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What is a Christmas Eve Box?
Whilst I’m not a huge fan of new traditions or rituals which just try and make you part with cash, I think a Christmas Eve box is brilliant. It really doesn’t have to be expensive and it can help get you and the kids through Christmas Eve.
I’m not sure where it came from or when it really started, but here in the UK it’s really taken off in the past few years. We’ve only been doing it in our house for the past 2 years but it’s a tradition I’m definitely keeping.
It’s basically a box filled with a few bits and bobs to help prepare for Christmas eve and Christmas day. The main expensive part of the box is the pyjamas but being savvy you can pick some up fairly reasonably and chances are you might already plan to be getting some more for Christmas. For me, including PJ’s is genius – the children get to unwrap a present on Christmas Eve, wear them to bed (might encourage them to go to bed) and in the morning hopefully they still look clean and smart for when you’re taking photo’s of them unwrapping presents – it’s a win- win.
Other than that, include items which you already have and would be doing anyway (reindeer food, door hangers) or even better, include these things as craft activities so this gives the children something to do. For example, include some paper and pens and get the kids to make a door hanger / santa stop here sign to hang up in the evening.
Even include a paper plate with pens and use this an an activity to make a plate to put santa’s and reindeer treats on. You could keep going with this and include ingredients to make cookies (for santa). It’s brilliant to keep them busy for a little while and distract them from simply counting down the minutes…plus you’re then all organised for the evening!
What to put in a Christmas Eve Box- Ideas list
I’d recommend the main items to include would be PJ’s, a hot chocolate mix and an activity to help occupy the day. It really doesn’t have to be expensive and I’ve listed some DIY options below, but for now, here is a list of items to consider depending on the age of your child:
The list above is long, but it’s not meant to have everything included – just pick a few items which are suitable for your family. I don’t think it should turn into another Christmas Day, just the PJ’s, an activity to get you through the day and some treats for the evening. Cost is a major issue but it really doesn’t have to be expensive and many ideas you can make up yourself – we’ve put some links and ideas below for buying vs making.
Christmas Eve Box
Buy
You can buy a regular gift box or many shops now do specific Christmas Eve boxes ranging from cardboard ones through to wooden personalised ones. The ones below show the variations available. Last year, most had sold out but I managed to get a box at B&M!
Make
You can make your own Christmas Eve box by either using a shoe box or a larger cardboard box (the ones which Amazon send their goods in are ideal). Cover it in Christmas wrapping paper or even brown craft paper and personalise the box yourself. Perfect upcycling!
As Christmas Eve boxes aren’t necessarily a surprise, you could also do this as an activity with the kids leading up to Christmas (great for when they’ve broken up from school). Again either upcycle a delivery box or buy a plain cardboard box or crate and get crafty with the children and get them to decorate their own ready for you to fill with their surprises on Christmas Eve.
Activities
It’s such an exciting day and no doubt you’ll still have last minute stuff to do around the home so one huge plus of a Christmas Eve Box is to put an activity in.
Craft Activity
You could either buy an activity such as a small tree decoration to make, a craft activity or come up with your own. I love the idea of making a Santa Stop here door hanger or sign. You can buy these (colour in signs for younger children) or it’s fairly easy to older ones to design their own. All you’d need is to put some pens and paper in the box and they’re off making their own range of signs.
Cooking Activity
Make some treats for Santa. You could either buy a cookie kit or make up the ingredients yourself…or put in a bar of chocolate with a label to have a piece for themselves and to use some to make treats for Santa – perfect!
Reindeer Food
Get prepared for the evening and make some reindeer food to help guide the reindeer to your home. There’s lots of warnings about not using glitter in case any other animals or birds have a sneaky bite whilst Rudolph is making his way to you.
The RSPCA has a recipe for the reindeer food which is friendly to other animals and are items you may have in the house (wild bird seed, rolled oats, dried fruit, cheese) see the RSPCA website link below for their recipe to make with your kids…
www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/seasonal/christmas/reindeer
Christmas DVD or book
You could include a Christmas DVD in the box. If you usually order films via your TV / subscription service, you could make a token to watch a Christmas film (make a token with the name of the film and the time so they can look forward to it) and put some popcorn or sweets in.
For younger children you might want to include a book – the popular classics are The Jolly Christmas Postman, Mog’s Christmas, Dear Santa.
Older Children
Whilst a lot of the ideas above focus on younger children, I’m still going to prepare a Christmas Eve Box for my teenager too. I’d put in:
- PJ’s
- hot chocolate
- sweets / popcorn for a film
- pamper products such as a face mask or nail varnish
We hope you’ve found this useful and it’s given you a few ideas – we’ll keep adding to the list to keep the inspiration going. If you need a few ideas on what to buy a tween or a teenager we’ve got some ideas here:
for a tween click here
for teenager click here
Christmas Tree Decorations
To help get in the Christmas mood, we’ve designed some Christmas tree decorations new for 2021. They feature a cute Santa with either ‘Santa Please Stop Here’ or ‘I’m on The Nice List’. The decorations are round ceramic and flat so hopefully will be lasting keepsakes for years to come. For more details, click on the ‘Take A Look’ button under each image. Thank you.