socially distanced holiday celebrations

Celebrate the Holiday Season With Animals in Mind

Published by Rebecca Maness.

Whether you’re celebrating safely with family and friends or choosing a socially distanced holiday this year, we can show you how to pull it off with animals in mind. This guide will make it easy to have a cozy holiday celebration that’s safe for everyone (including animals).

Easy Holiday Recipes

It’s hard to deny that the key to any holiday celebration is the food, so why not prepare a delicious feast? If you’re social distancing or just not able to travel to see family, you could host a virtual dinner party to stay in touch with loved ones. You can feel even more connected by asking your virtual attendees to make the same dishes so that you can share a meal together. Here are some easy vegan recipes that are sure to please:

Vegan Mushroom Wellington

vegan mushroom wellington

Roasted Potatoes

The Best Whole Roasted Cauliflower

Classic Potato Pancakes (Latkes)

Vegan Noodle Kugel

vegan noodle kugel

Sufganiyot (Jelly Doughnuts)

Autumn Glow Salad with Lemon Dressing

autumn glow salad

Need more holiday meal inspiration? We have you covered.

Vegan Holiday Cookies

Sweet treats are a holiday essential—whip up a batch for yourself, or make a whole bunch to send to your family and friends. You might be surprised to find out how butter is produced or how eggs are obtained, which is why it’s best to stick with cookie recipes that use only vegan ingredients.

Chocolate-Dipped Holiday Cookies

Classic Holiday Sugar Cookies

frosted vegan sugar cookies in various cut out shapes on a white plate

Vegan Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Iced Gingerbread Cookies

If you’re short on supplies, these vegan cookie recipes use only three ingredients!

Grab a Takeout Holiday Meal

Many restaurants offer special holiday menus for takeout or delivery, or you can just order your favorite dish for a special evening in. Supporting small businesses is even more important than ever in tumultuous economic times, so go ahead and support the ones that make it easy for you to enjoy vegan food year-round.

Chef Chloe Coscarelli x Whole Foods Vegan Meal for 2

Get everything you need for a holiday meal for two, including a Cremini Mushroom Roast, Jalapeño Cornbread Dressing, and Pumpkin Curry Soup. Feel free to add a vegan pumpkin pie for dessert.

whole foods vegan meal

Veggie Grill

This vegan chain is offering a Holiday Feast for four, with butternut squash and sage soup, turkey Wellington with walnut mushroom stuffing, roasted garlic mashed potatoes with porcini mushrooms, green beans with “everything” bagel butter, and cranberry sauce. You can even add a carrot cake tray or chocolate spiced pumpkin cake tray for dessert.

The Butcher’s Son

This Bay Area restaurant ships nationwide and has a holiday menu with an impressive 1-pound Maple Mustard Glazed Crispy Skin Ham, Chicken Pot Pie, Shepherd’s Pie, and other indulgent vegan dishes.

Mama’s Tamales

Tamales are traditionally eaten during the holiday season, so why not order some from the experts? If you’re in the Los Angeles area, put your order in for tamales, pupusas, taco kits, and much more.

Roots Market

If you’re in the Washington, D.C., area, Roots Market has a vegan holiday catering menu with plenty of dishes to choose from, including Herb-Panko Chick’n, Baked Mac & Cheese, Chocolate Swiss Roll Log, and even brunch options for Christmas morning.

Tip: Many restaurants and delivery services that offered to-go and delivery Thanksgiving meals also have December holiday menus.

Get Your Sweet Treats by Mail

Order one of these delectable treats for yourself, or send one to someone you love to let them know you’re thinking of them.

Maya’s Cookies

No Whey! Foods Vegan Chocolate Gelt

Sirabella’s Vegan Cheesecake

Find more sweet treats from these vegan bakeries with nationwide shipping.

Zoom Holiday Backgrounds

Setting a Zoom background is an easy way to spread an animal rights message. It helps spark discussions of the animal issues that are important to you. Pick one of these PETA messages to get the conversation started—preferably over a delicious vegan meal.

PETA winter holiday zoom background


Going vegan is one of the kindest things that you can do for animalsthe environment, and yourself. Inspire someone to go vegan by giving them a free vegan starter kit:

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