With Christmas eve only a few short weeks away, I thought it would be fitting to write about a family tradition that I like to do with my children each year. The Christmas eve box has started to become more and more popular over the years and I could never understand why until I tried it myself. I mean why go out and purposely spend more money than you need to at Xmas time right?
Why I love the Christmas eve box idea!
Once I decided to give it a go and see what all the fuss was about, I didn’t look back! The excitement on Christmas eve is magnified with this box and I couldn’t believe the magical presence it brings to our household each year. Not only does it unleash a magic you could only dream about, it also encourages bonding and a perfect family day at home.
What You Will Need
- A box (You can use a smaller box for each child or one big box like we do)
- Santa Stocking/s
- A Xmas craft/ activity for each child in the family
- A baking activity for each child ( We like to use cupcake mix and decorate them with Chrismassy colours)
- Xmas pj’s ( My kids are always in need of new summer pj’s by the time Xmas comes around so this works in well)
- One or two Xmas movies
- A Xmas book for each child
- Any other little knickknacks that bring the Christmas feel or a stuffed Xmas toy to sleep with
- Movie snacks like popcorn, a juice each, chocolates and lollies
-
- Unwrapping the Christmas eve box
-
- Christmas eve activities
-
- Baking a gingerbread house
-
- Watching a Xmas movie before bedtime
-
- Christmas eve activities
-
- Christmas eve activities
Extra Tips
- You can Up cycle things to save money and reduce waste. In the photo above (image 6), you can see we got creative with empty toilet rolls and made some decorations for the house.
- Some people have Santa’s elves drop off their Xmas eve box in the morning just like Santa does on Christmas, but we like to take all the credit for this one and that’s totally okay too!
- You can add a Xmas theme colouring book, hot chocolate or anything else you can think of
Of course the list of ideas are endless when it comes to things you can add to your box. The list above is what we mainly stick to as a base and then we add from there if we want to. One special item going into our box this year is a letter in an envelope from the big man himself.
We started this tradition in 2015 when our daughter was 2.5 and our son was only 3 months old. This year is our most exciting yet because we now have a 4.5 year old daughter and a 2 year old son and they will both completely understand the magic of it all this time around. It’s definitely no secret that I’m bursting with festive fever and I hope to share some more great DIY ideas with you this Christmas.
Let me know in the comments some of your family traditions, or if you also do the Christmas eve box then let me know some other things that you add to yours.
Check out our blog for more tips and tricks on cleaning, the environment and DIY’s.
