Hit me with your gift-free Christmas traditions!

[MerryMarigold]

Christmas is changing for us. Mugs growing up and first year we won't be at my parents for Christmas. Would like to create some nice, new traditions. Kids (11yo,14yo boys) are not that into gifts unless expensive tech or money so it's all a bit boring. I will do a small stocking with books, choc etc but I'd really like to make it fun in different ways from gifts. Are there any traditions which your older kids love?

This year I plan on making a Christmas cracker piñata for us all to smash after lunch. My youngest loves piñatas and crackers so I'm going to combine the two.

Wrap up a whole bunch of random stuff - some good and some a bit odd. Everyone takes a turn throwing the dice. If you get a 6 you choose a parcel. If you get a one you can steal someone else’s parcel. Keep going until all parcels are gone.
Then unwrap and see what weird stuff you were fighting over!!

I've got DD's 14,12 and 12.

We still do photos with Santa and then on Christmas Eve - they feed the reindeer, plant candy canes and leave a drink and biscuit out for Santa!

On Christmas Day we open presents throughout the day and in between I set little challenges. Like do 10 push ups or what are you thankful for.

But this year I'm thinking we will do this.

suitelife.com/blog/events-and-festivals-in-barcelona/the-strangest-catalan-christmas-traditions/

Op it's lovely that you want to make your own family traditions that don't involve gifts,

How about a family trip to panto

Family trip to cinema on Christmas Eve

Midnight mass/Christmas Eve services if you are catholic/Christian to listen to all the Christmas carols (or if you don't want to venture out watch it on TV, the carols are beautiful, it's very Christmases)

Bake something Christmases like mince pie, Christmas cake, Christmas pudding, etc and each family member has a part in baking it supervised by you

Get a TV guide and decide together as a family what Christmas eve/Christmas day/boxing day TV shows/movies look good to watch....watching Christmas TV with family is a tradition of many families

Make a Christmas rule, only a certain amount of hours for electronics including games and phones...so that you get enough family time together and some time apart too

If you normal play music in your home , then in the run up to Christmas start to add christmas music to make it more christmassy and festive

I know some parents who had a novel solution when their teenagers insisted on money for Christmas, rather than presents. After some treasure hunt style clues which led to envelopes containing small but increasing amounts of coins, they had a final task for the "big money". The teenagers were asked if they thought they knew all the hidey-holes in the living room: being teenagers, of course they said yes. They were then blindfolded, and told they were only allowed to see when they had worked out where the money was. They were given signs to hold up showing the correct answer to everyone else, and told they could ask questions needing the answer "yes/no" about where it was: as many as they needed. They were encouraged to move about between their questions, and to confer with each other.

After loads of replies of "no", one of them asked "is it in front of me", and found the answer was always "yes", no matter how much he moved. Eventually they worked out where their booty was hidden - tucked into their blindfolds! They said jokingly how "utterly humiliating" this game was, but added that it was worth it for what they got, and it was talked about for a long time afterwards. I'm not sure what happened the following year though!

@AutumnalLeaves38 I like the questions in your list! What did people have to do as forfeits?

Allhalekale that sounds fabulous. Wish my dad had been so inventive !

@wanderings,

Forfeits:
Ours included:

• sing a Christmas carol in the style of unlikely singer/band chosen by the rest of the table

e.g. 'We Wish You A Merry Christmas' as performed by Radiohead
'Silent Night' as performed by Stormzy...
etc.

• (mortified mid-teens having to) Dad Dance to 'All I Want For Christmas Is You', Mariah Carey

• sing 'Merry Christmas Everybody', Slade, without showing your teeth

• move an After Eight from your forehead to your mouth, without using your hands

Winter Wonderland and the open air ice rink.

@allhalekale,

What a brilliant Dad: his last clue's particularly great!

Lead up to Christmas we normally have a movie evening once a week with popcorn and hot chocolate. Movie favourites are Home Alone, Elf, Arthur Christmas, Polar express. Will need some older Christmas movie suggestions soon as dcs are now 13 & 8.

Christmas Eve we normally go for a hike and then enjoy a Chinese takeaway.

GreenWillow I have told DS he is not allowed to hide in his room , he has to sit with us and watch rubbishy Christmas TV.

I think the Card Against Humanity game has been "lost" / hidden by him . I'll start a No Prisoners game of Sherlock Cluedo ( same as bog standard Cluedo but vague references to Sherlock Holmes .......makes such a difference NOT )

We always make sausage rolls on Christmas Eve (jus roll pastry and sausage meat, dc’s can fashion them into shape and put in oven themselves). We eat them for lunch whilst still warm. Pub late afternoon, loads of families go once the family carol service finishes. Take away with granny in evening and a night of Christmas telly. Lovely

We used to have a family nativity- everyone required to dress up with the youngest baby being jesus. The dog had sheep ears.

@isspacethefinalfrontier that's brilliant, I love that the dog gets involved in the nativity!

When I was a child we did a Christmas Eve cinema trip which was a lot of fun, and alternate tears we'd go away to the countryside fir Christmas so on Boxing Day there would be a long walk, and we'd be allowed to eat our selection boxes on the walk.

We have a story about Father Christmas that I've been telling a new instalment of every year since 2005, when the DC were 4, 2 and 1... These days, everybody chips in with new bits of story, ideas for what the must-have toy of the year is, whatever obstacle FC must overcome etc. Oldest DC is almost 19 now, so it's getting increasingly political as the years wear on. I fully anticipate still telling this in my dotage to a cluster of grandchildren, who don't realise it was born out of desperation to keep everyone distracted when they were too excited to function!

I love all these. I think I may adopt the takeaway on Christmas Eve or the kids making sausage rolls. Love the Catalan poo log, but dd didn't seem that keen on replacing FC with the poo log. Also the hiding money and blindfolding is brilliant, plus those forfeits made me laugh! Thanks all. It's lovely reading everyone's fun times. What memories you're making!

A friend of mine used to do "Santa sleigh rides" for the children on a December evening, which were much loved and anticipated. The children were told that Santa only offered these rides to the privileged few, and they must not see the real Santa (the children knew that the Santas in grottos were his helpers), so they must have their eyes covered, and would have to use some imagination.

While they waited for their ride, the children watched videos of cities at night from above, as taken from planes, as well as the Walking in the Air scene from the Snowman. One at a time, each child wrapped up warm in their coat and gloves, was blindfolded and warned that Santa would not bring presents to peeping passengers. They were taken into the garden, were told to think about the videos they had been watching, were allowed to feel the reindeer (their big dog with bells on), Santa's sack of presents, and they sat in the sleigh (wheeled office chair). To the sound of sleigh bells, they were given a commentary about what was below, and they could feel their seat moving about, and the air rushing past them. (This was achieved with a big electric fan, and an adult moving their chair.) Although there would be protests that they couldn't see anything, they all loved this, and looked forward to it every year!