By Linda Garrould. Last updated 31 August 2026.
If you do your big Christmas food shop online, the most valuable date in the calendar is the day your supermarket opens its Christmas delivery slots. The evening slots on 23 and 24 December can disappear within hours, and booking opens earlier than most people expect — from late September. Tesco has already confirmed its 2026 dates: Delivery Saver members can book from 3 November and all other customers from 5 November. The other supermarkets announce through late September and October, and this page is updated within days of each one. One thing that will not wait: Waitrose asks you to hold a Delivery Pass by 31 August to get early access to its Christmas slots.
Below: the confirmed 2026 dates as they land, what each supermarket did last season as a guide to when to expect them, how to book, and how to get a Christmas Eve slot when the good ones go in hours.
Confirmed 2026 dates, and what we are watching for
We check every Monday through September, October and November and update this page as each supermarket announces. Only Tesco’s dates are confirmed. Every other date below is drawn from what that supermarket did in 2025, not from anything it has said about 2026 — treat those as a diary prompt, not a promise. Note too that pass-holder access and general booking are genuinely different dates: diarising the wrong one is how people find the Christmas Eve slots gone.
| Supermarket | Christmas 2026 | Pass holders | Everyone else |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tesco | Confirmed | 3 November 2026 | 5 November 2026 |
| Ocado | Not yet announced | Late September | Staggered, after pass holders |
| M&S Food to Order | Not yet announced | No pass scheme | Late September |
| Waitrose | Brochure 23 Sept confirmed; slot date not yet announced | Late September | Around a week later |
| Morrisons | Not yet announced | Early October | Around nine days later |
| Asda | Not yet announced | Mid-October | Around five days later |
| Sainsbury’s | Not yet announced | Mid-October | A week after that |
The one deadline that falls in the summer. Waitrose gives early Christmas access only to customers holding an active Delivery Pass bought before 1 September in the same year — so for Christmas 2026 that means bought on or before 31 August 2026. Waitrose puts it more plainly on its own Christmas page: “Sign up for a Delivery Pass by 31 August to get first dibs” (Waitrose Christmas, and the standing rule is set out on the Delivery Pass help page). Ocado ran a comparable cut-off in 2025, worded as passes bought on or before 1 September — a day more generous than Waitrose’s, in 2025 at least — but it has not restated the rule for 2026. If you are reading this in September or later, the Waitrose door has closed for this year and you will be booking alongside everyone else; the section on bagging a Christmas Eve slot is where to start.
What happened last season: the pattern to plan around
Until each supermarket confirms its 2026 dates, last season’s are the best guide to which week to start watching. These are the 2025 dates. They are not this year’s and should not be relied on as such.
| Supermarket | Pass holders booked from | Everyone else | Delivery dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ocado (delivers M&S) | 23 September 2025 | Staggered release after | 20–24 December |
| M&S (Food to Order) | No pass scheme | 23 September 2025 | Collection 22–24 December (disputed) |
| Waitrose | 24 September 2025 | 1 October 2025 (reported) | 20–24 December |
| Morrisons | 1 October 2025 | 10 October 2025 (reported) | 20–24 December |
| Asda | Mid-October 2025 | 20 October 2025 (reported) | 21–23 December (reported) |
| Sainsbury’s | 16 October 2025 | 23 October 2025 | 18–24 December |
| Tesco | 4 November 2025, 6am | 11 November 2025, 6am | 20–24 December |
The shape of the season is consistent. Ocado and Waitrose open earliest, but in late September only for pass holders; M&S Food to Order is the first thing anyone can book without a pass. Morrisons, Asda and Sainsbury’s follow through October, and Tesco comes last, in early November.
A paid delivery plan buys you a head start, but not a uniform one. In 2025 it ran from roughly five days at Asda to nine at Morrisons, though both of those general-release dates come from press reports rather than from the supermarkets themselves. Tesco has narrowed its own head start to two days for 2026, and at Ocado there was never an announced general date to measure against. Whether the others follow Tesco in shortening the gap is not yet known.
Tesco Christmas delivery slots
When booking opens: Tesco is the one supermarket to have confirmed its 2026 dates. Anytime Delivery Saver customers can book any slot from 3 November 2026, and Click+Collect Delivery Saver customers can book a collection slot from the same date. All other customers can book a delivery or Click+Collect slot from 5 November 2026 (Tesco Christmas Shop). The head start is only two days this year; in 2025 it was a full week, with Delivery Saver booking from 6am on 4 November and everyone else from 6am on 11 November.
How to book: sign in to your Tesco account before the day so your address and payment details are ready, then book from the Christmas slots page the moment it opens. Tesco went live at 6am in 2025 but has not published an opening time for 2026. If you want the Delivery Saver head start, the plan needs to be active before booking opens. Tesco has not published a 2026 sign-up cut-off; in 2025 it asked customers to have signed up by the day before, so treat 2 November 2026 as the safe deadline.
Festive Food to Order: Tesco’s centrepieces and party food book separately from your grocery slot. For 2026, the checkout deadline is 11.45pm on 14 December and orders are delivered or ready to collect between 20 and 24 December. Last season everything else could be amended until 11.45pm the day before delivery.
Sainsbury’s Christmas delivery slots
When booking opens: Sainsbury’s has not yet announced its 2026 dates; expect them in mid to late October. Last season, Delivery Pass holders booked from 16 October 2025 and everyone else from 23 October 2025, with delivery dates running from 18 to 24 December — the earliest start of any of the big supermarkets, which is useful if you would rather not have the whole shop arrive in Christmas week.
How to book: book through Groceries at sainsburys.co.uk or the app. Only a Delivery Pass gets you the early week, and passes come in more than one tier — Anytime and Midweek in 2025 — so check what each covers over Christmas before you buy. In 2025 orders could be amended until 11pm the day before delivery, so the sensible order of operations is to secure the slot first and refine the basket later.
Asda Christmas delivery slots
When booking opens: Asda has not yet announced its 2026 dates; mid-October is the pattern. Asda issued no announcement of its own for 2025, so last season’s dates come from press coverage rather than from Asda: Delivery Pass customers booked in the middle of October — sources differ on whether it was the 14th or the 15th — and all other customers from around 20 October 2025.
Christmas Eve, with a caveat: Asda’s 2025 festive window was reported as 21 to 23 December, the tightest of the big supermarkets and shorter than the 20 to 24 December range it ran in 2024. If a Christmas Eve delivery is essential to you, check Asda’s own published dates for 2026 before ruling it in or out — the two figures we have for last season disagree, and neither came from Asda.
How to book: slots cover both home delivery and Click & Collect. In 2025 orders could be amended until 11pm the night before, with Food to Order items, including centrepieces, on a separate mid-December cut-off.
Waitrose Christmas delivery slots
When booking opens: Waitrose has not put a date on slot booking for 2026, but it has confirmed two things that bracket it: its 2026 Christmas brochure launches on 23 September, and Christmas food goes on sale from 21 September (Waitrose). Booking has opened alongside the brochure in past years, so late September is the week to watch. Delivery Pass holders booked from 24 September 2025, and general booking is reported to have opened on 1 October 2025, though that rests on a single source and Waitrose did not announce it. Delivery ran between 20 and 24 December.
The catch worth knowing now: Waitrose’s early access goes only to customers whose Delivery Pass was bought before 1 September of the same year, and the pass has to be active. This is Waitrose’s standing published rule rather than a one-off, which makes it the rare Christmas deadline that falls in the summer. Waitrose also caps how many slots you can book over the Christmas period; it confirms a cap exists but tells pass holders the number, and the dates their early access covers, closer to the time rather than publishing it in advance.
How to book: book through waitrose.com or the app. Food Made to Order — the ordered-in-advance centrepieces and puddings — runs on its own earlier deadline, mid-December last season, so diarise that separately from your grocery slot.
Ocado Christmas delivery slots
When booking opens: not yet announced for 2026. Ocado opened earliest of all the supermarkets in 2025, and its late-September date is the earliest we would expect again: Smart Pass members booked from 23 September 2025, with remaining slots released to everyone else in stages after that rather than on a single announced date. Delivery ran from 20 to 24 December.
How to book: Ocado’s help pages still carry last season’s wording, and two of its rules matter more than the dates. In 2025 you could book a maximum of two deliveries in Christmas week (20 to 24 December), with only one of those falling on 23 or 24 December. And orders could be amended only until 11.30pm two days before delivery — a day tighter than most rivals, so do not leave the brandy butter to the last minute. Expect the same shape for 2026, but check before you plan around it.
Two things to check rather than assume. In 2025, early access went to Smart Pass customers who had signed up on or before 1 September 2025; Ocado has not restated that rule for 2026. And Ocado’s Christmas-week deliveries were reported last season to carry a higher spend threshold than its usual one, though the reports disagree on whether that was a basket minimum or the point at which delivery became free. Check the current figure on Ocado’s own site before you count on the slot.
M&S Christmas delivery slots and Food to Order
The thing to understand first: Marks & Spencer does not run its own home grocery delivery. If you want M&S food delivered, you order it through Ocado and book an Ocado slot. What M&S runs in its own right is Christmas Food to Order — the turkey, the party food, the desserts — and that is collection only, from your local store. The two book entirely separately, which catches people out every year.
When booking opens: not yet announced for 2026. Food to Order opened on 23 September 2025, which makes it the first thing anyone can book without holding a pass anywhere. Two sources dated to the 2025 season give the collection window as 22 to 24 December; one gives 21 to 24 December, which is M&S’s 2024 range and may be a carry-over, so treat the first collection day as unconfirmed. One source adds that collection in Northern Ireland began on 23 December.
How to book: book through the M&S Christmas Food to Order site, choosing your store and collection slot. In 2025 you paid £50 at the time of booking with the balance due on collection; M&S has not confirmed the arrangement for 2026. Decide early which route you want — delivered via Ocado in late September, or collected via Food to Order — because the good collection slots go the same way the delivery ones do.
Morrisons Christmas delivery slots
When booking opens: not yet announced for 2026, but early October is the pattern: Morrisons moved from 18 October in 2023 to 2 October in 2024 and 1 October in 2025, and has held roughly there since. Last season Delivery Pass holders booked from 1 October 2025 for delivery between 20 and 24 December, with a minimum spend of £25 (Morrisons). Morrisons did not announce a general-release date for 2025; it was reported at the time as 10 October, but Morrisons itself never confirmed one.
How to book: book through groceries.morrisons.com or the app. Morrisons has not published a festive amendment cut-off, so take the deadline from your order confirmation.
Co-op and Iceland: no Christmas release at all
Worth knowing if you are hunting for a slot and cannot find one: Co-op and Iceland do not run a special Christmas booking window. Their slots appear on the normal rolling schedule — around five days ahead — so there is no date to diarise and nothing to book in October. If the big supermarkets have sold out, these two are worth a look in the week itself, precisely because nobody has been able to block-book them since September.
Is a delivery pass worth it just for Christmas?
Not on its own, no. A pass is the most reliable way to get a Christmas Eve slot, because pass holders book first — by two days at Tesco this year, and by five to nine days across the other supermarkets last season — and the best evening slots often go inside that window. But you are buying a monthly or annual subscription to solve a one-day problem, and the sums rarely work unless you shop online regularly anyway.
The test is simple: if you already order groceries online most weeks, a pass probably pays for itself in saved delivery charges and the Christmas head start is a bonus. If you shop in store and only want one delivery a year, you will do better setting a good reminder and being at the keyboard when general booking opens. The schemes are Tesco Delivery Saver, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose Delivery Pass, and Ocado Smart Pass. Prices and tiers change from season to season, so check the current rates on the supermarket’s own site rather than any figure you read in a guide, this one included.
One thing worth acting on regardless: Waitrose requires the pass to have been bought before 1 September to qualify for early access, and Ocado ran a comparable cut-off in 2025. That deadline arrives long before anyone is thinking about Christmas, which is rather the point.
How to bag a Christmas Eve slot
Put the opening date in your diary with a reminder a day or two beforehand, and make sure it is the right one — pass-holder access and general access are different dates at every supermarket that runs a pass. Sign in to your account in advance so your address and payment details are already saved; the slot will go in the two minutes you spend typing a card number.
Be online when booking opens. Booking has tended to open early in the morning; Tesco went live at 6am in 2025. Have a rough basket ready, because supermarkets generally hold a slot only briefly and ask for a minimum spend to confirm it, so you may need to add items quickly. You can usually amend the order later — often until the night before, though Ocado cuts off two days out — so the sensible move is to secure the slot with a placeholder shop and refine it in December. If the evening slot you wanted has gone, look at daytime slots on 23 and 24 December.
Booking a delivery between Christmas and New Year
The quiet top-up shop between Christmas and New Year is the one everybody forgets. Those dates — 28 to 31 December — sit outside the special Christmas release. They appear instead on each supermarket’s normal rolling booking window, which opens a set number of days ahead and varies by retailer, so 28 December becomes bookable before 31 December does.
That means you cannot book the week in one go. Check your supermarket’s booking page through December and take each date as it appears. It is a far easier win than the Christmas Eve scramble, and it is the difference between a calm few days and a trip to a very crowded shop on 29 December.
What if all the slots have gone?
Sold out is rarely final. Slots are released in batches rather than all at once, and people cancel constantly as plans change, so it is worth checking back in the days before Christmas — and worth checking at different times of day rather than always in the evening.
Click & Collect is often the better bet when home delivery is full, and it is frequently cheaper. Co-op and Iceland, as above, never block-book their Christmas slots at all, so they are worth trying in the week itself. And there is no shame in the oldest plan there is: a big in-store shop earlier in the week for everything that keeps, leaving only the fresh things for the day itself.
Frequently asked questions
When do Tesco Christmas slots open?
For Christmas 2026, Tesco Anytime Delivery Saver customers can book any slot from 3 November 2026, and Click+Collect Delivery Saver customers can book a collection slot from the same date. All other customers can book from 5 November 2026. That is confirmed by Tesco. In 2025 the equivalent dates were 4 November and 11 November, both at 6am, so the head start for Delivery Saver members has narrowed from a week to two days.
How do I book a Tesco Christmas delivery slot?
Sign in to your Tesco account before booking opens so your address and payment details are saved, then book from Tesco’s Christmas slots page on the opening date. If you want the Delivery Saver head start, the plan needs to be active before booking opens on 3 November 2026 — Tesco has not published a 2026 sign-up cut-off, but in 2025 it asked customers to have signed up by the day before, so treat 2 November as the safe deadline. Festive Food to Order is booked separately from your grocery slot, with a checkout deadline of 11.45pm on 14 December 2026.
When do Ocado Christmas slots open?
Ocado has not announced its 2026 date yet. Late September is when it opened in 2025, earlier than any other supermarket. Smart Pass members booked from 23 September that year, and the remaining slots were released to everyone else in stages after that, with no single announced date.
When do Waitrose Christmas slots open?
Waitrose has not announced a slot-booking date for 2026, but has confirmed its 2026 Christmas brochure launches on 23 September, with Christmas food on sale from 21 September — so expect booking in late September. In 2025, Delivery Pass holders booked from 24 September, and general booking was reported to have opened on 1 October. Waitrose gives early access only to customers whose Delivery Pass was bought before 1 September of the same year.
When do supermarket Christmas delivery slots open?
They open in a predictable order across the autumn. Ocado and Waitrose go first in late September, though initially only for pass holders, and M&S Food to Order opens to everyone at about the same time. Morrisons, Asda and Sainsbury’s follow through October, and Tesco is last, in early November. Tesco has confirmed 3 and 5 November for 2026; the rest have not announced yet, and this page is updated as they do.
Which supermarket opens its Christmas slots earliest?
Ocado opened earliest in 2025, though in late September its slots were open to Smart Pass members only. M&S Food to Order, which opened on the same day, is the earliest thing anyone can book without holding a pass. Tesco is consistently the last of the major supermarkets, opening in early November.
Do I need a delivery pass to get a Christmas slot?
No, but it helps a great deal. Pass holders book first — by two days at Tesco this year, and by five to nine days across the other supermarkets last season — and that window is often when the Christmas Eve and 23 December evening slots go. Whether it is worth buying is a separate question: a pass makes sense if you shop online regularly anyway, and rarely if you only want one delivery a year.
Can I still get a delivery on Christmas Eve?
Yes, if you book early. Christmas Eve and 23 December evening slots are the first to go, so book the moment your supermarket opens. One caveat: Asda’s festive window was reported as ending on 23 December last season, so Christmas Eve delivery may not be offered there — check its 2026 dates when they land. If the slots have gone, try a daytime slot, Click & Collect, or check back for cancellations.
How do I get a slot between Christmas and New Year?
Those dates sit outside the special Christmas release and appear on each supermarket’s normal rolling booking window, which opens a set number of days ahead and varies by retailer — so 28 December becomes bookable before 31 December does. Check your supermarket’s booking page through December and take each date as it appears, rather than waiting to book the whole week in one go.
Related reading
- September Christmas to-do list
- October Christmas to-do list
- November Christmas to-do list
- Christmas planning: month-by-month to-do lists
Written by Linda Garrould for Christmas Countdown. We check this page every Monday from September to November and update it as each supermarket confirms its dates. Sources: Tesco, Waitrose, Morrisons, MoneySavingExpert, Which?, NationalWorld. © ChristmasCountdown.co.uk, a division of Garrould Ltd.