Get ideas for things to do on Christmas Day with your family and friends- no matter how big or small the gathering is!
When I was a kid, I always loved Christmas Day. My parents did a good job creating a routine for that day that was never too overwhelming or too empty.
I remember watching a Christmas movie at one point, though, where it seemed like the family’s Christmas day started and ended with opening up the presents.
They got up, ripped open all of their presents and then just sort of hung out until dinnertime.
I remember feeling baffled by their routine.
I didn’t understand how they could fill an entire day with activity when it seemed like the only two activities they had planned were gifts and dinner.
Though I don’t think that Christmas Day needs to be packed full of activities, I do think it’s a good day to spend time with family and friends rather than just highlighting the gift portion of the day.
Today, I want to share with you a list of fun things to do on Christmas Day with the family that can make your day feel a little bit more special.
Some of the ideas are traditions that I have in my family that I love and others are things I know other families have enjoyed doing in the past. I hope that some of them are able to make your Christmas a little more special this year!
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Activities to do on Christmas Day with your family
1. Make stockings an event of their own
In some families, stockings are just a quick thing that you open up and then reassemble before jumping right to the next activity but opening stockings can actually be turned into a much longer affair if you’re strategic.
In my family, the rule was that when the children woke up, we were allowed to open our stockings without our parents there but that we couldn’t touch any of the other gifts.
This meant that we needed to entertain ourselves with whatever was in those stockings until our parents woke up.
But my parents were strategic with what went in those stockings.
We received some practical items, some candies, and some items that we could play with right away.
Growing up, my two siblings and I easily spent at least an hour opening our stockings, sharing what we got with each other, and playing with one or two of the items that we received.
Here are some tricks that can make the stockings a longer process to open and play with:
- Make the stockings bigger and fill them with smaller items
- Wrap some of the items inside the stocking so they take longer to open
- Include reading material as one of the items so the recipient can start reading right away
- Gift something that can be eaten right away
- Include a puzzle game/activity that can be played with right away
- Encourage family members to show what they received with others
2. Have a big family breakfast
I’ve always been a big breakfast person, so this is probably one of my favourite traditions we have in my own family.
Instead of a simple, 10-minute breakfast, make it a big event.
Set the table so that it looks extra special, make a special drink to enjoy, and fill the table with delicious breakfast foods.
In our family, we actually use Christmas crackers at breakfast instead of dinner. We spend hours just sitting around the table sampling the food and drinking tea or coffee.
Everyone is usually still in their pyjamas and in no rush to be anywhere, so we can take time to enjoy the conversation and good company.
It’s one of my all-time favourite things to do on Christmas Day with my family.
3. When you do the gifts, take your time
In my family, opening gifts takes hours to do sometimes but not because we’re giving each other an obscene amount of gifts.
The process of opening gifts in our household is a slow one because every gift is accompanied by a story or a conversation.
Instead of opening the gifts all at once, we take turns opening gifts one by one. Everyone watches while one person opens their gift, and that is usually followed by a bit of a conversation.
Sometimes the person who bought the gift has a story about how they acquired it, while other times people have questions for the recipient.
For example, if it is a gift that reflects a hobby of theirs, people often ask questions about the hobby and learn a little more about that person’s interests.
It’s a great way to make Christmas a little less about the presents and more about the time you get to spend with friends and family.
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4. Play with a new toy together
When shopping for gifts, try to include at least one gift that the whole family can enjoy together.
It could be a new gaming console that the whole family can play with or maybe a new board game to try together.
Once the gifts are opened, that new item can be put to good use right away.
Everyone can try out the new toy together. Depending on what the item is, this could use up hours of your day and provide a lot of entertainment for the whole family.
5. Play an old board game or video game the whole family loves
Another great thing to do on Christmas Day is to take the opportunity to enjoy something as a family that you don’t normally have the time to do together.
For my family, we usually use Christmas as an opportunity to play some old board games we love.
If you have some old games or a gaming system you used to play with as kids, this is a great time to pull it out and play with it.
6. Decorate cookies or a gingerbread house
This is another great and potentially time-consuming activity to do on Christmas Day with your family.
Get out the icing and sprinkles, turn on some Christmas music, and spend time meticulously decorating your desserts.
If you want to get even crazier, one of my favourite things we’ve done in our family is to host a gingerbread house decorating competition.
We split everyone into two groups. These two groups are given an assortment of candy and icing. We are then given one special candy that needs to be incorporated into our house design.
When both teams are done decorating their houses, we have to present the house with a story to go with it. Then a winner is chosen.
It is a super fun Christmas activity that everyone always enjoys.
7. Do an outdoor activity
Most households have at least one person in the family who gets a little antsy when they are not given the opportunity to get physically active.
Outdoor activities are a great way to get everyone up and moving so that this doesn’t happen on Christmas Day.
The activity doesn’t have to be anything fancy. You could simply go for a walk around the neighbourhood if that is all you want to do.
But if you are looking for a few more ideas, I’ve got some for you here:
- Go sledding
- Build a snowman
- Go on a hike
- Skate at an ice rink
- Walk through a Christmas lights exhibition
- Go Christmas carolling
- Walk to people you know nearby to wish them Merry Christmas
8. Volunteer
This is a great thing to do at Christmas for so many reasons.
Not only is it something you can do with your family that helps someone else on Christmas Day, but it also helps teach that Christmas isn’t all about the presents and what we want.
It can also be about showing love and generosity to others.
If your local charities don’t have any events happening on the day of Christmas, you can also do some nice things yourself.
Here are some generous activities that you can do as a family of any size without needing an organization to lead it:
- Visit people in a nursing home
- Make gift bags and hand them out to people on the street
- Invite someone international who is spending Christmas alone to eat Christmas dinner at your house
- Make Christmas cards and leave them in public places for anyone to find
9. Watch Christmas specials or a Movie
Maybe you’ve already watched a lot of Christmas movies this year and you’re sick and tired of them.
But if not, this could be a good afternoon or chill nighttime activity for Christmas Day.
Get some Christmas treats or some hors d’oeuvres and settle in for a cozy movie.
Here are some of my family’s favourite Christmas movies:
- Elf
- The Grinch (the Jim Cary version)
- Polar Express
- The Santa Clause
- Christmas with the Kranks
- Love Actually (careful, though: this is not for young kids)
Another fun Christmas activity that my family has been doing since 2020 is playing a Hallmark Christmas Bingo game that my mom made.
Basically, you print off the bingo cards that have generic Christmas tropes that are typically found in Hallmark and Netflix Christmas movies. Then as you watch the movie, you have to try to spot the items that are on your Bingo card. The first person to make a row on their Bingo card wins!
It is a really fun homemade game that is easy to make and easy to play!
10. Have an ugly Christmas sweater or Christmas costume competition
This Christmas activity doesn’t exactly take up a lot of time but it can be a fun one that makes your day even more unique.
Decide on a dress-up theme that everyone would like to participate in and have fun with it!
11. Put on your own show
This may seem like a bit of an odd activity but with the right family, this can be a lot of fun!
It doesn’t have to be some big, fancy production, either- it could just be a couple of people hanging out around a piano or a guitar.
Here are some things you could do to make your own family Christmas pageant:
- Sing hymns or Christmas carols as a group
- Do a silly dance to a popular Christmas song
- Perform a nativity play
- Act out a children’s Christmas story
- Do a read-aloud of a children’s Christmas story
- Play an improv game as a group
- Read Christmas poetry aloud
12. Briefly visit other families to say “Merry Christmas”
One nice thing to do on Christmas Day can be to make quick stops at other family and friends’ houses to say a personal “Merry Christmas” to them.
There is nothing complicated about this activity; you just knock on the door and wish them a Merry Christmas.
They might want to chat more or they might just want to thank you and close the door but it can be a nice gesture that you are thinking of them.
You could also do this online by making Zoom calls to friends and family, instead.
Christmas Day is always a good opportunity to reconnect with people who are often too busy to chat.
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13. Try Jolabokaflod
This is a fun Swedish tradition that they usually do on Christmas Eve but you could totally do it on Christmas Day if you wanted to.
Basically, everyone gets gifted a book and then they spend a couple of hours reading those new books together.
As a major advocate for lifelong learning, I would highly recommend this activity for every family.
14. Adopt a new cultural celebration
There are lots of fun traditions that happen around the world (or in history) that you can try out.
Perhaps it’s playing Victorian Christmas games or eating KFC the way they do in Japan. Do some research and find a fun tradition that you might want to start yourself.
In the same vein, you could ask other families what kinds of things they do for Christmas and use some of their ideas for your own holiday!
Who knows? You might find one that sticks!
15. Cook dinner together
Who said that mom has to be the only one slaving in the kitchen every Christmas holiday?
Turning Christmas dinner into a family affair is the perfect way to end a Christmas day!
Have some people in charge of decorating the dinner table and choosing the dinner playlist.
Get other people to be in charge of monitoring the stovetop items while other people get the bread rolls made.
With everyone hanging out together in the kitchen and taking part in the preparations, you will be able to turn an activity that is potentially stress-inducing into a fun family activity.
Frequently Asked Questions
What can you do on Christmas Day with a small family?
Some of you may have a much smaller family that you celebrate Christmas with, which does sometimes make it difficult to stay entertained all day.
It is much easier to stay busy when you have an army of people to entertain each other.
That being said, there are still a lot of options for you to try that can make Christmas Day with a small family just as special.
In fact, most of the options in the list above are just as effective for small families.
How can I make Christmas more interesting?
By trying out some of these things to do on Christmas Day, you will be able to make your Christmas much more interesting and full of fun activities.
But the thing I would recommend above all else is to make sure that you’re not getting hung up on old traditions that just aren’t being enjoyed by anyone anymore.
If you find that your Christmas traditions are feeling a little stale, it would be helpful to try to consider what activities you could swap out for more interesting ones.
By switching up your traditions, you will be able to keep things fresh and interesting each year and might even find one that your family will love for years to come!
How can I make my Christmas extra special?
Christmas can be a tricky holiday because people often feel that they need to go above and beyond to make the day amazing.
However, in desiring this, most people end up stressed and overwhelmed and forget what makes the holiday season so special in the first place.
Whether or not you consider Jesus’ birth as the center of this holiday or not, there is one thing that everyone seems to be able to agree on; Christmas is a special chance to be with loved ones and to spend time and money on people we care about.
When we fail to keep that at the heart of Christmas, the day becomes much less special.
My biggest suggestion for you to make Christmas extra special this year is to remember that one simple thing and stop stressing about the rest of it.
Don’t try to make Christmas about the presents or the fancy meals. You will just end up stressed out and tired.
Do what you can to make the day unique but put the most effort into enjoying time with family and friends.
This will be sure to make the holidays special.
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I hope that some of these Christmas ideas are helpful to you over the holiday season. Try some of the things on this Christmas to-do list and see if any stick!
And above all else, enjoy the time you get to spend with the family and friends you have.
What sort of things do you do on Christmas Day with your family?
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