This idea was inspired by a friend (blogger at Every Child is a Blessing) who posted a photo of a ‘Night Before Christmas Box’ on her blog’s Facebook page. It looked pretty cool so I wanted to try it out!
Maybe it’ll stick as an annual tradition, maybe it won’t. Maybe we’ll make it a New Year’s Eve thing in the future as Christmas is already heavy on box-opening, shiny paper-unwrapping stimuli. In any case, I’m all about thematically packaging things into boxes and getting stuff contained so, it was definitely going to happen at some point.
I designated a box for each of us (whoever puts the boxes together shouldn’t be left out! Unless you want to only give boxes to the kids).
The idea was for each person to receive a ‘supply pack’ for the night.
We decorate the tree at Thanksgiving and wrap gifts as we get them (and bake holiday edibles when we don’t feel lazy), alas the big lifting for holiday prep was basically all done.
For us, Christmas Eve is all about cozying up, vegging out, fa-la-la-ing, and watching a movie together.
This year our boxes included:
- A DVD that could be a contending option to watch this evening
- A blanket
- A new pair of pajamas
- A stocking full of holiday sweet treats
- A small stocking stuffer gift (MaiTai got a jingle bell necklace, for example)
- Christmas-y napkins (because it can get messy eating on the couch while engrossed in a film!)
Other ideas to consider:
- A holiday-themed CD to listen to in the hours before settling down for the film
- Packets of mulled cider mix
- Packets of hot cocoa mix
- Popcorn
- Sleeptime teas (I love lavender and chamomile) to get everyone ready for bed on time
- Smells of the holidays: try pine, eucalyptus, clove, cinnamon bark, white fir, frankincense, myrrh, or peppermint essential oils that you can diffuse during Christmas Day activities
- A new holiday book to read as a bedtime story
For New Year’s Eve boxes, in addition to the above:
- Poppers, streamers, tinsel-y hats and those goofy oversized glasses shaped like the year
- Plastic flutes for champagne/sparkling juice
- A small group game that could be a contending option to play this evening
- A mix CD of the year’s top hits
- A favorite photo taken that year featuring the box’s owner
- A brief horoscope reading tailored to the box’s owner for the upcoming year
- A new calendar
- Write down your New Year’s resolutions, pack them back up in the box, and open them up next year to see how much you’ve all accomplished
