The Anaheim Holiday Countdown: Exactly When to Book Botox, Filler, a Peel and a Laser

When do I need to book each treatment before Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year's Eve?

Count backward from the date, not forward from today. Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26, Christmas is Friday, December 25, and New Year's Eve is Thursday, December 31. Office and family parties cluster between December 4 and 19; for those, count back from your own date the same way (a December 12 party means Botox November 21 to 28). Every treatment has a settle curve, and the book-by dates below put the peak of that curve on your date.

Book-by dates put the peak of each treatment on the event with a few days of margin. Individual response varies; if you are past a date, call and we will tell you honestly what is still worth doing.

Why two to three weeks for Botox, and not “the week before”?

Because Botox is not instant. Most people notice the first change in 3 to 7 days and reach full effect around day 10 to 14. Book it two to three weeks out and you arrive at the peak, with a few days of slack in case a brow needs a unit or two of balancing. That is the arithmetic behind every window on our Botox, Dysport and Daxxify page and in the table above: Thanksgiving means booking by November 10, and Christmas and New Year's Eve both mean booking by December 10, since a December 10 visit is at full effect by Christmas Eve and still at peak on New Year's Eve. A December 12 party means November 21 to 28.

One visit in the second half of November happens to cover the whole December stretch. Botox typically lasts 3 to 4 months, so treatment around November 20 to 28 is at full effect for the party season and still working on New Year's Eve. Dysport behaves the same way for planning purposes; it tends to start slightly sooner. Pricing is per unit, $12.95 for Botox and $4.25 for Dysport, and the units differ, so compare totals rather than unit prices. If you are not sure how many units your areas take, our area-by-area Botox dosing guide walks through the typical ranges.

Can one Daxxify visit in October cover Thanksgiving through Valentine's Day?

On the trial numbers, yes. In its phase 3 SAKURA trials, Daxxify began working in about 1 to 2 days and lasted a median of roughly six months, versus 3 to 4 months for Botox. A visit between October 12 and 16 would be at full effect well before Thanksgiving, still working through December, and would reach Valentine's Day on February 14 at about four months, inside that median. It is $6.50 per unit, and about two Daxxify units do the work of one Botox unit, so the per-treatment total is comparable.

The honest footnote: a median is the midpoint, which means half of trial patients got less than six months. Some people get four. If you have never had Daxxify, we would rather you try it before an event you care about than at it. Our plain-English Daxxify explainer covers how it differs from Botox and who it suits.

How far ahead should filler be done?

Two to four weeks for an area you have treated before, four to six weeks if it is your first filler or a new area. Swelling and any pinpoint bruising typically peak in the first 24 to 72 hours and mostly settle within two weeks. Cheeks, chin and jawline calm down fastest; lips swell the most and take the longest, which is why the filler deadline in the table sits three weeks out: lips need it, and the other areas get a margin. For Thanksgiving that means booking by early November: November 5 for an area you have had filled before, lips included, and October 29if you are new to filler. For Christmas the dates are December 4 and November 27; for New Year's Eve, December 10 and December 3.

The reason first-timers get the longer window is not swelling. It is the touch-up. A first result sometimes wants half a syringe more on one side once everything has settled, and you need two clean weeks after that second visit too. All of our dermal fillers are hyaluronic acid and priced per syringe: Juvéderm Ultra XC and Ultra Plus XC $695, Volbella XC and Vollure XC $795, all RHA fillers $795, Voluma XC $925, Volux XC $950.

When do a peel, a laser, or RF microneedling need to be finished by?

Two weeks for a Vi Peel, three to four weeks for PicoWay Resolve or Secret RF, and never inside the last week for any of them. The rule is simple: nothing that peels, flakes or reddens should still be doing it at the party.

• Vi Peel ($375–$425): at least two weeks out. Expect roughly seven days of light peeling. Two weeks means the flaking is finished and the glow has arrived. Purify is $375, Advanced $400, Precision Plus Peptides $425.
• PicoWay Resolve laser facial: three to four weeks out. The outer skin stays intact, so downtime is brief redness rather than peeling, but the tone and texture change builds over the following weeks. Our laser skin resurfacing page covers what it treats and how a series is spaced.
• Secret RF microneedling: three to four weeks out. Expect redness for the first several hours and possible light flaking or pinpoint scabbing for up to a week, with no makeup for 24 hours. The collagen response keeps building for weeks after that, which is the part you actually want at the event.
• Facial or DiamondGlow ($150–$250): one to three days before. This is the finishing step, not the plan. DiamondGlow is $215 and our facial menu runs $150 to $250; both leave the skin exfoliated, hydrated and ready for makeup with no downtime.

What order should I do them in if I want more than one?

Laser or peel first, filler second, Botox last, facial the week of. Skin treatments need the longest runway, and you do not want a laser or a peel working over freshly placed filler. Filler goes next so it has time to settle and be assessed. Botox goes last because it needs the least time, and its peak is what you are timing the whole thing to.

Written out for Thanksgiving, that is a Vi Peel or PicoWay by October 29, filler by November 5, Botox by November 10, and a DiamondGlow on November 23 to 25. If you have had both before, Botox and filler in the same visit is fine and common; we place the filler first, then the Botox. If either is new to you, we split them two weeks apart so you can judge each result on its own.

Financing available through Cherry and CareCredit — split your treatment into flexible monthly payments. Learn more →

What about a fall wedding, as a guest or the mother of the bride?

Same clock, earlier calendar. According to The Knot's Real Weddings Study, published in February 2025, October is the single most popular wedding month in the country at 17 percent of ceremonies, and fall has been the busiest season for a decade. Locally, that tends to mean the late-September and October Saturdays fill first, and the mother of the bride is usually planning around photographs, not just a party.

For an October 24 wedding: filler by September 26 (or September 12 if it is your first), a peel or laser by October 3, Botox October 3 to 10, a facial October 21 to 23. For a mother of the bride, we are conservative on purpose: the goal is to look rested in every photo, not different. Skip anything new inside the last month.

What should I not do the week of the event?

Nothing new. The last seven days are for things that cannot go wrong.

• No new filler. A bruise, when one happens, can take the better part of two weeks to fade, and swelling can look like a result before it looks like a problem.
• No peel, no laser, no microneedling. Flaking and redness do not care about your calendar.
• No waxing or threading over treated areas, and no facial massage on fresh filler for the first two weeks.
• No first-time products. A new retinol or acid is how you get an unexplained flush in the photographs.
• Go easy on alcohol, and skip ibuprofen, aspirin and fish oil for a few days before any injection you do have scheduled; they all raise the odds of bruising. Ask your physician before pausing anything prescribed.

What you can do that week: a facial, a DiamondGlow, sunscreen, and sleep. If you missed a window, call us at (714) 533-4777 and say the date. We have been placing Botox in Anaheim since 2002, and we would rather tell you what is realistic than book you for something that will not be ready.

Holiday Botox and filler timing FAQ