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'Twas the Night Before: Christmas Eve Traditions Your Family Will Keep Forever
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items #WalmartPartner. This list contains Walmart affiliate links. I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases. Christmas morning is over in about eleven minutes of torn wrapping paper. Christmas Eve is the part everybody actually remembers: the box ...
Sections
4
Fill the Christmas Eve Box
Cocoa, a Movie & Family Time
Treats for Santa & His Reindeer
Proof Santa Came
Fill the Christmas Eve Box
Hand it out after supper on Christmas Eve and watch everybody calm right down. Keep it simple: something to read, something to watch, and one little surprise. Same box every year, so it turns into a tradition all on its own.
This is the splurge, but it's the one you'll pull out every single year. Everybody writes a wish card, you tuck in a family photo, and the kids get to open the lid like it's a treasure chest. Ten years from now, those cards will make you cry.
Wooden Christmas Eve Family Keepsake Box with Ornaments & Wish Cards
Somebody reads it out loud right before bed. Every year. No exceptions. Let the oldest kid take a turn once they can read, and Granddaddy gets to do the Santa voice.
The Night Before Christmas (Walmart Exclusive Hardcover)
The Christmas Eve movie, hands down. Pop it in the box with the bell below and watch their faces when the bell shows up in the movie. And yes, a real DVD. No buffering, no fighting over whose streaming account it's on.
The Polar Express [DVD]
Tuck this little bell in the box with the movie. Then make it a family rule: as long as you can still hear it ring, you still believe. Grown-ups included.
Silver "Believe" Bell with Velvet Bag
Cocoa, a Movie & Family Time
Get everybody in one room with something warm in their hands. Phones go in a basket, the movie goes on, and the grown-ups can sneak off to wrap the last few presents while the puzzle keeps the kids busy.
If you've got little ones, Bluey is basically a member of the family by now. Four mugs that stack, so they don't eat up the whole cabinet the other eleven months of the year. Cocoa just tastes better out of the Christmas mugs. That's science.
Zak Designs Bluey Holiday Mugs, 4-Pack
Drop one in a mug, pour hot milk over the top, and watch it crack open and the marshmallows float up. The kids will fight over who gets to pour. Let 'em take turns and call it a tradition.
Thoughtfully Hot Chocolate Bombs with Marshmallows, 5 Pack
Three hundred big pieces is the sweet spot. The kids can actually help, and you'll finish it before anybody falls asleep on the couch. Dump it on the coffee table after supper and see who can't walk past without adding a piece.
MasterPieces 300-Piece EZ Grip Christmas Puzzle, North Pole Family Portrait
Every family has the one blanket everybody fights over during the movie. Might as well make it a Christmas one. Sherpa on one side, Fair Isle reindeer on the other, and big enough for two kids and a dog to pile under.
PAVILIA Red & White Snowflake Sherpa Throw, 50" x 60"
Treats for Santa & His Reindeer
This is the part the kids will talk about for years. Decorate the cookies together, set out the plate and milk, and sprinkle a little magic on the lawn so the reindeer can find the house.
It says “Cookies for Santa” right on the plate, so it never gets mixed in with the everyday dishes. Buy it once and the same plate comes out every Christmas Eve until the grandkids are the ones leaving cookies on it.
Pfaltzgraff Winterberry Cookies & Milk for Santa Plate and Mug Set
The cookies are already baked, so nobody's standing over a hot oven on Christmas Eve. Just open the box, hand out the icing and the Kisses, and let the kids go to town. Santa gets the prettiest ones. Mama gets the broken ones.
Create a Treat Hershey's Festive Cookie Decorating Kit
Send the kids out in their pajamas and coats to sprinkle this on the front yard right before bed. It's how Rudolph finds the house, obviously. It also burns off that last little bit of sugar so they actually fall asleep.
Magic Reindeer Food for Christmas Eve
Proof Santa Came
The little details that keep the magic going one more year: a way in for houses without a chimney, stockings to fill, presents in a sack instead of store wrap, and a Santa-shaped breakfast to finish it off.
No chimney? No problem. Hang this on the front doorknob on Christmas Eve so Santa can let himself in, then hide it before the kids wake up. Camper, apartment, or a gas fireplace, this one settles the “but how does he get in?” question for good.
Kurt Adler Santa's Magic Key, 9"
Santa's presents come in a sack, not in the same wrapping paper that's been sitting in Mama's closet since October. Kids notice that stuff. One sack per kid, and you just saved yourself an hour of wrapping.
Joyfy Santa Burlap Sacks with Drawstring, 3 Pack
Little leather tags on the cuff, so you write everybody's name once and there's no Christmas morning argument over whose stocking is whose. Four colors, chunky cable knit, and they look like they came off a fancy farmhouse mantel.
Ayieyill 18" Knit Christmas Stockings with Name Patches, 4 Pack
Set this out Christmas Eve with the batter already mixed in the fridge. Christmas morning, everybody gets a waffle with Santa's face on it, and you didn't have to turn on the stove. It's little, so it tucks away in a drawer till next year.
Dash Santa Mini Waffle Maker