Christmas Decor Sourcing Timeline 2027:
When to Order, When It Lands
A month-by-month calendar for buyers planning the 2027 Christmas season — from artwork approval in January to floorset in September, with the ocean transit and production figures behind each date.
Short answer: place your 2027 Christmas order between January and April 2027. With a 30–60 day production window plus 14–42 days of ocean transit, a February order reaches a US West Coast warehouse in May–June and a European warehouse in June–July. The practical sea-freight cut-off is late June 2027; after that only air freight makes the season.
Every year, a predictable thing happens in the import trade: someone orders Christmas stock in July, the container sails in August, and the goods reach the distribution centre in September — too late for a floorset that started in August. The order was not late. The planning was late.
This page lays out the 2027 calendar in the order the work actually happens, with the numbers behind each step. Use it to work backwards from your own floorset date.
The 2027 calendar, month by month
| Month | What happens | What you do | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 2027 | Design & range planning | Lock your assortment and artwork, then request samples - 7 days turnaround. | Samples in 7 days; artwork approval gates everything downstream. |
| February 2027 | Place bulk orders | Best month to order. Production slot secured, earliest rate advantage. | 30-60 day production window starts after deposit and sample sign-off. |
| March 2027 | Production in progress | Mid-production check. Confirm packaging and carton markings. | Retail-ready packing and multilingual headercards add 5-10 days. |
| April 2027 | Production complete, booking | Book vessel space early. Peak-season space tightens from June. | Booking 3-4 weeks ahead protects against rollovers. |
| May 2027 | Sailing | Containers leave Ningbo. US West Coast arrivals begin late May-June. | Ningbo-LA 14-18 days; Ningbo-Hamburg 28-42 days. |
| June 2027 | Europe sailing, last safe order window | Europe-bound cargo departs. June is the practical cut-off for sea freight. | Anything ordered after June needs air freight to reach shelves. |
| July 2027 | US East Coast arrivals | New York/New Jersey cargo lands. Customs clearance and drayage. | Ningbo-NY 28-35 days plus 10-18 days door-to-door. |
| August 2027 | DC receiving & allocation | Goods move from port to distribution centre, then to stores. | This is the buffer month. Protect it - do not plan to use it. |
| September-October 2027 | Floorset | Retail shelves set. Reorders now go by air or from stock. | Only air freight (5-7 days) makes it after this point. |
| November-December 2027 | Sell-through | Sell-through and markdown decisions. Reorder planning for 2028 begins. | Note actual sell-through now; it drives next year's order size. |
Work backwards from your floorset, not forwards from today
The mistake most first-time importers make is counting forward: “we have time until December.” Retail does not work that way. Your real deadline is the date the goods must be on the shelf, which for most European and North American retailers falls between August and October.
Working backwards from a 1 September 2027 floorset:
- Store allocation and DC processing: 2–3 weeks
- Door-to-door delivery from port: 10–18 days (customs, drayage, inland trucking)
- Ocean transit: 14–18 days to US West Coast, 28–35 to US East Coast, 28–42 to North Europe
- Production: 30–60 days
- Sample approval: 7 days
Add those up and the order date lands in February or March 2027 — with almost no slack. That is why the calendar above puts bulk orders in February rather than spring.
Ocean transit: why the Europe number is a range, not a date
US West Coast transit has been stable for years: Ningbo to Los Angeles or Long Beach runs 14–18 days port-to-port on standard services, and can drop to 11–12 days on premium direct services. Door-to-door to most of California averages 22–28 days.
Europe is less predictable right now, and buyers should plan for that. Since late 2023, most Asia–Europe services diverted around the Cape of Good Hope, adding 10–14 days and roughly 30% more fuel consumption. Carriers began returning to the Suez Canal in July 2026: BIMCO data published 14 October 2026 put weekly container capacity through Suez at about 753,000 TEU, the first time since the crisis that it exceeded half of pre-crisis levels. Other estimates put the share of Asia–Europe capacity back on the Suez route at roughly a quarter to a third.
The practical consequence: a Ningbo–Hamburg booking may take 28–32 days on a Suez routing or 32–42 days around the Cape. Plan the long end, and treat an early arrival as a bonus rather than a plan.
Sources: BIMCO capacity data (14 Oct 2026); carrier transit-time summaries for Ningbo–Los Angeles (14–18 days) and Ningbo–Hamburg (28–42 days, route-dependent), 2026.
Where orders actually go wrong
1. Artwork approval drags into February. Every week spent revising artwork is a week added to the end of the chain, not the start.
2. Packaging decisions are left until after production. Retail-ready packing, barcodes, multilingual headercards and gift boxes add 5–10 days at the packing stage. Decide in January, not April.
3. Peak-season space is assumed to be available. From June, vessel space tightens and rollovers become common. Booking three to four weeks ahead is cheaper than air freight later.
4. The August buffer is spent, not protected. If your plan assumes goods arrive in August and go straight to stores, you have no buffer. September congestion then becomes a December problem.
What changes if you are ordering a small batch
A 50–100 piece trial order does not need a container, and it should not follow the same calendar. Small batches typically move by LCL or air, which shifts the cut-off much later — but the trade-off is cost per unit and, for LCL, longer consolidation time (roughly 6–10 extra days on Europe lanes).
For a first season, the sensible pattern is: order a small trial in February to validate the design with your customers, then place the volume order in April–May once you know what sells. That still leaves room for sea freight.
Frequently asked
When should I place a Christmas decoration order for 2027?
For delivery before the 2027 retail season, place your order between January and April 2027. A February order with a 30-60 day production window ships in April, lands in the US in May-June or in Europe in June-July, and clears customs well before the August-October floorset. Orders placed after June 2027 increasingly end up on air freight or miss the season.
How long does production take for wooden Christmas decorations?
Our production window is 30-60 days depending on finish, quantity and season. Natural or simple painted finishes sit at the short end; multi-colour, personalised or retail-packed items sit at the long end. Add a 7-day sampling window before production starts.
How long does ocean freight take from Ningbo to the US and Europe?
Ningbo to Los Angeles or Long Beach is 14-18 days port-to-port. Ningbo to New York and New Jersey is 28-35 days. Ningbo to Hamburg or Rotterdam is roughly 28-42 days depending on whether the service routes via Suez or around the Cape of Good Hope - roughly a third of Asia-Europe capacity had returned to the Suez route by autumn 2026. Add 10-18 days for door-to-door delivery.
What is the latest date to order and still make Christmas?
For sea freight, the practical cut-off is late June to early July 2027 for US West Coast and mid-to-late June 2027 for Europe, assuming 30-60 days production plus ocean transit. After that, only air freight (5-7 days door-to-door) or a stock item from an existing range can still make the season.
Why is a container floor loaded in July arriving too late?
It may not be too late for the port, but it is too late for retail. A container that leaves Ningbo in July reaches a US West Coast port in August, is delivered to your DC in late August or September, then needs allocation to stores before an August-October floorset. Any delay pushes the goods into December, when the selling window has closed.
Plan the 2028 season while this one is still fresh
The cheapest time to fix next year's calendar is the week after this year's sell-through numbers come in. Note what sold, what was marked down, and which SKU you ran out of — that is the input for the January artwork session.
If you want to map this calendar onto a specific range, our wholesale terms page lists MOQ, lead time and sampling, and the product list covers 138 designs across Christmas, Halloween and Easter.