Christmas Eve box ideas all grow from one small, lovely tradition. After dinner on Christmas Eve, everyone opens one box. Inside is everything they need for the night: new pajamas, something warm to drink, something to read or play. It takes the edge off the wait, and it gets the kids into bed with a lot less negotiating.
Here are ideas for every age, from toddlers to grandparents, plus a few tips on putting the boxes together. One of the ideas is ours. Most of them aren't.
Christmas Eve box ideas start with the night itself
A good box answers one question: what does this person do between dinner and bed? For little kids, that's a bath, pajamas and a story. For teens, it's a movie on the couch. For grown-ups, it might be a slow cup of cocoa and a puzzle nobody finishes.
Build each box around that evening. Keep it small. A Christmas Eve box is a warm-up act, and the big gifts can wait for the next day. Three or four items usually feel generous without stealing the show.
It also helps to think about the whole family at once. If every box has one thing people can do together, the evening turns into a shared one instead of everyone scattering to their rooms.
The four things almost every box gets
- New pajamas. The classic. Matching family sets make a great photo, and the photo might end up on next year's cards.
- Something warm to drink. A hot chocolate kit with a mug, cocoa mix and a handful of marshmallows. Add a candy cane for stirring.
- A Christmas book. A picture book for little ones, a short novel for older readers. Write the year's message inside the cover, so the books become a collection.
- A treat for the visitors. A small bag of oats and sprinkles labeled reindeer food, or a cookie cutter for Santa's plate.
Start with these, then add one or two things that fit the person.
Ideas for little kids
- A small flashlight. For reading under the covers, or for checking the sky for a sleigh.
- A letter from the North Pole. Handwritten in shaky elf script, with a line about something kind they did this year.
- A new stuffed friend. Something soft to sleep next to on the most exciting night of the year.
- A memory game of the family. This is the one we make. Matchy Matchy Memory prints your photos as a matching card game, from $19.99. Fill it with the cousins, the grandparents and last year's snow day. It's a calm game for a wild night, and it keeps kids at the table while the grown-ups finish dessert. Kids from about three can play a short round with 12 cards.
- Bath fizzers or a holiday bubble bath. Bath time becomes part of the countdown.
Ideas for teens and grown-ups
Grown-ups love a Christmas Eve box more than they admit. A few ideas that land well:
- Fuzzy socks. Nobody has too many.
- A jigsaw puzzle. Five hundred pieces is enough to fill an evening without taking over the dining table for a week.
- A movie pick and a bag of popcorn. Let each person choose one film for a future night.
- A handwritten letter. For a teen, a note about what you admired in them this year will get read more than once.
- A card game for after dinner. Any deck works. A deck of your own photos gives everyone something to talk about between turns.
- A fancy treat. Good chocolate, a small cheese, a favorite tea.
One big box for the whole family
Some families skip the separate boxes and make one big one for everybody. It's less work, and it turns the evening into something you do as a group. Open it together in the living room, with the tree lights on and the big light off.
A family box might hold:
- A stack of pajamas. One set per person, folded with a name tag on top.
- Supplies for one shared activity. Cookie decorating, a gingerbread house or a game everyone can play, from the toddler to Grandpa.
- A movie everyone agreed on. Good luck with that part.
- A jar of questions. Slips of paper with prompts like "best moment of the year" or "funniest thing the dog did." Pass the jar around between cookies.
- A blank card for next year. Everyone writes one wish, and the card goes back in the box until next Christmas Eve.
The shared box works especially well when relatives are visiting. Nobody has to guess sizes for a cousin they see once a year, and the guests feel part of the tradition from the first night.
How to put the boxes together
- Pick a sturdy box you can reuse. A wooden crate or a lidded box with each name painted on lasts for years.
- Label everything. Matching pajamas in five sizes look identical in the dark.
- Set a time. Right after dinner works for most families. Earlier for toddlers.
- Let older kids help. Teens enjoy filling the boxes for younger siblings almost as much as opening their own.
- Keep one surprise. One item nobody expected keeps the tradition fresh.
Order anything personalized early for Christmas, and keep a list of what went in each box this year so next year's box doesn't repeat it.
Add a game to this year's box
Pick the photos. Choose real or re-drawn. Choose 12, 24 or 48 cards. You upload from your phone and see your first card before you pay. Shipping is $5, and free when you order 2 or more decks. US only, ships in 3 to 5 business days.
Go with Matchy Matchy Memory for your real photos, or Matchy Matchy Magic to see the family re-drawn in 3D Film, Watercolor or Anime, from $29.99. Questions? Write to us at hello@matchygame.com.