With less than a week to go 'til the 1st of December and just a month until Christmas Day, there's no denying it: Christmas is on its way! It's almost time to trim the tree, deck those halls, and get well and truly hammered at the office Christmas party. Yay!
I don't know about you, but I can't wait for the festive season to begin, and fully intend to soak up as much festive cheer as possible from now until the end of the year. If you're planning to do the same but are short on ideas for what to do this Christmas, don't worry; I've got you covered. I've put together a new list of 101 things to do this Christmas to give you guys a few ideas, that will hopefully help get you in to the festive spirit in no time at all. You'll find something for all ages on the list, but you don't need to have children to be able to enjoy them; almost everything is suitable for adults, too!
1. Make playlists of your favourite Christmas tunes to soundtrack all of your festive activities.
2. Go shopping for a Christmas tree.
3. Decorate the Christmas tree and put up your Christmas decorations, while listening to festive tunes.
4. Buy or make a wreath for your front door.
5. Bake and decorate Christmas cookies.
6. Go for a drive to spot Christmas lights.
7. Buy at least one new decoration.
8. Go late night Christmas shopping.
9. Go out for a turkey roast dinner (or veggie equivalent) with the family.
10. Have at least one Christmas movie marathon.
11. Create a 'festive photo booth' for your Christmas gatherings and parties, with a fun colourful back drop, novelty festive props, and a camera on a tripod, and get everybody to pose for silly photos.
12. Attend your town's turning-on-of-the-lights event.
13. Go our for a Christmas-themed afternoon tea.
14. Hang stockings over the fire place.
15. See The Nutcracker at the theatre.
16. Make a Christmas decoration.
17. Visit a Christmas shop, and / or browse the Christmas department of a garden centre or department store.
18. Take a tour bus around a big city after dark, when the Christmas lights have been turned on.
19. Make a Christmas cake and / or Christmas pudding.
20. Sew a Christmas cross stitch picture.
21. Knit or crochet something festive, such as a cosy granny square blanket in Christmas colours, a Christmas stocking, or a festive soft toy.
22. Go to a Christmas party and let your hair down. Get as drunk as you dare.
23. Donate food, blankets, warm clothes, toys, pet food, and other essentials to food banks, shelters, animal rescue centres, charities, and hospitals.
24. Camp out underneath the Christmas tree.
25. Sit down and write your Christmas cards. Make your own if you're feeling creative.
26. Go ice skating.
27. Go out for hot chocolate.
28. Buy mulled wine and hot roasted chestnuts from a street vendor.
29. Watch a festive movie at the cinema.
30. Make your own Christmas crackers. (You can make them from scratch or buy kits from craft shops like Hobbycraft).
31. Have a carpet picnic in your living room with lots of delicious Christmas foods.
32, Do a random act of kindness for a stranger.
33. Host a Secret Santa.
34. Spend a whole day in your onesies watching Christmas movies, under cosy warm blankets with hot chocolate and delicious treats.
35. Offer your help and company to elderly, sick, injured, or vulnerable neighbours / people in your community. (You could offer to do their supermarket shopping or take them to the supermarket when you're heading off to do your own, clear snow or ice from their paths and driveway, invite them round for dinner, send over a home cooked meal, or most importantly, spend time with them). Nobody should be alone at Christmas.
36. Go see a musical at the theatre.
37. Make paper snowflakes.
38. Hang paper chains.
39. Make / customise your own Christmas jumper. Or buy one, if you prefer.
40. Read a festive-themed novel or two, such as Little Women, or A Christmas Carol, and read festive stories to your kids every night.
41. Watch some classic Christmas TV specials. (You can't beat The Vicar of Dibley's Christmas Lunch Incident, and the Gavin and Stacey Christmas Special!)
42. Go for a Christmas Day / Boxing Day walk.
43. Put together a shoe box parcel for somebody in need, or for our hard-working soldiers deployed over seas.
44. Have a go at making your own Christmas drinks like snowballs, egg nog, mulled wine, and sloe gin.
45. Make popcorn and cranberry garlands to string up on the tree.
46. Watch a nativity.
47. Try a seasonal coffee or hot chocolate.
48. Take family photos around the Christmas tree.
49. Make some Christmas art.
50. Put together a Christmas Eve box of things to enjoy as you count down the last waking hours 'til Christmas morning.
51. Recreate an old family photo taken at Christmas time.
52. Learn a piece of festive music on an instrument.
53. Make your own mince pies.
54. Take a walk to spot Christmas lights.
55. Wrap Christmas presents as beautifully and creatively as you can.
56. Visit a palace, manor house, castle, or stately home decorated for Christmas.
57. Watch a new-to-you Christmas movie.
58. Go foraging for foliage to use as natural decorations. Spray paint some of them silver or gold.
59. Take a trip to experience Christmas in another part of the world.
60. Relax and unwind with a Christmas colouring book.
61. Have a go at some festive creative writing.
62. Blog about your Christmas; what you get up to, what you most enjoy about Christmas, how your home is decorated for Christmas, your Christmas traditions, etc.
63. Have a board-game day.
64. Kiss someone special under the mistletoe.
65. Make a gingerbread house.
66. Have a go at making Christmas presents for everybody this year.
67. Decorate the outside of your house like the Blackpool Illuminations and donate any money you make to charity.
68. Go to a Christmas market- the European ones are always amazing.
69. Take a sleigh or horse-drawn carriage ride.
70. Make or buy an advent calendar.
71. Light an advent candle or festive-scented candles every night.
72. Listen to a choir or brass band playing carols.
73. Have a go at some festive nail art.
74. Take a relaxing bubble bath with a Lush Christmas bath bomb or festive scented bubble bath, and candles.
75. Go to a Christmas craft fair.
76. Perfect the world's best turkey roast dinner with all the trimmings.
77. Start a new Christmas tradition.
78. Try a Christmas tradition from another country.
79. Throw a Christmas party or get together.
80. Make hand-embroidered festive hoop art, using festive fabric, embroidery hoops, beads, glittery threads, sleigh bells, and whatever festive embellishments you can think of.
81. Attend a festive church service.
82. Sing carols / go carol-singing.
83. Bake a yule log.
84. Visit a major attraction like Disney World or The Wizarding World of Harry Potter while they're in full blown Christmas mode.
85. Go to a pantomime.
86. Do some festive art journaling / scrap-booking.
87. Go to a Christingle service.
88. Buy new Christmas PJs to wear on Christmas Eve.
89. Take your kids to Santa's grotto.
90. Go visit some reindeer.
91. Have a Christmas jumper day.
92. Bake Christmas cupcakes and ice them creatively.
93. Open one present each on Christmas Eve.
94. Buy a hot drink or hot meal for a homeless person, and / or give generously to rough sleepers you pass on the street.
95. Dress up as Santa / The Holiday Armadillo and pay a surprise visit to the kids in your family. It will make their Christmas magical.
96. Try traditional Christmas foods from a different part of the world.
97. Go out for Christmas drinks with friends.
98. Go Christmas shopping somewhere pretty you've never been before.
99. Spend a day making foodie gifts for your friends and family.
100. If it snows, which it never does at Christmas time in Oxfordshire, build a snowman, go sledding, go for a walk, make snow angels, have a snowball fight, and / or make an igloo.
101. Take heaps of photos and videos of all of the fun memories you make.
And, most importantly, enjoy yourself!
What do you love to do at Christmas time? Is there anything missing from the list that you think should be on there?
