If you manage marketing or operations for a shopping center, lifestyle center, or business improvement district, you already know the feeling. September arrives, someone asks about holiday decor, and suddenly you’re scrambling to approve a plan, coordinate vendors, and hit install windows while everything else on your plate is already full.
The 2026 season does not have to look like that.
The HOD team recently hosted a free webinar specifically for shopping center and BID marketers: How to Plan Your 2026 Holiday Decor Program Without Blowing Your Budget. If you missed it live, the replay is available now, and it is worth your time before the summer planning window closes.
What the 2026 Planning Window Actually Looks Like
One of the most practical takeaways from the webinar is the timeline itself. Moving your approval window earlier changes what is available to you: better design options, more inventory to choose from, custom elements without rush fees, and time to coordinate installs around your tenant traffic and event calendar.
Here is how the three phases break down:
| Phase | Timing | Focus |
| Strategy & Approvals | Now through July | Concepts, vendor selection, budget sign-off |
| Production & Details | August – September | Finalizing orders, custom production, logistics |
| Installation & Testing | October – November | On-site install, testing, light-up coordination |
The difference between a center that looks pulled together and one that looks like it happened at the last minute usually starts six months before anyone turns on a single light.
The webinar walks through the full three-phase framework in detail.
The Real Cost of Holiday Decor
The sticker price on a holiday decor program is almost never the real number. If you have ever been surprised by a decor invoice, this is usually why. The true cost of any program lies across five factors:
- Material quality and lifespan: A commercial-grade piece built to last 5 to 10 seasons looks very different in a cost-per-year calculation than a cheaper product that degrades after two.
- Installation and removal fees: Are those services wrapped into your quote, or arriving as a separate invoice later? That gap catches teams off guard more often than it should.
- Storage and inventory management: If you are buying, you need a plan for climate-controlled storage and inventory tracking between seasons. If that infrastructure does not exist at your center, that is a real cost to factor in.
- Mid-season maintenance: Who fixes it when something fails in December? With the right partner, that is covered. With the wrong one, it is a frustrating phone call that does not always go anywhere.
- True cost per year: When you spread the investment across the life of the product, the math usually looks very different than the upfront number.
Want the full breakdown before your next budget conversation? Download the Shopping Center Playbook for a practical cost framework you can bring to your team.
Lease vs. Buy — Which Path Makes Sense for Your Center?
Once you have those five factors in front of you, the lease vs. purchase decision becomes a lot clearer. Here is how the two paths generally compare:
| Lease | Buy | |
| Upfront cost | Lower | Higher |
| Storage | Handled by HOD | Your responsibility |
| Maintenance | Included | Available as add-on |
| Flexibility | Refresh look every few years | Full ownership and customization |
| Best for | Centers that want to refresh regularly or have tight annual budget cycles | Centers building a long-term signature look with permanent staple pieces |
The webinar covers how to think through this decision for your specific property, including real examples of when each path made more sense.
Watch the replay to see how each property handled the lease vs. buy decision and what drove it.
Real Case Studies from Properties Like Yours
Rather than general advice, the webinar covers three real projects:
- Hard Rock Hotel and Casino: A high-energy, fully branded experience built around photo moments, bold lighting, and coordinated installs timed around peak check-in windows.
- A premium outdoor outlet mall: Clean, on-brand design with tight timelines built around tenant traffic, featuring custom-colored details matched to the property’s brand standards.
- A mixed-use community entrance: A polished, on-brand result achieved through HOD’s Experience Kits, without a large operations team or a custom-everything budget.
Each project illustrates the same core approach: one or two strong hero moments supported by smart, flexible background pieces that work harder than the budget suggests.
What Drives Foot Traffic in 2026
Three trends are shaping what guests and tenants respond to this season:
- Photo-worthy moments: Arches, tunnels, immersive trees, and bold entrances designed to be shared. One strong scene does more for foot traffic and social sharing than scattered items spread across the property.
- Layered, multi-season pieces: Decor that carries value from November into January and can flex across events gives you more return on every dollar spent.
- Durable, energy-efficient elements: Premium-feeling pieces built to survive installation, weather, and storage, especially important when tenants care as much about uptime as aesthetics.
The underlying point across all three: guests are looking for experiences, not decorations.
Not sure what a hero moment looks like for your specific space? The Shopping Center Playbook includes ready-made HOD collections and layout ideas built around exactly this approach.
Two Resources to Help You Plan
If you are still finalizing your 2026 approach, both of these are worth your time before the summer window closes.
Watch the Webinar Replay
The full planning framework, real case studies, and live Q&A with the HOD team answering questions from marketers in your position.
Download the Shopping Center Playbook
A practical planning timeline, budget guidance, and ready-made HOD collections built specifically for shopping centers, lifestyle centers, and BIDs.
The planning window for 2026 is open. The teams who use it well will have more options, fewer surprises, and a season their tenants will notice.
