Christmas Eve boxes are a fairly new trend in the UK, so if you’re looking for Christmas Eve box ideas, we’ve got plenty of ideas!
I think we took the Christmas Eve traditions of several countries and created our own new tradition of packing sweets in nice little boxes on Christmas Eve.
What is a Christmas Eve box?
A Christmas Eve Box is a special box that you can give to your loved ones on Christmas Eve. It usually includes some special little treats to make Christmas Eve even more exciting. There’s a list of ideas for what to put in the box further down.
Let’s start with the box….
Christmas Eve box ideas -The box!
The box can be of any type, but many people choose a personalized wooden box. I think it’s great to have boxes of the same quality every year, but there are also cheaper disposable boxes.
You can also wrap shoe boxes in Christmas gift wrapping paper. Remember that young children in particular often don’t need to spend a fortune on luxuries, as they have little sense of the monetary value of presents.
We have personalized boxes for each child from Amazon.
Christmas Eve box ideas – What to put inside them
Christmas Eve boxes for kids usually include:
- special christmas pajamas
- new slippers
- Christmas stories to read before bed
- Christmas chocolates and sweets
- Hot chocolate that helps you sleep when Santa comes
- reindeer food
- letter from santa
- Christmas-themed coloring book with colored pencils or crayons
- hot water bottle
- Christmas bubble bath
- Fun bathtime toys perfect for your Christmas Eve bath
- christmas teddy bear
- Christmas themed cookie cutters for Christmas Eve baking
- fun christmas baking decorations
- christmas socks
- christmas blanket
- Family Christmas themed game
Christmas Eve box ideas for adults
Adult Christmas Eve boxes often focus on food and drink and may include:
- new pajamas/slippers
- hot water bottle
- new mug
- Hot chocolate (or your favorite hot drink)
- wine
- baileys
- Port (or any other Christmas-y drink!)
- Delicious chutney with cheese and crackers
- delicious biscuits/desserts
- bubble bath/bath bomb
- A gift for the other half you don’t want your family and kids to see!
It may seem like an extra stressful task (and expense!) to add to your Christmas to-do list, but it’s usually just small items you would have bought anyway is. A Christmas Eve box is basically some stocking fillers packaged into something really exciting.
In fact, I don’t give my kids stocking stuffers on Christmas Day. Because small gifts are always forgotten in the excitement of “Santa’s big gift.
I try to avoid the materialistic “buy, buy, buy” mentality at Christmas, but I love the tradition of the Christmas Eve box.
The excitement of Christmas gets even more exciting, especially when Santa’s elves deliver the boxes!
Why we’re adapting the Christmas Eve box tradition – December 1st Christmas Box idea
For the past two years, we’ve given our kids Christmas Eve boxes, but last year we changed the tradition. It worked so well that we plan to do the same again this year.
The “Christmas Eve Box” is scheduled to arrive on December 1st.
The reason is simply to extend the exciting and magical time before Christmas and get more out of your Christmas presents.
I think it would be a waste to buy a Christmas book or new pajamas, only to wear or read them a few times and then end up putting them away in the back of the raffle. There will be a Christmas book next year, but the pajamas will be too small.
Therefore, this year we are holding a “December 1st Box.
What’s in a December 1st Box?
The December 1st box is very similar to the Christmas Eve box and is only available on December 1st in the Advent Calendar. The elves deliver the boxes when the kids’ advent calendars are delivered, and they even pop in unexpectedly to make sure everyone’s tidy!
We’ve put ours:
- letter from santa
- Christmas pajamas (from £5 at B&M, available for the whole family)
- Christmas Coloring Book (99p at Home Bargains)
- Christmas Activities/Sticker Book (89p from Home Bargains)
- Christmas Notepad (£1.99 Home Bargain)
- New crayons (24 for £1 from B&M)
- Chocolate Santa (Asda £99)
- Gingerbread Man Cookie Cutters (£4.49 on Amazon for your Gingerbread Man family. Make biscuits this week!)
- Toothbrush (Santa loves kids brushing their teeth, so Joseph needs lots of encouragement!)
This is what was in the box on Christmas Eve. I hope you have some ideas for your Christmas Eve box this year. If anyone else would like to give it out early with me, please let me know!