December Pinterest Trends 2026: What to Pin in December

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and on Pinterest it’s also the busiest. December is when holiday planning peaks, gift searches hit their high, and the first wave of New Year content starts rolling in. If you’re using Pinterest to grow your business, this is the month where a little planning pays off the most. Here are the top December Pinterest trends for 2026, pulled straight from the Pinterest Trends tool, plus how I’d use them in your content calendar.

Everything below comes from Pinterest’s own Trends tool for the United States: last year’s top monthly searches for December, the seasonal keywords that spike this time of year, and Pinterest’s forecasts for the Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year’s Eve “moments.” I refresh this post every year so the keywords reflect what pinners are actually searching for right now.

Why December Is Different on Pinterest

Pinterest’s forecast is clear about one thing: Christmas demand is big and it peaks early. According to Pinterest Trends, Christmas-related searches are projected to grow by 856% this season, with the expected peak around December 19. Last year, demand peaked between December 6 and December 13, a full two weeks before the holiday. If your Christmas content isn’t live by the first week of December, you’re publishing into the back half of the curve.

Hanukkah follows a similar pattern this year. It begins the evening of December 4, and Pinterest expects searches to ramp through mid-December alongside Christmas.

Then there’s the second season inside December: New Year’s Eve. Searches for “new years nails” grew 3,000% month over month last December, and New Year’s Eve demand actually peaked in the week of January 3 to January 10 last year, which means NYE content keeps working into the first week of January. Add “vision board” and “january nails” climbing in the last two weeks of the month, and December turns out to be two months of content opportunity packed into one.

Top December Pinterest Trends 2026

Here’s what pinners were searching for in December, grouped by category. Percentages are month-over-month changes from the Pinterest Trends tool unless noted otherwise.

Christmas

Christmas is on everyone’s mind, and pinners are looking for very specific help. The related searches Pinterest surfaces for the Christmas moment are a mix of outfits, nails, wallpapers, party planning, and a healthy dose of nostalgia.

• christmas nails (up 200% in December on top of November’s climb), simple christmas nails (up 400%)
• christmas outfit (up 300%), christmas outfits, christmas eve outfits
• christmas wallpaper, christmas photoshoot, christmas party ideas, christmas party
• christmas tree ideas, ralph lauren christmas tree, diy christmas ornaments
• christmas list ideas, christmas makeup, christmas hairstyles
• 90s christmas aesthetic, retro christmas nails
• grinch, oogie boogie, sally nightmare before christmas, nightmare before christmas wallpaper
• christmas games for family, christmas eve, feliz navidad

The nostalgia angle is worth noting. “90s christmas aesthetic” and the Nightmare Before Christmas searches show up in Pinterest’s own list of what’s driving the Christmas moment, and “retro christmas nails” made the seasonal list. If your brand has any vintage or throwback flavor, December is the month to lean into it.

Elf on the Shelf

This one deserves its own section because the numbers are so large. “Elf on the shelf ideas” was up 1,000% month over month last December, and “easy elf on the shelf ideas” was up 5,000%. Parents search for these every single night of the season, which makes it one of the most reliable traffic drivers on Pinterest from late November through Christmas Eve. Related searches include easy elf ideas, welcome back elf on the shelf ideas, and elf goodbye ideas as the month winds down.

Food and Drink

December food searches split into three groups: Christmas baking, Christmas morning and Christmas Eve meals, and party appetizers that carry straight through to New Year’s Eve.

• Baking: sugar cookie recipe, sugar cookies, gingerbread house (up 300%), gingerbread cookies, peanut butter blossom cookies, chocolate chip cookies, oreo balls, peanut butter balls, pretzel rolo bites
• Christmas morning: breakfast casserole (up 200%), christmas morning breakfast, christmas breakfast casserole, french toast casserole, cinnamon roll casserole, cinnamon rolls, monkey bread, hashbrown casserole
• Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner: christmas eve dinner ideas, prime rib roast oven, prime rib roast recipe, christmas side dishes, christmas salad, twice baked potatoes, green bean casserole
• Appetizers and party food: christmas eve appetizers, appetizer recipes, spinach artichoke dip, sausage balls, finger foods, easy appetizers for a party
• Pinterest also flags “home baking essentials” as a search that grew more than 10,000% year over year, which is a good sign for anyone selling or recommending kitchen tools

Breakfast is the sleeper hit here. Christmas morning searches don’t get the attention that cookies do, but breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, and monkey bread all sit in the top seasonal list, and they’re less competitive than dessert content.

Holiday Gift Guides

Pinners head to Pinterest for gift inspiration all the way up to Christmas Eve. “White elephant gift ideas” was in last December’s top 50, and Pinterest’s shopping trends show outbound clicks growing on seasonal and holiday decorations, boots, slippers, coats, and outerwear as the season gets going. If you’ve published gift guides in past years, December is the month to re-pin them with fresh images and updated titles.

Think about the specific audience in the title rather than a generic “gift guide.” Gifts for him, gifts for teachers, gifts for coworkers, and experience gifts tend to match how people actually search.

New Year’s Eve and Early January

Don’t stop at Christmas. New Year’s content starts climbing mid-December and keeps going into the first week of January.

• new years nails (up 3,000%), nye nails, new year nails, black and gold nails, black and silver nails, champagne nails, glitter nails
• nye outfits, new york outfits, leather pants outfit
• appetizers, appetizer ideas, appetizers for party, finger foods, party games
• vision board, vision board ideas
• january nails, january nail ideas, january nail designs, and even february nails and valentines nails start appearing in late December

The “vision board” search is one I’d flag for anyone in the coaching, planning, or productivity space. It starts in December, not January, because people are planning their year before it starts.

Fashion

Occasion dressing drives December fashion searches, and the winter transition that started in November is complete.

• christmas outfit (up 300%), christmas eve outfits, nye outfits
• winter outfits (up 40%), outfit ideas, fashion, shoes
• cozy cabin trip ideas (up 100% month over month and more than 10,000% year over year)
• Pinterest’s shopping trends show outbound clicks up on boots, slippers, coats and jackets, and outerwear

Beauty and Hair

Nails stay at the top of Pinterest’s December list, but hair and makeup searches grow too as party season arrives.

• christmas nails, holiday nails, simple christmas nails, red nails, new years nails
• christmas makeup, christmas hairstyles, eye makeup
• hairstyles, hair styles (up 60%), curly hairstyles, winter hair braid (up 50% month over month and more than 10,000% year over year)

Wallpapers and Entertainment

“Christmas wallpaper,” “wallpaper,” and “wallpaper backgrounds” all stayed in the top 50 last December. “Watch party ideas” grew 200% month over month and more than 10,000% year over year, and “stranger things” spiked 200% as a new season dropped. If you make simple graphics or write about entertainment, December wallpaper sets and watch party roundups are quick wins.

Planning and Relationships

A handful of the fastest-growing searches last December weren’t holiday-specific: “date planning inspo” (up 100% month over month and more than 10,000% year over year), “future wedding plans,” and “vision board.” These point to pinners using Pinterest as a planning tool for the year ahead, and they’re worth testing if you create lifestyle, relationship, or goal-setting content.

How to Use the December Pinterest Trends

Start with what you already have. Go through your existing posts and products, match them against the keywords above, and update the pin titles and descriptions to use the exact phrases pinners are searching for. “Christmas eve appetizers” should appear as written, not as “appetizers for Christmas Eve.”

Front-load Christmas. With demand peaking around December 19 and last year’s peak landing in the second week of the month, anything Christmas-related should be pinned in the first few days of December at the latest. After that, shift your energy to New Year’s Eve, vision boards, and January content, which keep working into the new year.

Make several pins per post. One blog post can support five or six pins with different headlines and images, each targeting a different keyword from the lists above. If you want help writing that pin copy quickly, I shared the exact prompts I use in my post on Claude prompts for business.

And plan for January now. Pinterest’s New Year’s Eve demand peaked in the first week of January last year, and travel planning, fitness, and organization searches all jump right after the holidays. The content you publish in late December is what gets found in that window.

Pinterest Monthly Trends

I update these December Pinterest trends and the rest of the monthly trend posts every year with fresh data from the Pinterest Trends tool. If you’re planning ahead, start with the November Pinterest trends, which cover Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving, and the early Christmas searches that lead into this month.

If you’d rather hand your Pinterest marketing to someone who does this every week, take a look at my Pinterest management services. I handle the keyword research, the pin design, and the scheduling so you can focus on creating the content.