The most wonderful time of the year is coming up and it’s time to get excited about Christmas Day. If you’re like our family, you open your stockings while drinking coffee, enjoy a special Christmas breakfast, open your gifts together, help prepare Christmas dinner, then sit down for the feast. While all of that is fun, Christmas Day is a bit predictable for us. I’ve been thinking of ways to mix it up. Here are some ideas on how to make Christmas Day one to remember. (You might also be interested in reading about Toronto restaurants serving Christmas dinner.)
Personalized Hoodies
An excellent way to make people feel that they are a part of a very special event is by creating a special memento. You can make your own hoodie for Christmas morning and designate that the official Christmas morning attire. Imagine having the entire family wearing warm hoodies with “The Anderson’s Christmas 2018” written on it. Not only will it make Christmas Day more special, but it will leave everybody with a souvenir from this special Christmas.
Volunteer To Serve Christmas Dinner at a Shelter
Although spending time with family on Christmas Day is lovely, it becomes even more meaningful if you can help others. Getting your family together to serve dinner at St. John’s Mission, the Salvation Army, a local shelter, or community and health centre is a rewarding way to spending part of your Christmas Day. Doing so will make everyone appreciate what they have at home. Sign up early because these Christmas Day dinners receive a lot of volunteers every year.
Family Photo with Graphic Tees
Having a photo taken with the entire family may sound like a cliché, but you can take this to a new level by ordering specially-designed graphic t-shirts with sayings such as “Gangster Wrapper”, “OCD – Obsessive Christmas Disorder” or “I’m only a morning person on Dec. 25”. Place the t-shirts in each person’s stocking and watch their surprise as they open their present. Have everyone wear their t-shirt for a group photo; you can use your photo as next year’s Christmas card! You can also use this idea for birthday t-shirts .
Take a Stroll down Memory Lane
There’s no time like Christmas to cherish family memories, so plan to reminisce over the fond memories you have together by looking at family albums or watching home videos of family events. Or you could have each member of the family choose three family events they’d like to talk about so that everyone gets to hear some good family stories.
Plan a Fun Group Activity
If you want Christmas Day to be truly great this year, plan a special activity in which the whole family can participate. Board games such as Codenames or Googly Eyes are excellent because they require a team effort. You could also have a cooking contest to make the best Christmas cookies. Another idea is to organize your own paint class…you can pick up acrylic paints, brushes and canvasses from your local dollar store and follow along on a YouTube video. If you have a piano, you could sing Christmas carols as a group.
Go for a Christmas Day Walk
Sometimes, we hunker down so much during the holidays that we neglect to enjoy the great outdoors. Take a break from Christmas noshing and gifts by going for a walk in your neighbourhood. Did you get some new winter clothes for Christmas? Put on your new gloves, scarf or sweater and walk in the snow while breathing in the crisp, fresh air. If you’re really ambitious, you can don your skates and hit up your local skating rinks. This will ground you and connect you with nature, as well as burn off some of the Christmas Day goodies.
End Christmas Night with a Good Movie
After a fun-filled day with funny photo shoots and games, neighbourhood walks or skating, and a holiday meal, one of the best ways to wrap up Christmas Day is by gathering the family to watch a good movie. Choose one of the holiday classics such as It’s A Wonderful Life or opt for one of the newer flicks like Bad Santa, but make sure you have a Christmas film ready. It will give everybody a chance to wind down while enjoying their hot chocolate (or something stronger!) together.
With these tips, your Christmas Day will be more special than ever. Start planning early because the holidays will be here before you know it!
I love how you have really ‘thought outside the box’ here with these suggestions. My favourite would be to get the family to spend some time outside as you suggested as well as to volunteer as a family to help others.
These are really great tips to make Christmas Day special. I love your easy to do tips for making Christmas day special. I don’t have my kids on Christmas Day, so I sort of do some of these things for Christmas Eve. My Dad and Step Mama come over for Christmas Eve Pizza and Presents. We all hang out, eat pizza and open presents and then just have fun chatting.
We always do monkey bread in themorning, go for a walk if we can, and wear matching pjs!
My Brother got one of my kids a personalised hoodie and it was fantastic she still has it , definitely a good one as you say for a gift .
We always do the movie thing on Christmas Day. Sure, the theater is crowded, but everyone is in good spirits!
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