Recreate your favourite Christmas traditions at home with these easy lockdown alternatives.We’re all hoping lockdown eases before Christmas Day, and that we can safely do a few of our favourite December family favourites.
But just in case we can’t, we’ve thought of a few easy swaps that you can do at home, in a car or outside within your bubble.
Wrap up warm and drive around to look at the lights. Every year we plan to send the kids to bed – then they will find a ticket to a Christmas Lights Car Ride under their pillows. We would bundle them up into the car with blankets and snacks and drive around to look at lights twinkling in the darkness. We always end up too busy, but this year might be the year it happens!
You could also make your own train at home. Sometimes we line up the dining room chairs and pretend it’s a train – you could even decorate each seat and have the kids draw cardboard wheels that you could cut out and stick on, as well as a big smiley face for the front! Put on Santa hats and Christmas music, pass around the mince pies and pretend you’re headed to the North Pole!
Rachel from North Leeds Mumbler wrote this fantastic blog about how to throw a North Pole breakfast, and many of the ideas can be used to create a festive afternoon tea too, on pretty tiered stands.
Think loads of festive decorations (crackers, candy canes, chocolate coins, etc) on the table and delicious festive treats. Make a Christmas tree out of fruit, Santa’s face out of pancakes, cream and strawberries, reindeer doughnuts with some broken pretzels and icing pens, cut a chocolate cake into slices then decorate like a Christmas tree with icing pens and sweets….. the list is endless!
Serving hot chocolate out of a teapot would be fun, and if you don’t have to go to school that day, why not break out the face paints?
Let everyone pick their favourites, then pull them out of a hat, one at a time.
Of course, a movie night needs movie snacks and this sounds like the PERFECT opportunity to have a hot chocolate charcuterie board! Fill a big board or tray with yummy snacks like marshmallows, sweets, squirty cream, chocolate chunks, fudge, toffee sauce, candy canes, etc and chow down while you drink hot chocolate.
Pile up the pillows, duvets and turn on the fairy lights too.
Set your time and date, send out meeting invitations and get everyone to do their own little party at home while Zoom is open. You could coordinate some activities for everyone to do at the same time – such as musical bumps or party games, and when it’s time to eat. It will be utter chaos! But also lots of fun.
While some Santa visits are currently going ahead (you can find them here), others have been cancelled and it’s not easy to find tickets. Portable North Pole has some great fee and paid-for options.
There are also some local virtual Santa experience, such as this one .
National virtual Santa offerings can be found here and here.
We have loved going to the Christmas Eve Christingle service at Halifax Minster for the last few years, and will really miss the carols by candlelight and family-friendly atmosphere this year. Instead, we’re going to make our own Christingle oranges at home (there’s a tutorial here). You could sing some Christmas carols, or even include other family and friends over Zoom. Everyone can request their favourite!
