Home for the Holidays – Bringing the Spirit of Christmas Online
Project Overview
At WeGo, we are delighted to share our long-running partnership with Home for the Holidays (homefortheholidays.ca), a beloved annual Christmas show curated and hosted by Debra Grose. Our involvement began in 2014, with support for content maintenance on an aging HTML site built by a previous developer. Over time, it became clear that the site’s limitations were holding the show back — and in 2022, we undertook a complete redesign that transformed it into a modern, high-performing platform worthy of the event it represents.
Client Collaboration
Debra is a hands-on, detail-oriented client who personally curates every vendor featured at her show. That same care and intentionality carry through to the website. Our collaboration is further enriched by the photography services we provide at the event itself — giving us a front-row seat to how the show operates, how vendors present themselves, and what visitors respond to. That ground-level perspective directly informs the decisions we make on the site.
Design and Development
The 2022 redesign was built on our WordPress technology stack and introduced several features that elevated the site from a basic information page to a fully functional event platform. A standout addition was an exhibitor section powered by custom post types — essentially a special kind of page that allows us to create and manage individual vendor profiles consistently and efficiently. Each profile includes a featured image, a company bio, and links to the vendor’s website and social media channels, giving Debra a structured way to showcase the variety and quality of her curated vendor lineup.
We also implemented contact forms for visitor draws and prize entries, and created a streamlined application process that lets prospective vendors apply to participate in the show with ease. The design carries Debra’s brand throughout — Christmas-forward, rich in greens and reds, and unmistakably festive from the first click.
Challenges and Solutions
Managing the original HTML site was tedious and inflexible. Every update required manual code edits, and there was no scalable way to handle the growing number of exhibitors or the interactive features the show needed. The redesign solved this comprehensively — replacing a labour-intensive legacy site with a content management system that Debra’s team can work with confidently, and that grows with the show year after year.
Results and Impact
The traffic numbers tell a compelling story. Before the redesign, the site was already drawing a respectable audience. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the 2020 show to go virtual — with visitors directed to purchase through Facebook Marketplace rather than attend in person — traffic understandably dipped. The 2021 in-person return brought visitors back, but it was the 2022 redesign that truly unlocked the site’s potential:
- November 2019: 10,677 visits
- November 2020: 3,410 visits (virtual show — visitors directed to Facebook Marketplace)
- November 2021: 2,303 visits (in-person return)
- November 2022: 29,932 visits (launch of the redesigned site)
- November 2023: 26,731 visits
- November 2024: 31,071 visits
- November 2025: 42,367 visits
And it doesn’t stop in November. Throughout the rest of the year, the site consistently draws between 7,000 and 15,000 visits per month — a strong reminder that even a single annual event benefits enormously from a website with clear, regularly updated content. Visitors plan ahead, vendors research the show, and purchasing decisions are influenced well outside of event week.
Reflecting Agency Excellence
Our decade-plus relationship with Home for the Holidays exemplifies what sustained, thoughtful web stewardship can achieve. From rescuing a static HTML site to building a platform that now attracts over 42,000 visitors in a single month, this project demonstrates that consistent investment in a website — even for a once-a-year event — pays dividends that compound over time.