Christmas Eve Boxes & Rituals

Christmas Eve is probably the most highly-anticipated night of the year in our households. We all enjoy the magic & excitement it brings - adults & kids alike!

Gifting our little people some new pyjamas on Christmas Eve has been a tradition for a few years now. This year, we’ve loved browsing to find the perfect sets. We’ve stumbled across beautiful robin prints from Their Nibs, frosty florals and ski scenes from Sleepy Doe, geometric trees from Bernie & the Beanpole and many more.

Whilst the small people in our house would probably love the loudest, most Christmassy designs out there, we’re keen to get them something that is a little more tasteful and won’t look too out of place throughout the rest of the year so it’s lovely to find designs from small businesses that fit the bill.

Christmas Eve box

We’ve been pondering Christmas Eve boxes this year also. Here are some things we love & might pop into one:

Pyjamas
We love the Little Green Radicals Rainbow Robins Pyjamas which are suitably festive & colourful with their bright robin motif but would also work all year round. These pjs are from fair-trade organic cotton, which is sure to keep our little people comfy all night.

Cosy slipper socks
With the weather getting colder and draughts creeping through the floorboards at home, we think we’d include something to keep our feet warm. These reindeer socks from Etsy come in kids & adult sizes are sure to keep our toes toasty before bed and through Christmas Eve night.

A family game
A board game is a great way to spend family time together on Christmas Eve and during that strange twix-mas period. We think our kids might be getting old enough to enjoy Monopoly - the Christmas Edition adds a fun seasonal twist. With younger kids, we love a good old game of Pictionary!

Small & Wild Tea
Our Snoozy Fox blend is just perfect for helping your little people to wind down and gear up for sleep. We’ve created a comforting blend of camomile, spearmint & lemon balm to aid relaxation which is ideal for Christmas Eve boxes and more likely to help with sleep than a sugar-filled hot chocolate!

Cuddly Toy
Our small people have always had a soft spot for a good cuddly toy and we love stumbling across new makers on sites like Etsy, where you can pick up something a little different and special, plus know you’re supporting a small business in the process. We love this crochet lion made by Gemma.

Winding Down For Bed

We know it’s important that the kids get and early night on Christmas Eve - not least because the elves have usually still got quite a long to do list - but with all the excitement in anticipation of Santa’s special deliveries, it can be a little difficult to wind down for bed. We love coming back to rituals to get the kids (and us) into the right zone for the land of nod. This is how our evening will pan out (hopefully!)

Have a cup of tea
After the chaos of dinner, we’ll aim to sit down together as a family for a Snoozy Fox tea, talk about the day, breathe and take 5. We might also wander outside into the garden with our mug to see if we can spot Santa’s sleigh….

Get ready for Santa
We’ll put out mince pies and a drink for Santa and carrots for the reindeer - quite often we end up doing this x3 as the kids all want to do it! We’ll double check that the stockings are hung in the right place (will it be by the fireplace or at the end of beds this year?!)

Run a bath
A bath is a great way to relax at the end of a hectic Christmas Eve and get the kids squeaky clean for Christmas Day. We might even indulge in something like this fun Christmas Snowman Bath Bomb for the kids.

Read a bedtime story
We love a good story book at bedtime. It sparks imagination and opens up exciting new worlds. At this time of year we love indulging in some good Christmassy reads with the kids - without fail we bring out The Night Before Christmas - and this year we’re also excited about the new story The Toys’ Christmas by Claire Clement and Genevieve Godbout.

Then we'll tuck them all in, kiss them on their foreheads and they'll drift straight off.... right?!

Wishing you all lots of festive cheer and a lovely run up to Christmas.