Read how Mumsnet users make their Christmas magical

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From picking out the perfect Christmas tree and hanging mistletoe above the door, to tracking Santa on NORAD, the Christmas period is full of magical moments for both parents and children alike. Whether you have certain traditions you do every year, or you want to try out something new this time around, IKEA want to hear the ways you make Christmas magical.

Here’s what IKEA have to say: “This season is about gathering your loved ones, being cosy and enjoying time together. Everyone has their own way of celebrating. Whether you put up a tree or simply light a candle, it’s easy to create a home that is designed for magical moments.
We love offering solutions to make it easier and more fun to interact at home, whether sharing a meal, playing games, or just having a chat. When guests are visiting there’s nothing like lighting candles to get the festive mood just right. Try some Christmas scented candles (out of reach from little ones), with the winter spices ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and nutmeg, to help you create a welcoming feeling of warmth and cosiness.”

Which Christmas moments do your children love the most? Do you write letters to and leave treats out for Father Christmas and the reindeer? How do you keep the magic alive as your children get older? Which magical Christmas moments were your favourite when you were a child, and have you tried to recreate them with your own children?

Share how you make Christmas magical on the thread below to be entered into a prize draw where 1x MNer will win a £300 IKEA e-gift card.

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

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I love going with my 5 kids to choose a Christmas tree, then we head home and all decorate it together whilst listening to Christmas songs. We follow this with warm mince pies, hot chocolate for the little ones and mulled wine for us big ones.

Well chosen, thoughtful gifts make christmas for me and of course good food.

Our daughter loves the magic of Santa she loves putting out the tray with the treats for him and the reindeer. We love seeing the excitement in her face coming down to check on Christmas morning to see if he has been.

I love watching my 3 little ones work together to decorate the tree. It’s when they realise Christmas is close and they get really excited. Every year we try have a tradition of having shredded crispy Peking duck, with sliced cucumber, spring onions, wrapped with think Chinese pancake and plum sauce, it’s a tradition I have since I was a child with my family and now I do this with my own little family, we usually try and meet up with my sister and her family and do this together.

We follow all the same traditions as we did when we’re children - stockings in bed in the morning, a walk on the beach, afternoon board games and snuggling up in front of the fire in the evening

In the days before Christmas Eve boxes we were allowed to pick one present from under the tree to open on Christmas Eve night. It was always fun to make your choice carefully. Not touching but trying to guess from the size and shape of it was the one you would choose. Sometimes we struck lucky with chocolates or toys, sometimes we got the bogus presents like bubble bath and socks!

I try to make it special by letting my grandparents sit back and do nothing. They work so hard every day around the house so for Christmas I do all of the cooking and cleaning etc so they can just enjoy it.

We put fairy lights everywhere, all wear our pjs as soon as we get in from school/work, drink hot chocolate with cream and snuggle on the sofa with xmas films and the fire on, heaven.

We all get new Christmas pyjamas for Christmas eve ready to impress santa haha!

We keep the magic alive through our traditions, one of our favourites is going to our local xmas tree farm to pick our own tree, chop it down, strap it to the car, take it home! We always have hot choc with homemade marshmallows before decorating and we always put the decorations that the kids made by hand many years ago at school at the front of the tree! Pride of place!

Ever since my daughter was tiny, long before she could really understand, I've read 'The Night Before Christmas' to her on Christmas Eve. She still expects it now, even when she has been in another country and we've had to FaceTime at odd hours to account for time-zone differences on Christmas Eve! It's how Christmas really starts for my family.

We always leave treats out for santa and the reindeers every year. My daughter loves waking up and seeing that the milk is all gone and someone ate the carrots and mince pies :)

its one of our most cherished times.now so many of us have grown up and have kids of their own or partners,husbands etc its one of the only time we all gather.and we love it.
we are talking about it on whatsapp well before now trying to lock down whos going where and when we can diverge.
the christmas cd comes out
our ikea gingerbread house is put togehter with far too many smarties.
mince pies are made.and made again.oh and made again.
the crate is put in the utility and food is sneaked away into it(otherwie it wwould just get eaten before its even chrismtas!)
letters are written to santa.
cards are done for grnaparents.
all the boxs are taken down from the loft with all the decs on
the chrismts mooose comes out the cupboard.
should i go on haha...

My favourite thing childhood Christmas memories are of putting out our handmade decorations a few days before. A relative had made for us a Father Christmas sleigh and a roof with a chimney. We had Father Christmas and snowman dolls to go with it.

warm mice pies for breakfast on xmas morning, long-standing family tradition that we are obliged to carry on each year even though non of the current generations like mince pies!

My favourite bit of our Christmas is stockings. The children wake up, collect the stockings from the top of the stairs and jump on our bed. If we're lucky we have time to an downstairs to make cups of tea. We all have stockings to open. Soon the bed is awash with wrapping paper (which we seem to find for weeks after despite changing the bedding!)

We do main presents later on.

In the afternoon we have our traditional bbq- with Turkey burgers, full size pigs in blankets, sprout kebabs etc.

I love seeing my family open the presents I bought them. We also watch A Muppet Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve as a family.

Walking throughthe peak district to a country pub nice drink and back for Xmas dinner. Best and cheapest do it yourself Xmas ever :-)

We put the Christmas tree up together as a family :)

We have christmas eve boxes and the last few years we have had the naughty elves come to visit which my little one absolutely loves .

We start by going out for dinner with our 3 kids xmas eve, whilst out the elf (grandparents) deliver a Christmas eve box for each child containing pyjamas, a book and a chocolate. When we get home from our meal the kids get so excited to find their box and happily put on their pyjamas. We let them stay up late and over the last few years they tend to wake about 8 in the morning on Christmas then we go downstairs to open our presents as a family.

My daughter and I still decorate the tree together even though she is now at University and we love to watch home alone every Christmas Eve

I started doing 'elf on the shelf' two years ago and my children love it. Running out of ideas now though!!

My kids love the 1st December (or the nearest Saturday)

We put up the tree, decorate the house, bake Christmas things like mince pies. We listen to Christmas music, dance about like loons etc

It's such a lovely day and marks the start of the countdown to Xmas. I hope dh is off that day too!

When I was young I had to wait until after 10th December (dm birthday) to be allowed to do Xmas things and it was an agonising wait!

My favourite thing was carol singing around the tree in our village. And Xmas morning of course!

We have venison for supper on Christmas Eve.