How to Build a Holiday PR List for Gift Guide Pitching in 2026

A practical guide to finding the right editors, freelancers, gift guides, newsletters and media contacts, plus when to pitch them.

It’s (somewhat past*) time to start getting down to the nitty-gritty of holiday media outreach – getting your beautiful products and holiday recommendations into those luscious holiday gift guides → but it’s not at all too late.

There was a time when it was mandatory that holiday pitching start in July – that gave print magazines time to put together sample layouts, sell advertising space, and then calculate the number of pages they’d be able to run based on ad sales. This was a formula that particularly pertained to print media, but with the plethora of opportunities across all digital, filmed + recorded entertainment, and social media, the schedule has changed significantly.

*My point here is: there’s a mountain of media out there to be conquered and the sooner you start climbing it, the better for your holiday outcome. And this is precisely why hiring a PR firm or specialist is more cost effective than trying to source names and contact information on your own.

BUT … small business and founder led brands love to try to do everything themselves – or at least have a hand in the process, so let’s review how you as a lifestyle brand should approach strategically building a great PR list for Christmas 2026.

1. Time is Currency, So Budget Wisely

Firstly, decide how much time you realistically have to invest in your gift guide program and start this project from that perspective. Think of it in terms of how long it’ll take to source the right person and their contact info → please don’t proceed under the misguided belief that DM’ing Rae Ann Herman from O Magazine will get you anywhere other than blocked on social media.

Time is so valuable to a small brand, especially in the Autumn and Holiday, it’s important to avoid spinning into a search spiral where you send an email → have it bounce → search some more → have that bounce → so on and so forth, and before you know it, 2 hours have gone by with nothing to show for it.

While you can buy media lists from sources online, you’re usually getting a few current email addresses amongst a sea of “re-employed” editors, or email addresses from before the media group was sold and changed their email convention*, resulting in bounce-backs that will hurt your email address reputation and get your well meaning and carefully personalized messages sent directly to spam.

*Email convention is the format a company uses for their email company wide ie: firstname@magazinename.com or lastnameinitial@magazinename.com ect. There’s often an outward facing email (the one they put on their signature on digital articles) and a true email, or the true email of an assistant who screens for the editor.

A good rule of thumb is to budget about 30 minutes for sourcing each name on your list. So if you’d like to reach out to 20 writers, editors, producers, ect plan on spending about 10 hours on research.

2. Decide what buckets your products / stories / advice / belong in.

One trend that has ruled the digital holiday gift guide universe for about a decade now is commerce. As with ad sales, commerce is a big decider on how many gift guides will appear and who will find their products featured in them.

By “commerce” I mean those long links that are attached to the name of a product and have endless id numbers and codes and eventually lead either to your product pages if you have the proper affiliate program set up, or to a store page like Amazon, Nordstrom, Macys, ect.

Many editors deal solely in commerce, hence the title “commerce editor” on their LinkedIn page. Commerce gift pages spread across a grand arc of gift types – anything from “what to get for my aunt who loves Disneyland” to “beauty gift sets under $25”. Whatever is trending or interesting or something someone with a credit card would actively search for, commerce editors are fair game.

Add commerce if:

You have an Awin, Skimlinks, or Impact, account set up for your brand;
Your brand is sold on Amazon, Macy’s, Anthropologie, Nordstrom or other big draw online store;
Many commerce editors will also want to see a fair number of consumer reviews of your product on these or other platforms. (Amazon, Trust Pilot, Google Reviews).

Add Men’s Media Editorial if:

You have products that a man wondering what to buy for a significant other, co-worker, neighbor, ect would find interesting → my guess is you do. This is a category that’s rarely an option the rest of the year for women’s brands so pay special attention here.

Add Women’s Media Editorial if:

For the same reasons above, but consider the reader is a more generalized audience of women and men predominantly. If you’re a beauty brand, women’s media is a year round target, unlike men’s media.

Add Kid’s/Baby/Family Editorial Media if:

You have family oriented products, or gifts for moms, dads, toys, games, ect. Children’s media is limited in scope and size (not that many media outlets at this point). Oddly enough, men’s media also makes a great spot for family focused gifting.

Add Home Decor Editorial if:

You have items that photograph really well…. decor pages are very visually slanted and are often sorted by color, theme, ect. Think leopard, or emerald green … and can be anything from accessories and jewelry to kitchen appliances. Readership is generally fairly discerning in terms of style. If you have particularly pretty packaging that’s a wonderful entrée into decor coverage.

Add Travel Editorial if:

You have products that are great for travel or can demonstrate an affinity to a region like New England, Tuscany, Paris, ect. Travel editorial tends to be upscale and pages are highly edited into an expression of the magazine/website’s brand.

Add Food Media if:

Your product has any relevance to food, cooking, or ingredients that are relevant to food or cooking – also well known chefs, or cooks who might be giving your products as gifts make a nifty hook as well.

Add General Media:

No notes here, if you have a lifestyle product, general media, which usually is in the form of a highly circulated magazine, newspaper, TV show, podcast or other is for you.

3. Now having either checked off or crossed out the above main categories find media outlets that you feel correspond with the vibe of your brand.

Is your brand bohemian? You should seek out media like Mantra, Thrive, Origin or Enchanted Living

Are you traditional or classic? Martha Stewart, Better Homes & Gardens, Sunset or Southern Living are good bets for outreach.

Is your brand trend-setting? Vogue, Elle Decor, or Vanity Fair

It’ll be much easier to pitch an editor who writes about a lifestyle that’s similar to your brand’s feel than trying to force a fit that’s off brand for them.

4. Create a Layered List

Over the years, almost every client I’ve ever worked with has named O, The Oprah Magazine as a dream placement. Today that target is Oprah Daily and, particularly at holiday, Oprah’s Favorite Things.

If O is also your top pick, I’ll cut right to the chase: Adam Glassman is O Mag’s Creative Director and Rae Ann Herman is the Market Director. As I mentioned above, please don’t DM either of them on social media.

While Oprah’s Favorite Things is indeed a wonderful place for your products to land, it’s also crazy competitive. On your list you should create 3 layers of prospective media:

Layer 1: The creamy frosting on top

This is your top 10 media outlet wish list that would really put your brand on the map – and I mean a big luscious slice of coverage, not a crummy mention. These should include magazines/websites; TV shows; National Newspapers; Podcasts; and perhaps a Creator or two.

Layer 2: The dreamy cake

I’m a big proponent of local media – particularly magazines. Local print has a commanding presence in the areas they serve. You can usually find at least one recent copy, if not a stack of every issue, in every doctor’s office, local retailer, cafe, and newsstand within a local metro. Local print hosts parties, is available at commemorative celebrations, and any number of community bonding events.

And the extra sweet part is that you aren’t limited to your local media → any city, county, or state in which your products are sold in a brick and mortar retailer is fair game – just be sure to tell the editor where you’re carried when you reach out.

Independent magazines are huge right now. Media like Gladys, Athleisure, and Kinfolk, are just a few. Many niche and local mags put out special holiday issues!

I would add about 20 titles to this layer.

Layer 3: The surprise filling inside all that other good stuff

Many of the articles you see online or in print are often written or driven by many of the same people. For example I know several freelancers who have already been contracted to produce about 12 gift guides for a wide range of media platforms and companies – and it’s only September. (There will be more as we get closer to holiday).

Freelancers currently make up about 2/3 of the pitch list I work through for my clients. A bit of warning, they’re a bit harder to nail down at times, since they aren’t permanently connected to any one media conglomerate. They may contact you last minute for details that you had better answer when they need it in order to make their deadline.

Newsletters are also very popular right now (if you’re reading this you probably know) Substack, Beehiiv, Kit, Ghost, and Medium (to name just a few) have thousands of writers on each platform, many with thousands of highly engaged readers who actually pay to read about what the writer really thinks. (Imagine that!)

This is where the real research comes in – by discovering articles similar to what you’re hoping for and tracking back to the author you can create a highly targeted list of writers that you can build relationships with. Again don’t stalk them on social media … most have professional websites that offer contact info.

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