Recording sessions took place in the summer months of 2017; several of the tracks' titles leaked in August, leaving Stefani to confirm the project in September.

A deluxe edition of the album was distributed in October 2018 and features two previously unreleased songs and three new covers, including a duet of "Feliz Navidad" with Chilean singer Mon Laferte.

[2] During the summer months of 2017, Stefani vacationed at Blake Shelton's Oklahoma farm estate where she spent time doing exercise, meditation, and praying.

She cited this nature walk as the main source of inspiration for deciding to record a Christmas album and eventually inquiring with Interscope to begin production.

She also aimed for You Make It Feel Like Christmas to have a throwback vibe, taking influence from the American girl group the Ronettes and Phil Spector's Wall of Sound music formula.

Stefani sings "with an upbeat tone against a horn section" which Allan Raible, from ABC News, considered reminiscent of her ska punk days with No Doubt.

[25] A version of the CD exclusive to Target Corporation stores was released the same day and houses the disc inside a hardcover book containing 24 pages of artwork and song lyrics pertaining to the album.

[29] The new version of the album was released on October 26, 2018, and included two original songs – "Cheer for the Elves" and "Secret Santa" – both written by Stefani, Tranter, and Busbee.

[30] The deluxe edition also contains three additional covers of Christmas standards, including "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", "Winter Wonderland", and "Feliz Navidad".

[32] A limited edition deluxe version of You Make It Feel Like Christmas was distributed Target stores, containing a foldout holiday-themed poster of Stefani within the album's liner notes.

John Fleckenstein, head of RCA Records, claimed that artists, including Stefani, were more likely to endure higher success with a Christmas album if a physical edition of the record was distributed to nationwide stores such as Target and Walmart by this time period in October: "Christmas albums tend to be multigenerational, and thus, they skew very heavily on the physical side.

"[35] Following the initial release of You Make It Feel Like Christmas, Stefani partnered with American culinary retailer Williams Sonoma to promote the album.

Stefani also recorded a Christmas-themed cooking demo with Italian-born American chef Giada De Laurentiis for Facebook Live that would later be displayed on Williams-Sonoma's official website.

[38] After the distribution of the deluxe edition of You Make It Feel Like Christmas in November 2018, Stefani teamed up with American manufacturer Yankee Candle.

[39][40] On September 21, 2017, Stefani announced that the album's title track would be released as the lead single to coincide with the availability to pre-order You Make It Feel Like Christmas.

[44] On November 1 of the same year, a lyric video featuring images of the artwork used in the album's liner notes was uploaded to Stefani's official Vevo page.

[58] "Here This Christmas", penned by Brent Kutzle, Josh Varnadore, and Ryan Tedder, became the fourth single and was released to American radio station for contemporary hit airplay on October 23, 2020.

[60] Wearing a sleeveless white gown and feather boa, she sang "When I Was a Little Girl", "Santa Baby", and "Christmas Eve" from the album.

[10] During the 2017 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 23, Stefani served as a featured performer and selected to sing her cover of "White Christmas" to the crowd.

At this event, she wore a "Swarovski-crystal beaded Yousef AlJasmi mini [gown] with a sparkling headpiece, matching Jimmy Choo pumps, and diamond earrings".

Time's Raisa Bruner included the release on her list of the 12 best holiday-themed albums unveiled in 2017, writing that Stefani adds her "recognizable warm vocals and bouncy production [to] the songs you know and love".

He liked Stefani's collaboration with Shelton and enjoyed her "effervescent spirit" and "fresh spins" on her covers of "Jingle Bells", "Let It Snow", and "Silent Night".

He enjoyed that the record featured a variety of new material, but claimed that the inclusion of "When I Was a Little Girl", "My Gift Is You", and "Never Kissed Anyone with Blue Eyes Before You" was unusual because the tracks "do [not] feel strictly seasonal"; however, Erlewine insisted that "the moments that work have a coquettish charm that is appealing, which is reason enough to warrant a listen".

[77] David Smyth, a writer for London's Evening Standard, likened Stefani's covers of "Last Christmas", "Let It Snow", and "Santa Baby".

[78] Slant Magazine's Cinquemani found Stefani's holiday album to lean towards the "traditional Yuletide fare" rather than the "more contemporary sound" as heard by musicians in recent years.

[79] Variety's Chris Willman was more critical of Stefani's effort, disliking that she chose to contain "generic big band arrangements" rather than making them more stylistically diverse.

In regards to the original material, he called it “more personal", described "Never Kissed Anyone with Blue Eyes Before You" as "slightly interesting", and used the title track as evidence that Shelton and Stefani should keep "their careers separate".

[83][84] Despite this, the record was Stefani's second lowest-charting entry as a solo artist, succeeding 2016's This Is What the Truth Feels Like which topped the Billboard 200 and had reported first-week sales of 76,000 copies.

[102] Following the deluxe edition of You Make It Feel Like Christmas being released in October 2018, the five new tracks on the album also entered the United States' Holiday Digital Song Sales chart compiled by Billboard.

Stefani's covers of "Winter Wonderland" and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" debuted at positions 31 and 38, respectively, while her duet of "Feliz Navidad" with Laferte reached number 34 on the chart.