Family Christmas Activity Ideas

We have had an awesome Christmas this year!  We started celebrating on the first day of December and did something fun every day. We listened to Christmas songs and watched Christmas movies. I made a ton of goodies! I also planned activities for the whole family to enjoy. If you are looking for some ideas for your family to enjoy for your next Christmas, read on!

We decorated our Christmas Tree and put out all of our decorations on the first day. On the next day, we made sugar cookies. Jay was the biggest help with cutting out the cookies. 

Jay cutting out an angel.

I made pink, yellow, blue, and green buttercream frosting. After icing the cookies, the kids added different kinds of sprinkles.

Decorating Sugar Cookies

The finished product

Another finished product

We went to my Mom's house one night and the kids decorated gingerbread cookies. Below is a picture of Kat's creations on top of the package they came in. These types of kits are a lot of fun. We do these for Halloween and Christmas every year.

Decorated Gingerbread Cookies

Jay and Baby Jay made snowmen necklaces with our Homeschool Group out of washers, chenille stems, pony bead, and elastic string. We enjoyed pizza, Christmas Jeopardy, and wonderful fellowship.

Jay wearing her new Snowman Necklace

I bought several crafts from Oriental Trading from a friend that had some extra. Both of the little girls loved these! Baby Jay calls the stickers "stickies". 

Penguin Sticker Craft

Gingerbread House Place Mat Craft

We enjoyed making homemade Gingerbread Houses with our best friends. I drew a template and used it to cut shapes out of the gingerbread dough. We also cut some shapes with cookie cutters. Then the pieces were baked and dried for a few days. My friend made a great frosting that dried quickly and was easy to pipe out. We added candy and frosting and then admired our houses.

Girls' Gingerbread House

Boys' Gingerbread House

Baby Jay mostly enjoyed playing with the candy, eating some, and making a mess in the floor with it.

Baby Jay playing with the Gingerbread House candy

Jay took her house decorating very seriously.

Jay working on her Gingerbread House

Jay's finished Gingerbread House

Here are some of the other activities that I didn't get a picture of. (Ugh!)

1. We read Christmas stories and Jay did several fun Christmas activity sheets and language art sheets that I found at Embark on the Journey.

2. We went out into the woods beside our house and shot mistletoe out of a tree. It's always fun to search for it on the ground afterwards and then hang it in the doorway at home.

3. We enjoyed parties at church, with our families, and with our friends.

4. For an outreach, our church helped another church by offering to wrap the gifts that they collected to bless a needy family with.

5. I also started a new tradition this year that I found on Pinterest: the Christmas Eve box. I modified our box to include the book The Night Before Christmas illustrated by Mary Engelbreit (checked out from the Library), hot chocolate, popcorn, the movies The Santa Clause and The Christmas Story (checked out from the Library), and a packet of Chocolate Chip Cookie mix to make for Santa. The whole family loved the Christmas Eve Box. We will definitely do this again next year.

I  would love to know what you and your family did to enjoy the Christmas Season this year. I'm always on the lookout for new fun ideas.