Christmas Box Essentials: Start a New Holiday Tradition This Year
The holiday season is a magical time, and what better way to kick it off than with a meaningful family tradition? For the past few years, my husband and I have made a “Christmas box” for our children that they open on the morning of December 1st. This has become a beautiful way for our family to truly immerse ourselves in the joy of the season and create memories during this special time! Filled with carefully selected treasures to inspire family time, I hope this box will help you reflect on the true meaning of Christmas and the value of family (and have fun along the way!).
Here are some of the things we include in our family’s Christmas box. Maybe this will become a cherished tradition year after year for your family as it has for ours!
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Choose a fun and festive box. I recommend something like this: large, easy to open and close, and festive! I’ve also found that places like Hobby Lobby and TJMaxx have great options. You could also choose to decorate your own using a large cardboard box you already have!
The first thing I always put in is several fun Christmas-themed books to read throughout the month. While there are always several repeats over the years, I try to always make sure that I have one or two new books for them to enjoy. If you have young children (about ages 0–4), I recommend books like Little Blue Truck’s Christmas, From Eden to Bethlehem: An Animals Primer, The Christmas Promise, Corduroy’s Christmas Surprise, and Construction Site on Christmas Night. For children ages 5–9, The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey is an all time favorite. Other top books for this age group include Little Christmas Carol: The Illustrated Edition, The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, and Little House in the Big Woods. For ages 10+, I recommend checking out The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Tabitha’s Travels, The Gift of the Magi, and A Merry Christmas. My kids love focusing our family reading time each evening on Christmas books throughout this month, and discovering a couple new ones each year is always a thrill!
I also like to include a family Christmas devotional or Advent guide in our box as well. A couple of my favorites are Love Came Down at Christmas and Emmanuel: An Invitation to Prepare Him Room. Along with this I put Trader Joe’s chocolate advent calendars for each of our kids. Every morning we do our advent reading and they get a piece of chocolate—your kids have never been more excited for family devotions as they will be with this tradition!
The next thing I always include is our family Christmas pajamas. This isn’t a tradition that you have to do, but it has gained a lot of popularity in recent years and we find it quite fun. (To be more budget conscious I tend to purchase a couple of the next sizes up for my oldest child so we can reuse the same set of pjs for a few Decembers in a row! Burts Bees are some of my favorite.) We wear these pajamas throughout the month, but we all make sure to wear them together on the night of Christmas Eve so that we are all matching as we are opening gifts and spending time as a family on Christmas morning. This makes pictures extra fun! (If you’re not interested in doing family pajamas, you could include matching hats or warm fuzzy socks for everyone instead.)
The next thing I include are some fun snacks for us to enjoy throughout the month. Although we always have many of these things on hand, I try to make sure it is extra available during December and I try to say “yes” more frequently than I normally do. Even though I may sometimes cringe at the amount of sugar being consumed, I want my children to always remember the joy they felt at Christmas, and a little extra chocolate may just make that extra special. Some of our favorite inclusions are hot chocolate mix (along with Christmas mugs for everyone—we use the same mugs each year but they’re kept special for December!), apple cider, popcorn, and s’mores kits. I also try to include some festive sprinkles or candies for us to use on our annual baking day that we do the week before Christmas (another fun family tradition!).
The next thing that goes into our box is a couple items to spark creativity and fun. While the items change depending on the ages of our kids, the idea is the same! Past favorites have included Christmas-themed puzzles, coloring books and crayons, craft kits, and bracelet/necklace making supplies. This gives them something special to do that they normally don’t have unfettered access to!
Finally, I try to include a couple simple things to help us capture memories. A special family ornament from the year (in the past, this has been from trips we have taken to different places or an ornament to commemorate a new baby), a journal or scrapbook to record favorite memories, and a family photo frame to use for a picture from Christmas that year have all been wonderful items for our family.
A Christmas box has created an intentional start to the holiday season for our family. It slows down the rush and helps us redirect our focus to family, faith, and fun. Whether you add new elements each year or keep it simple with a few cherished items, this tradition will bring joy to your family and become something everyone looks forward to.
Do you have other items you would suggest adding to the Christmas box? Let me know in the comments!
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