Keep a Holiday Journal This Year and Thank Yourself Next Year

Here is something I have noticed after years of working with florists: almost every shop owner has some version of the holiday journal idea in their head. And almost none of them actually do it.

The concept is simple. The resistance is human. It feels like one more task during the most demanding weeks of the year. But the florists who do keep a daily record during their holiday season -- even a rough, imperfect one -- consistently outperform those who rely on memory alone when the next holiday cycle arrives.

Memory is an unreliable business tool. You will not remember in October 2027 that the pink poinsettias with the gold bows outsold every other variety two to one in December 2026. You will not remember which week you ran short-handed and what it cost you. You will not remember that your temp worked better on the sales floor than in the design room, or that orders spiked on a specific Tuesday because of a weather event the week before. “The dullest pencil is better than the sharpest memory.”

A diary remembers all of it.

Getting Started Is the Only Hard Part

Think of your journal the way you would think about starting a car that has been sitting in the cold. The first push of the key takes the most effort. After that, the engine runs on its own.

Start this week. Write the date at the top of a notebook page or open a new email draft and write the date in the subject line. Then write one sentence: “Day 1. Here is what I wish we had done differently by now.” Write whatever comes to mind. If nothing comes to mind, write “nothing.” That counts. You have started.

From here, the goal is a brief entry every day during your peak season, covering whatever feels worth remembering. The entries do not need to be polished or organized. Partial sentences that capture a key fact are worth more than a carefully written paragraph you never make time to write.

What to Record Each Day

A few categories worth prompting your entries:

What moved and what did not. The pink poinsettia with the gold bow sold out in three days. The white ones barely moved. Write that down. Next November you will know to over-order one and not the other.

Staffing observations. Were you short-handed today? Were there lulls where people were idle? Which staff member was most effective in which role? These notes are worth real money when you are making staffing decisions twelve months from now.

Weather and its effect. A snowstorm on December 18th created a delivery nightmare that cost you three orders. A warm spell the week before Thanksgiving slowed foot traffic but drove phone orders. Weather is one of the most reliable influencers of flower shop sales and almost no one tracks it intentionally.

Supplier and inventory notes. Which vendor came through and which fell short? Which product arrived damaged? What did you run out of before you expected to? What sat until you had to discount it?

What worked in marketing and what did not. The email featuring the holiday table arrangement sold out the featured design within 24 hours. The Facebook post on a Tuesday got almost no engagement. Log the ones worth repeating.

Involve Your Staff

A journal from your perspective is useful. Journals from your entire team are invaluable.

The owner sees the holiday through one set of eyes. The head designer sees a completely different version of the same days. So does the person answering the phones. So does the delivery driver. Each perspective captures information the others will miss.

Ask every staff member to keep a brief daily record during the busiest two weeks before Christmas. Give them a notebook or a simple email template. Set the expectation that the entry can be as short as two sentences. Offer a modest bonus -- $25 to $50 -- for completing the journal through the end of the holiday.

At the end of the season, collect the journals and hold a brief meeting. The patterns that emerge from multiple perspectives are where the real value lives. Next year you will enter the holiday season knowing more than you have ever known before it started. 

Those notes will also show you where your team needed more support, which makes them a natural starting point for our guide on how to train your holiday staff before the rush next year. 

Run a product sales report after the holiday and make it quickly available when you plan the next year.

The True Cost of Not Doing This

The florists who do not keep a journal spend the first two weeks of every November having the same conversations they had the year before. Trying to remember last year’s product mix. Debating the same staffing questions. Making the same ordering mistakes. The journal does not eliminate problems. It just ensures that you are not solving the same ones twice.

Pick up a spiral notebook today. Write the date on the first page. That is the whole action. The rest will follow.

While you are preparing for the holidays, make sure new customers can find you online. Check your local Google ranking with our free florist rank scanner.