day 7: making christmas magical

Ideas from our readers

18 December 2011

In a world full of consumerism, it’s easy to lose sight of what Christmas is all about.  And for each family, what that exactly is will be quite different.  For some it’s religion, others family, remembrance, celebration of life, giving forward, giving love.  Whatever it is for you, here are some ideas we’ve collected from our readers to put a bit of magic back into Christmas for the little ones.  Whether it be something you do just this year, or something you decide to do every year to form a tradition, it’s the little things in life that make a difference.

Making little believers

• Pre-Christmas send your little ones a card from Santa.  It can have any message you would like in it – maybe a little reminder of what you’ve been wanting them to do to make the ‘nice list’! 
• Plant red and white jelly beans in the garden with the kids on Christmas Eve.  While the kids are sleeping, replace them with candy canes – the kids will think it’s amazing that the magic of Christmas Eve grew these overnight! 
• All of that present delivering can be a big job...  how about leaving some food out for Santa and his reindeer?  It could be cookies and milk for Santa, and carrots and water for the reindeer, or you could make some special reindeer food to sprinkle with the kids on the back lawn (rolled oats and glitter seem to be a common mix!). 
• Why not get a Santa outfit, get someone to dress up, and ‘secretly’ video tape Santa putting the presents under the tree and eating his treats for the kids to watch in the morning?
• If you’re keen for an early morning wake up, early in the morning you could get a nice neighbour to throw a few stones on your roof and shout ‘ho, ho, ho’ at the top of their lungs outside the kids bedroom window.

Family traditions

• Even if you’re not into decorating your entire house, why not have one small part of the outside of the house that you let the kids decorate for the neighbours to enjoy too?  It could be your gate, or a small part of the garden.  If you live in a kid friendly neighbourhood, why not see if the other families will join in?
• If you would like to ensure each gift (big or small) is given attention and the gift opening lasts a little longer, why not instead of leaving a santa sack in the kids bedroom have them wake up to a special note from Santa – with step by step instructions on where, how, and in which order to find their presents.  You could tie the note to a rock and attach a helium filled balloon so that they don’t miss it.
• To make Christmas night just as special as the day, why not rent a nice Christmas flavoured DVD and have the family set up camp in the lounge for the night?

Giving back

• Get the kids to help you and then give a nice homemade present (some lovely cookies maybe) to your neighbour, the organiser of your local playgroup, or someone else you know.
• Start a tradition where the kids select one of their gifts each year to donate to the local Women’s Refuge, or Salvation Army.
• Spend some time on Christmas day doing good or helping out others – perhaps helping out at the local city mission, retirement home, making cleaning cloths and animal toys via the SPCA Rag Fairy appeal, or become an SPCA foster parent for 5-6 weeks over the Christmas break if you are staying at home.
• Give back your Christmas tree – have the kids plant a tree each year to give back to the environment.  They could even plant a little note containing a wish or thought of kindness to grow with the tree.
• If you give your children multiple gifts, how about wrapping up one gift that is something they need to pay forward – for example a card giving them x dollars to go and purchase something on the Oxfam Unwrapped website.
• Encourage and help your kids to give gifts that give, not ones that cost money – for example vouchers for hugs, or helping out around the house in some way.

If you have more ideas to add to the list, please email [email protected]