25 Days of Fun (& Cheap) Christmas Activities for Families

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I just love Christmas! It’s my favorite time of the year. One of my most favorite traditions is our yearly Christmas advent calendar full of Christmas activities for kids and families.

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At the end of November, I plan out a Christmas advent calendar. It’s something I’ve been doing since my husband and I got married. We’ve continued the tradition with our kids.

Each day we have one activity. None of the activities are particularly hard, some of them aren’t even that special. But it’s a way to weave the magic of the season into our everyday life.

While all of the Christmas activities are great for kids and families, I’ve highlighted a few of my favorites for each. You can see the full list of Christmas activities at the end of the post.

There’s also a free Christmas activities printable! Be sure to join our VIP list to download it.

Christmas Activities for Kids

Christmas activities for kids don’t have to be hard. They can be super simple. Some of my children’s favorite Christmas activities have been things I’ve just quickly thrown together.

For instance, our Ho Ho Ho contest. Each family member takes turns trying to impersonate Santa. The kids love it! It usually ends in laughter and no clear winner.

Writing letters to Santa, is always a beloved Christmas tradition and also super easy to accomplish. It’s also a good idea to get the kids involved in cleaning out their toy bin. You can have your children donate gently used toys to a shelter.

Have a dance party! What kid doesn’t love to jump around. Put on some Christmas music and dance it out.

Turn crafts that you might make anyway into a special activity for you to do together. Whether it’s teachers gifts or gifts for the grandparents, making gifts makes for a wonderful Christmas activity.

Christmas Activities for Families

Christmas activities for families don’t have to be difficult either. You want it to be something easy that the whole family can enjoy together.

Going to a tree farm is always a fun activity. We don’t put up a real tree, but we still make it a point to go to the tree farm every year. The kids can run around, and you can take seasonal photos!

Have a picnic around the Christmas tree. Get some sandwiches and eat in front of the Christmas tree.

Speaking of food, make some special themed food. Wether its Santa pizzas or Christmas cookies, the whole family is sure to enjoy making and eating the food!

Spread joy together. Make sure to deliver Christmas cookies to friends and family. Get the whole family together to wrap and deliver the cookies.

25 Christmas Activities

Here are all 25 Christmas activities for kids and families:

• Put up lights and decorate
• Ho ho ho contest
• Make how chocolate
• Watch a Christmas movie
• Pictures with Santa
• Special Themed Food
• PJ Day
• Make salt dough ornaments
• Family game night
• Decorate gingerbread house
• Make teacher gifts
• Make apple cider
• Wear red and green
• Write letters to Santa
• Donate food to shelter and/or toys
• Dance to Christmas music
• Make paper snowflakes
• Go to a tree farm
• Walk around neighborhood
• Make Christmas cookies
• Go Christmas light looking
• Deliver Christmas cookies to friends
• Have a picnic around the tree
• Put out cookies and carrots
• Tell a favorite Christmas memory

Other Ideas

If you would like some other ideas, check out some of the questions below to make up some of your own activities!

What are family Christmas traditions?

Family traditions can be anything at all! We’ve started a number of family traditions, one being this yearly Christmas activities advent calendar.

What do you do with kids at Christmas?

Anything! Remember, kids are in awe by the magic of the season. What may seam silly to you will probably blow their mind! So don’t write off simple little things. Have a snow ball fight or make paper snow balls if you don’t have the real thing.

How do I make Christmas about Jesus?

If you want to make Christmas about Jesus, read the Bible. We read Bible verses everyday to tell the story of Jesus birth and it leads to great conversations. I also have a Christmas Bible verses printable.