Avoid holiday meltdowns! Our 2025 Holiday Survival Toolkit offers a variety of resources and tips to help you have as happy, healthy, and stress-free a holiday as possible.
As the many holidays of the season approach, check out our 2025 Holiday Survival Toolkit. We’ve added dozens of new links to resources, tips, and tools to help you navigate the season’s many challenges, and we’ve kept prior links to resources that we think are helpful. We’ll update it as the season progresses. Note: While we’ve aimed for free and accessible resources, some links may require registration.
Note to our EAP members: Help is available 24-7-365 for any difficulties you may experience. Call for counseling or coaching to deal with grief, stress, maintaining health and fitness, coping with budgets and finances, family and relationship dynamics, and more!
Budgeting & managing money
- Bankrate’s 2025 Holiday Spending Report
- Nerd Wallet’s 2025 Holiday Spending Report
- How to Build a Holiday Budget That Works Every Year
- BBB Tip: Shop Like a Pro and Make the Most of This Holiday Season
- Shop Smarter With the Consumer Reports Price Tracker
- 13 Best Price Comparison Websites for Smart Shoppers 2025
- 6 Ways to Save on Groceries for Thanksgiving Dinner This Year
- 5 Tips to Avoid the Holiday Credit Card Trap
- Don’t Get Tangled up in Holiday Debt!
- 6 Ways Psychology Explains Black Friday Shopping
- 7 Holiday Spending Traps to Avoid This Season
- The Psychology of Holiday Shopping: 8 Common Traps to Avoid
- 10 Ways to Save Money During the Holidays
- Plan Early for a Debt-Free Holiday Season!
- Credit Card Payoff Calculator
- Do’s and Don’ts of Using Credit Cards During the Holidays
Managing stress & mental health
- The Most Common Issues People Bring Up In Therapy Around The Holidays
- McLean’s Guide to Managing Mental Health Around the Holidays
- The Holiday Blues: Feeling Sad Amid the Festivities
- How to Have a Healthier, Stress-Free Holiday: 26 Things Experts Do
- How to Avoid Overdoing It This Holiday Season
- Even a Joyous Holiday Season Can Cause Stress for Most Americans
- When You Don’t Love the Season
- Supporting Your Mental Health During the Holiday Season
- Holidays Don’t Have to Be Synonymous with Excess Stress. It’s Time to Reframe Your Thinking
- Stressed During the Holidays? There’s an Exercise for That.
- Surviving Painful Holiday Emotions
- 19 Female Leaders on Saying No to Holiday Stress
- Seasonal Survival Tips
- 5 Ways to Cope With Depression During the Holiday Season
- What Doctors Wish Patients Knew About Seasonal Affective Disorder
- Down in the Doldrums? It Might Be Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.)
Staying healthy & well
- American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP): 2025-26 Immunization Recommendations
- Healthy Eating During the Holidays
- How to Keep Your Gut in Check Over the Holidays
- Talking Turkey: Holiday Turkey Cooking Tips
- Do Not Wash Your Turkey and Other Holiday Tips to Keep Your Food Safe
- How to Enjoy the Flavors of the Season Without Derailing Health
- Healthy Holiday Tips for People With Diabetes
- Diabetes: Healthy Eating and the Holidays
- Your Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Holiday Survival Guide: 6 Tips
- Managing Crohn’s / IBD Through the Holidays
- How to Handle Holiday Eating With Your Food Allergy Child
- Lean Into the Holidays With These 24 Healthy and Cheap Recipes
- 40 Easy Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipes
- 2024 Vegan Holiday Recipes
- How to Cook for Someone on a Plant-Based Diet During the Holidays
- 10 Ways to Squeeze in a Workout During the Holidays
Keeping a Sober Season
- The Gift of Recovery: A Holiday Message of Hope
- How to Stay Sober During the Holidays
- Holiday Drinking: How to Know When It’s A Problem And Ways to Cut Back
- Navigating the Holidays: Common Triggers in Addiction Recovery
- How To Stay Sober This Holiday Season
- How to Stay Sober During the Holiday Season
- 8 Ways To Support Your Loved One In Sobriety During The Holidays
- Normalize Not Drinking: Embrace Sober, Alcohol-free Fun This Holiday
- Why Are the Holidays So Hard for Those in Recovery? A sober holiday survival guide
- Sober Curious? We’ve Got Resources to Help
Family Matters
- Managing Tricky Family Dynamics over the Holidays
- 10 Ways to Cope with Difficult Relatives During the Holidays
- 5 Proven Ways to Avoid Family Blowups During the Holidays
- 15 Things You Probably Shouldn’t Discuss at Thanksgiving Dinner
- Tips for Preventing Inter-Personal Conflict During the Holidays
- When and How to Engage Constructively in Family Arguments During the Holidays
- How to Survive Political Conversations Over the Holidays
- 5 Ways to Protect Your Energy From Toxic Family Members
- Staying Positive Around Difficult Family Members
- 24 Ways to Make the Holidays Kid-Friendly
- 5 Tips for Celebrating the Holidays with a Blended Family
- Blended Family and Step-Parenting Tips
- Celebrating the Holidays as a Blended Family
- Sandwich Generation: Don’t Forget About Your Mental Health
- 10 Tips for Caregivers During the Holidays
- Caring for an Aging Parent? Tips for Enjoying Holiday Meals
- Military: Not Home for the Holidays
- Dear Therapist: I Don’t Want to See My Mom This Christmas
- How To Cope With Family Estrangement During The Holidays
Holidays after a divorce
- Tips for Managing the Holidays During and After Divorce
- Holidays Are Tough After a Divorce. Here’s How I Learned to Prepare.
- Navigating the High Holidays After Divorce Means Creating New Traditions for Families
- Divorce and Holidays: How to Help Kids
- How Divorced Parents Can Help Their Children Survive the Holidays
- Planning for Seasonal Success: Holiday Tips for Parenting Apart
Handling special situations
- Managing Grief During the Most Wonderful Time of Year
- Grief and Loss Throughout the Holiday Season
- Grief and the Holidays
- Navigating the Holidays After Losing a Loved One
- Helping Someone Who’s Grieving
- What to Expect From Your Grieving Friend This Holiday Season
- At The Holidays: Coping with Anticipatory Grief
- Spending the Holidays Alone? 8 Coping Strategies
- Coping With A Loved Ones’ Eating Disorder During the Holidays
- 5 Tips for a Sensory-Friendly Thanksgiving
- How to Reduce Holiday Stress for Your Child With Autism
- Neurodivergent Notes: The Hidden Struggles of the Holiday Season
- Neurodivergent Notes: Why Coping Feels Trickier During the Holidays
- The Holidays Aren’t Always a Celebration. It’s Much More Complicated for Foster Youth
- Holiday Tips for Caregivers
- The Holidays and Alzheimer’s
- Staying Safe and Joyful: Tips for a Dementia-Friendly Holiday Celebration
Navigating holidays at the workplace
- 8 Ways to Make Holiday Celebrations Inclusive This Year
- Inclusive Holiday Planning: How to Make Your Workplace Festivities Welcoming for All
- How to Make Holiday Celebrations More Inclusive
- HR: How to Add More Meaning, Impact to Your Holiday Event
- Surviving the Holidays at Work When You Dread the Season
- How to Help Employees During the Stressful Holiday Season
- Holidays Can Be Stressful. They Don’t Have to Stress Out Your Team.
- 10 Tips for Addressing Workers’ Heightened Holiday Stress
- The Do’s and Don’ts of Workplace Gift Giving
- Holiday Workplace Safety
Keeping safe
- Enjoy a Safe Holiday Season
- Don’t Let These 12 Holiday Safety Mistakes Ruin Your Festivities
- Thanksgiving Home Fire Safety
- 13 Safety Tips for Christmas Lights
- Toy Safety Awareness Month Shares Tips for Safe Toy Shopping this Holiday Season
- The Most Dangerous Toys Under Your Christmas Tree in 2023
- W.A.T.C.H. Toy Safety
- 5 Dangerous Products Parents Should Avoid to Keep Their Kids Safe
- Keep Food Poisoning Off the Menu
- Why Turkey Fryers Explode
- ‘Holiday Safety Tips for Your Pets
- 22 Holiday Items That Can Harm Your Pet
- Avoiding Trips to the ER During the Holidays
- The Most Common Reasons for ER Visits During the Holiday Season
- The 5 Most Common Holiday Insurance Claims
- Top Winter Home Insurance Claims and Tips to Reduce Homeowner Costs
Avoiding holiday scams online & off
- BBB Tip: Shop Like a Pro and Make the Most of This Holiday Season
- The Naughty List: BBB’s 12 Scams of the Holidays
- Fake Shipping Notification Emails and Text Messages: What You Need to Know This Holiday Season
- Porch Pirates Won’t Quit. How Can You Stop Them From Stealing Your Holiday Cheer?
- Last-Minute Shopping? Three Ways to Spot Rip-offs
- Keep Your Money Safe from Gift Card Scammers This Holiday Season. Here’s How
- Tis the Season for Holiday Scams
- 7 Tips to Avoid Holiday Scams and Protect Your Identity in 2024
- Pass It On – FTC Info for Consumers on Common Scams –
- 14 Tips to Protect Yourself from Cyber and Phone Fraud
- What to Know About Holiday Gift Returns
Holiday travel
- The Best Days to Travel Around Christmas In 2025
- 24 Essential Holiday Travel Tips: How To Survive Travel Chaos This Season
- Plan Your Holiday Drives with Google Maps’ Trends
- 8 Ways to Use Maps and More for Your Holiday Plans
- Tips for Holiday Travelers as New U.S. Consumer Protections Kick In
- Carry-On Luggage Rules: Everything You Can (and Can’t) Bring With You on a Plane
- Flight Attendants Share Secrets to Surviving Holiday Travel
- Be Alert to Scammers While Traveling for the Holidays
- AI-Generated Scams Target Holiday Travelers: How To Spot The Red Flags
- Travel Scams Target Passengers Posting to Social Media About Cancellations
- Tips to Stay Active While Traveling for the Holidays
Keeping the holidays green
- How to Have a Green and Sustainable Holiday Season
- Ready to Green Your Holiday Celebrations? Use This Sustainable and Climate-Conscious Guide
- BBB Tip: Deck the Halls the Thrifty Way
- Sustainable Holidays
- Sustainable Holidays: 15 Ways to Have an Eco-Friendly Christmas
- 12 Ways to Have an Eco Friendly Holiday
- Go Green for the Holidays
Giving charitable gifts and donations