Celebrate the holidays on your podcast with these holiday-inspired podcast episode ideas! The holiday season is a great time to add some festive cheer to your podcast episodes! Holiday episodes can be a lot of fun for both you and your listeners, and there are many different ways to approach them.
Over this season, we add some Holiday spice to all we do. Our coffee gets a holiday glow-up, our homes and towns turn into twinkly wonderlands, and we’re whisking up food and baked goods that have that distinct “holiday flavor”. Hmmmmm
And do you know what else could get a sprinkling of that holiday flavor?
Your podcast!
It can be a ton of fun adding some festive cheer to the episodes you share over the holiday season.
(Unless of course you’re taking a podcast break, that’s totally cool, too! Check out this post with guidelines for Taking a Podcast Break without Losing Your Listener.)
Even if your podcast typically covers less-than-cheerful topics, or you have a specific format you usually follow, you can still release holiday episodes! They can be standalone titles that you only publish during the holidays. That’s the magic of the holidays!
And this means that any type of podcast can have some festive fun!
So check out our 10 holiday-inspired podcast episode ideas to bring a little holiday flavor to your podcast.
1. Find a Holiday Angle to Your Content
An easy way to bring some holiday flavor to your podcast is to simple find a holiday angle to your usual content.
Wellness podcasts could share strategies for handling holiday stress. (Because as much as the Holidays are about rest and relaxation, there is often a lot of stress involved! Extended family in close quarters, the pressure to find the right gifts, or the anxiety to get all the food “just right” can be totally overwhelming!)
Foodie podcasts can inspire with some great holiday dishes, and business podcasts could over how to handle business aspects over the festive period.
I’ve even heard true-crime podcasts sharing holiday-themed crime stories! No matter your niche, I’m pretty sure you could find a holiday angle to your content. And it’s a great way to add a little holiday flare to your episodes.
2. Share Holiday Traditions
Next up, another way bring some festive cheer to your podcast over the holidays is to share your holiday traditions.
Do you have a Holiday Fun List you work through? Do you watch every new Christmas movie? Or do you revisit a family favorite every December?
Do have particular foods you only eat over the holidays? Do you wear matching pajamas as you roast chestnuts on an open fire? (I dunno really how that’s done, but that’s what the song says?)
Tell your listeners all about it in your holiday-themed podcast episodes, complete with some holiday-centric music and sound effects!
This is a great way to add some fun and nostalgia to your podcast without having to structure the episode in any particular format. It can make for some great holiday listening. But it’s also a fun way to allow your listeners to get to know you a little better.
And so, even though you’re not sharing your “usual content”, these types of fun holiday episodes can help you strengthen the relationship between you and your listeners.
And that’s a real win-win!
3. Listener Input
Alternatively, another idea for holiday-themed podcast episodes is to ask your listeners to share their holiday traditions with you!
Reach out to your audience through your newsletter, your social media, or even your podcast episodes leading up to the holidays, and ask them to share their holiday traditions with you.
Ask them to share their absolute favorite….or their absolute worst!….traditions they do (or are forced to take part in!) over the Holiday Season.
I know if one of my favorite podcast hosts made this request of me, I would totally be on board! Not to mention the added perk of potentially getting featured on one of their holiday episodes! How fun!
This is another great way to build your relationship with your listeners and strengthen your podcast community. So even though you’re deviating from your usual content or your typical format, you will still be taking great strides to achieving your podcasting goals.
4. Explore Holiday History
How did we come to roast chestnuts on an open flame? Why is that so quintessentially “Christmas-y”?
I still don’t know the answer to that. But you could find out and share it with your listeners!
Because our next idea for holiday-themed podcast episodes is to delve into the history of some holiday traditions. You could explore the origins of some of your family traditions, find out how some of the most popular traditions came to be, or you could even go down the rabbit hole and find some of the most bizarre holiday traditions from around the world and share their backstories with your listeners.
These types of episodes can make for great holiday listening. And who knows, listening to your holiday histories might just become some of your listeners’ holiday traditions!
5. Share Holiday-Inspired Stories
Who doesn’t love a feel-good story? But they’re particularly magical during the most wonderful time of the year!
So our next holiday-themed podcast episode idea is sharing some holiday-inspired stories. Be it fictional or fact, feel-good stories have a way of warming hearts, especially over the festive period.
Share your favorite holiday stories, or let your friends and family have a turn on the mic by getting them to share some of their favorite holiday tales.
This could also be an opportunity to ask your listeners to send in their favorite Holiday stories and memories. Again, this can help add a new dynamic to your show while helping you maintain strong relationships with your listeners.
6. Unpack This Year’s Christmas Movie Offerings
The movie industry knows how much we love the holidays! And they totally capitalize on that through their Holiday Movie offerings every year. (Here’s a list of some of the new options for 2022!)
I’m certainly not complaining. I love a good Christmas movie as much as the next person. But let’s be honest, they’re not all good! But sharing your reviews of even the worst of lot could definitely make for good podcast content!
You don’t have to be a movie critic or the host of a film-focused podcast to do a little movie reviewing on your podcast. Remember, it’s the holidays after all!
And if you’re going to be having Christmas movie marathons, why not get some great podcast content out of it, too!
7. Re-Share Listener Favorites
You can also use the holidays as a time to take a podcast break. But if you’re still wanting to keep your podcast going, you could use the holidays as a time to share some of your fan favorite episodes.
The holidays are a time of year when people tend to watch reruns and revisit old favorites. Whether it’s The Santa Clause, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Holiday, or even Mr Bean’s infamous “Merry Christmas, Mr Bean, ” we tend to love a heavy dose of nostalgia during the holidays.
With that in mind, another great episode idea for the holidays is to share reruns of some of your favorite episodes from the year.
Head over to comments, or take a look back at the fan feedback you received this past year to find out which episodes really stood out to your listeners. And use these as re-runs over the holidays. (Just be sure to communicate this to your audience, so they are aware of what’s going on!)
A great idea is to create “extended versions” of these episodes, and share these over the holidays. Add some of the questions or content you cut the first time round.
Then even if your listeners have heard the episode before, they’ll keep listening to hear what’s been added.
8. Blooper Reels
Have you held on to some of your best bloopers from the past year? Great! Then you’re ready for our next idea for holiday episodes…blooper reels!
Compile all those hilarious bloopers and your best outtakes into an episode or two for some comedy gold! Again, these make for some fun listening, especially while you’re cooking up a storm or stringing lights on a tree. But they’re also a super way to strengthen the bond between you and your listeners.
So even though on the surface, you’re providing your listeners with a couple of good laughs, you’re also building your community in a really fun, authentic way, and this is gold in the world of podcasting!
Bonus Tip!
This tip applies both to Idea 7 and 8. If these are idea you know you’re going to want to run with in the future, you can start collecting the content you are going to need throughout the year. That way, these holiday episodes will be that much easier to pull together when the end of the year rolls around, especially if you’re going to be taking a break over the festive period.
9. Throw A Virtual Party
You could also use the Holidays as a time to throw a virtual Holiday Party! You may be taking a podcast break over the festive season, but why not end your podcasting year with a bang by hosting a holiday-themed virtual party for you and your listeners?
This could be a paid event, or a free-for-all, but either way, it could be a really fun way to connect with your audience before the new year rolls around. (Or, BONUS IDEA! Ring the New Year in together with a virtual New Years part?!)
Have a festive dress code, or have everyone sign in with their ugliest Christmas sweater, plan a few games or interactive segments, and celebrate the holiday season with your own holiday party!
Who knows, this could also become a new fan-favorite holiday tradition!
10. Go Off-Script
And finally, Idea Number 10 for your holiday-themed podcast episodes, go off-script…
What do we mean by that exactly? Well, is there a topic you’ve always cover but doesn’t quite “fit” in your usual episode offerings? Or perhaps you’ve wanted to try your hand at another podcast format “just for fun”? Well, then go off-script for your holiday-themed podcast episodes!
That’s the magic of the Holidays! It gives you some leeway to try something new, have a little less structure, and just have a little festive fun!
The holiday season is the perfect time to try something new or out of the ordinary! Just remember to always be clear with your audience about what’s going on. Let them know your episodes will look and sound a little different over the festive season. Be clear in your titles and show notes that these episodes are out of the ordinary or are specifically “for the holidays”.
Do this, and we’re sure you’ll find these special holiday-themed podcast episodes actually strengthen your podcast community!
Related read: How To Host A Successful Virtual Podcast Event
Conclusion
The holidays are a great time to add some extra fun and excitement to your podcast episodes! By following the tips above, you can create holiday episodes that are both enjoyable and engaging for your listeners.
These ideas for holiday-themed podcast episodes allow you to have a little fun as the end of the year approaches, but also provides you the opportunity to serve your audience and connect with them in a new way. So even if a holiday episode veers off your usual podcast path, it can still help you achieve your podcasting goals.
So hang up the holly, and deck your soundproofed walls, and spread some holiday cheer on your podcast this year!
