine emergencies ([define: e.g. a site outage, a legal deadline]), contact [name] at [email] or [on-call number].

Thank you for your trust this year. We look forward to working with you in 2027.
[Name], [Company]

Template 3: reduced support coverage notice

Use this version when you don't fully close but run a skeleton team. The key is to state the response time you can actually meet, not your usual one.

Subject: Holiday support hours: what to expect from 24 Dec to 3 Jan
Preview text: We're here, with a smaller team and longer reply times.

Hi [First name],

Between Thursday 24 December and Sunday 3 January, our support team works reduced hours:

• Email and chat: Monday to Friday, 10:00–14:00 [time zone]. Closed on 25 December and 1 January.
• Expected reply time: within 1 business day (usually within 4 hours).
• Critical issues ([define: e.g. service down, payment failure]): [priority email or phone], answered 7 days a week.
• Answers to common questions: [help center link].

Full support hours resume on Monday 4 January.
Thanks for your patience, and enjoy the break.
The [Company] support team

Closing for the holidays? Prepare the notice, the reminder and the reopening message now, then let Mailpro's automated emails send them while you're away.

Template 4: shipping and order processing pause

For online shops, the most important date is not the closure itself but the last order date for delivery before Christmas. Check your carriers' published holiday cut-off dates before you write it, and leave a day of margin.

Subject: Order by Monday 21 Dec for delivery before Christmas
Alternative subject: Holiday shipping: last order dates and our break

Hi [First name],

A quick update on holiday shipping at [Shop name]:

• Order by Monday 21 December, [time] for standard delivery before 25 December ([country/zone]).
• Order by Tuesday 22 December, [time] with express shipping.
• Our warehouse is closed from 24 December to 3 January. You can still order online: orders placed during the break ship from Monday 4 January, in the order they were received.
• Returns: items bought from [date] can be returned until [date].
• Gift cards are delivered by email instantly, all through the break.

Questions about an existing order? [Order tracking link] or [support email]; we reply from 4 January.

Thank you for your orders this year.
[Shop name]

Send this version to customers with open orders and recent buyers first. It's also worth adding the same last-order date to the order confirmation email itself, so new buyers see it after checkout.

Template 5: out-of-office auto-reply wording

The out-of-office auto-reply catches everyone who did not read your email. Keep it short, put the return date in the first line, and give one route for urgent matters. Set it on every shared address, not only on personal mailboxes.

Short version (personal mailbox):

Thank you for your email. I'm away until Monday 4 January and will reply when I'm back. For anything urgent, please contact [name] at [email].

Company version (support@, info@, orders@):

Subject: We've received your message: closed until 4 January

Hello,

Thank you for contacting [Company]. Our team is closed from 24 December to 1 January and will reply to your message from Monday 4 January, in order of arrival.

In the meantime: track an order at [link], find answers at [help center link]. For urgent [define] issues, call [on-call number].

Happy holidays,
The [Company] team

Two practical tips: tick "send only once per sender" if your mail client offers it, so a long thread doesn't trigger a reply every time; and don't include a direct mobile number in an auto-reply that anyone, including spammers, can trigger.

Template 6: SMS holiday hours message

An SMS is the right channel for the last-minute reminder, the day before closure, for customers with an appointment or a pending order. One SMS segment holds 160 standard (GSM-7) characters; some characters, such as curly apostrophes or en dashes, switch the message to Unicode and cut the limit to 70 per segment. Our FAQ on the SMS character limit explains how segments are counted.

Closure reminder (134 characters):
[Brand]: we're closed 24 Dec - 1 Jan. Online orders ship from Mon 4 Jan. Help: [short link]. Happy holidays! Reply STOP to opt out

Appointment reminder (130 characters):
[Brand]: last appointments before the break are on Wed 23 Dec. We reopen Mon 4 Jan at 9am. Book: [short link]. STOP to opt out

Character counts include an 8-character placeholder for [Brand] and a 15-character short link. Use a straight hyphen and straight apostrophe so the message stays in GSM-7, send it only to contacts who agreed to receive SMS from you, and send during business hours. You can schedule the SMS in advance for 23 December and stop thinking about it.

Where else should you post your holiday hours?

Post your holiday hours everywhere customers look before they contact you: your website, Google, your phone line and your inbox. A good email is wasted if Google Maps still says "Open" on 25 December.

How do you set holiday hours on Google Business Profile?

Open your Business Profile (search your business name on Google or Maps while signed in), choose Edit profile, then Hours, then Special hours. Add each date, and either mark it "Closed" or enter the reduced hours. Google often suggests upcoming public holidays to confirm. Do this for every location: without special hours, Google keeps showing your regular hours and customers may turn up at a closed door.

What should a holiday website banner say?

A holiday website banner should fit on one line on mobile: dates, the one thing that still works, and a link. For example: "Holiday hours: closed 24 Dec–1 Jan. Orders placed now ship on 4 Jan. See details." Avoid popups for this; a banner informs without blocking the page.

How do you send a closure notice to all your customers?

Send the closure notice as a plain, text-led email to the customers it actually concerns, segmented by what they need to know. Three groups cover most businesses:

• Customers with open orders, bookings or projects get the most specific version (Template 2, 3 or 4) first, and the SMS the day before.
• Active customers from the past 12 months get the general notice (Template 1 or 2).
• Newsletter subscribers see the dates in your regular December newsletter or a short dedicated email.

A notice that only gives dates and service information is a service message, which is why it belongs with the essential emails every business should send. Add a discount code or a product push, though, and it becomes a marketing email: then send it only to people who consented to marketing, with an unsubscribe link. When in doubt, keep the closure notice clean and put the promotion in a separate campaign.

Finally, avoid the classic December traps: a vague "closed until after the holidays", a missing time zone, and an auto-reply with no return date. Our list of holiday email mistakes to avoid covers the rest of the season.

Frequently asked questions

How far in advance should I send a holiday closure email?

Send the first holiday closure email two to three weeks before you close, and no later than ten days before. Follow with a reminder about a week before, and an SMS the day before for customers with pending orders or appointments.

How do I professionally say my office is closed for the holidays?

State the facts in the first sentence: "Our office will be closed from Thursday 24 December to Friday 1 January and reopens on Monday 4 January at 9:00." Then add how requests will be handled and who to contact for urgent matters. A professional tone comes from precision, not from formality.

Should I include a holiday greeting in a closure notice?

One closing line is enough, such as "Thank you for your trust this year." Keep the full seasonal greeting for a separate email, so the closure notice stays short and the dates stay visible.

Do I need to update Google if I already emailed my customers?

Yes. Many people check Google Search or Maps before visiting or calling, and they may never see your email. Set special hours in Google Business Profile for every closed or shortened day, for every location.

What should a holiday out-of-office message say?

A holiday out-of-office message should give the return date in the first line, say when the sender can expect a reply, and offer one route for urgent matters. Three sentences are usually enough.