Any one else doing Christmas on a tight budget this year? I’ve found that when we go back and try to have a Simple Christmas, things end up being more fun and WAY less stressful. Today, we’re sharing over 50 free or almost free things to do this Christmas. Traditions don’t have to be fancy or expensive. Sometimes just a simple time with family makes the best memories of all.
- Drive around looking at Christmas lights
- Have a Christmas Pajama party
- Borrow old Christmas movies from the library
- Bake Christmas cookies
- Make footprint Christmas trees with finger paints
- Make handprint ornaments
- Do living room karaoke to Christmas music
- Email your Christmas letter instead of mailing it
- Decorate large rolls of white paper to use as homemade wrapping paper
- Make peppermint or gingerbread playdough
- Have a LEGO building competition – see who can build the best holiday-themed creation
- Read a Christmas story every night
- Volunteer at a soup kitchen
- Have a gingerbread house making contest
- Make a hot chocolate bar and allow everyone to choose their own flavors and toppings
- Take an evening and have every one write down their favorite memories from the year on a piece of paper. Put them all in a clear/hollow ornament and hang it on the tree!
- Have the kids draw Christmas pictures and deliver them to a local nursing home
- Take blankets and coats to homeless shelters
- Make up your own Christmas stories
- Go Christmas caroling
- Have a sleepover around the Christmas tree
- Build a snowman-santa
- Attend a candle-lit Christmas eve service
- Choose a popular song like “jingle bells” and take turns writing new words for it
- Set out cookies for Santa and use this recipe for adorable reindeer food for rudolf on Christmas eve
- Go to a local airport and “watch for santa” coming in for a landing
- Follow Santa’s journey around the world using santatracker.google.com
- Make a birthday cake for Jesus
- Have a present scavenger hunt, every day a new present is found and placed under the tree
- Type out and print a “letter from santa” for your kids
- Make a countdown chain to count the days until Christmas. Each day tear off a ring and know that Christmas is one day closer!
- Make a photo booth at home and take silly selfies together
- String popcorn for an affordable tree decoration
- Cut out paper snowflakes
- Read the Christmas story from Luke 2
- Make homemade Christmas cards and mail them anonymously
- Knit a scarf and donate to the knit together project
- Bake cookies to the servicemen and women in your community
- Shoot a family Christmas “music video” on your phone
- Compete to see who in the family finishes their Christmas shopping first (the winner gets to open their gifts first on Christmas day)
- Visit a local “live nativity”
- Invite friends with no family in town to a special “friends Christmas” on December 26th
- Write Christmas poems, type them all out then guess who wrote what
- Set a timer for 30 minutes, then see who can make their own Christmas tree out of “unexpected” items they find around the house
- Make an outdoor Christmas tree for the birds using strings of popcorn
- Create a candy cane treasure hunt
- Read about Christmas customs in other countries and implement one into your own Christmas traditions
- Write letters to santa
- Ask Grandma what her favorite Christmas memories are and try to recreate them
- Watch old home movies or even all the phone videos you’ve taken in the previous year
- Deliver special baked goods to the fire station and police station on Christmas day
What are your family’s favorite Christmas traditions? Did any that you love make my list? You can continue with your ideas in the comments so we have even MORE ideas!!!
While we are talking Christmas I wanted to share an awesome book with you. It’s all about having a simpler Christmas, and that’s really the point of planning early, isn’t it? This is a helpful book with lots of bonus printables to help you find a beautiful and simple Christmas.
It is filled with resources, encouragement and helpful tips to help make this the easiest and most memorable Christmas yet!
[…] item tops Beauty Through Imperfection’s list of top family traditions, gather the family up and drive through the neighborhood looking […]