Today, we’re tackling a question that has caused countless headaches within the school communications community: Holiday greetings on social media. 

Many school communities embrace a variety of cultures and religions, so what’s the right thing to do? How can you balance inclusivity without offending anyone? What happens if you miss a holiday? Is it better to just skip all holiday greetings? 

I hate to break it to you, but I’m not going to give you a universal “yes” or “no” answer in today’s blog. Every school and district is different! Instead, I’m going to show you how a couple of schools have come to their decisions, to help you decide what’s best for your school.

Choose to Say “No” to Holiday Greetings

One of the simplest ways to handle this is to refrain from posting any holiday greetings on social media. I doubt anyone in your community is obsessively refreshing their feed, eagerly awaiting your school’s Happy Thanksgiving graphic. 

Not posting probably won’t offend anyone, but people could get upset if you’re posting some holidays and not others. While it’s not your job to manage the reactions of anyone who can see your school’s social media account – in reality, that’s the entire world! – you can certainly minimize the chances of someone getting their feathers ruffled by opting out of holiday posts. 

Elishia Seals, former communications director, now a consultant with Finalsite, shared some great advice she learned from her time in her previous district. She shared why her district chose to abstain from any holiday greetings: 

Because of our district’s location and the climate (Kansas), we decided not to post about holidays, but instead, we posted about breaks, when students return, and resources available to families when school doors are closed. Our language around holidays also aligned with our school calendar; we called it winter break, not Christmas break.

If you decide to keep holiday greetings off of your social media feeds, the key is to be consistent. Take a stance, one way or the other, and stick with it. It doesn’t matter what the social media manager did before you – if the best decision for your district is to keep holiday greetings off of the page, be confident in that decision!

Choose to Say “Yes” to Holiday Greetings

Now, if you read that previous section and feel queasy because avoiding holidays doesn’t feel authentic to your school community, you’re not alone! It’s certainly OK to create holiday content for social media, so let’s talk about three key considerations. 

Consider Your Local Culture

Some schools and districts are very diverse, with families representing a range of cultural backgrounds, and others are not. Your social media content should reflect the people in your school community. 

Consider the “R” Word (Religion)

We know that many non-religious holidays have grown out of religious traditions, so it’s not a matter of posting ONLY religious holidays or ONLY non-religious holidays. Someone could argue that Halloween falls on either side of that equation, for example! 

If you are part of a religious school, you probably have a clear idea of which holidays your families will (and won’t) recognize. 

Consider Celebrating Activities vs. Generic Greetings

An easy way to skirt around the decision is to simply share what is going on in your classrooms. Even if you don’t come out and say “Merry Christmas” on December 25th, you can flood your feed with holiday-themed crafts, concerts, and activities throughout December if that is what’s happening in your classrooms.

Elishia Seals agrees that sometimes a good middle ground is posting about activities that are happening at the school. She writes: 

We had an egg hunt that elementary students earned with behavior. It was a spring activity not an Easter activity. The high school was growing fall specific crops, so we shared that near fall break. (Not Thanksgiving break). We posted for Halloween, which is strangely the only exception to this. Parades, costumes, contests… and an alternative activity for those who don’t celebrate.

Consider Educating Yourself

If you decide to intentionally post about holidays from different religions and cultures, you may want to talk to religious leaders, especially if you are personally not as educated around a certain tradition. 

I love Delaina McCormack’s advice. She is the social media manager for Fairfax County Public Schools: 

Make sure you talk to the right people, particularly faith-based leaders. Don’t make decisions in a vacuum; include district leadership. Be consistent. Set a standard in writing about what religions you will post about, how you will post about them, and how you came up with those standards.

We actively post about many religious holidays on social media to great success. But we do it based on what is explicitly mentioned on the calendar that the school board approved. This was also intentional following their addition of many new religious observance days on the school year calendar in 2022-23 – we found a need to educate our community about the observances that now impacted their school calendar, while also recognizing those in our community who had been overlooked for so many years.

On social media, this usually means an appropriate greeting (ie Eid Mubarak or Shanah tovah) and then an explanation of the holiday. We reached out to the faith liaison in the county government to find the right faith-based leaders to work with on writing the captions. I think most people are just happy to see us acknowledging all religions across the board.

FCPS received positive feedback around this approach: 

One parent commented, ‘So thankful my little girls are part of such a diverse and beautiful community. Thank you, FCPS. Happy Diwali to all who celebrate!’ This approach represents an inclusive culture that respects the diversity in the school and community.

Consider Pivoting

If you do say yes to some holidays, be ready to defend your decision. If you need to pivot, that’s OK! For example, I know of a Catholic school that recognizes Catholic holidays and a few others, such as Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. However, they did receive pushback about Indigenous Peoples Day vs. Columbus Day, so they decided to avoid the holiday in the future. 

How Will You Handle Holiday Greetings? 

I hope this blog has provided some clarity around the decision to post – or not post – about holidays on your school’s social media pages. I am confident that you will make the right decisions for your particular district! 

But if you often find yourself with social media questions and wish you had a community of other school communicators to bounce ideas off of, consider joining our membership program!

This community of more than 400 schools and districts across the country works together daily to support one another in tackling the social media glitches, decisions, and strategies you face. Learn what’s all included and how to join, right here.