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Christmas

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Original poster

Special things to use each year

38 replies

LemonAda376 · 29/08/2023 12:47

My son will be 3 this Christmas and starting to understand it more. I'm looking to get him a few things that we can use every year as Christmas traditions but can anyone add anything?

  • letter from Santa
  • wooden Santa plate for milk and cookies etc
  • have an elf on the shelf but don't know if I want to start this
  • personalised santa sack for toys
  • he's had a stocking since he was born

Does anyone else do anything fun? Was thinking of a santa please stop here sign?

OP posts:
WeirdPookah · 29/08/2023 12:54

We have a bag of Christmas themed soft toys which only come out with the decorations, my children love them coming out in the dining room, playing festive tea parties with them. They've collected them over the years and look forward to them.

They also have decorations which are theirs to hang on the tree, again collected each year when they were younger.

Fivemoreminutes1 · 29/08/2023 12:56

We have a nice copy of The Night Before Christmas that we read on Christmas Eve each year.
Each of my dc have a Christmas tree decoration with their name on.

SBAM · 29/08/2023 12:56

We have some Christmas crockery - plastic bowls shaped like Rudolph, plastic cups with elves or something on. They come out on 1st December for their breakfasts for the month. I think I got them from matalan or home bargains.
I also have some Christmas bowls and cake stand for treats from Flying Tiger.

We also have a wooden advent calendar from hobbycraft which I painted (spray paint for the main bits then use acrylic paint on brushes for details).

We don’t do the elf, we do have stockings but no sack - in our house Santa fills the stocking and brings one (unwrapped but with a bow) present.

SBAM · 29/08/2023 12:57

Oh, and we have a box of Christmas books, they live in the loft and come out at the start of December. My kids especially love the Usborne santas journey one with the little wind up sleigh.

50fedup · 29/08/2023 12:59

My children are grown up now, but one of our favourite Christmas traditions was to read the same Christmas book (The night before Christmas) in front of the fire on Christmas Eve. I still have the book and now read it to my grandson.

Womblegreen · 29/08/2023 13:02

We buy a new decoration, usually for the tree, every year.

When mine were little we had special Christmas stories that only came out for December- put in a basket and each day a different book was put in a red gingham bag to be the story that evening. The story was read candle light - an advent candle. Mine loved that special time and still remember it fondly as teens.

ColeslawSandwich · 29/08/2023 13:08

Christmas bedding on beds from 1st December.

OneFrenchEgg · 29/08/2023 13:39

Advent calendar that you can reuse - environmentally friendly and you can put a sweet/coin/small toy etc

OneFrenchEgg · 29/08/2023 13:41

Ours was fabric so easy to roll up/wash/store

Special things to use each year
OneFrenchEgg · 29/08/2023 13:41

^^ not ours but similar

cocksstrideintheevening · 29/08/2023 13:45

Mine are a bit older so some have changed, now we watch Home Alone on Christmas Eve after a drive a round to look at the lights instead of The Night Before Christmas story.

We buy a new decoration on every holiday. the purists would hate my tree, it is a mess of colour, and they aren't necessarily 'proper' decorations. This year the kids chose a ceramic starfish that I will need to figure out how to tie on the tree.

Still do drink and snack for FC, a trip to the local NT light show

JuneBeWonderful · 29/08/2023 13:55

Re the stocking if you are planning on more children and want the stockings to match get more now. Every year someone posts about matching a stocking.

Mine have new pyjamas on Christmas Eve but not Christmas ones, just new ones. They have a pyjama bag, now I made these but didn't consider at some stage they would have adult sized pyjamas so I had to make new bags with new fabric when they got older.

In our house we have a gradual build to Christmas so not one day nothing and the next everything. 1st December is wreath, reusable advent calendar and I hand paint the dining room window in a Christmas theme. Then we add in the dining room decor, then the tree which is in the lounge, hall decor and Christmas mugs to have hot chocolate or hot apple juice with a pinch of cinnamon etc. It doesn't feel overwhelming as an adult to do it this way either.

We watch Christmas films and always read a Christmas story.

Re Elf on the Shelf, up to you, it is a lot of work, if you decide to do it think of 24 days worth of stuff now, Pinterest is helpful but I wouldn't do it this young. Plus sometimes they won't let it die, my youngest is 17. Guess what happens on 1st December? Grin

Original poster
LemonAda376 · 29/08/2023 14:50

@JuneBeWonderful no more babies for me so I've got all the stockings I need 😂😂

Yes! Elf on the shelf is a worry !!! I saw online you can but kits that have packs for all 24 days with everything you need to do it but as you say it might never go away 🙈

I have the elf and the book that goes with it but maybe I'll just do my own spin on it.

OP posts:
Original poster
LemonAda376 · 29/08/2023 14:50

All great ideas ! Thanks everyone. Hoping he will really enjoy it this year.

OP posts:
cheddercherry · 29/08/2023 15:08

Mine was totally freaked by the elf and the thought of it moving round the house so we swerved that (I was relieved as all my parent friends told me it would be the bane of my life if I started it!).

We have fairy lights and bedding etc and a mini tree for his room that comes out. We have a Christmas Eve box but each year I add different bits in to like wind up toys, festive bells, books and cuddly toys etc.

Look at The Polar Post and Soch and Co - two small businesses that do things for stockings/ Christmas Eve etc that you can get out year after year. They have a magic height elf measures and books, letters from the North Pole…

Backagain23 · 29/08/2023 15:58

I have an outdoor light of a cute little reindeer that never made it outside on its first Christmas due to issues with extension leads. He now arrives on Christmas Eve and sits by the Christmas tree to await the latest offering of cookies and milk for Santa and we have a little presentation ceremony. It wasn't the plan, it's just sort of evolved that way. DS gets very excited to see him!
DSD brings her elf and set him up when she's with us, she enjoys this side of "the magic" now she's too old to believe herself. No way I'd be committing to it every day myself though!

Thisisme23 · 29/08/2023 16:04

Our children choose one new tree ornament every year - then when they eventually move to their own home they will take their collections with them.
We also had a lovely copy of "the night before Christmas" which i only read on Christmas eve and read it to them every year until the youngest was bout 14!

SnowJamz · 29/08/2023 16:13

Love reading about people’s ideas and traditions.

We have a box of Christmas themed books, board games and jigsaws. Get them out at the start of December and then play them regularly throughout the month. A lot of them I’ve bought second hand so not expensive.

Laurdo · 29/08/2023 16:24

We took my DSD who's now 5 to see Santa last year and the year before. We go to the same place that takes a photo which you can buy in a Xmas bauble. It's a bit of a running joke as she's miserable looking in both photos so far and she's told us she'll maybe smile for Santa when she's 12. Haha! She's always super excited to go but just can't manage a smile for the camera.

We do elf on the shelf as well, which she loves but it is a bit of a pain when you get into bed and the remember you've forgot to move the damn thing.

She also writes a letter to Santa. We get matching Xmas jammies and watch a Xmas movie on Xmas eve.

Christmas is already magical for little kids. What you have planned already sounds lovely and more than enough.

FloweryName · 29/08/2023 16:27

My dc had the plate for Santa, a fabric advent calendar, personalised stockings, all well used every year since they were tiny. Now they’re adults and the thing they liked most as they were growing up and still do now are the tree decorations that they either made, or that came from places we went to on holiday or on day trips.

In your position I’d aim to buy a Christmas tree decoration from every touristy gift shop we ever visit and get them to make, name and date one every year. Now that Christmas boxes are a thing, I’d buy a really nice big one to use every year and to keep the other decorations in the rest of the time.

MsSquiz · 29/08/2023 16:38

We have:
a plate with the girls' foot and handprints for treats for Santa
A copy of the night before Christmas that we read every Christmas Eve
Matching red velvet stockings for all 4 of us

We also have a box of christmassy books that comes out on December 1st so we can read them through the month at bed time

We always choose a new bauble each year that has something on it or is in the shape of something that reminds us of that year

We also have baubles with each of the girls handprints on

We do Elf on the Shelf, but ours just moves around the house, occasionally brings treats or does something cheeky (reads a Christmas story to cuddly toys or climbs the Christmas tree) it also brings DD1's birthday balloons on her birthday. I don't go overboard and we don't do "naughty elf" stuff. On Christmas Eve, the elf leaves to go home and leaves a note saying the girls are on the nice list.
We don't have the terrifying elf on the shelf elf either. We have the cute jellycat ones. Much less weird!

tarheelbaby · 29/08/2023 17:16

We have a fabric Advent calendar with little pockets and a paper one with figures that plug in to a background. I usually put the paper bits into the matching numbered pockets.
Mid-December, I put coloured lights in a tree in the back garden and bring out the Nativity scene. This is a toy one (ELC?) and my DDs used to move all the pieces around. [My grandmother had two: a garish, gaudy, beat-up one to play with and a fancy, pearlescent china one for the sideboard. She used to have me and DSis over to 'help' decorate.]
We also have two candle-powered carousels, the wooden one one has Nativity figures on three layers and the other has cherubim which ring chimes. [A friend a wooden one and I was fascinated]. There's a random piece of tinsel that goes up somewhere different most years. Sometimes I have a table top tree.
We always have a wreath and a tree. I often buy an ornament on holiday but not every time. There are also ornaments from my childhood or that they or I made. I like to wait until just before Christmas to put up the tree. The DDs nag and nag and nag. I keep it up until Epiphany/12th night.
On Christmas Eve we have seafood/salmon and drive around looking at lights. We put out the DDs' stockings and they choose something from the drinks cabinet for Father Christmas plus leave a mince pie and carrot. DD1's stocking was mine, an heirloom made by an eponymous relative, and I made DD2's

DustyLee123 · 29/08/2023 17:17

Christmas themed books, and every year they get to buy a new tree decoration.

OneFrenchEgg · 29/08/2023 18:22

Oh just r emebered I have photocopied everything letter to Santa and have them all in a scrapbook which they adore and read through now they are all adults