Whether it’s by choice or not, a stay at home Christmas can be so much fun (and so memorable!). Don’t miss these ingenius traditions this year.
It’s 2020, and you know what that means!
I means…well, that no one really knows. Anything.
We’d all like to hope that life will resemble normalcy come Christmas. But who’s to say?
So it’s a good idea to prepare for a stay at home Christmas this year.
It’s probably going to look different from usual. But I bet that years from now, you’ll look back on this Christmas as one to remember.
Here’s how to make it fun, even if you can’t do your usual favorite things.
How To Have A Stay At Home Christmas You Won’t Forget!
And don’t worry. I’m super frugal, so these ideas will stay in the budget!
1. Hot Chocolate Bar
Set up a hot chocolate bar! The kids will love adding their favorite toppings.
You can grab some soft peppermint sticks like these and use them as straws. (So much fun.)
Grab some flavored syrup to add.
Marshmallows are a must, and you might even be able to find some in fun Christmas shapes. Whipped cream will make some adorable little mustaches.
You can sprinkle mini chocolate chips or sprinkles over the whipped cream.
2. Board Games
Board games are a fantastic gift idea. (Here are some of our family favorite board games!)
And once someone opens a board game…well, it’s only natural that you should all play it!
3. Scavenger Hunt For Lights
One of our family’s favorite Christmas traditions is to drive around and look at the local Christmas lights.
It’s even more fun when you make it into a scavenger hunt!
My son decided that it was high time we make one of our own this year. So we decided to share it with you! Click the picture to download your own copy for personal use.
4. Secret Santa
This is something our family has been doing for years, and it really makes the whole season more fun.
If you haven’t had a Secret Santa before, you basically draw names from a hat to see who your “Secret Santa” will be.
We’ve found a few ways to make this really special with just our family. Learn more about how we do this here.
5. Pig Out
Another of our family’s favorite traditions!
Usually on Christmas Eve, we spread the table full of delicious foods. Cookies we’ve made, cheese and crackers, salami rolls, candies, and more!
If someone gave us a special treat, we add it to the feast.
Sometimes we try homemade peanut brittle. Sometimes I buy a box on a grocery trip.
Our kids aren’t usually allowed to gorge themselves on endless junk food, so this is always a special treat for us!
While we eat, we enjoy our favorite…
6. Christmas Movies
This one is kind of a given. Of course you’re gonna watch your favorites.
But you could also recreate the best scenes! Make a winter wonderland from paper while you eat spaghetti and syrup. (Ok, maybe you can fudge the spaghetti part a little!)
7. Hide the Snowman
I was shocked to find out that this simple little game is one of my kids favorite memories.
8. Build a Fort
Use all those boxes and paper you have lying around after unwrapping gifts. (This was always one of my favorite things to do as a kid on Christmas!)
9. Have A Christmas Themed Build Battle
Kids love to have what they call “Build Battles”. They take turns creating something on Minecraft and then let everyone judge to see which creation was the best.
You can easily turn that into a Christmas theme by having them build a house and decorate it. Or maybe make a giant Christmas tree and trim it out.
Don’t want to use Minecraft? You can totally do this using Lego, too.
10. Karaoke Christmas Carols
There are tons of videos on YouTube so you can have a fun party in your living room!
Or have even more fun with an app. (Smule gets good reviews for Google Play.)
11. Follow The Yarn
Want to make opening presents last a little longer?
Hide the gift and attach a piece of string or yarn to it. Then, loop the yarn all throughout the house.
The more you wrap the yarn around itself (and tons of objects), the trickier it will be.
If you are hiding multiple gifts, you can twist the strings around each other to make it even harder!
12. Crafting Time
Have the kids make handmade crafts for everyone. The personal touch is more important this year than ever!
Here’s a great list of craft ideas from my friend, Elia.
13. Bake Together
Surely you have some family favorite recipes that you haven’t made lately.
With so many things cancelled this year, now is the perfect time to try them again.
Especially if you can get ahold of Grandma’s old Christmas recipes!
14. Make A New Tradition
There are millions of Christmas traditions out there. Find out something your friends do that you haven’t tried before.
Or do a little Googling to see what Christmas traditions people in other countries enjoy. You just might find a new favorite!
15. Ding Dong Ditch Someone
If you don’t feel comfortable having your usual gatherings with family and friends, make a socially distanced call.
You can ding dong ditch them…in a good way. Leave treats on their porch. Or a small gift.
You can sing Christmas carols from their driveway.
Or give them a rating on their lights display. (Our favorite thing about your display was…)
16. Facetime!
Don’t miss out on your favorite people this year.
If you have to spend time together via Facetime, FB Live, Zoom, or whatever you use, just do it.
Let the kids put on a concert for their grandparents. Show them some of your favorite gifts.
Reminisce about some of your favorite Christmas memories together.
Make plans for a big Christmas bash next year!
Your stay at home Christmas will be so much fun, you might want to start a new tradition!
If you loooove fun ideas that fit the budget, you’ll definitely want to join the newsletter:
What should we add to this list of fun?
Totally stealing your Christmas light scavenger hunt idea!!
Yay! I hope you guys love it as much as we do!
Your Ding Dong Ditch suggestion reminded me of a friend’s situation several years ago: her husband had died tragically earlier in the year, and she and her 4 kids (junior high-high school ages) were not looking forward to the Christmas season. Beginning December 1 and through Christmas Eve, there was a surprise of some kind that was left on their front porch, such a Christmas-themed jigsaw puzzle, a Christmas movie and pizza parlor gift card, a roll of sugar cookie dough and sprinkles, warm fuzzy socks, etc. I don’t remember all of the details, but what I do remember is how I looked as forward to the daily Facebook posts as I’m sure they were in finding a daily surprise. Probably the best gift of all of this was even though we live 2 states away from each other I could visualize how the cloud of gloom was being lifted from that home as the days passed; the mom’s Facebook messages were no longer full of despair and panic. I know they were very grateful that someone in their community cared that much about them.
That’s such an amazing story! I’m so happy that someone went out of their way to make that season a little brighter for them.