Creating Christmas Eve Traditions with Marks and Spencers

In someways I think that Christmas Eve is possibly an even more exciting day than Christmas. No, there isn’t the excited waking up early to open presents but that’s not necessarily a bad thing – last year my two made it to the grand hour of 11pm before they work up desperate to open their gifts and actually I’d like Santa to finally gift us with a lie in. So there isn’t the early wake up call but instead Christmas Eve is a day filled with excitement, of doing things together, of traditions, making memories and having a good time. Marks and Spencers asked us if we would share our Christmas Eve traditions and I was more than happy to help.

Creating Christmas Eve Traditions

For my first couple of years as a parent my husband always worked Christmas Eve and sometimes Christmas Day too. He helped run one of the busiest foodbanks in the country and Christmas Eve would mean madly running around taking the turkeys shops no longer wanted to families who couldn’t afford them. It was a good thing for him to do but it also meant that I’d be home alone with the kids, the upside of this is that I learnt quickly that they would want to do All The Stuff on Christmas Eve and now I’m used to it and love it, it’s probably my favourite day of the year for making foods and crafts with them. Add to that the fact that we now live over 300 miles from any family members and making Christmas Eve and Christmas super special is a big deal here!

Christmas Eve Traditions to Try This Year

1. Make gingerbread. I’ve done this every year with my kids since they were tiny, it smells amazing, is a great excuse to crack out any Christmas biscuit cutters and you can use it for decorations or as gifts for anyone you’re going to see on Christmas Day. Plus gingerbread biscuits are perfect for leaving out for Santa!

2. Get new Christmas pyjamas on. There’s nothing quite like the feel of new pyjamas and there’s nothing quite like Christmas pyjamas on Christmas Eve to get your kids excited about getting changed and ready for bed – the earlier the better! We adore the Christmas pyjamas from Marks and Spencers which are the perfect blend of cute, festive and funny. My daughter adores her elf pyjamas which come with a super cute green tutu (removable so she’ll be using it for dressing up too) while my son’s ‘I’ve been good-ish all year’ set have made us all giggle and raised a few eyebrows. He has been good…..ish!

3. Go for a walk in your Christmas hats. Christmas is one of those days that you’re likely to spend a lot of time indoors so make the most of getting out on Christmas Eve if you can, last year we had a walk on the beach and jumped in the waves and yes Christmas hats are obligatory for the kids at the very least!

4. Watch a Christmas movie. We try to have a new one every year on Christmas Eve and our favourites are Elf and The Polar Express. Popcorn is also a bonus and a great way to fill up tummies if you’re hoping for a good nights sleep!

5. Get Santa to deliver a Christmas box. Everyone knows that Santa is the main man when it comes to Christmas but even though he’s mega busy on Christmas Eve he’s always managed to leave a box of goodies hidden that the kids have found while we’ve been watching our Christmas movie. Inside he normally pops some hot chocolate, a Christmas book, a few Christmas chocolates and of course our Christmas pyjamas along with a little note to remind the kids to go to bed on time or he won’t be able to deliver their gifts for the next day. You can view all of Marks and Spencer’s Christmas pyjamas here (I’m not going to lie, I need to shrink so I can fit into the kids Christmas unicorn ones)

What do you do to make Christmas Eve extra special?
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