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Christmas bakery menu ideas that fill pre-orders early

· 4 min read

Good Christmas bakery menu ideas mix bakes that keep for days with a few you bake on the day. Put a last order date under the title, send the menu in late November and stop orders when your oven is full.

"Can I still order the Christmas cake?" If a customer asks you this on 23 December, your menu came too late. Or it never said when orders close.

These Christmas bakery menu ideas start from that problem: one clear order date, and bakes your oven can handle. Below is a menu we made for a sample home bakery, Holly Lane Bakery. At the end, you can build the same one free in CatalogLeaf.

A finished one-page Christmas menu for Holly Lane Bakery on a dark green board: eight bakes with small photos, codes XM-01 to XM-08 and prices, a pre-order date under the title and a how to order note

Work back from 25 December

In 2026, Christmas Day is a Friday. You can check it on the UK government bank holidays page. Count back from that day, not forward from today.

When What you do
Last week of November Send the menu to your regular customers
About 10 December Send one reminder with the last order date
Saturday 19 December Orders close
Tuesday 22 to Thursday 24 December Customers collect

Late November gives families time to plan. A reminder catches the people who meant to order and forgot. Use the same dates on the menu and in every message.

Sort your bakes by baking day

Good Christmas bakery menu ideas spread the work over two weeks. A menu fails when everything must leave the oven on 23 December.

Bake a week or more ahead. Spiced biscuits and iced cookies keep well in a tin. Sell them as a gift bag or a box of 12. A ready cookie box needs no choosing, so busy buyers grab it for teachers and neighbours.

Bake one or two days ahead. This is your Christmas cake, and maybe cupcakes. Offer one cake size. Say what goes on top, like a piped message.

Bake on the collection day. Cinnamon rolls and swirl buns taste best fresh. Keep this group to two items at most. Write "baked on collection day" under them.

Under every item, write one short line: how many pieces, or how long it keeps. If a bake has nuts, say so in that line. Linzer cookies and macarons usually do.

Set your cut-off with an oven sum

Here is the sum for a sample shop. Say you can bake and finish 12 cakes on a good day. You give cakes two baking days, 21 and 22 December. That is 12 × 2 = 24 cakes. Order 24 means cakes are sold out. That is true even before 19 December.

Now add the buns. They bake on 22 December too. If buns take half your oven that day, you have room for only 6 cakes on the 22nd. So the cake limit drops to 18. Biscuits baked a week ahead do not count. They are already in tins.

One everyday menu, turned into a Christmas menu

We took the free Café Board menu card and changed four things. On the left is the sample. On the right is the Christmas menu we built.

The same menu card twice: on the left the everyday Café menu with croissants and doughnuts, on the right the Christmas menu with cookie boxes, a Christmas cake, cinnamon rolls and a last order date
  1. The title and the line under it. "Café menu" became "Christmas menu". The line under it now says: "Pre-order by Saturday 19 December. Collect 22 to 24 December." Customers see the deadline before any cake.
  2. The items. Everyday croissants and doughnuts made way for cookie boxes, a Christmas cake and fresh buns.
  3. The codes. Each bake has a code, XM-01 to XM-08. A customer can send "2 × XM-04" and you know exactly what they mean.
  4. The order note. It now asks for a 50% deposit and a morning or afternoon collection slot. A slot stops 40 people from arriving at 10 o'clock.

We also downloaded it as a PDF. With eight photos, Compact was about 155 KB and Print about 350 KB. Both are tiny files to send in a chat.

Build the Holly Lane menu yourself

  1. Open the Café Board menu card. Its Use with my photos button starts your own copy.
  2. Drop in one photo per bake. Fill in its name, price, code and that one short line.
  3. Press Next: choose a look. Then enter the bakery's name, set Title to "Christmas menu" and press Create catalog.
  4. Click Customize. Double-click the line under the title. Type your last order date and collection days.
  5. Change the order note, the sample phone and the email the same way.
  6. Click PDF, choose Compact and click Create PDF for WhatsApp. Choose Print for a copy at the counter.

Prefer a link? Under Share, press Create my link. Sold out of cakes on 15 December? In the editor, double-click the cake's short line and type "Sold out". Then open Share again and press Update link. The same link now shows it. A PDF already sent cannot change, so send the link when stock is tight.

More looks: the menu card templates and our bakery menu card designs.

Send it, then send it once more

Send the PDF or link to past customers first; they order most. Print one copy for the counter, too.

Around 10 December, send the reminder. Put the last order date in its first line. Then let your oven count the rest.

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