lovely, not too expensive, christmas book

[AuntieDen]

every year I buy my great niblings a 'special' christmas book to share - eldest is currently 5. The idea is it will be kept for every year and read to them, not to read themselves at the moment.

I have done the Christmas Emporium ones and was thinking of the Night Before Christmas from either Bookishly or the Usborne pop up version this year (less 'special' but more fun at that age)

There is a lovely one at The Folio Society but its too spendy really - ideally top budget £20.

before I commit are there any other visually lovely ones people could recommend? - doesn't need to be that specific title, but Christmassy and special in some way. I had considered the Tolkein letters one but I don't think its the best gift for that agegroup.

Mog's Christmas Calamity

@HollyGolightly4
For babies these are great. They do a set so you could split them up and add a pair of socks or toy depending on budget.

https://www.books4people.co.uk/products/thatsnotmychristmas-5bks-thats-not-my-reindeer?srsltid=AfmBOoqQ87N_go4x-7uj847MeVOL5SE0EopQ2dajbazb_--KWy55tiun

I ordered that for someone else last night, it looks lovely!

Thank you everyone for your suggestions- very tempted to buy them a library of Christmas books next year - lets see if middle child turns into a reader, eldest isn't as yet!

Ok picture didn't load - is it this version of The Jolly Christmas Postman which you all love?
https://www.tgjonesonline.co.uk/Product/Allan-Ahlberg/The-Jolly-Christmas-Postman/2790385?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21772143495&gbraid=0AAAAAD-7g6Q-lRzcmiBsBlr9FdridPxJ9&gclid=CjwKCAjw2brFBhBOEiwAVJX5GBd0QS7xbEK52qPzDRbn1rUAR2O0AcuCkaFEL8jaf-Y4XN1m08Tm1hoCYQMQAvD_BwE

And this one of the Christmas Alphabet? There seems to be a small version and this version and some stupidly expensive anniversary edition https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/christmas-alphabet-book-robert-sabuda-9780439672566?sku=GOR003421403&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17416831122&gbraid=0AAAAADZzAIDB6hQHxp5LZ7kx7Z_nSf2-M&gclid=CjwKCAjw2brFBhBOEiwAVJX5GGNqN0ZtZRcaHfe19DYmqskiWYre4WEHxEi4NaHtBHi1Au9kVPomhBoC5x0QAvD_BwE

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Christmas-Chronicles-Stories-One-Night/dp/1913971333/ref=monarch_sidesheet_title

For slightly older children but a fun activity to do on the run up to christmas!

My Penguin Osbert is great. Looks to come in different editions now too such as with a penguin toy.

I got a nice one last year called ‘all aboard the Christmas train’ where you have a cut out train that goes through the pages.

At 5 they may be getting a little old for that - but my toddler loved it.

I have a pop-up version ofThe Night Before Christmas from about 1977 that still comes out every Christmas Eve.
https://ebay.us/m/FWdOuc
Interestingly, the spine of my copy has also disappeared (nice to see that this one has been similarly loved to mine).

I bought my children this (non pop-up) version illustrated by Jan Brett which is gorgeous:
https://amzn.eu/d/81HIAV1

My kids are in their THIRTIES and we still read The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve with whoever can come over! Family tradition, but that book is the epitome of Christmas to us.

I was just about to say this too!

Also Apple tree farm Christmas
mucky pup Christmas

miss that phase of childhood 😥

It’s got to be the night before Christmas. We have a cheapo The Works one which is a Xmas eve tradition but I bet there are some beautiful editions out there.

Also, a longer read, but The Christmas Pig by JKR is lovely

Amazon have a number of different Australian 12 days of Christmas selections.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Australian+12+days+Christmas&crid=226LRRRSMGITD&sprefix=australian+12+days+christma%2Caps%2C443&ref=nb_sb_noss

My kids are 17, 14 & 9 this Christmas & we have had lots of their Christmas advent calendar books since eldest was just 4. They still all try to find Peter Rabbit's Christmas Tale first every year! It's a sweet story, lovely illustrations, written by Emma Thompson.

Cops & Robbers by Janet & Allen Ahlberg
I think one of Mick Inkpen’s Kipper books is set at Christmas.

Ones to bear in mind for the future when they move on to chapter books is that there is a lovely story about making a Christmas pudding in one of the My Naughty Little Sister books & also one in Astrid Lindgren’s Naughty Village series.

Of course the jolly postman is wonderful, but the pieces might be a bit small if the eldest child is only five. More fun when the youngest is older, probably.

One of my childhood favourites that comes out for my own kids now is "A letter to Father Christmas" by Rose Impey. It's just lovely and has such soft illustrations.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Letter-Father-Christmas-Orchard-Picturebooks/dp/1841210080

Thanks everyone for your help.

This year I have gone with the musical Nutcracker because there's not much little grabby hands can damage on it, and I also think eldest child might really like the music which he probably wouldn't get a chance to hear in general (not judging, most people don't listen to classical music at home so no reason he would hear it otherwise)

And then because I know she'd love it I got the Cat Family Advent for a friends daughter and one of the characters has the same name as one of our cats, which she will definitely enjoy!

Both the books are lovely, if anyone else is looking. I now have a list which will get me through to probably secondary school 😆

The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden. There's a wonderful edition with illustrations by Barbara Cooney, but it's out of print. There are secondhand copies around though. I read it to my children every Christmas, just like my Mum did for me.

A tradition in our house!

Alfie’s Christmas is lovely

Yes as a child there was absolutely nothing more exciting than the Jolly Christmas Postman.

I've just realised I lost my copy a while ago and especially my youngest who is only 5 definitely won't remember it, so I will be sure to get it! So glad I clicked on this thread.

Thank you for suggesting this. I’ve bought it and it’s lovely! I showed it to my (adult) DD who loved it too. It’s now wrapped and with her ready to give to the GCs on 1 December.

There is a new book out this year on Amazon the Christmas flame. It’s being heavily advertised on Instagram looks good. Chapter a night countdown I think. The Works is also good for shorter style individual books you can wrap up to unwrap each night

One of our favourites too.

If you can track down a copy of it, Santas Workshop by Paul Stickland, is a lovely 3d book for smaller dc (I’d hold off on Robert Sabuda for a while because his pop ups move and are tempting to touch) This one is stationery, and more for looking at.

one of my favourites is Room for a Little One by Martin Waddell, which is set in the stable. Maybe not if you want to stay completely secular.

The Christmas Eve Tree by Delia Huddy is a gorgeous story.

I’ll have to look and see what else we have up in the attic.

Not mentioned yet, but The Empty Stocking by Richard Curtis is a fantastic Christmas book. More modern than some of those mentioned but it has such a lovely story (about twins - one naughty and one nice), is a great length for a bedtime story and beautiful illustrations (plus some funny bits). Everyone i recommend it to seems to love it.

Happy Christmas Boris. It's not a lovely book but its a fun book. It has a hairy hand puppet that the kids interact with through the story. My kids absolutely loved it at that age. I've got such lovely memories of them laughing their heads off

Just to update, I gave the Cat Family Christmas book to the recipient (5 year old girl) and she was absolutely entranced by it - no hope of doing it like an advent book she was going through every page opening every flap and absolutely loving all the little reveals - so big recommendation for that if anyone is looking for something for a December 1st box!