45 Fab Christmas Eve Box Ideas For Kids In 2023

Whether it’s the ingredients to make the food together, or a pouch of ready-made food for the flying fleet, there’s few more perfect Christmas Eve Box Fillers than reindeer food!   Use our bird friendly recipe to make your own.  We’ve created a free printable poem and label for you to use as well.

Reindeer Food Recipe & Free Label

Making Christmas cookies for Santa?   Well then, some festive shaped cookie cutters or a Christmas cookie stamp would make a fabulous Christmas Eve Box tradition.

Another cookie themed option is to share a cookie jar mix of dry ingredients, perfect for an afternoon of cookie baking!  Check out our Cookie Jar for sprinkle cookies.  They are utterly delicious, even if we do say so ourselves.  And super quick to make both the cookie jar mix, and the cookies, too.

Sprinkle Cookies Jar Details

Keep the kids busy all day long with a Christmas-themed activity pack.  We love the Orchard Toys Christmas Eve Box for younger kids.  It’s got a 25-piece Christmas puzzle, book of activity sheets and colouring pages, and a cute little Reindeer matching game.   Spot on for keeping little hands occupied and enjoying some special time together.

Orchard Toys Christmas Eve Box

What better day to snuggle up and read a Christmas story together?  And a fabulous yearly tradition too, surprising your little one with a new book on Christmas Eve.  Check out our pick of the bunch with Christmas book ideas for kids of all ages. 

Our Christmas Book Recommendations

There’s one story that’s an absolute must come Christmas Eve and that is, of course, The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore.  Add a copy to your children’s Christmas Eve Box that can be rediscovered each year, or print out our free copy of the poem and pop that inside instead. 

The Night Before Christmas

The most classic of all the Christmas Eve Box fillers!  If you haven’t already given your little one their Christmas PJs, this is the time to do it!   And of course it’s the perfect day to bring out the matching family PJs if you’ve decided this is the year to go for them too.  Roll them up in ribbon and add a gift tag for each family member.  What a wonderful treat for Christmas Eve night!

We mean, is it really Christmas Eve if there isn’t hot chocolate involved?!  OK, maybe mulled wine for the grown ups.  But surely there’s got to be some hot chocolate sneaking in somewhere?!   Add some sachets, our special hot chocolate mix, or some marshmallows and other toppings to your Christmas Eve Box ready for that snuggle and slurp!

If you’re going for a night of Christmas movies and cuddles on the sofa, then popcorn is likely to be high on the snack list.  What about making some of our Christmas dinner popcorn if you’re in the mood for a seasonal treat.  Otherwise how about a movie night popcorn kit, complete with toppings to create your own extra special movie snacks!

DIY Movie Night Popcorn Seasoning Kit

Another thing you might like to add to the Christmas Eve Box if you’re going for a Christmas movie night is our Christmas movie bingo game.  Look out for key Christmassy characters, lines and actions as you watch your favourite festive story unfold.

Download Our Free Christmas Movie Bingo Game

The most classic of all the Christmas Eve Box fillers!  If you haven’t already given your little one their Christmas PJs, this is the time to do it!   And of course it’s the perfect day to bring out the matching family PJs if you’ve decided this is the year to go for them too.  Roll them up in ribbon and add a gift tag for each family member.  What a wonderful treat for Christmas Eve night!

Why not keep an extra special snuggly blanket in your Christmas Eve Box ready for those extra special sofa cuddles on Christmas Eve?  You can often pick up great fleecy ones in your local garden centre.

If a blanket is a bit too large for your Christmas Eve Box, what about a hot water bottle instead?  Great for the whole winter season too.  We love this super soft cuddly Polar Bear one from Marks and Spencer.

Polar Bear Hot Water Bottle

Keeping with the cosy theme, what about a new pair of slipper socks, or slippers, or just some fuzzy socks.  This could be a reallocation from the stocking but it’s a great time to gift something to keep those little toes warm through the winter months.

The Christmas Eve Box is the perfect place to store your plate for Santa’s treats.  This would make a fabulous first Christmas gift that could be there for your children throughout their lives.  Jo bought Hannah’s boys their plate for Father Christmas and it takes pride of place in the box for sure!

Plates For Santa Ideas

It’s the perfect place to keep the stockings (and hopefully means you won’t be stressing looking for them either).  Add them to your Christmas Eve Box to be rediscovered each year and put out ready for Santa’s arrival!

Another of our family traditions, every year we add memories to our Christmas journal.  Answering the same set of questions each year over the festive season, this has fast become the MOST treasured item in our Christmas Eve Box and the one we all look forward to seeing.  It’s not a fancy notebook but it’s so full of special memories that it’s utterly priceless to us.

Find Out More About The Christmas Journal

Everyone’s arrived so let the games begin!  It’s time to really get the party started and turn the festivities up a notch.  Add a Christmas game to the Christmas Eve Box for everyone to enjoy together.  Check out our favourite Christmas themed board games for inspiration.

Christmas Board Game Recommendations

Looking for something slightly smaller?  Try a new festive card game instead.  Christmas picture pairs or Happy Families would surely go down well and be great for taking out and about to family and friends’ homes over the coming days too.

Christmas Card Game

A tradition in so many households, Christmas jigsaw puzzles are perfect for starting on Christmas Eve.   They’ll keep the troops busy, are perfect for multi-generational groups to work at together, and then brilliant left out to dabble with over the coming festive days.  

Explore Some Christmas Jigsaws

We have a tradition of writing thank you cards to Santa and our Elf on Christmas Eve to share our appreciation for the stocking gifts received, and fun we’ve had with Elfie.   Even though the boys are now part of the magic maker team, it’s still a tradition we encourage to ensure they stop to appreciate the effort that goes into preparing these things.  Why not add some paper, pens and perhaps some Christmas stickers to the Christmas Eve Box so your little one can prepare their thank you letters too.

Sticking with the stationery, what about popping the Thank You cards into the Christmas Eve Box?   It may seem a little premature but adding these to the box would be a great way to encourage a gentle conversation about being grateful and can help set the tone for the festivities ahead.

If you’re like us and get lots of the Christmas dinner food prepped on Christmas Eve, why not encourage the whole family to get involved by giving your little one their very own personalised apron, especially for the occasion!  We love this design by Jack Spratt for something truly theirs.

Personalised Chef’s Apron

Perhaps you would like to add a special decoration to the Christmas tree each Christmas Eve.  It could be fun tradition for you to choose one as a family each advent and you could enjoy adding it to the tree together on Christmas Eve.

Alternatively, you may have one or two decorations which you hold back each year and add to the tree on Christmas Eve to make them extra special.  These could be ones the children have made, a decoration that has been passed down through the generations, or one that honours a member of the family no longer with you, allowing a moment of reflection.

If you subscribe to the Christmas Pickle tradition – there aren’t many more quirky festive rituals than this! – Christmas Eve could be a great day to bring it out ready to be hidden on the tree for Christmas Morning.

Keepsake Christmas Pickle

Perhaps you enjoy a Christmas Eve stroll with your family and friends?  Add a new or festive woolly hat or gloves to the Christmas Eve Box to get your little ones excited about getting outside in the cool winter’s air.

If you think a little extra encouragement may be required, try our scavenger hunt printables to give a bit of festive focus to the walk. Choose between woodland or Christmas town themes with our free printable sheets.

Print Out Your Free Scavenger Hunt Sheets

If your winter walk is more of an evening stroll to see some of your local Christmas lights, why not add some glowsticks to the Christmas Eve Box ready for the kids to decorate themselves for the occasion?!

Glow Sticks

If you are the lucky owner of a real fireplace or log burner, what better night than Christmas Eve to show off its magic powers.  Perhaps Elfie could deliver a little gift on their last day and deliver this mystical fire direct from the North Pole.  It’ll turn the flames purple, blue and/or green and is sure to wow already excited little ones!  

Mystical Fire

Another cute treat for a little festive magic are these 3D Christmas glasses.  Turn your head towards the light to see festive icons dancing before you.  Ever so simple, but always the cause of a squeal of delight!  The perfect little Christmas Eve Box idea, available in several different festive designs.

3D Christmas Glasses

Perfect for your little one to take to bed on Christmas Eve, a new cuddly friend to add to their collection.   We adore the Jellycat range for serious levels of cute!

Jellycat Little Polar Bear

There’s something ever so slightly mystical about Snow Globes.  Maybe we should blame it on Bernard and the Santa Clause!  But they make fabulous Christmas Eve Box filler ideas and wonderful year-on-year heirlooms too.  We each bought the other their snow globe and they take pride of place on our sideboards each year. We love this beauty from Little Empire Homeware.

Little Empire Homeware Snow Globe

What about adding some playdough and Christmas themed playmats to the Christmas Eve Box?  Perfect for keeping little hands busy.  You could even make some gingerbread or peppermint scented playdough.  And we’ve got a whole selection of free printable playdough mats to use for festive play too.

For the very littlies, our free printable Christmas movement cards are a perfect addition.   Encourage them to get in the festive spirit by acting out some of their favourite Christmas icons.  Can you march like a Nutcracker, or twirl like a snowflake?

Christmas Movement Cards

If you’re looking to keep the younger members of the family busy, a simple craft set will not go astray.   Lean into what they enjoy and can broadly manage alone so that you can supervise from a distance whilst you finish up other tasks ready for the celebrations ahead. We love the range available at Baker Ross.

Baker Ross Christmas Craft Kits

If your little one is more of a brick builder than a crafter, then a small Christmas LEGO set or equivalent would be a fabulous Christmas Eve Box filler idea.  Hannah’s boys have been treated to little LEGO sets in the box over the years (often the free ones that came with larger gifts they might find under the tree the next day!).

Help your little one wind down before they go to sleep with a Christmas themed cosy bath.  Whether it’s a festive bath bomb, some scented bubble bath or even a new bath toy, there’s all sorts of ways to add a little Christmas theme to bathtime.

Another of Hannah’s family Christmas Eve traditions – adding some snow spray décor to our windows for that magical night. The boys love rediscovering the kit each year and adding some Winter Wonderland vibes to our home.  We love the range from Snow Windows – the original Snow Spray artist.

Snow Windows Christmas Stencils

If you are not blessed with a fireplace, Santa may need a little help getting inside.  What about adding a special magic key for Santa to the Christmas Eve Box so your little one can put it out ready for their magical visitor.

Keep the kids busy on Christmas Eve with a gingerbread house kit.  If you’re making your own gingerbread, consider doing this in advance so that Christmas Eve is just about assembly!  Don’t like gingerbread?  Try one of the Kitkat or Cadbury Chocolate House equivalents!

You may be wanting to keep sugar limited today to avoid too much overexcitement.  Or maybe you think it’s the perfect day for a sweet treat!  A little something yummy waiting in the Christmas Eve Box is sure to go down well, whether your little one’s favourite store-bought treat, some festive pancake mix for a fun Christmas breakfast, or a homemade goodie – we’ve got lots of inspiration!

Recipes For Treats

The camera is normally busy over the festive season and if your little one enjoys dressing up for the occasion, a few Christmas selfie props make a great idea.   Some fun festive glasses, reindeer antler headband, Santa beard or hat … you know the kinds of things we mean.

One of the easiest Christmas Eve Box Ideas for those with longer hair – a few Christmas hair slides or hair bands.  We’re huge fans of By Eloise’s Bangle Bands if you’re looking for something slightly more elegant and long lasting.

Christmas Bangle Bands

What about some festive jewellery to wear on Christmas morning?  Again, you can go full on cheesy festive or more elegant.  We rather love the oversized light-up Christmas lights necklaces – perfect for wearing as you head out to sprinkle that reindeer food on Christmas Eve.  

Christmas Bulbs Light-Up Necklace