The end of every year brings together three of my family’s most important core values:

• Spending quality time together, whether that means reading books, playing fun family board games (i.e. not Candyland), or just enjoying each other’s company,
• Expressing gratitude for our blessings and finding ways to give to others, and
• Dessert.

Because this is our absolute favorite time of year, we try to soak up as much winter holiday spirit (and dessert) as humanly possible.

One year, we channeled Clark Griswold with our outdoor lights and put them up before Halloween. Sorry, neighbors! (But hey, science says decorating early makes you happier, so there’s that.)

Another year, we planned an elaborate Polar Express^† night for the kids, complete with hot cocoa and marshmallows, golden tickets like this, and my husband dressing up as the train conductor.

^† This site is reader-supported. When you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

And then this year, we decided to build up our home library of Christmas books for kids, so we embarked on a quest to find the absolute best children’s Christmas books.

Sounds fairly tame, except that we started our quest in August, and we’ve spent three solid months reading every Christmas or winter holiday book we could get our hands on.

The Problem With Some Christmas Books for Kids

Since becoming parents, we’ve amassed a small but treasured collection of favorite Christmas picture books. These are books we love as much as our kids do, so we don’t mind reading them again and again every December.

But early on in our quest to find the best Christmas books for kids, we realized something unfortunate about some of the holiday stories out there: they were long and preachy.

I certainly don’t mind reading a longer picture book if my kids are into it. But my 5-year-old bookworm started doing something that made me realize some of the children’s Christmas books may be too long for their target audience. This is a child who would happily listen to me read a stack of 50 picture books in one sitting. But for some of these holiday books, she would turn to me after we were a few pages into the story and say, “Mommy, can we stop reading this now?”

As it turns out, kids don’t really want to listen to a lecture disguised as a children’s book.

So we focused on finding the best Christmas books that we can share with our children to celebrate the spirit of the holiday season.

Related: The Most Meaningful Gifts for Kids Who Have Everything

The Best Children’s Books That Will Make Your Child’s Holiday Magical

The goal of my family’s months-long research project to find Christmas books for kids was simple: find the best books that both kids and parents will enjoy. (Because if our kids are going to ask us to read a Christmas story again and again, it may as well be something we appreciate, too!)

Every week, I put a huge stack of books on hold at the library, plus at every visit I browsed the shelves for even more children’s Christmas books—not to mention every Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and other winter holiday book I could find. While we celebrate Christmas in our family, I want my kids to understand, appreciate, and respect the holidays celebrated by other families.

All told, my kids and I read hundreds of picture books on the topic of Christmas and other winter holidays.

The list below is the cream of the crop from those hundreds of books: the books I loved reading, and the books my kids couldn’t get enough of. Read these Christmas books for kids to get your whole family excited about the holiday season.

Related: 42 Experience Gifts That Will Make You Everyone’s Favorite Person

Bonus: How to Turn This List Into a Festive Book Advent Calendar

For an extra special way to share these Christmas books with your children, many families enjoy sharing holiday stories through book Advent calendars.

Here’s how you start a Christmas book Advent tradition:

1. Get copies of 25 children’s Christmas books from this list. If you’re on a budget, most of these titles are available used for cheap, or you can also check them out from the library.
2. Wrap the books and stack them next to your Christmas tree. (If you’re borrowing them from the library, just be careful with the tape and tell your kids the library is letting you borrow them.)
3. Every day in December, let your children pick one book to open. If you have more than one kid, taking turns every day works well.
4. Enjoy a different Christmas story every day as a family.

Kids love this Advent calendar book-a-day tradition, but if 25 books of Christmas feels like a bit much, you might try another tradition from Iceland called Jolabokaflod, or the “Christmas Book Flood.” For this, you give each other books on Christmas Eve and spend the night reading and drinking hot cocoa. Sounds magical to me!

Related: 30 Fun Holiday Activities for Your Advent Calendar {Printable}

32 Most Heartfelt and Meaningful Christmas Books for Kids

And now for your list of the most magical Christmas books for kids that you’ll want to share with your family every December!

But first, a quick warning: I was surprised to find that many of our favorite children’s Christmas books are now out of print. If you see a book on this list you’d like to pick up for your family, you may want to do it this year rather than waiting until next year. I learned the hard way—some books I’d planned on picking up copies of this year are now out of print, and now they’re not available anywhere online. Ack!

Also, to keep things simple, you should know that we skipped over any holiday sequels to other children’s books. If a holiday version of one of your kid’s favorite children’s books is out there, go for it!

Note: indicates my family’s absolute top favorites on the list. These are the books my kids can’t get enough of!

Classic Children’s Christmas Books

When it comes to the best Christmas books for kids, you can’t beat the classics. Every family seems to have their own favorite, but after reading aaaaaaaallllllllllllll the classic holiday tales in a short period of time, these are the ones our whole family loved most of all.

1. The Night Before Christmas

Out of all the countless renditions of this Christmas classic, this is the one you need in your home. Not only are the illustrations by Holly Hobbie the most magical I’ve seen for this story (and I’ve seen a lot of versions of this one!), my kids loved that the illustrator featured a child’s perspective in addition to the father’s. Surprising and beautiful and perfect.

If you’re looking for a different style of illustration, we also loved the version illustrated by Charles Santore and the fresh retelling by Rachel Isadora. (Beware that the latter isn’t available on Amazon or Barnes & Noble anymore, so you’ll have to check your library.)

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2. The Polar Express

No matter how many times I read this story, I always get choked up at the end. And even though all my kids know the truth about Santa, something about this book tugs at my heart and makes me want to believe. It doesn’t get more magical than this classic children’s Christmas book. Just beware that it’s a little on the longer side, so grab a mug of apple cider and settle in for a cozy read.

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3. The Nutcracker by Susan Jeffers or The Nutcracker in Harlem

Many families have a tradition of going to see The Nutcracker ballet every year, but our youngest kids are still too little to appreciate it, so instead we immerse ourselves in retellings of the story. But we couldn’t decide on a favorite between these two! The illustrations are gorgeous in both, and the retellings are unique. This also works great for explaining the story ahead of time to help younger kids follow along with the story when they’re watching it live. (That will make them less likely to “whisper” questions to you asking what’s going on during the show.)

For an interactive experience, try The Story Orchestra: The Nutcracker, which has readers press a button on each page to hear a snippet of Tchaikovsky’s music. A beautiful way to experience The Nutcracker!

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4. The Little Match Girl

This is a classic holiday story from Hans Christian Andersen that I remember reading as a child, so I wanted to share it with my children too. Fair warning: You will probably cry. But even though this isn’t a cheerful holiday story, it’s still one of our favorites. It’s the reminder we need every year that winter isn’t always a joyful time for too many people around the world. This story always makes us reflect on our blessings and think of how we can help others who may be struggling this holiday season.

Of all the classic children’s Christmas books we read together as a family, this one made the biggest impact on my kids.

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Related: The Ultimate List of the Best Picture Books, Endorsed by Kids And Parents

Heartwarming Christmas Books for Kids

Out of the hundreds of children’s Christmas books we read, these are the most heartfelt and meaningful stories we came across. You’ll want to share these with your child every year!

1. Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem – This Maya Angelou masterpiece should be in every collection of Christmas books for kids. If poetry isn’t your thing, don’t let the subtitle “A Christmas Poem” turn you off this gem. As you read, this book fills your soul. It finds all the cracks and fissures created by hardships and disappointment and just fills them right up with a warm golden light. This beautiful story captures the magic of the Christmas season, and I’m so thankful our little Christmas book research project brought it to my family.
2. Red and Lulu – Through gorgeous artwork, we follow the story of two cardinals who live in a beautiful evergreen tree but get separated accidentally. With so many Christmas books for kids being focused on Santa and the materialistic side of the holiday season, this book is a refreshing story that has nothing to do with buying stuff or getting stuff. Plus, your kids will get a fascinating history lesson about the real Rockefeller tree and a world-famous Christmas tradition. You have to read this one! So, so good.
3. Night Tree – If you pick up only three books from this list, you need Amazing Peace, Red and Lulu, and this heartwarming little story. This is an older book and it’s available only in paperback, so you may want to move fast on this one before it’s officially out of print. In this story, you see a young boy and his family heading to the forest for an annual holiday tradition. Their tradition will make you go “awww” but my absolute favorite part is the relationship between the boy and his little sister. Everyone with a sibling will definitely be able to relate! I never get tired of reading this beautiful book to my kids. A new family favorite!
4. Christmas Farm – What a little gem of a book! A woman decides to plant Christmas trees on her land, so she enlists the help of a boy who lives next door. We loved their sweet friendship, and also we loved learning all about the process of growing Christmas trees. My kids were shocked at how long it takes! The book has a great way of demonstrating the length of time in a way kids can easily understand. This one’s in our regular nightly rotation during the holiday season.
5. The Christmas Boot – This book surprised me. Each page has more text than I would typically expect my toddler to be able to sit through, but she was engrossed in this story. It has an old-timey folktale feel to it, but it’s actually an original story by Lisa Wheeler. This is a beautiful, magical Christmas tale, and it sparked some great conversations with my kids about deciding to do what’s right even if it’s hard or uncomfortable. Side note: The author wrote this book in honor of her friend Linda Smith, one of my favorite children’s books authors of all-time who passed away from cancer. (If you haven’t read Mrs. Biddlebox, promise me you will find a copy and share it with your child. It’s out of print, but Amazon still has a few used copies left, or you can check your library!)
6. Great Joy – In this story set in the 1940s, a young girl notices an organ grinder and his pet monkey out in the cold on the street. The girl’s journey of awareness and then finding her voice for change is powerful. The ending also sparked a lot of discussion with my children about how we can help those in need during the holiday season. Beautifully illustrated and written.
7. The Christmas Magic – This gentle Christmas picture book is perfect as a bedtime read-aloud. The lyrical text (like when “Santa feels a tingling in his whiskers”) and watercolor illustrations are beautiful, but what I love most of all is how this imagining of Santa captures the anticipation of Christmas, which is something children can very much relate to. Also, I appreciate how this book shows all the hard, thoughtful work that Santa puts into getting ready for the big day. That can help build kids’ gratitude about the holiday season: all the fun stuff is possible because someone who loves them did the work to make it happen.
8. A Houseful of Christmas – This book is older and seems to be out of print, so it might be hard to get your hands on. But if you typically visit extended family for the holiday season or if you have a big immediate family, this is a must-have for your children’s Christmas book collection. I loved how this book captured the chaos and fun of a big family, and it just felt plain cozy to read with my kids cuddled up around me. An absolutely sweet, heartwarming holiday tale!
9. A Homemade Together Christmas – This story starts out with a pig family that’s decorating for the holidays, and they decide to give each other homemade gifts for Christmas. The youngest pig Luca has trouble thinking of something he can make, and everything he tries to make doesn’t turn out well. So finally, he settles on the perfect gift. I don’t want to ruin the surprise, but if you want to show your kids that the best part of Christmas is spending time together, this is the perfect book to show just that. This story is so stinkin’ cute!
10. Christmas Cookies: Bite-Size Holiday Lessons – During the holiday season, we tend to throw around abstract words that our kids don’t quite understand. Words like “tradition,” “gratitude,” and “peace.” What I love about this book is how it brings those abstract concepts to life for children. Plus, in our family we go a bit bananas over Christmas cookies, so it was the perfect analogy for our kids to really dig into the concepts and learn what they mean. And as if we needed an excuse to make (more) cookies, the book ends with a cookie recipe!
11. Pick a Pine Tree – Every year on the day after Thanksgiving, we get this book out and read it while enjoying a cup of hot cocoa (with extra marshmallows!), then head out to pick out our Christmas tree as a family. This book is all about the tradition of picking a Christmas tree and the fun of decorating it, so it’s the perfect story to pair with your own tree tradition. Plus, the illustrations have a fun, retro vibe that will put a smile on your face.
12. Christmas Day in the Morning – This heartfelt story is on the longer side, so it’s best for older kids who have a longer attention span. The main character is a young boy who wants to get his hard-working father something for Christmas, but he doesn’t have any money to spend. What he comes up with in the end will warm even the Scroogiest of hearts.
13. The Last Christmas Tree – In a parking lot filled with big, beautiful Christmas trees, one little tree anxiously awaits its turn to get picked. But then it gets passed over again and again, until it’s all alone on Christmas Eve. This story encourages kids to see the beauty and value in all things, even when they’re not the biggest and “best.”
14. Santa Clauses: Short Poems from the North Pole – Such a delightful little book! It opens with a typewritten note: “Santa is a man of many talents. He’s a toymaker, a reindeer trainer, a sleigh pilot, and a world traveler. But did you know he is also a poet?” Then you get one fun haiku for every day from December 1-25. The short poems feature vignettes of Santa’s life leading up to the big day, like Mrs. Claus making snow angels and Santa untangling Christmas lights. Thanks to the suggestion of other reviewers, we’ll be keeping this by our free printable Advent calendar so we can read one a day throughout December. Side benefit: After reading this the first time, it inspired our kids to write their own holiday-themed haiku!

Related: The Ultimate List of the Best Children’s Books About Kindness

Silly And Funny Children’s Christmas Books

For a fun break from the heartwarming Christmas picture books, mix in one of these silly, funny tales.

1. The 12 Days of Christmas – This is the book that finally taught our family the correct order of all the gifts in the song “The 12 Days of Christmas.” And as a bonus, the story told through the illustrations is hilarious. Side note: At the end of the book the first time we read it, my 5-year-old turned me and said, “Why would somebody give all that for Christmas, anyway?” That prompted me to look up the history of the song, where I discovered that the song’s original intention was most likely to be a memory game of sorts. Who knew?
2. Morris’s Disappearing Bag – What a quirky, adorable little Christmas story! If you have more than one child, this is a story that will resonate even more deeply with them. The youngest will understand how Morris feels left out, and the oldest will get a big dose of empathy for their younger sibling. But don’t worry because it’s not heavy-handed at all. It’s light, silly, and a joy to read over and over. I’m so happy we discovered this hidden gem of a Christmas picture book!
3. The Christmas Crocodile – My kids adore this odd little Christmas story and are currently asking for it every single day. My hunch is that every time the crocodile misbehaves and I read the refrain of “The Christmas Crocodile didn’t mean to be bad, not really,” my younger kids can relate to those moments where they give into their impulses and then regret it afterwards. The part I love most is when the little girl in the story gets frustrated with the crocodile, but then she feels a twinge of sympathy and decides to give him another chance. This is a funny Christmas story of redemption tailor-made for kids whose little brains are still working on developing impulse control.
4. How Murray Saved Christmas – The first time I read this silly, offbeat Christmas story to my kids, I could not stop smiling. Then the kids started giggling (even the 10-year-old), and I got the giggles too. What an absolutely fun read! The story is told in the style of The Night Before Christmas, so it has a fun rhythm to it. But fair warning: If potty humor bothers you, best to skip it.
5. Rudy’s Windy Christmas – Speaking of potty humor: If your kids get a kick out of that, this Christmas picture book is right up their alley. Our kids gave into fits of giggles over all the new phrases they learned that mean “pass gas,” like a “I’ve done a booty burp” and “my bottom did a trump.” While we didn’t love this one enough to purchase a copy for our home library, we will be checking it out from the library every year during the holiday season!
6. Santa Claus, the World’s Number One Toy Expert – We’re huge fans of Marla Frazee’s artwork (especially Everywhere Babies and All the World), so it was fun to find a Christmas book for kids written and illustrated by Frazee. In this adorable little book, you get a peek behind the curtain at Santa and all the hard work that goes into picking out the right toy for every child. Be sure to take time on each page to look for all the playful details in the illustrations!
7. Laugh-Out-Loud Christmas Jokes for Kids – This book is from our favorite series of joke books, Laugh-Out-Loud Jokes for Kids. In this edition, you get lots of festive jokes that kids will love, like “What’s a sheep’s favorite Christmas song?” Fleece Navidad. Or “What do gingerbread men use when they break their legs?” Candy canes. Quick tip: This book is the perfect size for a stocking stuffer.

Related: 10 Small But Meaningful Stocking Stuffers That Will Delight Your Kids {Printable}

Winter Holiday Books About Traditions Around the World

These winter holiday books are a lovely way to introduce your children to how people around the world celebrate their own winter traditions.

1. Winter Candle – This book is out of print, so you’ll need to get it at your local library. But I’ve been scouring my local used bookstores for a copy because it’s so good. This is the powerful story of how a single candle touches the lives of five different families who celebrate five different winter holiday traditions. Not only does the book introduce children to different traditions from different cultures, but the example of neighbors helping neighbors is utterly beautiful. If I ever find a used copy of this, I’m never letting it go!
2. Oskar and the Eight Blessings – In this story, a boy named Oskar sets off in a ship for New York City to escape Nazi Germany. For younger children, this is a poignant introduction to the traditions of Hanukkah and the holiday spirit. But older children will feel more deeply the severity of Oskar’s situation of his parents sending him off to another country to escape the horrors of his own home. For kids who want to learn more, be sure to share the historical background at the end of the book.
3. Walk This World at Christmas Time – This is a gorgeous book! Each page spread shows how people around the world celebrate different aspects of Christmas. You can lift little flaps to discover more details, and my kids loved hunting down all the flaps and then finding what was hidden under each flap. We put this one next to our Advent calendar and explore a little every night.
4. My First Kwanzaa – This is an introduction to Kwanzaa that’s best suited for younger kids. You may want to explain each of the principles covered and what they mean because the abstract concepts can be hard for kids to understand, but this was a great starting point for the conversation.
5. A World of Cookies for Santa: Follow Santa’s Tasty Trip Around the World – If your kids love treats, this one is a fun addition to your collection of children’s Christmas books. The book steps through the Christmas cookie traditions of 32 different cultures, and you even get the recipes for some of them. (In fact, my only regret with this book is that we didn’t get the recipes for all of the cookies mentioned, but that’s easy enough to Google these days!)
6. The Story of Hanukkah – This book is a great introduction for kids and families who don’t yet have any background knowledge of the history of the holiday and the traditions surrounding how it’s celebrated today. Just beware that the story does get a little violent in some spots (but then again, so does the Bible). If those parts are too much for your child, you can just tone down the language or skip those details as you read aloud.
7. Seven Spools of Thread: A Kwanzaa Story – Kids with siblings will relate to this story of seven brothers in an African village who fight and bicker all the time. We loved how the book laid out the history and seven principles of Kwanzaa and delivered a powerfully original story.

Bonus book: Our library didn’t have a copy of Lucia Morning in Sweden, but it’s on our list to pick up a copy next year because we’ve heard great things about it!

Bonus! 4 Awesome Christmas Chapter Books

My oldest reads chapter books constantly, so she set herself a personal goal to read as many Christmas chapter books as she could this year. Every time she found one she loved, she added it to a list for me. Then I read her favorites and whittled it down to the ones we both loved.

If you’re looking for a Christmas chapter book that will make a great read-aloud with older kids, this is the list for you!

1. A Boy Called Christmas – This is a fun adventure story complete with magic (elves and trolls and pixies!), and the humor reminded me a lot of Roald Dahl. We decided this will be a Christmas chapter book we re-read together every year as a family to get ourselves in the Christmas spirit. If you enjoy this one, be sure to check out the companion books, The Girl Who Saved Christmas and Father Christmas and Me. Such a fun series!
2. The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street – In this story, a family of seven finds out their landlord will be kicking them out of their beloved home right after Christmas. The five Vanderbeeker children are heartbroken, so they come up with a plan to save their home. This was a heartwarming holiday read!
3. Paper Chains – This is a story of friendship that takes place during the holiday season. While it’s not as overtly Christmas-y as the other Christmas chapter books in this list, this is just an absolutely lovely, sweet read so we had to include it. If you enjoy it, you’ll want to check out its companion Like Magic next.
4. Winterfrost – The Larsen family is preparing for their Christmas Eve celebration when the grandmother breaks her hip. They need to take her to the hospital, so they leave the 12-year-old and her baby sister home—and that’s when the adventure starts. We loved learning about the Scandinavian Christmas traditions in this sweet story!

Your Turn

What are your favorite Christmas books for kids? Share in a comment below!

The post The Ultimate List of the Best Christmas Books for Kids appeared first on Happy You, Happy Family.

One Christmas when my oldest was a preschooler, something shifted compared to previous holiday seasons. Instead of getting a couple cute onesies and board books as gifts from loved ones, she got piles and piles of presents.

Grandparents on both sides sent gifts. Extended relatives. Family friends.

Not to mention the gifts we’d gotten her ourselves.

That Christmas morning, it took forever for my daughter to get through opening all the toys and gadgets and gifts. Then about five presents in, the light went out in her eyes.

She would carefully undo the tape on the wrapping, open the box, pull out the gift, and set it on the teetering stack next to her. Then she’d look up with a small smile, say “thank you,” and move onto the next gift.

She could no longer get excited because she was absolutely overwhelmed.

Bonus: As a bonus for joining my weekly newsletter, get this free printable 4-gift wish list and fill it out with your child. You’ll help them focus on what truly matters this holiday season and foster some powerful conversation about wants versus needs.

We Had to Make a Change

That night lying next to each other in bed, my husband and I talked about how our daughter became almost robot-like when she hit that point of overwhelm.

That’s not what we wanted our holiday season to be about – overloading our child with gifts until she has to shut down just to cope with the excess of stuff. Plus, we wanted to try to have another baby one day, so we knew that sort of gift-giving free-for-all wouldn’t be sustainable as our family grew.

That night, I Googled “how to keep Christmas from getting out of control” and stumbled on the tradition of giving 4 gifts for Christmas – a simple guideline that’s supposed to help you keep the holiday season focused on what really matters. With the 4-gift rule, each person gets just four gifts for Christmas:

1. Something you want,
2. Something you need,
3. Something to wear, and
4. Something to read.

Not just a catchy little rhyme, the 4-gift rule for Christmas promises to help keep your holiday season from devolving into a materialistic frenzy of more, more, more and helps you stick to a reasonable budget.

But more important than that, many parents report that giving just four gifts for Christmas can help you raise kids who appreciate what they have instead of following in Dudley Dursley’s footsteps and throwing a temper tantrum when they end up with 36 presents instead of last year’s 37.

This Is What Giving 4 Gifts for Christmas Really Looks Like

We were excited to start the “want need wear read” tradition, but we had to wait a whole year. Starting in July, we were already thinking ahead to what special gifts would make the cut with the 4-gift rule.

But by the time November hit, I started feeling a little panicky. By shifting so abruptly from the excessive haul of gifts last year to just 4 things for Christmas this year, would we ruin the magic of Christmas for our child?

My husband and I were relieved to have the 4-gift rule to rein ourselves in when it came to buying gifts for each other because we tended to go overboard with each other, too. But we couldn’t shake our worries about what the 4-present rule would do to our daughter’s experience on Christmas morning.

After lots of debate and second-guessing ourselves, this is what we ultimately decided on for her 4 gifts for Christmas that year:

• What she wanted most of all was an American Girl doll, so that was her “something you want.”
• A big package of colorful socks for her growing little feet was her “something you need.”
• For “something to wear,” a pretty new dress.
• And for “something to read,” a set of classic Beverly Cleary paperbacks^†.

^† This site is reader-supported. When you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

We didn’t completely get the grandparents and extended family bought into the 4-present tradition, but they did tone it way down compared to the previous year. Their gifts tended to be mostly books and clothes instead of plastic toys that would end up collecting dust on a shelf within a week.

Related: This Is the Best Way to Politely Request No Christmas Gifts This Year

So…Did We Ruin Christmas Morning?

That was our daughter’s last Christmas as an only child, and the three of us stayed in our jammies that morning while opening presents. Her pile of presents was easily a fourth of the size of the previous year’s massive pile.

My husband and I sat on the floor next to her, sipping our coffee. Because we didn’t have a huge stack of presents to get through ourselves, we could afford to pause with her after each gift to appreciate what it was and who it came from.

And the light never went out of her eyes.

She didn’t hit that point of overwhelm. She didn’t turn into a robot going through the motions of opening presents. She stayed in the moment with us, enjoying the delight of a few thoughtful surprises.

Ever since that holiday season, we’ve stuck with the 4-gift rule, and it’s been a game-changer for taming the excess of the holiday season.

We especially love how the “want need wear read” tradition brings a sense of intention to our gift-giving. Because when you’re giving just 4 gifts for Christmas, they end up being incredibly thoughtful gifts – not random gadgets or trinkets you get just to get something, even though you know they’ll soon end up shoved in a closet or somewhere else out of sight, forgotten and collecting dust.

All this to say: Our new tradition of giving each other just 4 gifts for Christmas didn’t ruin our Christmas. It saved our Christmas.

But What About…?

As with any family tradition, you’ll have to make the 4-gift rule your own so it feels right to you and your family. But here are some common “gotchas” with shifting to giving 4 gifts for Christmas and suggestions for how you can avoid them.

To be clear, I’m certainly not the be-all-end-all expert on this topic. But I have picked the brains of every family I know who’s started giving just 4 gifts for Christmas. Below, you’ll find the culmination of tips and tricks from many, many families who’ve adopted the 4-gift rule. For example:

• Do you follow the 4-gift rule for stockings, too?
• How do you handle it when your kids expect more than 4 gifts for Christmas?
• What about gifts from siblings to one another?
• How can you get grandparents and extended family on board with limiting gifts?
• How do you handle Santa gifts?

After that, you’ll find a list of the best “want need wear read” gift ideas. Enjoy!

Do you follow the 4-gift rule for stockings, too?

Just like with too many gifts under the tree, an overflowing stocking can be overwhelming for kids, too. Instead of filling your kids’ stockings with small plasticky junk that will end up broken or lost within a few days, consider going for quality over quantity.

A few ideas for how to get a fun (but less overwhelming) mix of stocking stuffers:

• Replace several “stuff” gifts with one or two of these small but meaningful gifts that make the perfect stocking stuffers for kids. One of our kids’ favorite stocking stuffers were these family conversation starters. We still use those conversation starters every night to reconnect as a family, and the answers we get from our kids are pure gold!

These family conversation starters make a great stocking stuffer for kids.

• Make a special treat, like your child’s favorite kind of cookie or a chocolate goody. Or if you’re not great in the kitchen, pick up a special ready-made treat like a chocolate bar from the fancy chocolate section of the grocery store. One high-quality treat can teach little ones to savor what they have instead of a whole bag of junky treats that they inhale without really appreciating.
• Add a card game that will be fun for the whole family to play. You can check my list of the best board games and card games for all ages for ideas, but to save you time I’ll list our favorite card games here real quick: Sleeping Queens, Sushi Go!, Rat-a-Tat Cat, Create a Story, and Spot It!. Also, Travel Qwirkle isn’t a card game, but it’s oodles of fun and small enough to fit into a stocking!

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Sleeping Queens

    
“My daughter and I love Sleeping Queens! It teaches them math without them even realizing it – or me, for that matter. I remember my daughter laid down a sequence that was like 1 + 3 + 5 = 9, and I thought ‘How did you know that…?’ Then I realized she just figured it out from doing math in the game. So cool to watch her learn right before my eyes.” – Ann

Related: Forget the Typical Stocking Stuffers. Here Are 10 Small But Meaningful Gifts for Kids.

How do you handle it when your kids expect more than 4 gifts for Christmas?

If your kids are young, they likely won’t even notice the shift to 4 gifts for Christmas. Our daughter was almost five when we made the change, and she didn’t think anything of it.

Some kids end up loving the smallest, least expensive gift most of all anyway. Not to mention that toddlers and preschoolers tend to be happiest playing with the cardboard boxes the gifts came in!

But if your kids are older and tend to be concerned with how many gifts they get each year, you may want to get them on board upfront to head off any hint of disappointment on Christmas morning. If your kids are old enough to remember how many gifts they got last year and to expect the same or more this year, they’re old enough for a frank discussion about gift giving and what’s most important during the holiday season.

You can do this in a few different ways, depending on what will resonate best with your kiddos:

• Reminisce together – One night at dinner, start a conversation about gifts and the ones that stick with you. For example, you can try asking, “What’s your favorite gift you’ve ever received? Something you still remember, even if it was a while ago?” Go ahead and share your answer, too. You may find that everyone’s favorite gifts were the kind that give you treasured memories, not gifts that come from a store. That can open the door to a discussion about how you can give each other that kind of gift this holiday season instead of just a bunch of stuff that will be forgotten.
• Give them a higher purpose – As a family, read a children’s book about how some people may not have all the same things your family has. One picture book that made a huge impact on my kids was A Chair for My Mother. In my preschooler’s words: “I liked it when the whole town helped the family.” For tweens and teens, you can watch a documentary with them like Living On One Dollar. Then you can start a discussion about how some others may not have enough food for their families, or a home to keep them warm, or shoes that fit their feet. You might try asking your kids something like, “This Christmas, how could we help people who need food and clothes?” If they don’t take the bait, you can go ahead and plant the seed: “Could we save some money that we usually spend on gifts for ourselves to help others who need it more than we do?”
• Be upfront – If what led you to the 4-gift rule is the promise of keeping your holiday budget under control, go ahead and let your kids know. It’s good for kids to understand that adults have to make choices about how to spend money, and they’re not always easy choices – because they’ll have to make those choices one day, too. Just be careful not to stress your kids out with adult-level money concerns. For example, you might say, “Typically, we spend a lot of money on Christmas gifts, but that means when we want or need something next year, we may not have the money for it. So this year, we’re going to focus on giving a few awesome gifts instead of lots of just okay gifts.” If your kids aren’t familiar with the phrase “quality over quantity” yet, now would be a good time to introduce that concept.

You can also share a want need wear read Christmas list printable with your kids instead of asking them to write a typical free-for-all wish list. At the end of this post, you can get a free want need wear read Christmas printable that you can print and share with your kids.

Get Your Copy: Free Printable 4-Gift Wish List for Kids

What about gifts from siblings to one another?

Encouraging siblings to think of others is a good thing, but giving one gift to each other should be plenty to help kids learn the art of gift giving. Our favorite way to get our kids excited about giving gifts to each other is the Sibling Super Secret Spy Shopping Trip.

Still, if you have more than two kids, every kid getting a gift for every sibling can quickly add up. In that case, you can have the kids draw names from a hat, Secret Santa style.

How can you get grandparents and extended family on board with limiting gifts?

This is a common issue for many families, so I put together a list of all the best ideas for how to politely request no Christmas gifts or fewer gifts. Because we all know simply saying “no Christmas gifts please” won’t cut it.

How do you handle Santa gifts?

Full disclosure: In my family, we don’t do Santa gifts. But here are a few ideas I heard from other families who do incorporate Santa into their holiday traditions:

• Follow the 4-gift rule for gifts from you to your kids, then give one special “Santa gift.” If your kids are used to more gifts than that, you can explain that Santa’s sleigh is only so big, and he has millions of children to visit every Christmas Eve, so he can fit only one gift per child. Watching a movie like The Polar Express can help reinforce this “one gift from Santa” message.
• Explain that every year, more and more kids are being born, and Santa is having trouble fitting bigger gifts in his sleigh. This year, he’s switching to filling stockings instead of leaving gifts under the tree.
• Make Santa’s gift an experience gift for the whole family. For example, Santa could gift your whole family a movie night in a box, a monthly subscription box, or everything you need for a family camping trip including s’mores fixin’s (even if it’s just in your own backyard or living room!). Our favorite subscription box for kids is from Kiwi Crates. These monthly hands-on projects are perfect for curious kids, kids who love science, creative kids, kids who love to tinker, and more…in other words, every kid. We received this as a gift last year, and my kids run to the mailbox on the day it’s due to arrive every month. To get your first Kiwi Crate subscription box for $4.95, click here and use the coupon code GIFT.

For more fun experience gift ideas, check out The Ultimate (Most Epic!) List of the Best Experience Gift Ideas.

28 Best “Want Need Wear Read” Gift Ideas for Kids

The first year we sat down to figure out 4 gifts for Christmas for everyone in our immediate family, we drew a blank on a couple of the categories.

In a free-for-all gift giving situation, it doesn’t matter if some gifts are duds because you have tons of other gifts to pick up the slack. But when you start the 4-gift tradition with your family, you may find yourself wanting to make sure each gift is stellar. If your child is getting just 4 gifts for Christmas, there’s no room for duds.

Because it can be a little more challenging to find the perfect gift to fit into each “want need wear read” category, here are a few “want need wear read” gift ideas for you.

Something You Want

For “something you want,” it’s your chance to give your child the one thing you know will make their little face light up. This may be the easiest category to tackle because a lot of kids have one wish list item they’ve been talking about for weeks (or months), whether that’s a toy, electronics, or a brand new art set to replace a hodge-podge mess of broken crayons and dried-out markers.

On the other hand, some kids – especially younger kids – may change what’s at the top of their wish list on a daily basis. In that situation, you know your child best and what will delight her. In our family, we try to go with a gift idea our preschooler has mentioned a few times rather than a gift idea she first heard about the week before Christmas.

But if your child doesn’t have a clear “want,” check out this huge list of The Most Meaningful Gifts for Kids Who Have Everything. To save you some time, here are the top 3 most popular gift ideas from that list:

• Make a date once a month. Most kids want nothing more than one-on-one time with the important people in their lives, so gift them a year of monthly “dates” of special one-on-one time with you.
  How to Wrap It: Grab 12 colorful envelopes like these, label them with the months, and insert a card or brochure about each special day. Activities could include going out for ice cream, bowling, seeing a movie together, or anything else the child would enjoy doing with you. To save time, you can slip one of our popular Family Connection Cards into the envelope. For more ideas, check out this mom’s story of how she put this gift together.
• Take them somewhere super fun. Get tickets to your child’s favorite local amusement park, theme park, or water park – or make plans for some other extra special outing like a bouncy house center, indoor rock climbing gym, trampoline park, bowling alley, miniature golf course, skating rink, or any other place they’d love to go. Your child will get the gift of an awesome day when you take them on this special outing, plus they’ll build memories that will stick with them for a long time.
  How to Wrap It: Print a photo of where you’re taking them (or a promotional flyer would work too) and wrap that.
• Send a monthly box of fun. You can find a monthly subscription box for just about anything nowadays, from art projects to science experiments. And even though you’re technically gifting a subscription box to the kids, parents benefit too because you’re helping keep the kids busy with a new project once a month! Our favorite subscription box ever is from Kiwi Crates because the fun hands-on projects in their boxes are custom tailored to every age from newborns (yes, really!) to teenagers and everything in between. We received this as a gift last year, and my kids run to the mailbox on the day it’s due to arrive every month. For more subscription box ideas, check out The Most Meaningful Gifts for Kids Who Have Everything.
  How to Wrap It: Typically, you can pick the date of the first box delivery and add a special note from you to the recipient inside the box to let them know to expect a new box every month.

Something You Need

If your family is blessed to be able to provide for your children’s needs when they crop up instead of waiting for birthdays and holidays, this category may be a challenge.

Here are a few ideas of things kids tend to need:

• Shoes to replace ones that are worn out or too small
• A sturdy backpack in a fun pattern to replace one that’s falling apart
• If they play sports: sports equipment or gear like a new soccer ball, volleyball, and so on
• A bike helmet if they’ve outgrown their current helmet (same goes for knee and elbow pads)
• A winter coat
• A sleeping bag if they’ve outgrown the one they have
• A small wheelie suitcase they can use for family vacations and sleepovers
• Underwear, socks, and/or belts (by the way, Solmate Socks are my kids’ favorite because you can wear them mismatched!)
• A lunch box and/or reusable water bottle (we love the Hydro Flask water bottles for kids because they’re all stainless steel, insulated, and super durable)
• Pajamas
• A cute container to keep their toys organized (we love the Stuff ‘n Sit, which looks like just a regular bean bag but is actually a way to store stuffed animals, so you get a tidy room and an extra place to sit)
• An art caddy to organize all their art supplies (one of my kids loves making art, so we got her this portable arts and crafts organizer, and she was on cloud nine!)
• Sheets or other bedding if their current set is getting frayed or has holes in it
• A nice annual planner or calendar to keep track of school deadlines and extracurricular commitments (my kids have always loved these Erin Condren planners designed just for kids)

Something to Wear

The obvious choice here is clothing, but here are a few creative gifts that also work in this category:

• Dress-up clothes for pretend play (this set of superhero capes from a couple years ago is something all three of my girls still play with regularly – here’s the version for male superheroes)
• A watch or an activity tracker to help them get enough exercise every day (my oldest won’t go anywhere without her Fitbit Ace for kids, and it motivates her to get at least 10,000 steps every day!)
• Perfume or cologne
• A purse or wallet (I know my kids love anything that makes them feel like a grown-up!)
• Jewelry
• Noise-cancelling headphones so they can focus on schoolwork, especially if they have younger siblings

Something to Read

For kids who enjoy reading, this category is a no-brainer. The hard part may be picking just one book to gift!

Because my oldest tends to devour fiction quickly and doesn’t re-read it unless it’s an all-time favorite like Harry Potter, I try to gift books she’ll enjoy coming back to again and again, like how-to guides or project-based books. (This year, I’m considering getting her a copy of Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverted Kids, which she checked out from the library and loved.)

For my preschooler and toddler, I pay attention to which picture books we’ve checked out from the library and they ask to read again and again, then I’ll get them a copy of their very own so we can read that favorite to them anytime they want.

But if you have a child who doesn’t enjoy reading, don’t despair because here are a few creative ideas for the “something to read” category:

• Subscribe to a fun magazine. Kids love getting mail addressed just to them, and they’ll be building their reading skills without even realizing it. Plus, most kids’ magazines include activity and craft ideas for kids. And after the kids are done reading, they can pass the magazine along to a friend. A few ideas for you: Highlights, Ranger Rick Jr, or anything in the Cricket magazine family like Ladybug for 3- to 6-year-olds, Cricket for 9- to 14-year-olds, and more.
• Wrap a book with pictures. For older kids who don’t enjoy reading, remember that comic books and graphic novels totally count as “something to read,” too. You can’t go wrong with Calvin and Hobbes , and these graphic novels are perfect for kids: the Amulet series, Real Friends, Ghosts, and Invisible Emmie.
• Give them a book that transcends reading. Especially if the child doesn’t enjoy reading, get them a book they can put to good use. These books give the child projects and activities they can do or make, and they’ll likely find they do love books after all. Here are a few of our favorites:
  • Kitchen Science Lab for Kids: 52 Family Friendly Experiments from the Pantry – This isn’t exactly a cookbook but more a collection of super fun science experiments you can do in the kitchen.
  • Out of the Box – Projects kids can make using old cardboard boxes. Think of all the empty cardboard boxes on Christmas morning that they can reimagine into fun building projects! We recently got this for our preschooler, and she ATE IT UP.
  • Rosie Revere’s Big Project Book for Bold Engineers and Iggy Peck’s Big Project Book for Amazing Architects and Ada Twist’s Big Project Book for Stellar Scientists – We’ve been drooling over these since they were first released, and we just picked up the first one and plan to get the next two as well. If the child enjoyed the companion picture books Rosie Revere, Engineer and Iggy Peck, Architect and Ada Twist, Scientist, these activity books are the perfect fit.
• Share your childhood favorite. What was your favorite book as a child? Get a copy to share with the child, and write a special note on the inside cover about why it’s your favorite. That personal touch may be just the nudge they need to give it a go.
• Give them the best. We read a lot of kids’ books in my house. A lot. We check out at least 20 new picture books a week, and my oldest polishes off a chapter book every other day. And here’s what we’ve learned: Just because a kids’ book is on the Amazon bestseller list doesn’t mean it’s something kids will actually enjoy reading. Sometimes kids may not enjoy reading because they haven’t found the right book yet. Here are our top recommendations for each age range, approved by kids and parents:
  • Board books – Bear Snores On, Good Night Gorilla, and Everywhere Babies. For more ideas, check out The Best Baby Board Books That Will Delight Your Baby (And You).
  • Picture books – Our Tree Named Steve, Plant a Kiss, and Strictly No Elephants. Check out The Ultimate List of the Best Picture Books, Endorsed by Kids And Parents for more ideas.
  • Chapter books – Because of Winn-Dixie, Harry Potter, The Penderwicks, The Underneath, and Wonder. For more chapter book ideas, head to 48 Awesome Chapter Books for Kids Your Child Will Devour.
  • Young adult books – Graceling, A Great and Terrible Beauty, Hunger Games, and Jellicoe Road.

Get Your Free Printable: A Wish List for Kids

To get my kids on board with the 4-gift rule for Christmas, I designed a printable wish list they could fill out.

This printable may seem simple, but it’s actually fostered some of the best conversations we’ve ever had with our children about “wants” versus “needs.” Plus, when you tell your child they can put only one idea in each box, they get laser-focused about what they really want for Christmas instead of getting hung up on junky toys they’ll lose interest in after a few days. Parenting win!

1. Get the free checklist. Join my weekly-ish newsletter and as a bonus, you’ll get the printable! Just click here to get it and subscribe.
2. Print one for each child. If the adults in your family will be joining in on the 4-gift rule (and why wouldn’t they?!) go ahead and print a copy for them, too!
3. Explain the 4-gift rule to your child if you haven’t already. For tips on this step, see the “How do you handle it when your kids expect more than 4 gifts for Christmas?” section earlier in this post.
4. Ask your child to fill it out. The most fun is when you can spend a few minutes filling it out together and talking through each category, but your child can also fill it out independently and give it to you when she’s done.

Here’s a sneak peek of your 4-gift rule wish list:

Before you go, get my FREE cheat sheet: 75 Positive Phrases Every Child Needs to Hear

Your Turn

If you’ve made the shift to 4 gifts for Christmas, what tips would you add? Share in a comment below!

The post 4 Gifts for Christmas: How to Make Your Family Happy With Less appeared first on Happy You, Happy Family.

My husband and I learned the hard way that when it comes to Christmas gifts for kids, more isn’t necessarily better.

A few years ago on our oldest child’s last Christmas as an only child, we wanted her to feel special. So we saved up extra that year, and we went a little overboard. A new American Girl doll, LEGOs, puzzles, board games for all ages, art supplies, the best picture books, clothes, movies, and on and on.

But on Christmas morning, about five presents in, the light went out of her eyes. She moved from one present to the next just for the sake of getting through the pile that was set before her, not because she was excited for the surprises.

Like a Christmas morning assembly line.

This Is What Happens When Kids Get Too Many Gifts

Our child couldn’t appreciate any single gift because she was absolutely and completely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of all the new stuff in front of her.

The experience made me realize that the more gifts you give a child, the less they will fully appreciate any single gift.

So I decided to research the issue, and what I found confirmed my experience on that Christmas morning. For example:

• Some research shows that when kids receive a large number of toys, they can’t play or learn well from the play experience. Whereas a smaller number of toys allows kids to fully engage in the play experience.
• One study found that having too many toys keeps kids stuck in the “exploring” phase of interacting with a toy and prevents them from truly playing with the toys. But it’s that “playing with” mode where learning and development happens for kids’ brains—not the “exploring” mode.
• Another study showed that when you remove all the toys from a playroom, kids engage in more imaginative play, their ability to focus and concentrate increases, and their communication skills grow leaps and bounds.

What’s a Parent to Do?

My husband and I want to raise kids who are grateful for what they have instead of adopting Dudley Dursley’s attitude of “it’s never enough.” So after that Christmas, we did some research and decided to follow the four-gift rule. For this tradition, each person in the family gets four gifts: something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read.

It’s catchy, easy to remember, and helpful for setting expectations with kids on what they might get from their running wish list that they’ve been adding to throughout the year.

We’ve been following that tradition ever since the wretched excess of that one Christmas, and the four-gift rule has transformed our family’s gift-giving and gift-receiving experience from one of overwhelm to one of gratitude.

But Here’s the Problem

Grandparents. Family friends. Cousins, aunts, uncles.

They all want to give the kids something.

You can make a pact within your immediate family to follow the four-gift rule or some other tradition for keeping gift-giving reasonable, but how do you get extended family and friends on board?

Because even if each loved one gets your child “just” one or two gifts each, that still adds up to a teetering tower of gifts, and you’re back to a Christmas morning that overwhelms your child instead of truly delighting them.

And yet, you don’t want your extended family and friends to feel you’re ungrateful for the gifts they want to give. So how do you politely request no Christmas gifts this year—without offending anyone?

How to Politely Request No Christmas Gifts This Year

I’m not the expert on this topic, but I have done a lot of reading about how to broach this subject with loved ones. Plus, I’ve picked the brain of nearly every parent I know about how they handle this tricky situation. (Thanks, wise Starbucks barista!)

In this post, I’ve gathered all the best ideas for how to politely request no Christmas gifts this year. Because we all know simply saying “no Christmas gifts please” won’t cut it.

Full disclosure: I’m personally guilty of not bringing this up for the longest time because I was worried about creating tension with extended family. But when my husband and I finally did ask my kids’ grandparents to skip Christmas gifts for our kids, they were excited about the idea because we used a couple of the sample conversations listed below.

If you haven’t already explicitly asked your loved ones to skip giving you and/or your kids traditional “stuff” holiday gifts this year, give it a try because you might be surprised.

But first, a few important caveats:

• Relationships between immediate family and extended family can vary widely, so every idea in this list may not work for you. Give the list a quick read-through and see what resonates because odds are, you’ll find at least one doable technique for requesting no Christmas gifts without offending your loved ones.
• You know your loved one best and whether a phone call, text, email, or in-person conversation would be most appropriate. However, this message works best delivered one-on-one instead of in a mass letter to your whole extended family.
• In general, it works best to suggest an alternative to a physical store-bought gift so your loved one still has a way to show you they’re thinking of you and your family. That’s why the example conversations below include alternatives for redirecting your loved one to a more meaningful gift.
• You may like a sentence from one sample conversation and another sentence from another sample, so feel free to Frankenstein together something that feels right to you. Also, many of these samples mention kids, so you’ll need to adjust that if you don’t have little ones at home.
• Be prepared for this to happen: You may ask, and they may still send gifts. The truth is that some people show their love through physical gifts. It may help reduce your frustration if you remind yourself that their heart was in the right place. And remember that you can always try again next year! Several people I talked to said it took two or three years of having these conversations before they sunk in.

Ready to politely request no Christmas gifts this year? Here are a few clever ideas for you…

1. Bring Up a Memory

If the loved one has asked what your kids want for Christmas, you could reply with:

“Thank you for thinking of us! You know, we just finished decluttering and getting rid of so many things the kids weren’t even playing with, so we’re trying to keep gifts to a minimum this year. One thing the kids loved—and still talk about even months afterward!—is that time when you xyz (insert example of a time when the loved one spent some quality time with the kids or gifted them an experience).

What would make them happiest is the gift of another memory like that with you. Something as simple as* a trip to the movie theater with you or going to the ice cream shop together would make their day! Or if you wanted to do something a little more out of the ordinary, tickets to a play or musical, or tickets to an amusement park would be something they’d love to do with you, too.”

* For a quarantine-friendly alternative, you could suggest that your loved one arrange to have a special treat delivered to your home, then make a video call right after the delivery to “share” the treat together. Or as another idea, you could set up a special video meeting so your loved one can do something special with you or your kids like play board games, host a trivia contest, or watch a movie together.

If the examples at the end don’t resonate, check out my epic list of all the best experience gift ideas, especially the “for everyone” section and the “for kids and families” section. Or you can jump straight to my list of 110+ experience gifts for kids.

Related: The Ultimate (Most Epic!) List of the Best Experience Gift Ideas and 110+ Experience Gifts for Kids That Will Make Your Child Happier and Cut Clutter

2. Tap Into the True Spirit of Giving

This one requires getting your kids on board first but would have the added benefit of teaching your kids to be grateful for what they have. Try this trick to politely request no Christmas gifts this year:

“This year, our family has been doing a lot of reflection on wants and needs because we’re trying to teach the kids to be grateful for their blessings. We’ve been learning about other people who don’t have even their basic needs covered like food to eat or a roof to sleep under, and the kids have decided they want to donate most of their Christmas gifts to others this year. They always appreciate your gifts every year, so I wanted to let you know what they’d decided for this year.

We’ll be donating their Christmas presents from extended family and friends to the local children’s shelter, or if you’d prefer you can make a donation in their name to xyz (insert name of charity). The kids have even set a goal for what they want to raise for charity, so they’ll be excited to get closer to that goal!”

Related: A Sweet Way to Guarantee Your Kid Has an Attitude of Gratitude {Printable}

3. Blame the Budget

If your reason for wanting to politely request no Christmas gifts this year is that you don’t have the budget to reciprocate and/or that you suspect your loved ones are on a fixed budget and are making sacrifices just to send you presents, try this:

“We always appreciate your Christmas gifts every year, but this year I need to let you know something that’s a little uncomfortable to talk about. We’re on a fixed budget this year, and we’ve even had to limit the gifts we give each other in our immediate family. We can’t send extended family physical gifts this year, so as our gift we’ll be writing personal letters to loved ones instead.

We’d love it if you could send a card or a letter instead of a physical gift this year because that would mean so much more to us! And if you can slip a photo of you and your family in with the card or letter, we’ve cleared a spot on our mantle for photos of our loved ones.”

4. Go Handmade

This one works well if you’re crafty or you like to bake. When your loved one asks what you’d like for Christmas, you could reply:

“I just came across this phrase that really stuck with me, so I shared it with our little family and they loved it too: Gifts from the heart, not a shopping cart. We did some brainstorming on what that would mean to give gifts from the heart, and the kids suggested baking their favorite cookies and sending them as gifts (or insert another baked good or a craft that would make a great gift).

This year, will you join us on this “gifts from the heart, not a shopping cart” mission? The kids would love to get a surprise in the mail that’s something handmade, even if it’s just a handwritten card from you!”

If you want more ideas on handmade gifts you could exchange, check out 30 Heartfelt Homemade Christmas Gifts Anyone Can Make.

Related: 30 Heartfelt Homemade Christmas Gifts Anyone Can Make

5. Invite Them to Help With a Special Project

This one could end up being a special gift for your whole extended family. After you receive everything, scan the pages and save as a PDF, then email that to everyone who contributed.

“Hey! We thought it would be fun to do something a little different for Christmas this year instead of exchanging physical store-bought gifts with extended family. The kids are really excited about this idea, so I’m hoping you can join in! This all started because we just cleared out several bags of clutter and donated them to Goodwill, and we got to talking about how gifts don’t need to be something from the store to be meaningful.

We want to put together a book about the whole family. We picked out a special scrapbook, and we’re hoping to get a photo from everyone in the extended family along with a handwritten note or letter that we can put in the scrapbook…nothing fancy for the note, just a favorite memory or a quick story or an update on how you are. That way, even if we’re not all together throughout the year, we can pick up this family book anytime and feel closer! After we get the book together, we’d love to scan the pages and create a digital version we can email out to everyone who contributed. Will you help us with this project by skipping physical gifts and sending a photo with a card or letter instead?”

Or similar to that idea, you could invite everyone in the family to send you their favorite recipe, then compile a collection of the most treasured family recipes and share that PDF with the whole family.

6. Channel Your Inner Librarian

If your family enjoys books, here’s another approach that could work if you want to politely request no Christmas gifts this year:

“This year, we feel blessed that our family has everything we need. So along with the kids, we’ve decided to shift most of our gift-giving budget to donations to others who need help this holiday season. We’re so proud of the kids for thinking of others! So we were wondering: Will you help us with a special project to surprise the kids a little?

It took a lot of maturity for them to make the decision to give to charity, so we want to honor their decision and not shower them in gifts anyway. But we would like to surprise them with something small, and they absolutely love to read. Would you be willing to forgo other gifts and instead send your favorite book you read as a child? I know it would be such a delight for the kids to have a little mini-library of their loved ones’ favorite childhood books that they can enjoy throughout the New Year.”

If your loved ones aren’t sure what books to get, you can point them to The Ultimate List of the Best Picture Books, Endorsed by Kids And Parents.

7. Ask for Keepsakes

This may touch the hearts of older family members especially. Here’s one more trick for how to politely request no Christmas gifts this year:

“We recently went through our closets to find unused items to donate to charity, and the experience gave us an idea for Christmas this year that we were hoping you could help with! While we were sorting through everything, the kids found a few of our old mementos from our childhood, like a school paper I wrote and some old photos of us as kids. And finding those keepsakes made their day! Their faces just lit up.

So we were hoping that instead of a store-bought gift this year, you could share a keepsake with us and the kids. I’m sure we all have things sitting in our closets or attics that wouldn’t see the light of day for many, many years otherwise! You could take a photo of the keepsake, or feel free to send the actual object. If you could include a short note to give the background story, that would be really fun too. These could be mementos from your childhood or from other family members’ pasts.

We’re hoping to give the kids a family treasury of keepsakes so we can pass along the oral history of our family, and even if you just send a short note with a written story, I know the kids would be absolutely delighted! Thank you for helping us make this family history project come to life.”

Your Turn

What’s the best way you’ve found to politely request no Christmas gifts this year? Share in a comment below!

The post Too Much Stuff? This Is the Best Way to Request No Gifts This Year appeared first on Happy You, Happy Family.

Every year on the morning after Thanksgiving, we pick out a Christmas tree.

And before you get the wrong idea: We don’t drive out to the country and pull it up by the roots, National Lampoon style.

We get our tree at a grocery store.

It’s cheap, it comes with a mini tabletop tree for our girls to decorate, and nobody gets frostbite.

This year though, the temperature was in the mid-40s with buckets pouring from the sky.

But a tradition is a tradition. So we bundled up our toddler and infant – it wasn’t our week with 7-year-old – and we set out on a completely miserable morning.

Last year, our toddler was too young to understand any of the Christmas hullabaloo, but at two-and-a-half this year it’s a different story.

We parked at the store, and Ty reached to the backseat for the umbrella.

Not there.

I checked my floorboard.

Not there.

Our eyes met, and we both realized it at the same time.

At home, we’d cleared out the trunk to fit the tree and forgot to stick the umbrella somewhere else in the car.

I wondered: How bad would it be to just pull up alongside the tree tent and have them load one, sight unseen?

“Maybe we can come back a little later,” Ty suggested.

From the backseat in the most angelic voice you could imagine, our toddler repeated: “Come back later?”

I smiled at Ty, and we knew our fate was sealed. We couldn’t take this away from her.

Bonus: As a bonus for joining my weekly newsletter, get a free holiday planner template that will help you say goodbye to holiday stress so you can actually enjoy the season.

Not What We Bargained For

I loaded the baby in my trusty baby carrier as fast as possible and threw the attached cover over her head while Ty hurried to get the toddler out of her seat, then we ran for cover under the Christmas tree tent.

I’d hunched my head over the baby, so she wasn’t wet. But I was soaked. The cold wind cut right through to my bones.

Then I looked down at my toddler standing beside me, and I’ve never seen her eyes that big before.

And that smile! I felt a tug at the corners of my mouth and looked around me.

This wasn’t even an impressive display of trees. It was a grocery store. Ninety-five percent of the trees were still bundled up.

Plus, did I mention? Wet. Cold. And also in case I forgot to explain: wet.

“How about that one?” Ty pointed and asked our toddler.

“Yeah!” she yelled while clapping and jumping up and down.

I looked where he was pointing. A little scrawny.

But that smile. Pure joy from the simple idea of bringing a little of the outside into our home.

I caught Ty’s eye and smirked. “She’s pretty excited about this.”

He laughed.

What Happened to This Cranky Mom

I brushed the wet hair off my face and looked around the tent for a fuller tree.

When I spied one, I reached down for my toddler’s hand. My hand caught part of her jacket, and I realized she must be soaked, too.

I led her to another tree. “This one looks a little bigger. How about this?”

And again: “Yeah!” Clapping. Jumping.

That smile.

I shook my head and chuckled. “Too much cuteness.”

“Yep,” Ty said.

The tent attendant started to work on bundling up our tree for the road. “Don’t forget your tabletop tree,” he reminded us.

“Oh yeah,” I said. Then to my toddler: “Are you ready to pick out the tree for your room with big sis?”

Her jaw dropped until her mouth made a perfect circle. “For my room?”

“Uh-huh,” I said.

“Right now?” she asked.

“Right now,” I said.

Clapping. Jumping.

And oh goodness. That smile.

I couldn’t help it. I smiled too.

Wet, cold, and smiling like a toddler under a Christmas tree tent.

A Lesson From My Toddler

When the holiday stress threatens to overwhelm me this year, I will remember that day.

The bliss on my toddler’s face on an absolutely miserable day. Pure happiness because of the simple joys this season brings.

A tree? Right now? For me?

In that moment, she didn’t even realize she’d get to string lights on the tree or hang ornaments or shoo the cats away from drinking the tree water.

I can’t even imagine her face when she sees the first present under the tree.

Take joy in the small pleasures that come your way. That’s what I learned from my toddler this holiday season.

And also: Always pack an umbrella.

7 Holiday Tips for Parents to Help You Enjoy the Season, Backed by Science

My toddler inspired me to put together a toolbox to keep my perspective screwed on straight this year.

When I start to worry that we’re not doing enough fun holiday activities with the girls, or that we haven’t given enough to our loved ones, or that we’ve stretched our budget too thin – I’ll be prepared.

Because of the look on my child’s face that day and also because I’m ready with these tools for managing holiday stress. These holiday tips for parents are like a vaccine against Christmas stress.

I even designed myself a Christmas planner to keep these tricks top of mind every day throughout December. If that sounds good to you too, be sure to grab the free printable template page at the end of this post.

1. Empty the Snow Globe That Is Your Head

I used to write to-do lists on every scrap of paper I could find – in my purse, on the kitchen counter, tucked inside books I’d started reading and lost interest in. Any piece of paper was fair game, from bill envelopes to the leftover construction paper scraps from my kids’ art projects.

But this kind of disjointed to-do list is actually a major source of stress. From the book Getting Things Done^†:

“The short-term memory part of your mind – the part that tends to hold all of the incomplete, undecided, and unorganized “stuff” – functions much like RAM on a personal computer. Your conscious mind, like the computer screen, is a focusing tool, not a storage place. You can think about only two or three things at once. But the incomplete items are still being stored in the short-term-memory space. And as with RAM, there’s limited capacity; there’s only so much “stuff” you can store in there and still have that part of your brain function at a high level. Most people walk around with their RAM bursting at the seams. They’re constantly distracted, their focus disturbed by their own internal mental overload…

This produces an all-pervasive stress factor whose source can’t be pinpointed.

Even if you’ve already decided on the next step you’ll take to resolve a problem, your mind can’t let go until and unless you write yourself a reminder in a place it knows you will, without fail, look.”

^† This site is reader-supported. When you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

In other words, the neverending to-do list swirling in your head is like a snow globe that never settles back down. Don’t let that get in the way of enjoying the holiday season with your family.

Here’s the fix: Have one place where you get all those to-dos out of your head. I’m personally smitten with Evernote.

1. Set a timer for 25 minutes.
2. Sit down with Evernote or your list-keeper of choice.
3. Write down everything you need to get done.

If you think of something an hour later, add it to the list. If you’re lying in bed and can’t sleep because you’re thinking about how you need to call Aunt Susan to politely explain the kids are too old for her annual present of footie pajamas, add it to the list so you can sleep!

(By the way, this is one reason I love Evernote – I can open it on my phone or any computer, and my lists all stay in sync.)

2. Honor the Magic of Three

The Holy Trinity. The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. The Santa Clause trilogy.

Three really is a magic number, and that’s why every day you’ll pick three MITs.

MIT = Most Important Task.

You de-snow-globed your head to make a master to-do list, but it’s probably kind of long and overwhelming. The solution? MITs.

Here’s how: Look at your master list, and pick three tasks that are most important to get done today. Just three.

Pick the things that MUST happen today. If you finish these MITs, you will consider the day a success.

For example, here are my MITs from Monday:

1. Order books for the girls’ Christmas presents.
2. Design a free printable planner page to go along with this post.
3. Reserve dog boarding for our holiday travel.

Notice how I listed work and personal items together. Your 3 MITs should be for your whole day. Avoid making one MIT list for work and one for home because you’ll lose focus on the most important things that must happen today – plus you’ll probably procrastinate both lists.

You can always do more than your MITs, but those should happen first. Before you check email or shop online for stocking stuffers and get lost down a rabbit hole of peppermint truffles and gingerbread lip balm – do your MITs.

3. Catch This Word

I can hear you right now.

“But…just three? THREE?!? I should bake cookies for neighbor presents. I should deep-clean the house before family visits. I should fill out the Advent calendar with super fun family activities. I should…”

Stop.

First of all, I already gotcha covered on the Advent calendar front. (Get my free holiday activity cards inside that post, and you’re DONE.)

So eliminate “should” from your vocabulary during the holiday season.

Here’s the problem with “should”ing: Research on time perceptions shows that we typically “imagine that we’ll be less busy in the future.” And because of that, we take on more and more tasks and projects thinking we’ll have time “later.” But we’re wrong. We’re just as busy “later” as we are right now – if not moreso.

Stop telling yourself you’ll have more time later. It’s a lie. For all those things you think you’ll get to “one day,” you probably won’t. And every time you think of it and how you haven’t done it yet, you’ll be disappointed in yourself. Those undone tasks weigh you down.

Saying you “should” do something dangles more tasks over your head like wannabe mistletoe, and it takes the focus off what’s most important for you to get done.

If you catch yourself “should”ing, try this brilliant holiday hack: Change that “should” to “could” and add “or…” to the end.

For example, let’s say you catch yourself saying this: “I should knit homemade stockings for the whole family using wool I sheared myself at the sheep farm three hours outside of town.” Stop that “should” in its reindeer tracks and say this: “I could knit homemade stockings for the whole family, or I could pour myself another eggnog and order them from Amazon instead.”

4. Make One Task Your Universe

Contrary to popular belief, multitasking is nothing to brag about. Multitasking makes it harder for you to concentrate, and it adds to your stress.

Even worse than that, constantly switching between tasks makes everything take longer. Multitasking increases the amount of time it takes to finish your primary task by an average of 25%.

Pick one thing from your list and focus on that one task. If you struggle with this, try setting a timer for 20-30 minutes to help you focus.

If you’re raking leaves but you have a gabazillion other things you should be doing right now – make that a gabazillion other things you could be doing right now – accept the fact that you chose to rake leaves right now. Pay attention to the crunch of the leaves, the sunlight falling through the trees, the cold grip of the rake on your hand.

Make that task your universe.

5. Think of This, Once a Day

Here’s the absolute best thing you can do to keep the holiday stress from getting to you: Think of what you’re grateful for.

According to Gratitude Works: A 21-Day Program for Creating Emotional Prosperity:

Gratitude has one of the strongest links to mental health and satisfaction with life of any personality trait – more so than even optimism, hope, or compassion. Grateful people experience higher levels of positive emotions such as joy, enthusiasm, love, happiness, and optimism, and gratitude as a discipline protects us from the destructive impulses of envy, resentment, greed, and bitterness. People who experience gratitude can cope more effectively with everyday stress, show increased resilience in the face of trauma-induced stress, recover more quickly from illness, and enjoy more robust physical health.

But it doesn’t work if you focus on gratitude just once in a while. The effects will wear off, and you’ll start taking things for granted again.

You must make gratitude part of your routine. As explained in Gratitude Works, once a week is the bare minimum.

By the way, this is why the free printable planner page at the bottom of this post includes a section for recording what you’re grateful for every day in December. In my family, we’ve also started going around the table at dinnertime to share what everyone is grateful for – even the toddler.

And here’s a funny tidbit for you: As it turns out, it doesn’t even matter if you can’t think of something you’re grateful for. I’m embarrassed to admit it, but this happens to me all the time.

For example: The toddler is throwing a tantrum because she wants a snack five minutes before dinner’s ready, the baby spit up all over me, and the dog just walked into the kitchen smacking her lips after a visit to the cats’ litter box.

Instead of screaming and running from the house, I try to catch myself in those moments and ask: “What am I grateful for?”

In The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time, I learned that if I can’t think of anything in that moment, it’s okay. I still get the benefits of a gratitude habit. Not only that, by continuing to ask myself that question, I’m making it easier to answer myself the next time:

It’s not finding gratitude that matters most; it’s remembering to look in the first place. Remembering to be grateful is a form of emotional intelligence. One study found that it actually affected neuron density in both the ventromedial and lateral prefrontal cortex. These density changes suggest that as emotional intelligence increases, the neurons in these areas become more efficient. With higher emotional intelligence, it simply takes less effort to be grateful.

6. Drink Eggnog

During especially busy times like the holidays, your tendency may be to crank, crank, crank on your to-do list. But trying to be super productive for long stretches of time will actually hurt you.

From productivity guru David Allen, author of Getting Things Done:

“You have to back off and be quiet. Retreat from the task at hand, so that you can gain a new perspective on what you’re doing. If you get too wrapped up in all of the stuff coming at you, you lose your ability to respond appropriately and effectively. If your inbox and your outbox are completely full, or if people are screaming at you, then it’s difficult to back off and think about things at a different level.”

What’s more, all the tasks and decisions you make throughout the day wear on your brain. Your brain needs a chance to recuperate so you don’t turn into Clark Griswold after he opened his Jelly of the Month Club “bonus.”

Every day during this busy time, take at least one deliberate break. If you can take more, even better.

A few ideas to get you on the Polar Express train to a happier holiday season:

• Invite your kids to join you in some simple holiday fun – like watching Elf, making paper snowflakes, or sipping eggnog by the cozy fire.
• Take a quick walk around your neighborhood. Bonus points if you do it after dark and check out the festive Christmas lights.
• Set the timer for 10 minutes and meditate. If that sounds weird, I get it because I felt the same way. Then I tried meditating using an app called Headspace, and I’m SOLD. Nothing clears my mind of stress like taking 10 minutes to…well, clear my mind. The app is available for iOS and Android.
• Steal one of your kid’s coloring books, and start coloring. The activity of coloring calls on both logic (staying in the lines) and creativity (picking colors and color schemes), and that combo package is exactly what your brain needs to chill out. You can even get one of these absolutely gorgeous coloring books designed just for adults. Treat yourself to some pretty gel pens, coloring brush pens, or a set of fancy colored pencils, and your stress will melt away.

7. Don’t Buy Gifts

This is the season of giving, but that doesn’t mean you have to go into mega credit card debt to cover everyone on your shopping list.

And guess what? Your loved ones don’t want all that stuff from you anyway. 84 percent of Americans said they would prefer a less materialistic holiday season. And 81 percent of adults appreciate when someone makes a donation to a charity in their name instead of giving a physical gift.

This year, try giving handmade gifts. And I don’t mean some Pinterest monstrosity crafted entirely from toilet paper rolls, glitter, and mason jars.

My crafting ability lies somewhere between lighting a candle and successfully cutting coupons – and you’d be surprised by how often I find myself cutting right into the barcode. If you’re like me or if you’d like to give your loved one gifts they’ll actually appreciate instead of shove in the back of the closet until next year’s white elephant gift exchange, here are some DIY Christmas gift ideas for you:

• 30 Heartfelt Homemade Christmas Gifts Anyone Can Make
• If you plan to make a donation in your loved one’s name, check out these free cards that say a donation has been made in your name, but in a way that will make your loved one smile.

Get Your Free Planner Template

1. Get the planner template. You’ll get the printable, plus join my weekly newsletter! Just click here to get it and subscribe.
2. Print one for every day of December. Any paper will do the trick, but card stock would be super sturdy.
3. Fill out your planner every morning and say goodbye to holiday stress.

Your Turn

What are your best holiday tips for parents? Share in a comment below!

The post 7 Holiday Tips for Parents to Help You Enjoy the Season, Backed by Science appeared first on Happy You, Happy Family.

This week, I finally buckled under the crushing weight of my neverending to-do list this holiday season. To hit the reset button, I crawled into bed to sneak a short nap but instead ended up staring at the wall.

And in those quiet moments, I found myself reflecting on the true spirit of the holiday season.

Being present with your loved ones. Gorging yourself on baked goods. Uncle Larry volunteering to set up the kids’ new slot car race track and then hogging it to himself all Christmas Day.

So I went searching for tips on how to stay centered during the holiday season. And in one random article, I stumbled across a dose of pure brilliance: “Make this task your universe.”

Ever since, my brain has had that one line on tumble dry, low heat.

Bonus: As a bonus for joining my weekly newsletter, get this free printable and fill it out with your child to help them focus on what’s important this holiday season.

Your Kids Are Not Immune

Adults aren’t the only ones who lose sight of what’s really important during the holiday season.

Through no fault of her own, my oldest child inevitably gets caught up in the whirlwind of Mommy’s holiday to-do list and accompanying stress.

We spend a month (or more) getting ready for Christmas, and then on Christmas morning it’s rampant chaos with wrapping paper flying and towers of empty cardboard boxes piled higher than the Christmas tree.

And that one present? The one you were so looking forward to your child opening so you could see the look on their face? Because you knew they’d just love it?

In the moment, they were so overwhelmed with the flurry of presents that they could barely process what the present was, let alone give you that thousand-watt smile of pure joy you’d pictured in your head.

Instead, the look on their face was a bit…zombie-like.

Related: 10 Unique Stocking Stuffers for Girls That Will Delight Your Kids {Printable}

A Free Printable for Teaching Kids Gratitude

We really did try to contain the Beast of Wretched Excess this year and get our daughter just a few presents, but she’s still going to have too much to open.

So how do we help our kids slow down during the holidays? How do we instill an attitude of gratitude?

How can our kids make each holiday experience their universe?

Here’s a free printable to help your child focus on what’s important this Christmas. Think of it as a special holiday edition of a gratitude journal for kids.

First, an interview about their favorite holiday experiences. Then a list to keep track of their gifts, who they’re from, and whether they thanked the person yet. The final page has a spot for including a Christmas photo (check out the tips here), your child’s name and the year, and where you spent Christmas Day.

This mini-gratitude journal is perfect for teaching kids to be grateful this holiday season. Even if Uncle Larry is hogging all the fun.

Related: The Most Meaningful Gifts for Kids Who Have Everything

Get Your Free Printable

1. Get the interview. You’ll get the printable, plus join my weekly newsletter! Just click here to get it and subscribe.
2. Print. Any paper will do the trick, but card stock^† would be ideal.
3. Interview your child to fill out the first and last pages, or have your child fill them out on their own. The list of gifts is on the second page, so feel free to print more than one of those if you need to.
4. Put the pages in a binder or file them away. Then after a few years, you’ll have a collection of these heartwarming snapshots to look back on.

^† This site is reader-supported. When you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Your Turn

What tips do you have for teaching gratitude during the holiday season? Share in a comment below!

The post A Sweet Way to Guarantee Your Kid Has an Attitude of Gratitude appeared first on Happy You, Happy Family.

Confession: My love for the holiday season is an all-consuming kind of love that sometimes gets me in trouble.

For example, one Halloween night, my husband and I had just got the baby to sleep and were zoning out on the couch.

Tomorrow is November, I thought. Then December!

My mind buzzed with visions of decorating the tree, baking cookies stuffing my face with cookies, and setting up the Advent calendar.

Every year, we use our December calendar as an Advent activity calendar, filling it with fun Advent calendar activities from “watch a holiday movie” to “find holiday books at the library” to “bake something yummy” and everything in between.

Bonus: As a bonus for joining my weekly newsletter, get a free printable set of Advent calendar activities so you can fill your calendar with holiday fun.

What Happens When You Love the Holidays Too Much

“Oh my goodness!” I said. “I just had an awesome idea.”

My poor husband turned to me – looking wary of the crazed look in my eye. “What’s that?”

I took a big breath. “What if…what if we started the Advent calendar on November first?”

He blinked once.

“We could fit in way more fun stuff to do!” I clapped my hands.

“Hmm,” he said. He loves the holidays as much as I do, so as the idea sunk in for him, I was poised and ready to accept gushing over my stroke of brilliance.

I kept going. “That would give us enough days to do everything we want to do!”

“Well…” he started. He looked like he was about to step into a field of bouncing, excited eggshells. “Wouldn’t that be…a lot to keep up with?”

I cocked my head. “We already have the whole list of Advent ideas from last year that we didn’t get to!”

He took a step into the field. Anticipating the crunch. “It seems like – maybe that would make it less special? If we do it for two months straight?”

“Oh,” I said.

From Bummer to Good News…for You

I pictured an Advent calendar times two, plus a few extra days. An Advent calendar that becomes like the page-a-day calendar that halfway into January we start forgetting to tear off every day. An Advent calendar that blends into daily life like wallpaper.

And I saw his point. Unfortunately.

But here’s the good news: I redirected my all-consuming love of the holiday season into something special just for you.

Related: 10 Unique Stocking Stuffers for Girls That Will Delight Your Kids {Printable}

30 Fun Holiday Activities to Fill Your Advent Calendar

So because:

1. I am crazy in love with the holidays, and
2. I have way more Advent calendar ideas than days to do them, and
3. Chalkboard is the new black

Below, you can get the full set of chalkboard-style Advent calendar activity cards, FREE for you to make your holidays merry and bright and chalkboard-y, all at once.

Aren’t they adorable?!

How to Use Your Advent Calendar Activities

After you print the Advent calendar activities below, just cut them out and throw them in your Advent calendar.

Don’t have an Advent calendar yet? Here are a few options for setting up your Advent activity calendar:

• Get a ready-made Advent calendar and fill it with the free printable holiday activities below. Bonus: You’ll be able to reuse it every year! My current favorites are this adorable wall calendar^† and this wooden calendar you can set on a shelf. Side note: We bought a cheap Advent calendar at Target one year, but it starting falling apart before Christmas Day. So a few years ago, we invested in this wooden Advent calendar, and we love it. Still going strong! With that said, I’ve had my eye on this light-up wooden calendar because it’s so, so pretty.

^† This site is reader-supported. When you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

• Make your own DIY Advent calendar. Be creative! You can make your own Advent activity calendar from scrapbook paper, boxes or paper bags with these cute number stickers, toilet paper rolls, or LEGOs (any LEGO-obsessed kid would love this!).
• Or to keep things super easy, you can throw the cards in a glass bowl and have the kiddos pick a card each morning.

What Makes This Advent Activity Calendar Different

When I put this list of Advent calendar activities together, it was important to me that we focus on activities that align with the spirit of the holiday season. In other words, I didn’t want a list of holiday activities that would require that we spend a bunch of money – or that we cram so much into the holiday season that we end up collapsing from exhaustion.

Before you get your free printable Advent calendar fillers below, here’s a quick list of the fun holiday activities you’ll find inside:

• Draw a holiday picture (perfect for younger kids!)
• Make pancakes for dinner
• Make a holiday card (kids can include the holiday picture they drew, too!)
• Take a horse carriage ride (some outdoor shopping centers have complimentary carriage rides during the holiday season)
• Drink apple cider
• Watch a holiday movie
• Look at holiday lights
• Drink hot chocolate
• Find a gift for someone (this can include looking through your own closet!)
• Make a gift for someone
• Bake something yummy
• Find holiday books at the library
• Find toys to give to charity
• Feed the birds
• Write a holiday story
• Stay up late (our kids love to combine this one with one of our favorite family board games!)
• Read a holiday story
• Trim the Christmas tree
• Camp out under the tree (slumber party!)
• Make paper snowflakes
• Sing holiday songs
• Wrap presents for someone (this is my trick for getting the kids excited about helping – it’s a treat just like all the others!)
• Make a snow angel
• Go ice skating
• Call a loved one
• Unwrap one present early
• Toast marshmallows
• Eat by candlelight
• Make a gingerbread house
• Have a family game night (and play one of the best games for family game night!)

Get Your Free Advent Calendar Activities

1. Get the sheets. You’ll get the printables, plus join my weekly newsletter! Just click here to get it and subscribe. (Don’t see your favorite holiday activity on the cards? You’ll also get a blank sheet you can print, then use a white marker like this one to write in your own activity.)
2. Print. I designed them to print on Avery business cards for inkjet or laser printers. Or you can just print them on regular paper or card stock. (If you go the business card route and the lines don’t PERFECTLY line up, please don’t sue me for ruining Christmas.)
3. Cut. Or if you’re like me and you can’t cut a straight line to save your life, fold and tear to get a charmingly casual look.
4. Pop the cards into your Advent calendar, and you’re DONE. Now go eat some Christmas cookies.

Your Turn

What are your favorite Advent calendar activities? Share in a comment below!

Credits: Fonts include Return to Sender, Mission Script, Bergamot Ornaments, Noyeux Joel, and DH Snowflakes; the background is from Lil Blue Boo.

The post 30 Fun Holiday Activities for Your Advent Calendar appeared first on Happy You, Happy Family.

I love Christmas music so much that any time during the year I find myself wanting a little pick-me-up, I crank up my favorite playlist of Christmas songs.

But even I get a little sick of hearing Jingle Bell Rock and Frosty the Snowman everywhere I go during the holiday season.

And so one year, I set out to find the best uncommon Christmas songs to add to my festive playlist. I listened to hundreds of songs to find the best of the best, and today I’m sharing the cream of the crop with you.

These alternative Christmas songs will get you in the holiday spirit without getting under your skin.

12 Alternative Christmas Songs That You’ll Love

These uncommon Christmas songs are so fresh and fun that they’ll quickly become your new favorites during the holiday season.

1. Sugar Cookie by Sugar & The Hi Lows

This catchy tune is an ode to my personal favorite part of the holiday season—baking cookies:

Help me decorate ’em, you can add some spice
We’ll color-coordinate them, til the temperature’s right
We’ll make something nice, you’ve been craving all this time

2. A Christmas Compromise by The Bird and the Bee

Don’t let the fact that this song is from a kids’ album fool you. The singer’s beau is Jewish, but she’s REALLY into Christmas:

Oh, could we get a Christmas tree?
I know on this one thing, we can’t agree
But nevermind the Jesus part
Won’t you let Santa into your heart?

3. It Snowed by Meaghan Smith

This tune sounds like one of those classic Christmas songs of yesteryear, but the lyrics are as fresh as a newly fallen snow:

It snowed, It snowed
It snowed last night
Everything is sparkling with diamond light
The road is bare
It’s four feet high
Honey, let’s play hooky
‘Cause it snowed last night

4. It’s Christmas by Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors

If you’re looking for uncommon Christmas songs because you’re tired of everything Christmas-y, this song will be right up your alley:

Children singing merrily
Carols till my ears are bleeding
Christmas, at Christmas
Strangers and their looks of glee
Smiling at you stupidly
At Christmas, at Christmas

5. Maybe Next Year by Meiko

If you ended up in the Naughty camp this year, here’s an anthem for you:

I don’t think Santa’s coming this year
‘Cause I’ve been a bad, a bad girl
I’ve made my bed, now I’m lying in it
Without a care, a care in the world

6. The Gingerbread House Song by Kyle Harrington

This is a silly little Christmas song that kids love:

I wanna live in a gingerbread house
With a candy cane fence
To keep gummy bears out

7. Ribbons and Bows by Kacey Musgraves

Kacey Musgraves has lots of fun uncommon Christmas songs, but this one is my personal favorite:

Don’t need ribbons and bows to cure my woes
No, I just need your love
Expensive rings or diamond things
No, I just need your love

Don’t get me wrong, a shiny new Mercedes would look nice in my driveway
Or a roundtrip ticket for a long vacation on a big fancy jet plane

8. Snowfall by Ingrid Michaelson

This song will warm your insides like a cup of hot cocoa with a dash of ancho chili powder. One of my favorite alternative Christmas songs of all time!

I want a snowfall kind of love
The kind of love that quiets the world
I want a snowfall kind of love
‘Cause I’m a snowfall kind of girl…
I want a snowfall kind of love
The kind of love that keeps you in bed all day
Oh I want to walk through with you
And watch it all melt away

9. No Christmas for Me by Zee Avi

Missing your honey this Christmas? This one needs to go on your playlist of alternative Christmas songs.

There won’t be eggnogs by the cozy fire
There won’t be glasses of mulled wine either
There won’t even be a Christmas tree
‘Cause you’re not here to light it up with me
Santa honey, won’t you bring my baby back to me?

10. Someday at Christmas by Jack Johnson

Jack Johnson’s version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer^† is my favorite and deserves a listen for the little twist he puts on the classic lyrics. But if you’re looking for something even more original, give this one a listen.

And some day at Christmas, there’ll be no wars
When we have learned what Christmas is for
When we have found out what life is really worth
Then there will be peace on Earth

^† This site is reader-supported. When you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

11. Home by Blake Shelton

You may have heard the version by Michael Buble, but this version from Blake’s album was rewritten with a seasonal feel.

I can close my eyes and see the angel on the tree
A blanket of snow outside and all my friends and family
And though I know that you’re no further than a call away
I need to see your face–a call could never be the same

12. When the Leaves by Ingrid Michaelson

Yes, Ingrid made the list twice. She’s an all-time favorite in our house, and we were seriously considering naming our baby girl “Ingrid”—until we couldn’t think of a nickname better than “Ing” or “Rid.” This song is just simple and beautiful:

When the snow comes down
And it covers this lonely town
Then I miss your kiss

Get the Spotify Playlist: Unknown Christmas Songs

If you use Spotify, head over to this Spotify playlist and click the heart button to add these alternative Christmas songs to your own Spotify library. Bonus: As I discover new uncommon songs for Christmas, you’ll get extra songs not yet featured in this post!

Your Turn

Do you know of any other awesome alternative Christmas songs? A better nickname for Ingrid? Share it in a comment below!

The post 12 Uncommon Christmas Songs That Will Become Your New Favorites appeared first on Happy You, Happy Family.