Hilary Duff Returns to Holiday Music With New EP Holiday Things

Hilary Duff releases her holiday EP Holiday Things this Friday, twenty-four years after her Christmas album Santa Claus Lane first arrived in October 2002.

The EP contains five tracks. Three are originals: "I Guess it's Christmas," "All You Want for Christmas Is Me," and "I Want (A Few Small Things)." Duff also re-recorded George Michael's "Last Christmas," a song she originally covered on Santa Claus Lane, now titled "Last Christmas (Mine)." The EP closes with "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

How did Duff announce the EP?

Duff teased the project last week on Instagram, where she posted the cover of Santa Claus Lane. "Today Santa Claus Lane turns 24, and it has me reminiscing on all the fun we've had around the holidays together over the years," she wrote. "Let's do it again this year?"

The post reframed a nostalgia item as a live announcement, and it worked on that register: the album cover became the pivot between a 2002 release and a 2026 one.

What does this change for Duff's year?

The EP caps an unusually active stretch for the singer. Earlier this month she released "CATastrophe," a track on The Cat in the Hat soundtrack. She returned to music this year with the album Luck…or Something, her first record in more than a decade, recorded with her husband and collaborator Matthew Koma.

She has been touring behind that album and recently announced 2027 North American tour dates. In December, she plays Jingle Ball 2026, where the new holiday material could feature in her set.

Speaking to Rolling Stone earlier this year, Duff described the connection she aims for with listeners: "I do feel like one of my magic tricks is being able to connect with people. To be able to reach them and relate to them, and them feel close to me."

Holiday Things track list

• I Guess it's Christmas
• All You Want for Christmas is Me
• Last Christmas (Mine)
• I Want (a few small things)
• Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

The release reunites Duff with the holiday format that marked her early recording career, and the Jingle Ball date in December gives the new songs their first natural stage.