It might sound odd to some, but ever since I became a mum Christmas Eve has been my favourite day of the year. Of course, when I was little it was all about the BIG day – ripping open presents, building snowmen and winning as many cracker prizes as possible! But now I have four children of my own, the anticipation is actually my favourite part of the festive season. My oldest daughter turning seventeen this December marks the seventeenth anniversary of the Christmas Eve Box tradition in our family, and I’m ready to have the scent of fresh pine filling the house was the children’s faces light up with excitement.
I say Christmas Eve Box … for the last few years we have given them to the kids on 1st December. It puts us all in the festive spirit and marks the beginning of everything Christmas!
There’s really nothing better than rediscovering Christmas through your children’s eyes, is there?! The joy, the magic, the excitement… it really is the most wonderful time of the year.
For me, one of the best things about being a mum is having our own traditions. They make the most wonderful memories! We have created so many over the years – our Book Advent (which you can read about HERE) giving the kids their Christmas Eve Box, the Christmas Day walk, then settling down with a homemade hot chocolate (recipe HERE) to watch The Santa Clause. I hope my children will feel warm when they look back on our Christmases together, and even carry on some of the traditions with their own families.
I get so excited putting these together each year, picking the special things – some matching, others a little different for each child. While a wooden crate or cardboard box works just fine, we actually have some beautiful hand-painted personalised ones that I bought from Bear & Rue as I knew we would use them year after year.
So without further ado, here is what goes into our Christmas Eve Box
Christmas pyjamas
Is there anything that can make you feel more ready for Santa to visit than going to bed in a new pair of festive PJs?!
While I suspect that I will earn the odd eyeroll from my children as they get older, I will be buying them every year.
I’m quite in love with THESE pyjamas this year, as they’re festive but can easily be used for the rest of the year this year! My children love matching, even the teenagers!
a tree ornament
I think this is probably my favourite thing to pick out! Every year I choose something for each of them (my husband included) that is a little nod to their year.
When my son got his reading badge in school, I managed to find him a decoration of a little mouse in glasses, reading a book. The year my daughter lost her first tooth, her tree decoration was a tooth fairy ornament and she was over the moon!
This year, I searched high and low for something special and found THIS beautiful ballerina for my daughters, THIS little Father Christmas for my younger son as he has been writing to The North Pole twice a day since March, and THIS to represent my eldest son’s candy cane addiction – he’s been requesting them in his hot chocolates for months, and is thoroughly put out at having to wait until December!
I hope that when I’m old and grey, we will unpack our ornaments each December and the tree will tell a story, a patchwork of our lives together.
A bedtime storY
Books are a big thing in our home. I don’t know a better way to have magical adventures with the children every single day than a story!
For bedtime, we snuggle under a blanket with gingerbread and the special book they got in their box.
Though they spend the day bouncing off the walls with excitement, Christmas Eve always ends with the big yawns of little people, snuggled up and listening to a Christmas tale.
This year I’ve got THIS beautiful musical edition of the classic Twas The Night Before Christmas but for their very first Christmas they each got a copy of My Night Before Christmas board book – it’s lovely!
If you were after something wonderful but less traditional, THIS is beautifully illustrated and quite wonderful.
slippers or thick, toasty socks
There are few things that can make you feel cosier than warm, snuggly feet – am I right?! THESE are perfect for getting tiny humans excited about reindeer landing on your roof!
new mugs with hot chocolate ingredients
A new festive mug is an essential every Christmas!
I make the hot chocolate ingredients by chopping up a large bar of chocolate and popping the flakes into a small, brown paper bag then sealing it with a sparkly gold star (because nothing quite says magic to a child like sparkles!)
We make our hot chocolate from scratch using THIS quick and easy recipe
Topping it off with some edible glitter or a candy cane adds a little something extra for Christmas!
A bath bomb
We always do a special bath on Christmas Eve (one of us watches the kids while the other dashes about putting the finishing touches on getting everything ready for the kids to leave out for Santa!)
We’re talking a festive bath bomb (the more glittery and difficult to remove from the bath it is the happier the children will be) with glow sticks, Christmas songs blaring and lots of bubbles!
reindeer food
A little brown bag of oats and earth-friendly glitter marked ‘Reindeer Food – CAUTION: CONTAINS FLIGHT MAGIC, NOT TO BE EATEN BY HUMANS’ has always been a hit.
We add a little bell with a tag:
Sprinkle on the lawn at night,
The moon will make this sparkle bring,
As Santa’s reindeers fly & roam,
This will guide them to your home!’
Every year, without fail,
A new teddy for snuggling up to
Each of the boys have the softest, snuggliest little elves to curl up with and watch Home Alone with this year – he can be found HERE
After setting out beautiful empty stockings, pointing out that Elf is looking very tired and needs to be tucked up in bed is yet to fail me when I’m wrestling small children into bed the night before the big day. An absolute MUST for any Christmas Eve Box as they remain favourites throughout the year!
When mine were babies, I went with a snuggly COMFORTER and have them in their memory boxes to this day.
a christmas jumper
Essentially, the goal is to get as cosy as possible. I know a few of my friends put a dressing gown in their children’s boxes, but I love that a jumper can be slung on top of pyjamas at home and still worn out for our Christmas Day walk. (It also hides that fact that they’ve not usually got out of their pyjama top… who needs to know?!)
My little ones (boy and girl) are going to be matching in THIS one this year and if they did it in my size, I would be snuggling down in one too!
A photo keepsake
I haven’t done this before, but this year I’m thinking of adding in a framed photo of their visit to see Santa. I’m forever promising myself that I will print out and either frame photos or put them in albums – it’s the downside of the digital age.
I think a little one to pop up on their shelves would be a very sweet touch!
And there we have it – A Christmas Eve Box!
Watching their little faces light up as they dip into their boxes is utter magic.
Are you giving it a go for the first time this year, or do you put something different in yours so are just here for ideas?! I would love to hear what you do differently in the comments, I love chatting with you there!
Whatever your Christmas looks like this year, I hope you’re surrounded by love and spend it doing something you enjoy. Tis the season, after all!
Love, Helen x
*Disclosure: Some items may be gifted and links within this post may be affiliate links. This means that if you purchase through the links, I earn a small commission though this is at no expense to you. As always, I appreciate your support and would never recommend a product we have not tried, tested and loved.
Rebecca Sweetland says
Lovely post Helen! Ours have a personalised sack for Christmas Eve, probably too big but it’s easier to store than the wooden boxes! I tend to put in new PJs, their Santa plates, stocking and B&R I Believe door hanging, reindeer food, hot chocolate spoon and popcorn for our Christmas movie, a candle to light that night and a book – Polar Post will feature again this year! Think I might include a mug this year though xx
Sophia says
We’re doing ours for the first time this year. Our little one is just over a year, so I said we wouldn’t until next year, but I may have gotten a little carried away… I like the idea of doing it on the first of December because I sometimes worry that it might be a bit wasteful. The same with a stocking, so I’m on the lookout for zero/low waste stocking filler ideas.
Carlotta Banister says
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helen says
That is so lovely to hear – thank you!