Ulta Hours Christmas Your Complete Guide To Shopping Finances And Tips This Holiday Season
Most people show up at Ulta on Christmas Eve expecting a shortened day, then get caught off guard when it's actually closed entirely. I learned that the hard way in 2019. I drove twenty minutes just to find the parking lot empty and the lights off. The doors were locked. I stood there in the cold for a solid minute before walking back to my car. Ulta doesn't follow a uniform corporate holiday calendar across every location. Some stores in high-traffic malls run regular Saturday hours on Christmas Eve, but most standalone locations and those inside shopping centers cut out early or close completely on December 24th. Christmas Day is always a full closure — that's company policy, not a manager's call. So check your specific store online before you bother driving anywhere. I use the Ulta app and pull up the exact store page for the one I'm shopping at. It lists current hours, including any modified holiday schedules. It's not always perfect — I've seen one store in my area post 10 PM closing on Christmas Eve last year when other locations in the same shopping center closed at 4 PM — but it's better than guessing. Call the store directly if the hours look weird. Store managers update their listings sporadically.
How to actually save money during the holiday rush
The biggest mistake people make at Ulta during the holidays is buying the wrong things because they're panicked about running out of gifts. You can spend real money on stuff nobody wants. Instead, focus on what the rewards program actually lets you do. Ulta's Points Per Dollar system gives you one point for every dollar spent, and you redeem in 100-point increments. That means spending $100 gets you $3.50 off your next purchase, which sounds small until you stack it with the offers they run all November. The three-tier structure is designed to make you spend more to unlock higher redemption levels. I don't recommend pushing yourself up a tier just for a holiday deal. It never works out. Here's the part most people miss: the Ulta credit card gives you five points per dollar on all purchases, not just beauty products. If you're going to shop at Ulta anyway during the holidays, running your purchases through the credit card instead of a regular debit or cash payment can add up to significant rewards over a season. I tracked my Ulta spending during the 2023 holiday season and pulled out roughly $47 in redeemable points just from the credit card multiplier. That was on about $340 in actual purchases, so the math checks out.
Timing your visits to avoid the worst crowds
Ulta gets packed between Black Friday and Christmas, obviously. But the crowd patterns aren't what you'd expect. Tuesday mornings between December 10th and 20th are dead. Wednesday afternoons are the second quietest window. The weekends, especially the Saturday before Christmas, are chaos. You'll be waiting ten minutes just to get through the door at some locations. Online ordering for in-store pickup is worth setting up if you know exactly what you're buying. I used this strategy last year when I needed three specific fragrance sets as gifts. I ordered everything on a Sunday evening, picked it up Wednesday morning, and was in and out in eight minutes. The store had exactly what I needed on the shelf — the items were held at the front counter.
Get the Full Details
Common pitfalls that cost people money
One thing I see repeat customers fall for is the bundled gift sets. They look like deals on the surface, but they often include full-sized products at the same price you'd pay individually, plus extra travel sizes that sit in your bathroom drawer forever. I did the math on a popular holiday fragrance set last year — the individual items in the bundle cost the same as buying them separately during a standard sale. You're essentially paying for packaging and a ribbon. Another trap is the limited-time offers that require a minimum spend. Those usually push people into buying something unnecessary to unlock a discount on something they actually wanted. I've caught myself doing this at least twice in the past three years. It doesn't save money. It just makes you feel like you saved money while actually spending more. If you're buying for someone who has specific preferences, stick to gift cards instead of guessing. Ulta gift cards don't expire and they don't come with fees. That's rare these days. You can load any amount onto them, which makes budgeting simpler. I keep a handful of $25 gift cards on hand every holiday season specifically for people where I know the brand but not the exact product they'd prefer.
A note about stock issues during peak season
Popular items sell out months before they hit the shelves in December. The early holiday beauty drops from brands like Fenty, Rare Beauty, and Drunk Elephant disappear fast. If you have something specific in mind, check the Ulta app's inventory tracker at your local store starting mid-November. Items marked as low stock will show a count, and once it hits zero, that's usually game over for that location. I ran into this exact problem last holiday season trying to pick up a specific lip kit set. The app showed two in stock at my store. I went Tuesday afternoon, and when I got to the shelf, there was literally one left and someone was already reaching for it. I ended up switching to a different color variant and ordering the original one for pickup at a store thirty miles away. It took an extra day, but it worked. Don't be afraid to split a single order across two nearby locations if it means you don't end up empty-handed.
