Baby’s first Christmas Eve box – make a memorable tradition for your baby, starting from the first year!
Are you planning all the Christmas traditions you’re going to start with your family? The Christmas Eve box is a delightful, family-focused tradition to start with your little family right now!
You can get started with a Christmas Eve box even if you have a small baby. You’ll just need to adapt a few things to make it baby-friendly and you can build on the tradition each year!
What is a Christmas Eve Box?
Family or individual. open crate or treasure chest? You decide!
There’s no rule about how you should do your Christmas Eve box.
Some families like to make one single Christmas Eve box that includes everything to be shared with the family. Others make a box for each individual family member and includes more personalised gifts.
You also have plenty of leeway when it comes to the form your Christmas Eve box takes – it doesn’t need to be a box! It could be a crate, a treasure chest style hinged box, a bag, or a gift box.
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How to Put Together the Perfect Christmas Eve Box for Your Baby
1) Start with the Box
You can go low tech and use an old shoebox (covered and lined in Christmas wrapping paper to make it cute!) or custom make your own basket or box. Of course, you can always get along to Etsy and buy a custom Christmas Eve box or grab a simple crate from Amazon.
I bought mine (pictured above) from the dollar store here in Australia a couple of years ago. It’s worked like a charm, but it does feel a little bit tight for all the things I want to put in it these days!
2) A Christmas Book
It’s never too early to start a fun tradition of sharing something entertaining in your Christmas Eve box. It could be a book, a movie, or even a board game! While it’s a little early for baby to enjoy a movie or a board game with the family, it’s never too early to read a book!
One thing to be aware of: a book is likely to be the largest thing you try fit into your baby’s Christmas Eve box. An open trunk or crate will leave you a lot more room to choose larger books (and toys and things later).
Here are some great board book ideas:
- Christmas Songs: Interactive Children’s Sound Book
- Christmas in a Manger
- The Night Before Christmas
- Santa’s Workshop Lift-a-Flap
We loved the Santa’s Surprise book above – it’s a lift the flap which was really fun for baby and still entertaining for my older boy.
And last year we got Follow Me Santa which is finger tracing maze book. Lots of fun for both boys!
3) Snacks to Share
Christmas Eve boxes almost always include some tasty Christmassy treats and hot cocoa… but baby is too young for most of that kind of food just yet. Instead, include some food they’d enjoy eating like:
- a fruit or yoghurt pouch,
- pot of custard,
- yogurt melts,
- or some rusks or
- crackers
Don’t forget to include some family snacks for mom and dad (and any other family):
- popcorn
- chocolate
- hot cocoa
- candy canes
- cookies
Feel free to sneak a bottle of wine in for mom and dad if it’s baby’s first Christmas – you earned it!
4) Christmas Clothes and Accessories
You might not be ready for matching PJ’s just yet… but you could also try:
- Christmas socks
- Christmas bows or bowties
- Christmas PJ’s
- A Christmas Bib
- Santa Hat (makes for a great yearly Christmas photo tradition)Something for Santa
5) Something for Santa & Rudolf
If you’re planning to keep the tradition of putting a little something out for Santa each year, you can start from your baby’s very first Christmas.
Include a special Santa plate for Santa’s snack and reindeer food in your Christmas Eve box – you can use the same plate year after year!
6) A Small Toy They’ll Love
Baby’s don’t really need a lot in their Christmas Eve box, but adding something they can play with is a nice touch!
- A small toy or
- rattle or
- bath toys in the box is the perfect thing to start off the tradition.
(Check out our post on stocking stuffers for babies for some more simple and small ideas for baby gifts).
7) And a few more ideas to include!
You might also like to add to your Christmas Eve box:
- a special Christmas ornament for baby’s first Christmas
- a letter from Santa
- your baby’s first Christmas stocking
That’ll help you get started – you can always build on the tradition next year and include more and more things to make this your own special family tradition!
When Should You Do Your Christmas Eve Box?
While many families do their Christmas Eve box on Christmas Eve, some families prefer to make it a Christmas Season box and have it appear on December 1.
This way your family gets to enjoy the contents of the box for the whole of December – which definitely makes sense when it comes to Christmas PJ’s and movies! You could even include an advent calendar if you choose to start on December 1.
If you’re doing Elf on the Shelf you could even tie the Christmas Eve box to the elf’s arrival and have the elf bring your Christmas Season box.
How Much Should You Put In Your Christmas Eve Box?
If you’re intimidated by the idea of what a Christmas Eve Box should look like, don’t worry – I get it.
I’ve looked at a lot of pictures of Christmas Eve boxes this year while planning the first of my own and wow some are way over the top!
I’m keeping mine pretty low key and focused on activities and items that are about family togetherness. That’s also why we’re doing a family box rather than individual boxes.
The beauty of this tradition is you can do it however you like and however suits your family, so if you want to include more things or personal gifts in the box, go for it!
More Ideas for Baby’s First Christmas
Baby’s First Christmas Outfit Ideas – Christmas Baby Clothes
12 Days of Baby’s First Christmas Photo Ideas
36 Engaging Christmas Sensory Bottles for Babies and Toddlers
