Christmas with toddlers

[Tootiedee]

I have 2.5 year old twins, I'm so excited for Christmas this year but I'm struggling for ideas of festive things to do with them.

I usually go to Christmas markets, ice skating etc but they are rather bonkers high energy so those things aren't going to work.

I've got plenty of crafty ideas and a visit to santa booked. I've bought some Christmas books for them.

What else can I do to make the next few weeks special?

Oh and elf on the shelf yay or nay!?

I think they would start to enjoy elf on shelf at 2 1/2 .
How about going to local garden centre to look at decorations or drive round and look at houses decorated .

Toddlers and nice markets don't mix... I think crafting is great...in a toddlery fashion. Walking in the cold, collecting sticks and letting them shake a bit of glitter on them.

Listening to Christmas songs with them...

And NO to Elf on the Shelf!

Our dd is 3

We do

elf on the shelf which she loves,
Making Christmas cards
Bird feeders and then hang them in the local park
Walks to look at the lights
Visits to santa
Xmas movie days
Christmas stories under the Xmas tree
Xmas jumper day
Decorate the tree

How about starting advent books as a Christmas tradition, you wrap up 24 Christmas/winter themed books and open one each night from 1st December.
Salt dough Christmas decorations, they make good gifts for Grandparents Aunties and uncles.

Really like the advent book idea! I'll see what I can find in the works.

@cheap No to elf on the shelf because of their age or just no?

I think they would enjoy the elf but I think I'll keep it simple this year.
Will definitely be taking a drive to look at the lights too.

Not a fan of elf on the shelf here, not something we’ll ever do!

Some of these have been mentioned but we do-

Decorating the tree, wrapping presents, making Christmas cards, lots of baking, salt dough and pine cone decorations, Christmas visits to local farms or national trust places (lots of things for kids in December), local town lights switch on and fair, going to see Santa.
We’re also planning a visit to the Christmas Shop in Stratford-Upon-Avon so DD can pick out a new tree decoration, we plan to make this a tradition and do it every year

Sounds lovely @mossy, they've chosen their decorations, I've got a tree full of decorations from my childhood so that was definitely something I wanted to do with them.

I think elf on the shelf could be a lot of fun just not sure if they're too young this year but I think I'll give it a go and keep it simple.

I've seen lots of posts where people really hate it I'm not sure why though?

If you’re anywhere near Chester we really enjoy the lanterns. Lots of stuff to see and they can be as wild as they like!

I think elf on the shelf is seen as a manufactured tradition rather than organic! Can't get too stressed either way here, to each his own.

Paint pinecones, get some oasis and plants and get messy! Go round b and q and switch on all the singing bears/ trees. Bake mince pies.

Have a walk or drive around where you live to see other people’s christmas lights

Go to a garden centre and see the displays and some of them have reindeer to see/feed

Make cookies and cut them with Christmas shape cutters

I think at their age you don’t need to do much to make it exciting and magical.

Make star-shaped cookies (to end up quite hard and gingerbready, not soft) to hang on the tree (make the hole before baking, and re-pierce while cooling on the tray)
Thinly slice oranges and dry in the oven on a low heat (takes hours) for decorations that smell great and will last for years.

How about a decorate and redecorate Christmas tree? Cut out a bit green sticky back plastic and stick it to wall sticky side out. then let them go wild sticking Pom poms, buttons and random tat on and pulling it off to their hearts content

At that age, nothing elaborate - garden centres, walks in parks, looking at Christmas lights, music (look out for children's Christmas concerts in your area - especially the kind they can shake jingle bells to!) Toddler groups often do nice Christmas events. I found my DD at that age (also high energy) got too overexcited and overstimulated by too much Christmas stuff - I thought it would all be lovely for her but as Christmas approached I realised she was getting more and more grumpy, stressed, overexcited and it was all a little bit too much. Keep it simple and only a few things - you have years ahead of Christmassy events :) :)

When my twins were that age we:
Went to visit live reindeer at local garden centre
Went to visit Santa
Rode on a Christmas mini steam railway where Santa made an appearance
Made 'decorations' (painted fir cones, stuck cotton wool snowmen on bits of card etc.)
Made Christmas biscuits
laid out food for Santa and his reindeer
gave the ducks in the park their 'Christmas present" with some special bread and seeds bought for the occasion
Filled a shoebox with gifts for a child in need (not all schemes are run by Samaritan's purse if you disapprove of them) and chose a toy for the church toy ceremony- never too young to teach them it's about giving as well as getting.

And yes, we kept it low key until a few days before, otherwise they'd get stressed. Advent is a huge chunk of your life time if you are only two, so it being 'nearly Christmas' only works from about three days before Christmas.

These are just the kind of ideas I wanted, thanks

Definitely don't want to overwhelm them. Some of the santas grottos I think will be a bit too much for them at the moment, they're not great at waiting around.

My dd2 is the same age as your twins - bit different as I also have dd1(6) but I am going to take them both to the Kew Gardens Christmas lights thing and a Christmas play. Then there's getting and decorating the tree and the school Christmas fair. Bound to be stuff at nursery too.

We do the advent book thing too - I do buy some new, and have a stash of Christmas books from previous years but also get some out of the library as they always have a good selection!

Just saying, with decent planning a Christmas market is absolute possible. I am from Germany and markets are part of every year December.

As long as you go during the week and not in the evenings, carry your child on your shoulders or in a carrier it works well. DD was 18 months the first time and 3.5 the second we went with her, not just small ones, major cities in Germany. Nothing is nicer than seeing their faces when they see the lights.

decorate a christmas cake! dont expect it to be good ....

My son is 3 at the end of Jan.

This year we are:
Making Salt dough decorations with his aunty and cousin;
Going to Blenheim Palace Xmas Lights;
Visiting Father Christmas (includes story telling and making reindeer feed);
Yesterday we went to the Council's free Advent Fayre;
Going to the playgroup Christmas Party;
We have also made some Christmas Cards.

He also gets a Christmas Lunch at Nursery and they do a little play.

We are doing Elf on The Shelf too as I know he'll love that.

Might make some Christmas biscuits as well.

Gingerbread men - buy the ready prepared dough.
At about 4.30 when they get manic, put some chicken nuggets and chips in the oven on a timer and go out for a walk to see whoever has the most OTT Christmas lights display at their house.

either a Christmas jumper/outfit/pyjama day/
duvet day.so being able to stay in pjs all day and watch xmas movies
local garden centres are usually chrismtasy
walks.with a xmas find theme.so you write a list of things to find. 12 pine cones.3 twigs. 3 brown leaves,one red leaf. see 3 different birds.4 traffic lights etc etc depending where you live.this also means they are occupied whilst walking/being outdoors.
going out for pizza.
making xmas cookies.
making cards for relatives.
poems for granny for xmas.
having indoor picnic
making a den
library and getting out some books.lots have events on too.
paper chains.
finger painting with Christmas colours.
by thruway camera and play silly shots.then see their joy when developed.