A Christmas Eve box is a holiday tradition that some families look forward to each year.
For those looking to be eco-friendlier, a Christmas Eve bag is preferable to using a box.
This article is going to deep dive into exactly what a Christmas Eve box is, how you can start this fun Christmas tradition, and discuss exactly what to put inside of the box/bag – including specific recommendations.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
What are Christmas Eve boxes?
Christmas Eve boxes are boxes filled with fun Christmas-themed gifts for the family that is opened on Christmas Eve.
While some families allow everyone to open one present on Christmas Eve this is a great alternative to that AND it encourages everyone to spend time together doing something fun on Christmas Eve.
What’s inside Christmas Eve boxes?
You can customize your Christmas Eve box to meet your budget and family’s preferences. However, generally, there are Christmas-themed activities, PJs, and treats inside Christmas Eve boxes.
What to put in a Christmas Eve box?
You can’t go wrong when it comes to creating a Christmas Eve box. Whether you go with items from the dollar store or even go with a specific themed Christmas Eve box the whole point is to encourage the entire family to spend time together on Christmas Eve.
Who is the Christmas Eve box from?
In my home, the elves deliver the Christmas Eve box on Christmas Eve. However, yours could be from a relative, the reindeer, or Santa himself. It’s entirely up to you.
When to give Christmas Eve box?
As the name hints, the Christmas Eve box is given on Christmas Eve.
Ours arrives whenever the kids aren’t expecting it (it just magically appears lol).
It can be given any time, though, to fit with your family’s schedule.
When to open the Christmas Eve box
Ideally, you want to open the Christmas Eve box right before you plan to get started with the Christmas Eve activities.
For my family, this is after dinner as we spend the entire evening until bedtime doing the activities from the box.
How to create a Christmas Eve box or Christmas Eve bag
Usually, I do create a Christmas Eve box. However, this year I decided that we would switch over to bags as the bags can be reused year after year and I’m not scrambling around for a box that will fit everything.
Step 1: Get a box or bag
The first step is to secure a box or bag that can hold all of the items that you plan to put inside the Christmas Eve box or bag.
Amazon has some cute reusable bags available and if you do a lot of online shopping you could just hold on to one of the boxes that your items come in.
Step 2: Get comfortable Christmas PJs
One of the main highlights of the Christmas Eve box is the Christmas PJs. We typically do matching ones so we can do Christmas Eve photos, but don’t feel obligated to go for matching PJs if your budget does not allow it.
I typically get our matching Christmas PJs during the summer months as that’s when I find the best deals. If you wait until after Halloween to purchase matching PJs you’re going to run into 2 potential problems:
- It will be hard to find cute, comfortable ones that will ship on time and/or are available in everyone’s sizes.
- The price will be insane. $20 and up per person just isn’t ideal for those of us with large families even if the PJs can be worn outside of Christmas.
Where to purchase matching Christmas PJs
If you’re looking to score the best deals on matching Christmas PJs I’d personally recommend Amazon or Children’s Place. However, with Amazon, you do have to make sure to read through the reviews and try to go with sellers that have customers who have left photo reviews so you know exactly what to expect.
You can take it one step further by adding Santa hats and/or matching Christmas outfits to your Christmas Eve box too.
Read Also: Top 15 Stores With the Best Matching Christmas Pajama Sets
Step 3: Add a Christmas-themed activity
The Christmas-themed activity that you go with could be a puzzle, game, or book. We’ve done all sorts of Christmas-themed activities over the years.
From putting together a Christmas-themed puzzle to playing Christmas-themed board games, AND even doing Christmas-themed coloring books.
The goal is just to have fun spending time together unplugged doing something fun.
For this year’s Christmas-themed activity we’re doing The Christmas Poop Log.
For those unfamiliar with it, it’s a storybook and activity set that provides a fun and educational cultural experience that centers around a tradition celebrated in Northern Spain dating back to the 18th century. You can think of finding the perfect “poop log” as the American equivalent of finding the perfect Christmas tree.
Step 4 (optional): Add in hot chocolate, popcorn, and a Christmas movie
After the Christmas-themed activity is wrapped up we like to wind down and wait for bedtime by watching a Christmas movie with popcorn and hot chocolate.
When the boys were younger these items used to go inside of the Christmas Eve box too, but now that they’re older we let them choose a movie from Netflix vs purchasing a DVD and we typically already have hot chocolate and popcorn available in the pantry from other unrelated Christmas activities done during winter break.
So, you can add these items to the Christmas Eve box, but it’s not necessary.
This year I did come across some edible chocolate spoons, so they’re going inside the Christmas Eve bag as a nice sweet surprise.
Best family Christmas movies
Not sure what family Christmas movie to watch this year? Here are some of our favorites:
- The Year Without a Santa Claus
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas
- Nestor The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey
- Frosty’s Winter Wonderland
- Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July
- Rudolph’s Shiny New Year
- Twas The Night Before Christmas
- Jack Frost
- Jingle Jangle
- Home Alone
- The Polar Express
- A Christmas Carol
Step 5: Deliver the Christmas Eve box or Christmas Eve bag on Christmas Eve
Once you’ve got everything packed inside of the Christmas Eve box or Christmas Eve bag all that’s left to do is deliver it on Christmas Eve.
You can have it mysteriously appear under the tree, on the counter, or wherever else you’re sure the kids are sure to notice it.
Final thoughts
The Christmas Eve box is a fun tradition that many families look forward to each year. You don’t have to make an extravagant Christmas Eve box if you don’t want to or your budget doesn’t allow it because the point is to take some time and disconnect from everything else and focus on spending time and making memories with your family.
It’s a great idea to have a Christmas eve bag. It will be a lot of fun!
I haven’t thought about doing a Christmas Eve box. Last year we did matching pjs. This year, Christmas will be a bit different since my son is with his dad until the 28th.
My kids look forward to opening their new Christmas PJs on Christmas eve. I should add a couple more things and put it all in a cute bag like this!
This would be a great tradition to start with our grand kids.
That would be a cute change-up to Christmas stockings or selecting a Christmas Eve gift to unwrap!
Wow! This is so perfect, I’m gonna make sure to make some of these! What a really awesome idea this is!
This is such a great idea. I should make up a few of these. I love it!
How fun is this bag. My kids are older, so I would fill it with lots of snacks.
What a great idea! I need to make a box for sure.
We have never prepared a Christmas Eve box in our family. I think dollar store items or pajamas for the whole family would be great for the box!