fete the most wonderful time of the year with these holiday activity .

Rebekah Molloy

The holiday are the most wonderful prison term of the class for a grounds — the food , euphony , decor , and fellowship are all specially wizardly . To make the most of the season , take brainchild from our Christmas bucket list , complete with holiday activities , festive crafts , intimate movie nights , and must - have treats . Choose your favorites or contain off all 50 to romanticize the holidays and take advantage of the season ’s many opportunity for play , metre with loved I , and even ego - aid .

People wearing gloves holding mugs with cider

Credit:Rebekah Molloy

1. Make a Holiday Playlist

Make a holiday playlist before starting any Christmas activities . toy the songs in the background as you adorn your home , bake cookies , or look at your neighborhood ’s light .

2. Look at Christmas Lights

Take a private road or walk around the blocking to admire your neighbour ' Christmas lights . To make the activity extra cozy , add a thermos bottle ofhot chocolateand treat to snack on while you take in the sights .

3. Craft an Annual Ornament

craftiness an ornamentto remember this Christmas . Make the ornament from narration , experience , or paper , and beautify it with picture or small keepsake from the past twelvemonth . Make it a tradition to create an ornamentation with your loved ones each Christmas .

Annie Schlechter

4. Decorate a Tree

Putting up the treemarks the commencement of the Christmas season . This class , set aside time to deck out your tree diagram early in the season so you’re able to enjoy it all winter long .

5. Host a Christmas Movie Marathon

Invite ally over to determine yourfavorite holiday movies . Set up a projector and create a cozy spot in your living room to create a movie theater experience . Make certain to have plenty of live chocolate and adust goods ready to graze on throughout the pic battle of Marathon .

6. Go to a Holiday Market

Christmas is n’t over without a trip to your local holiday market or fete . shop class for handmade decoration , try any Christmas - themed games , and eat heap of delectable holiday kickshaw .

7. Make Christmas Coffees

Up your morning coffee game with festive holiday syrups and froth . Mentha piperita mochas , sugar cooky caffe latte , and caramel macchiatos are all great ways to start your morning . Or make an iced vacation drinking as a noon pick - me - up .

8. Bake a New Holiday Treat

Experiment with a raw recipe to land to this class ’s Christmas dinner party or holiday party . Trypeppermint dessertsorparty appetizerseveryone will make love .

9. Thrift Vintage Ornaments

Vintage Christmas decoris more popular than ever . This year , go thrifting for retro ornaments alternatively of buying new ones . gain a grouping of friends or have sex ones to go to parsimony stores , antique stores , and flea markets to line up ornament of all shapes and sizes .

10. Participate in a White Elephant Exchange

cumulate a mathematical group of your friends and family to enter in a beloved vacation custom . trade out a classic holiday party for awhite elephant natural endowment exchangethis yr . The bigger the group and sillier the gift , the good .

11. Make Homemade Hot Cocoa

While store - bought hot chocolate is delicious , homemade spicy chocolatehits the spot on a cold wintertime day . Stick to a classic recipe , or sum festive flavors like peppermint or cobnut .

12. Try Ice Skating

crank skating is another staple vacation activity . Even if you do n’t have much balance , you might be surprised by how much fun you ’ll have . see for a local out-of-door skating skating rink for an surplus particular expedition .

13. Decorate Your Home

Whether you decorate before or after Thanksgiving , go all out this year withChristmas decor . And do n’t stop at just the tree diagram ; ornament your mantel , bannister , entryway , and bedrooms to accomplish the full Hallmark Christmas effect .

14. Read a Winter Book

Pick a holiday - theme rule book to read on cold winter night . Make a mug of hot chocolate or tea , snaffle a blanket , and cozy up by the blast to read for a relaxing nighttime .

15. Build a Gingerbread House

make a gingerbread house using cookies , majestic frost , and an assortment of colorful confect . If you feel ambitious , consider making multiple house to make a smallgingerbread villageto display throughout the season .

16. Send Homemade Cards

There ’s something special about receive homemade cards and endowment . Plus , they ’re fun to make . pass an afternoon craft customize add-in to send to your loved ones near and far .

17. Donate a Gift

In a season where it ’s soft to over - use up , consider donating toy and other gifts to those in need . Reach out to local organizations to learn what type of gifts or item are needed .

Nathan Kirkman

18. Craft a Garland

Make your own garlandfor your tree , chimneypiece , or door frame . Craft garlands using paper ring , homemade narration tassels , and pom - poms for a playful , eclectic aspect .

19. Shop for Loved Ones

Take a day to shop for or make natural endowment for your champion and family . If you ’re stumped on what to get them , try baking their favorite scrumptious treats .

20. Get Creative with Gift Wrapping

Rethink how you decorate your gifts this year . Wrap boxful in erstwhile newspapers for a vintage face , or use kraft paper paper and draw your own invention . CraftDIY gift tags and bowsto top off the present .

21. Try a Holiday Decorating Trend

If you ’re tired of a traditionalred and green semblance pallette , mix thing up with a colorful Christmas display this class . If you like bright colouration , try using pink Christmas laurel wreath . If you ’re a fan of patterns and prints , put amaximalist twist on Christmas decor .

22. Go Caroling

Caroling is a classic Christmas custom . Create a list of your favorite songs , get a chemical group of friend , and reach the holiday cheerfulness to house around you .

23. Go Sledding

impart your inner child and go sledding for a nostalgic snow twenty-four hour period . If you ’re sore afterwards , honour yourself with a cupful of hot chocolate and a warm bath .

24. Buy Holiday Pajamas

grease one’s palms a pair of festive jammies to wear on Christmas Eve . Even well , get your whole family matching exercise set . Then , on Christmas morning , take a picture of your radical and re - produce the photo every twelvemonth .

25. Do a Secret Santa Exchange

Similar to a white elephant gift telephone exchange , hole-and-corner Santa gift swaps are an easy room to give presents to friend and coworkers . For a fun twist , pick a root for everyone to observe , like air hole - sized presents or homemade gifts .

Kelsey Hansen

26. Decorate Christmas Cookies

grace yummy Christmas cookies with colorful frosting , sprinkling , and candy . To up the ante , make cookie decorating into a rivalry and have ally vote on whose facial expression or taste the best .

27. Wear an Ugly Christmas Sweater

The holidays are nearly the only prison term you ’re encouraged to wear something ugly . Lean into the prompt by thrifting the ugly sweater you may encounter and customize it with additional release , tinsel , and bell shape .

28. Complete a Christmas Puzzle

Puzzles are an inherently cozy action . Keep a holiday puzzle on hired man to go across the time during stale winter solar day .

29. Make Paper Snowflakes

Turn your rest home into a wintertime wonderland by filling it withhomemade paper snowflakes . give ear them from your ceiling or tree , or tape them to windowpane for a frosty issue .

30. See a Live Show

For a playfulness particular date night , get just the ticket to a vacation dramatic play , melodious , or concert dance . While you ’re at it , buy extra tickets to invest to champion and kinsperson .

31. Document the Season

Make it a stage to document your favorite activity and retentivity during the busy holiday time of year . grease one’s palms a disposable camera and start a Christmas album , or make a scrapbook from Christmas card and other souvenirs of the time of year .

32. Visit or Call Loved Ones

The angelic vacation memories are often spent with those we love . Take time to spend with loved ones you do n’t get to see or talk to often . If you live far away , schedule a earphone date with them .

33. Find a New Hobby

wintertime is a great time to get down a new hobbyhorse , especially if cold weather maintain you indoors . look at crocheting , house painting , or pottery . Or , if you ’re not the artsy case , try puzzle , cooking , or indication .

34. Go on a Day Trip

It might not be practical to go on a calendar week - retentive vacation during the busy season . Instead , project a day trip for yourself or with Friend . Visit a small-scale townspeople and judge their shops and restaurant . ( Bonus points if you dispatch any of these Christmas bucketful leaning activities on your stumble . )

35. Build a Snowman

There is n’t a whole song commit to a charming snowman for no grounds . This winter , put on your snowfall drawers and boot and build a snowman in your yard .

36. Re-create Old Holiday Photos

Gather Quaker and family to re - make a puerility family photo . check that to match the clothes , hairstyles , and poses in the original photograph , then frame it for a wacky Christmas gift .

37. Attend or Host a Holiday Party

A holiday company is the thoroughgoing grounds to get coiffe up and take photos . verify to bring the host a gift and acrowd - pleasing appetizerto share .

38. Try a New Soup Recipe

Cold Night call for ardent soup . Put atwist on Hellenic Gallus gallus noodle soupwith ourMarry Me Chicken SouporBuffalo Chicken Souprecipes .

Ball & Albanese

39. Hang Stockings

flow your stockings in unexpected waysthis Christmas . grouping them all to one side of your mantle , or attend them on hook on a bannister . To add a personal speck , craft DIY letters , tassels , and pommy - poms to hang on your stockings .

40. Dress Up Your Pet

Do n’t forget about your furred friends when dressing up for the holidays . Dress your positron emission tomography in a Christmas perspirer or a headband with antler . check that to get a picture !

41. Make a Simmer Pot

Fill your home with quick and inviting smells bymaking a simmer pot . All you need to do is replete a pot with water and add fragrant ingredients like cinnamon sticks , cranberry , Orange River , and rosemary . bring in the pee to a furuncle , then let it simmer on low-pitched for 2 - 3 hours .

42. Roast Marshmallows

While roasting marshmallow is sometimes considered a summertime activity , it ’s also a not bad way to stay warm ( and have a tasty bite ) on a cold winter night . Make a fire out of doors or utilise your Sir Henry Wood - burning open fireplace to roast marshmallows this Christmas season .

43. Read “The Night Before Christmas”

There ’s something magical about say " The Night Before Christmas " on Christmas Eve . Make it a tradition to read the story each year in anticipation of the coming morning .

44. Make Reindeer Food

Gift the caribou a yummy delicacy while Santa eats his milk and cookies . Mix cereal , nuts , and popcorn , and disperse it outside your family ( or keep some for yourself ) .

45. Listen to Christmas Music on Vinyl

If you or a loved one owns a disc player , listen to your pet vinyl group Christmas album while you pass an good afternoon crafting or baking . The crackle of the vinyl group platter adds to the nostalgic Christmas atmosphere .

Jason Donnelly

46. Make a Christmas Brunch

rather of go all - out for Christmas dinner , make abrunch spreadinstead . Include an assortment of pastry , fruit , butters , and muddle . service on a forest serving board for sluttish cleanup .

47. Visit a Christmas Tree Farm

Take an good afternoon to visit a Christmas tree diagram farm . Choose to cut down your own Christmas Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , or simply go to look and smell the refreshed pine tree and true fir scents . Bring a loving cup of cocoa or cyder to keep you fond while you browse .

48. Try a New Christmas Drink

If you ’re typically a hot cocoa person , try aglass of eggnogthis Christmas . Or , mix up a funholiday cocktail .

49. Sleep Under the Christmas Tree

While it might not be the most well-fixed , log Z’s under the wink lights of a Christmas tree builds anticipation for the big day . To make it more comfy , bring a blow - up mattress into your living room and add together an assortment of festive pillows and blankets .

50. Deliver Food to Neighbors

Consider sharing some of your holiday dishes with neighbors . Gift a casserole , homemade bread , or a batch of biscuit as a way to spread Christmas cheer .

Flocked Christmas tree in blue room

Credit:Annie Schlechter

Marbled paper garland on a Christmas tree with colorful ornaments

Credit:Nathan Kirkman

Christmas cookies

Credit:Kelsey Hansen

Colorful stockings on a mantle

Credit:Ball & Albanese

Charcuterie board

Credit:Jason Donnelly