What small things make your Christmas / Christmas season magical for children?

[wellyouasked]

We very much enjoy Christmas in our house, but I'd like to go a step further for extra effort for the kids. I have never done elf on a shelf before and I'm panicking I've left it too late as DC1 is 6.5? That aside, I've thought about doing a 'special' December first breakfast (saw a elf on the shelf themed one) but apart from stockings/presents, what other small things do your DC really enjoy?

It is july.......

It is the Christmas board...

3D slot together cardboard advent calendar
St Nicholas's day
Decorating trees outside with lights
Looking at Christmas lights
Woodland walk to cut some holly

Helping to wrap presents for family members

For the love of God, do not start Elf on the Shelf. You will hate your past-self every single December 1st when it all starts again.

Things we do: advent calendars (including fill your own ones for each other, which they love getting bits for), going out in the car to see the local Christmas lights (and counting Christmas trees we can spot every time we go out in the evening during December!), we take them into town to see the Christmas window displays at Fortnums and Harrods, we go to carol concerts and we do
Christmas baking for gifts.

When mine were little they really enjoyed a random acts of Christmas joy advent calendar. 24 boxes, stockings, cups whatever, with numbers, and each contains a note, a challenge to complete that will bring joy to someone eg. Hold the door open for someone, help someone take their shopping bags to the car, give out sweets in the playground at break time...etc. there are many webpages out there that you can download prepared notes from, lists, ready printed cards, ideas, or just make up your own. The children really loved the idea of sharing the Xmas spirit.

We did our first elf last year when dc1 was almost 8. He was the driving factor behind it as all his friends have one.

Things my kids love at Christmas include the following:
gingerbread house decorating
decorating the dolls house & barbie house (they have trees/wreaths/lights/stockings/santa hats etc),
making more decorations and decorating their own trees (in their bedrooms)
Walks at twilight with torches, hot chocolate and ghost stories
Light trails
A Christmas jigsaw
Reading the same Christmas books we read every year. The Enid Blyton one which covers the various Christmas customs being a favourite and we try and tie each chapter in with what we're doing, such as bringing in holly from the garden when the book characters do.
St Nicholas. Where I grew up, you'd leave your shoes out for him on the eve of his saint's day and get little gifts in them. So now "he" brings them sweets, a little toy and a book. Our playmobil version of him joins our Christmas playmobil set up on his saints day too.
Christmas Eve picnic by the Christmas tree lit by fairy lights and the fire just like the ones my grandmother used to do for me whenever we arrived at hers from another country on Christmas Eve.

Our children and grandchildren have always loved the Christingle service on Christmas Eve, we then go home and put the Christmas tree up whilst watching The Snowman and Muppets Christmas carol.

love a good carol service.

everyone having a stir of the Christmas cake and then decorating it together.

Home made mincemeat for mince pies is good too - it’s all cold ingredients you stir so easy for kids and makes good gifts. We use the Delia recipe, with coconut oil instead of suet/veggie suet. And if you buy ready made pastry then making the eventual mince pies becomes easy for children too.

we make paper snowflakes and put them on the windows. I need to fold the circles into six myself as the division into equal thirds is tricky for little fingers.

We don’t do elf on the shelf, there’s enough going on with school events, one DCs birthday and all the regular Christmas stuff without giving myself another task. Plus DC1 finds them a bit creepy.

We have a fill your own advent calendar and I do bits of paper with activities in it as well as chocolate/small gifts. Things like watch a Christmas film, make gingerbread men, decorate the Christmas tree, write and post Christmas cards. DC loved Christmas temporary tattoos last year.

Every year I buy two of the brown paper tree decorations from hobbycraft and in the first week of December DC decorate them with paint/glitter etc. I write their name and the year on the bottom once they’re dry. We’ve got a nice little collection now, though I will admit I’m hoping for some more aesthetic results as they get older!

We have festive Christmas cups and bowls (melamine/plastic ones from places like matalan or home bargains, not anything fancy) that come out from December 1st. Cereal in a Rudolph bowl just feels a bit more special.

I usually buy Christmas socks, though last years might still fit this year. I get the thick slipper sock type - they’re handy for visiting relatives who have chilly stone floors.

What's the Enid Blyton book please?

Rather than elf on a shelf, I occasionally rearranged the teddies and dolls to have a tea party, biggest bear reading a Christmas story to them all, cotton ball snowfight going on...basically using things we already had and not needing to move things daily.

I also usually print a bunch of free seasonal colouring sheets, and as dd got older, seasonal themed maths and word puzzles etc. Some days I would put one of these with her Advent calendar choc (we have a fabric one with pockets and I get nets of choc shapes from M&S or Aldi by the start of December). Some other days, I might put a note about something we were doing later that day (visiting Santa, Christmas shopping day, baking cookies, decorating cookies, making cards, tidying room for Santa etc.).

And every December, I took a half day from work and got her straight from school (instead of after school club) to go to town. To do any bits of shopping she wants, get a hot chocolate and bun to enjoy while people watching, and see the Live Crib outside the Lord Mayor's house, before getting the bus home once it was dark and the lights were all on.

And we'd also figure out where the best decorated houses were locally to do a drive after dinner one night in the dark with a travel mug of hot choc.

and various crafts - making cards, decorations, painting Pune cones we'd collect on winter walks...I always gave her a shoebox of different coloured strips of paper already cut, roll of sellotape and kid-friendly scissors that she could make her own paper chains when she wanted to spend 5-30 minutes on it after school, put them away safe in the box to keep going the next time, and then hang when we were decorating the house.

When we did her Christmas shopping, she always had to find a present that someone her age would like, for local charity toy drive.

And a couple of years, she was big into baking so made cookies for the local fire station (very close to us) as they work so hard, and brought them to the station.

If you do start Elf on a Shelf, firstly, make a plan now of everything that the elf will do so you can see how much work is required for it. Dh was fully on board with it so we shared the load. We bought the original elf, I performed surgery on him by opening him up and inserting wires into his arms and legs (he is poorly made with a shitty cardboard tube and some stuffing) so I could make him more poseable. Best one I ever did was him climbing the curtain, you pin him from behind so it looks like he is caught mid climb.

Be aware that my children are now 20 and 17 and the fucking elf still has to make some sort of appearance because it is tradition they will not let him just leave.

I stagger what comes out and when so it builds up. 1st December is the reusable advent calendar and the door wreath. A week later ish we put up the Christmas tree, everyone helps, this now revolves around when Ds1 returns home from uni. Then we do all the Christmas tableware with placemats that I customised, a Cricut is a very handy tool if you have time, money and the inclination. I hand draw on the dining room window with chalk paint pens, it is different every year. Loads of inspiration on Pinterest. Some things are just tradition, they get new pyjamas every Christmas eve, not Christmas ones per se just new ones, usually Asda or Primark. I made their pyjama bags etc and their stockings. The build up is great as it isn't just all at once plus it feels more manageable.

We plant jelly beans in sugar in Christmas mugs. The next morning, the jelly beans have sprouted into candy canes. I was surprised at how much they loved it, we've had to do it every year since and they're 11 and 13 now!

Agree with previous poster do not start elf on the shelf.
I started it in lockdown as felt sorry for the kids, its 1 big headache and I didn't even do ott scenes mainly cards with jokes snd moved around the house.
Tried to get rid last year ( left elfie with a note saying he had to visit other kids this year and may pop in) and omg you'd have thought I'd cancelled christmas totally the upset it caused. He had to arrive the next day with another note saying Santa has allowed him to come back.
Only do traditions your wiling to keep, to be honest loads of it is just marketing. I think kids would enjoy a Christmas movie and hot choc afternoon on set day before Christmas, going to a panto etc rather than big/marketing stuff.

Also we have a few Christmas books where you read a chapter a day through December. 1 is called Winston's wish and the sequel ( can't remember the name) and the other is called The Grumpus. They're by the same author but can't remember who think it might be Matt Haig?
When they were little I got cheap christmas books from the works or charity shop and wrapped them up they picked one each night. Then put away for rest of the year and can reuse for a few years.

What's the Enid Blyton book please?

The Christmas Story. I still have the beaten up copy I had as a child. Covers things like mistletoe and Holly, why Boxing day is called Boxing day, why we bring in trees etc.

I just asked my son (6) what his favourite thing is at christmas, his answer was singing all the christmas songs together, elf on the shelf and finding the best outdoor lights!
On christmas eve we always have a family day that includes special breakfast, bubbly bath with christmas themed bath bomb so everyone is nice and clean for santa, christmas film with yummy treats, some baking then we go to visit santa as he drives around past our house on his sleigh. Hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows. Me and husband have a huge cheese board once kids are in bed while we build toys etc.
We also go and visit santa and everyone has to wear christmas jumpers, we go on a light trail, watch all the christmas movies in our Xmas pjs, December 1st all the christmas bedding, christmas book shelf etc comes out. I just try and make everything as magical as possible, it's our absolute favourite time of the year and I just think everyone is friendlier.
I think this year I'm going to fill our own advent calendar and make my own christmas crackers.
Also I don't really do a christmas eve box I do a December 1st box so all the christmas things they have for the full month! I usually buy pjs and things in the sale in January 😊

My now much older children tell me that the best bits of Christmas for them were always the "doing" things rather than the "getting" things. The top favourite was going carol singing - so walking the streets in the dark with others and having hot chocolate together afterwards. You could see if a local church or charity organise this and if they don't just get a group of friends together - our local scouts did this and knocked on doors to ask for a packet or tin for the food bank rather than money.

If you have a friendly street then organising a living advent calendar is fun and your DC can do the artistic bit. https://www.redtedart.com/organise-a-living-advent-calendar/ Now is actually a good time to start thinking about this if you wanted to set one up.

Iceskating is also fun although more expensive - especially if there is an outdoor rink near you.

The Post Office run a scheme each year where if children write to Father Christmas by early december they get a letter back - 6.5 is a good age to try it.

My DC love the elf!! I like the elf until about day 15 and then start cursing myself for starting it 😂

The elf arrives inside a balloon and we have a Christmas tree crumpet (M&S) breakfast. I’ve got a Christmas tablecloth and Christmas cups/plates/bowls and the elf brings the chocolate advent calendars.

I usually decorate the house in the 3rd week of November and they each have a mini Christmas tree in their bedrooms and Christmas bedding and new Christmas pyjamas from 1st December.

We do a mix of activities, always ice skating and Santa, as well as making a gingerbread house (that’s always wobbly)!

I love love love the 6 weeks before Christmas. It’s such a warm, cuddly, joyful time.

I always remember going on the second Sunday of December to the local forestry commission place and choosing a tree with my family, we would have a woodland walk and big creamy hot chocolates and bacon butties while there, it's nothing big but always makes me smile thinking about it. I carried it on with my DS and if he's ever back in the UK in December we still do it.
When he was small we used to get the Mickeys Magical Christmas dvd on with loads of goodies and have a winter snuggly film night.
When DH was out on his Christmas work party DS and I would go into town late on and buy random Christmas things (that we didn't really need) Christmas glasses/mugs, more crackers, extra little gifts and bits like that. Those were our little traditions.

We do all the usual bits and bobs but the one thing that they always used to live was when they were primary school age near the beginning of December I'd set up a sort of Christmas card writing set up for when they came home from school.

So like a basket on the kitchen table with Christmas cards, Christmas stickers and stampers and maybe pop them a Christmas cookie and a warm drink. They still talk about it each year but are teens now so don't tend to send cards.

We've always enjoyed advent calendars and I made theirs when they were little, with the little pockets in. This year I'm going to make one for our newest family member and I'm very excited!

I'm another pro-Elf person! Yes, it can be a bit of a faff, but well worth it for the kid's reactions - it's truly one of the best things about Christmas for them.

We have a collection of Christmas books and add a new one every year. The books come out the day the tree goes up and we make an afternoon of it, with Christmas jumpers, music, snacks (mince pies, chocolate oranges, etc).

We don't do elf on a shelf. We make decorations for the children's bedroom etc. write Christmas cards. Go and see Christmas lights. Bake Christmas cookies for teachers and TAs. Watch Christmas movies.

I take all (or most) of the Christmas books away at new year and hide them until December 1st and then every bedtime story is a different one throughout December.

A bit like a reading advent calendar.