Hobby Lobby is known for their massive discounts, assuming you’re in tune with the Hobby Lobby sale schedule. In fact, if you’re not saving at least 30% on any given shopping trip with our Hobby Lobby hacks, you’re probably doing it wrong. However, after a holiday, they ratchet clearance sales up to 90% off, and they do it quickly. Timing is an important part of Hobby Lobby Christmas clearance.
During the last holiday season, we saw Hobby Lobby start its holiday clearance markdowns in September at 50% off, and 90% markdowns began on Jan. 2.
Hobby Lobby does Christmas clearance so well that you can score some massive deals. Let’s get into how you can maximize your Hobby Lobby deals for the Christmas season.
To learn how to do Hobby Lobby right, download The Krazy Coupon Lady app and subscribe to Hobby Lobby deals.
Hobby Lobby Christmas Clearance is an annual multi-week event with up to 90% off holiday decor.
Hobby Lobby Christmas clearance sales start early, with 50% off as early as September. But December is when the deals start actually getting good, with 60% markdowns in mid-December. Typically, those 60% markdowns run through Dec. 28; then, on Dec. 29, markdowns drop to 70% off. Finally, you can expect the coveted 90% off in early January (we saw it on Jan. 2, 2025).
KCL predicts Hobby Lobby Christmas clearance will start on Dec. 15, 2025, and hit 90% off on Jan. 2.
We predict that Hobby Lobby's 60% off clearance will start Dec. 15 in 2025, and the discounts should go up from there, hitting 70% off Dec. 29. In January 2025, we spotted 90% clearance in stores Jan. 2 until around Jan. 8, when Hobby Lobby switched over to Valentine's Day merchandise. We predict the same date of Jan. 2 for 90% off markdowns, going into the 2025 - 2026 holiday season.
What We Found for 90% Off During Hobby Lobby Christmas Clearance
If you're wondering where everyone was at 9 a.m. on Jan. 2, 2025, rest assured they were at their local Hobby Lobby since that's when Christmas clearance hit 90% off. Naturally we had to see what all of the fuss was about. And here's what we found (artificial trees, ornaments, tree skirts, crafts, wrapping paper, and more).
We did one last Hobby Lobby clearance run on Jan. 6, and here's what was still on shelves:
Plastic Ornament Crafting Set, 24 ct, $0.90 (reg. $8.99)
Ornament Kit, $0.25 (reg. $2.49)
Pickleball Ornament, $0.80 (reg. $7.99)
Wrapping Paper, $1 (reg. $9.99)
Pinecone Bunches, $0.40 (reg. $3.99)
Holiday Cards, 20 ct, $1 (reg. $9.99)
Felt Santa Crafting Kit, $.040 (reg. $3.99)
1. Hobby Lobby Christmas clearance sales start early, with markdowns in mid-December.
Hobby Lobby is notorious for huge Christmas clearance sales that launch early. You can expect 50% off in September. Typically the mid-December sale launch maxes out at around 60%, and that held true in 2024, with 60% off or more running through Dec. 28. Then on Dec. 29 (cue the angels singing), markdowns dropped to 70% off. The much-anticipated 90% off showed up on Jan. 2, 2025, in stores.
That means if you need holiday crafts and decor for the current season, you can start early. If you're stockpiling stuff for next year, wait until after Dec. 25, and ideally until the new year, to save 90%.
2. Shop in January to save up to 90% on Christmas clearance.
Like other stores, Hobby Lobby has a graduated Christmas clearance schedule. That means the sales get better as time goes on.
Right after the new year, all remaining Christmas items in stores are marked down even further — to 90% off. This happened on Jan. 2 in 2025.
3. But the longer you wait, the fewer choices you’ll have.
There's a downside to waiting for the steeper discounts. The longer you wait to shop, the less inventory there will be. If there’s a specific piece of decor you’re hunting for, it might be worth picking it up at a higher price point, as you don’t know if it’ll be there once the 90% off clearance kicks in. If you do wait for 90% clearance, head to the store on the first day. We saw five aisles of Christmas clearance on Jan. 2, 2025, at our store, but that shrunk to a single aisle by Jan. 6.
4. It’s always better to shop Hobby Lobby Christmas clearance in person.
If you’re going to shop Hobby Lobby Christmas clearance, it’s a much better idea to do it in person. Hobby Lobby charges some hefty shipping fees (starting at $7.95) when you shop online, and promo codes for free shipping are hard to come by.
To give you an idea of just how heinous these shipping charges are, here are the first 10 tiers:
Order total of $15 or less: $7.95
$15.01 – $25: $8.95
$25.01 – $35: $9.95
$35.01 – $50: $10.95
$50.01 – $65: $11.95
$65.01 – $80: $12.95
$80.01 – $100: $14.95
$100.10 – $125: $16.95
$125.01 – $150: $19.95
$150.01 – $200: $21.95
And they just keep going up from there.
Related: If free shipping is your jam, we found over 60 stores that always have free shipping offers.
5. Mark your calendar for early Christmas clearance in 2025.
Hobby Lobby holiday clearance starts early. You can actually find holiday items for 40% off starting in mid-July every year and then for 50% off from September through mid-December.
6. Keep it in perspective: Hobby Lobby survives on sale pricing.
Hobby Lobby truly does offer some of the biggest discounts when it comes to Christmas clearance — and it’s meaningful because they run them so early.
But you also have to remember that Hobby Lobby operates off of huge sales. Throughout the year, if you’re not getting at least 30% off your Hobby Lobby purchases, you’re simply not saving as much as you could be.
Because you can score such deep discounts throughout the year, it’s worth noting that base pricing may be affected in order to allow room for such large percentages off. This isn’t incredibly uncommon for craft stores.
7. Hobby Lobby Christmas clearance is better than at Michaels.
When held up to their main competitor — Michaels — Hobby Lobby comes out on top when it comes to Christmas clearance sales.
Michaels waits until Dec. 26 to mark prices down by just 60% off. They don’t catch up to the discounts Hobby Lobby has now been offering for weeks until Dec. 29, when Michaels’ 70% off kicks in.
You won’t find another price decrease at Michaels until around Jan. 19, when prices go to 90% off.
That means the only time frames where Michaels’ sales are the same percentage-off as Hobby Lobby are around Dec. 29 - Dec. 31. Then Hobby Lobby runs away with the lead until Jan. 19 — at which point competitor discounts catch up, but there’s very little inventory left.
Related Reading:
Tell us what you think