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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Stockings in the morning one by one, tv off, games on! Lots of treats and cuddles and if we’re at parents then a log fire is magical!

Christmas pj's and picnic under the christmas tree every christmas eve - it's magical :)

We always go to midnight service at Church as DS has been a choristor there since he was 7. He was the tiniest little soprano then, but now at 6'2" (and a baritone) he towers over everyone.
He goes off to uni this year so it will be his last Christmas with this choir who have been such a wonderful influence on him.
When the service is over the choir stand outside and sing Carol's in the lantern lit churchyard for a further 20 minutes or so while everyone drinks hot mulled wine.
All very vicar of Dibley.
A few hours later he is up and singing again at the morning service.

I like to keep Christmas magical by leaving treats out for Santa and his reindeer, putting the stockings up at the end of their beds and watching a Christmas film on Christmas Eve :)

Also love baking mince pies and the Christmas pudding in the run up to the big day!

The only real tradition we have is to tape wrapping paper over the front room door so that there can be no peeking when the kids get up, and then they have to wait for their brothers to get up so they can all run through the paper together to get to their presents.

We all put up the tree together.

We do whatever we want on Christmas Day...We have our traditions (like Christingle, followed by mulled wine) on Christmas Eve, but very often we please ourselves with what we watch on tv, when we eat, what we eat and if we go out. One thing we NEVER do is to shopping Boxing Day in the sales....family time is precious, and we're not about to ruin it by queuing for things we can do without!

We have a family rule of buying something new for Christmas each year such as decorations and make a point of involving the children in what we buy. Coincidentally, this year's new decoration was bought from Ikea as it was something we'd never seen before.

We always have a real tree and it must be a Norway spruce for that familiar Christmas smell. (Not Nordmanns, Ikea, they just don't smell like Christmas) Parcels accumulate under the tree on Christmas eve and in little piles on the sofas too. Christmas meals finish with chocolate and turkish delight and drinks and nibbles accompany the big communal film nights.

We have a few ‘traditions’ we do with our DC, the first one is when we put up the Christmas tree - we make a lovely weekend of it. We bake mince pies and light candles so the house smells all Christmassy! DH and I assemble the tree (and I untangle the lights ) before the DC get involved with the decorations. We have the music channel on and do a count down to the switch on! The next day is our designated visit to the local Christmas market wheee we spend money on that and eat everything.
Then Christmas Eve we have a comfy day! I’m usually doing some prep, but we watch Christmas films and eat lovely food.

A real tree is essential imho

We sprinkle the dogs with reindeer dust and then push them off the roof to see if they can fly. Magical!

Joking, honestly!

we always decorate the christmas tree together and every christmas eve we all watch A Muppet's Christmas Carol together

We like to make our own decorations for the home and tree. We find inspiration on pinterest and use allsorts of things. We always have a real tree. We enjoy cooking together using Christmasy spices. We like to visit towns to see the lights and shop, often we will sample seasonal foods and drinks. We spend time together. We usually do a puzzle over the holidays. We all choose a board game to play over the festive period. We invite family and friends over. The children like advent calendars to count down.

Each year the children choose a new decoration for our tree. We can track back over the years which ones they chose. We've also got some decorations passed down by my mum and grandma. Our tree is totally mismatched but I love getting out the decorations and remembering where they are from.

We have our own little Christmas perks, like watching elf on xmas eve, making smoked salmon scrambed egg bagels for breakie etc

I have always absolutely LOVED Christmas & I still feel that magic now even as an adult :) I love sharing in the magic with my little boy - makes me feel like a child all over again :)
The excitement of it all starts about now.. we go & look round all the Christmas displays in the shops, marvel at the twinkling decoratin & soak up the festive atmosphere.
Little one always writes a letter to Santa which I love reading over his shoulder!
Shopping for, & then putting up, decorations is probably my favourite bit - I love packing away the usual ornaments & getting out all the spangly stars, twinkling angels & glittering baubles & hanging them on every available shelf, hook & doorhandle! I have had to curb the control freak in me & let me son in on this action too.. but this was HARD!! I now love it though & it feels like a properly warm, cosy, crazy family affair :)
Let the Christmas magic begin!!!
I still remember that feeling of waking up on Christmas morning & feeling the weight of my Christmas stocking my feet.. leaping out of bed & shouting 'Father Christmas has been!!!' - looking forward to being woken up by that same shout from my son this year :)

In this house Christmas is all about the food. Lots of baking and ihe festive season is helped by my youngest child’s birthday. Lots of yummy things to eat and an open fire to sit in front of... bliss

My daughter loves spending one of our Saturdays at the Start of December helping me and her dad decorate the house and Christmas tree whilst we listen to Christmas Music, It is a special family time and my daughter insists she is the one who places the Angel on the top of the tree. Another tradition my daughter loves is for us to drive around to show her all the Christmas lights in our area and of course going to see Father Christmas too! :)

our tree goes up on the 1st with only lights then eah day of december we add one decoration to it :)

We haven't really got any major traditions. DS wrote a letter to Santa and left a mince pie and carrot out last year, but there's no set routine for when presents are opened or when we eat. As long as we have a nice time, good dinner and get to play a game and go out for a walk then that's great. We usually visit relatives at the weekends either side of Christmas Day so that the two holiday days aren't one intense flurry of driving, presents, eating too much and ending up exhausted.

Christmas means family in our house. We host both sides including great grandparents. It's a squeeze but it's completely lovely.

We love Christmas, we like to dress up in our Christmas jumpers and sing Christmas songs together.

The tree is the fave thing in our house.
We have a huge oversize one so that we have to rearrange the furniture to fit it in.
I keep suggesting we get a smaller one but I get shouted down.

Tree goes up early and comes down late. Very late.

We do all the usual traditions:
Pick a tree from the local woods (forestry commission sell them)
Decorate tree listening to carols
Christmas film nights with hot choc
Drive around in pjs to find houses with lots of outside lights
Ice skating
Track Santa on NORAD
We have a postbox that delivers us letters from the North Pole
The elf comes to our our house
On Xmas eve when they are in the bath I ring bells outside the bathroom window which means the elves have come and delivered the Xmas eve box containing pjs etc

But my daughters favourite tradition is going supermarket shopping at 5:30am on Christmas Eve morning!!!
It started when the kids were really little and I didn’t want to have to take 3 small kids to the supermarket so I planned to get up super early and do it before DH went to work. DD was 4 at the time and said she wanted to come with me. I said it would be super early and I would wake her but would go without her if she didn’t get up quickly. She jumped out of bed and came with me. We’ve done it every year since. She’s now 11 and still loves the Christmas food shop!!