We’re amidst the most wonderful time of the year, and if you’re like me, you’re looking to add just a little bit of holiday magic or a new tradition or two. That’s where a bucket list comes in. And today’s post is full of Christmas bucket list ideas. From adventures, baking ideas, activities for the homebody, some craft ideas, and more. The list includes activities the whole family can enjoy, along with cozy solo activities. We’re covering it all. There’s even a free Christmas bucket list printable at the end of this post for you to print out, fill in with your favorite ideas, and hang on your refrigerator.
A Few Ground Rules About Holiday Bucket Lists
By no means is making a Christmas bucket list meant to stress out the creator. When you make your own bucket list, don’t think of it as a must-do list. It’s a list of intentional activities that’s on your nice-to-do list for the holiday season. Suddenly find yourself with a free Saturday? Consult the list and select something. Have an evening where the kids are cranky, and everyone needs a little perk up? Maybe there’s something on the list that can help.
A bucket list is a great way to intentionally select activities and keep them top of mind so when the time comes to adventure or cozy up during the Christmas season, you have some ideas to choose from. Some of our family’s Christmas bucket list ideas find themselves on the list year after year, and we never get to them. Someday day we will, but I’m not going to let the list make me feel like I HAVE to do anything. No one needs that kind of burden at Christmas.
Now that everyone is on the same page, let’s dive into our massive, ever-changing Christmas bucket list ideas, broken down by category.
Santa Things
- Write letters to Santa with the kids
- Take photos with Santa (pets or kids)
- Make Santa spotting binoculars and look for Santa on Christmas Eve
- Read the Night Before Christmas as a family
- Embrace your inner elf and make a Santa gift for your kids
- Participate in Elf on the Shelf
- Make a Christmas Eve box for kids
- Film a Christmas morning home movie and capture the kids’ reactions to Santa coming
- Track Santa on Christmas Eve
- Make cookies for Santa and leave out the special ones
- Don’t forget to leave a carrot for Rudolph
- Open one special gift on Christmas Eve
Our kids taking a photo with Santa and Mrs. Claus at the LL Bean flagship store in Freeport, Maine in 2023. The LL Bean Northern Lights events are phenomenal and worth the trip to Maine.
Adventures
- Go to a local Christmas tree farm and cut down your own tree (Christmas tree care tips)
- Visit some reindeer
- Shop at a Christmas market or craft fair
- Take a trip on the Polar Express and punch that golden ticket
- Go caroling and spread Christmas cheer
- Attend a holiday concert
- Visit New York City at Christmas Time and go skating at Rockefeller Center
- Go look at Christmas lights
- Attend a wreath-making class (bonus for ones at wineries or breweries)
- Go thrifting for vintage ornaments
- See the Nutcracker Ballet live
- Or attend another Christmas show
- Take your kids out individually for a Christmas shopping date for siblings/parents/grandparents/etc.
- Attend a tree lighting ceremony
- Go for a winter nature walk or a winter hike
- Rent a cabin in the woods for a cozy Christmas
- Travel to a quintessential Christmas town (two favorites in New England: Woodstock, VT and Kennebunkport, ME)
- Go on a horse-drawn sleigh ride
- Plan a wintery date night
- Do a polar bear plunge (if you dare)
- Attend a holiday light parade
- Or a vintage parade like Woodstock, VT’s Wassail Parade
- Be a winter tourist in your own area and do what the tourists do
- Visit the craziest decorated home in your area or travel to one
- Go dog-sledding
- Take a holiday-themed cooking class
- Go on a holiday food tour and try all the local festive foods
- Attend an ice sculpting competition
- Visit an ice castle or bar
- Take a holiday harbor cruise
- Attend the office Christmas party
A Polar Express train conductor punching our daughter’s golden ticket. We took a ride on the Maine Narrow Gauge Polar Express in December of 2023 and LOVED it.
Home-Based Activities
- Hang Christmas lights outside
- Decorate a Christmas tree
- Set up an Advent calendar (some filler ideas)
- Make a hot cocoa bar for the season or on an extra chilly day
- Watch your favorite holiday movies (mine include Elf and Home Alone)
- Play board games by twinkle lights
- Put up a vintage ornament tree
- Camp out under (more like beside) the Christmas tree
- Hang mistletoe over a doorway
- Watch Hallmark Christmas movies
- Set up a fun wrapping paper station to make the chore more enjoyable
- Take festive holiday-themed family photos at home (don’t overthink it…a timer and your iPhone is enough)
- Roast marshmallows and make holiday s’mores (swap milk chocolate for peppermint)
- Step out back and go stargazing, look for the North Star
- Challenge your family to a game of Christmas trivia
- Let the kids decorate their bedrooms and encourage them to get creative
- Put together a Christmas Lego set with your family
- Build a blanket fort, adorn it with glowy lights, and read Christmas books with the kids
- Rewatch your favorite childhood Christmas movies (bonus if you watch them on recorded VHS tapes, complete with vintage commercials)
- Marathon watch all the claymation Christmas movies
- Listen to a Christmas-themed audiobook while doing chores
- Play “Guess the Christmas song in 3 seconds” during dinner
Our 2024 Advent calendar filled with treats, activity prompts, and ornaments. Check out our Advent calendar filler ideas and see the rest of our 2024 Christmas home tour.
Hosting
- Host a gingerbread house party
- Host an ugly Christmas sweater party (or go to one)
- Volunteer to host a Christmas dinner for your friends or family
- Host a cookie exchange party
- Invite your fellow mom friends for a wine and wrapping night
- Host a Christmas movie marathon
- Host a white elephant gift exchange
- Or a favorite things party
- OR secret Santa gift exchange
- Host a Christmas book exchange
- Host a themed potluck dinner
- Host a kids’ craft afternoon, aka Santa’s workshop, with loosely organized crafts
White Christmas Activities
- Make snow angels
- Build a snowman
- Go sledding
- Go ice skating (outdoor rinks are magical, but indoor ones work too)
- Tubing at an outdoor center
- Snowshoeing (nighttime group snowshoe events are a blast on the darkest nights)
- Try skiing (take a lesson over the holidays…shameless plug from a ski instructor)
- Make a snow fort and then…
- Have a snowball fight
- Start building an igloo (bonus…color the ice cubes you make)
- Abandon adult inhibitions and truly play in the snow
- Go ice skating at an outdoor track (Lake Morey in Vermont or Montreal)
Tubing in our backyard during a snowstorm over Christmas break and hauling out our favorite snow sledding apparatus…a classic red plaid LL Bean sonic snow tube. They are the best! Rugged yet lightweight and fun for kids and adults alike. As a Mainer transplanted to Vermont, I firmly stand behind LL Bean products…clearly (note my daughter decked head to toe).
Baking And Cooking
- Prep cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning (maybe try a new flavor like orange rolls)
- Bake gingerbread to make a gingerbread house (King Arthur has the best construction gingerbread recipe)
- Or assemble a gingerbread house kit
- Make Grinch puppy chow (trade in chocolate/peanut butter for white chocolate/green food coloring)
- Break out grandma’s jello mold recipe and give it a whirl
- Try some new-to-you recipes for Christmas cookies (see cookie list below)
- Make reindeer food to set out with Santa’s cookies on Christmas Eve or sprinkle outside
- Add crushed candy canes to a traditional sugar cookie or bar recipe
- Make fancy holiday coffees or syrups
- Assemble Christmas popcorn for movie night (simply add Christmas candy to popcorn, red and green M&Ms work great!)
- Make homemade hot cocoa
- Try a new soup recipe (’tis the season of soup)
- Make homemade marshmallows (peppermint and chai flavors are outstanding!)
- Craft a Christmas cocktail and try a new-to-you recipe
- Bake a tree-shaped pizza
- Cook a Christmas brunch instead of dinner
- Start a Christmas fettuccine tradition (like in the movie, The Holiday), making homemade pasta for Christmas dinner
- Track down a family holiday recipe and try making it
- Make holiday candies (caramels, truffles, mints, fudge, etc.)
- Assemble a ’90s-style punch for Christmas Day
- Bake a Bûche de Noël
- Roast chestnuts over an open fire (and marshmallows for the kids)
- Simmer mulled cider or wine
- Cook holiday-themed pancakes (bonus if you use sparkling syrup)
- Bake stolen
- Make peppermint bark
- Bake dupes of the cranberry bliss bars from Starbucks
- Assemble a Christmas charcuterie board for dinner one night
- Learn to ice and decorate cookies like a pro
- Cook an international holiday dish
- Make Christmas caramel corn
- Assemble a family Christmas recipe book
The Cookie List
- Bake and decorate sugar cookies
- Add a twist with lemon sugar cookies
- Bake classic thumbprint cookies
- Make German spice cookies (pfeffernusse)
- Bake gingerbread men and women and decorate them
- Bake matcha cookies cut in the shape of a Christmas tree
- Make stained-glass cookies and try not to crack the “glass”
- Bake pizelles, Italian Christmas cookies
- Bake icebox cookies
- Make Russian tea cakes
- Or lemon snowball cookies
- Bake Polish Kolaches
- Bake gingersnap palmiers
- Make Greek butter cookies (kourabiedes)
- Bake cherry-almond biscotti
- Bake shortbread cookies
- Bake Finnish star cookies (joulutorttu)
- Bake molasses cookies
- Bake peanut butter blossoms (the cookie of the 90’s childhood)
- Make Linzer cookies
- Bake chocolate peppermint snaps
- Bake chocolate crinkle cookies
- Bake almond cloud cookies (my favorite cookie recipe ever from King Arthur)
- Bake nutmeg cookies with rum icing
Hygge Holiday Home
- Collect one new Christmas record and listen to it while decorating
- Hang Christmas stockings
- Make a playlist of your favorite Christmas music
- Fill in a Christmas journal or make a holiday scrapbook
- Sip hot chocolate with extra marshmallows (or use Fluff…my favorite!)
- Gift matching pajamas for your family (they make wonderful items for children’s December 1st boxes)
- Read a Christmas story snuggled into a faux fur throw
- Make cozy nights extra cozy and swap overhead lights for candles
- Read Christmas books by the fire
- Trade in the falling apart slippers for a cozy new pair (the LL Bean Wicked Good Moccasins are my forever favorite)
- Pick a signature diffuser blend scent to enhance the festive season
- Or burn that holiday candle you’ve been perpetually saving for next year
- Decorate your home as much or as little as you want for a cozy vibe
- Tackle a Christmas puzzle
- Handwrite Christmas card greetings instead of having them printed
- Address Christmas cards by the light of the Christmas tree
- Take a bath with holiday scented bath salts
- Enjoy a special, festive hot tea
- Add battery-powered window candles to your home decor
- Trade in everyday dish or tea towels for fancy, whimsical ones (Anthropologie never disappoints)
- Pick up paperwhite or amaryllis bulbs and grow some winter flowers indoors
- Add a luxurious feeling item to your winter skin care routine
- Sip eggnog
- Make a Christmas flower arrangement for your table
- Slowly eat a candy cane and savor it
- Add fairy lights to a reading nook
- Pick up a new, cozy pair of winter or holiday socks
- Intentionally break up with your phone at least one day/night a week and soak up the season
- Take a holiday nap
- Give books on Christmas Eve and adopt Iceland’s Jolabokaflod tradition
- Indulge in a long bubble bath accompanied by holiday music
Christmas Crafting
- Make homemade gifts for family members
- Teach your kids a Christmas craft you did as a child
- Make paper snowflakes and fill every window
- Trade regular Christmas wrapping paper for plain Kraft paper and paint or stamp it
- Craft your own Christmas cards
- Make holiday ornaments (make it a tradition and craft one a year)
- Sew holiday nightgowns or pajamas and make them flannel
- Assemble a fresh Christmas wreath for your front door
- Make a paper garland
- Sew a reusable fabric “paper” chain as a countdown to Christmas
- Make another style of garland (glitter stars, pom poms, clay, wood beads…the possibilities are endless)
- Craft your own gift tags
- Sew a flannel quilt or blanket
- Make an ugly holiday sweater (challenge yourself to only use what you have or thrifted supplies)
- Knit Christmas stockings for your family
- Or adorn your current stockings with some crafty decorations and flair
- Make a popcorn or dried citrus garland for your tree
- Print out Christmas coloring pages for the kids
- Make an orange garland and hang it above the kitchen window
- Craft salt dough ornaments (antique stores have some beautiful molds)
- Make a snowglobe
- Knit a hat, mittens, or a scarf (a project for every ability level)
- Assemble homemade gift baskets (bonus if you shop local or make items)
- Crochet a cozy throw blanket
- Learn to make candles and concoct a custom, holiday scent
- Break out the watercolors and paint a winter or Christmas scene
- Forage pine boughs and make fresh garlands
- Try needle felting holiday ornaments
- Paint wooden ornaments and decorate your tree with them
- Paint unfinished ceramic houses and start making a Christmas village
- Upcycle the cardboard boxes and make a life-size gingerbread house with the kids
Random Acts Of Kindness
- Drop off food at a local food bank
- Volunteer in your community
- Bake cookies for neighbors (maybe make it a treat box with different varieties)
- Pay for someone’s coffee
- Participate in Toys for Tots or a similar organization
- Offer to go Christmas shopping for a new mom
- Send a care package
- Visit or call loved ones you haven’t seen or heard from in a while
- Take food to neighbors
- Volunteer to wrap gifts for charity at local holiday events
- Donate winter gear you no longer need
- Pay for someone’s drive-through order behind you
- Leave money in a children’s library book
- Ask teachers what they really want for Christmas (or their classroom) and gift it to them
- Make Christmas cards and drop them off at a local nursing home
- Leave surprise gifts on neighbors’ doorsteps
- Take warm blankets and coats to a shelter
- Leave a generous and unexpected tip for service workers
Random Acts Of Weirdness
- Learn all the lyrics to the most random Christmas song (like Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses)
- Add a red nose and antlers to your car
- Debate whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie
- Embrace Clark Griswold’s ambition in lighting his home
- Don a ridiculous Santa or elf hat while Christmas shopping
- Kiss someone under the mistletoe (okay, not weird necessarily, but it could be)
- Learn Christmas jokes and rattle them off during the school drop-off commute
- Watch the Christmas episodes of Is It Cake (mind-boggling!)
- Fill a kids’ room with paper chains like Buddy the Elf
- Cram eleven cookies in the VCR (just kidding…don’t do this one…bonus, name the movie?!)
Free Printable Christmas Bucket List
Now, I hand it over to you to select a few of your favorite fun activities to help you get into the Christmas spirit and complete the Christmas bucket list printable. Either click the link or the image below to access the PDF of the fillable list and create your own Christmas bucket list. Hang it prominently and give it a nod during those elusive free moments during the month of December.
Now, excuse me while I choose a few of my favorite holiday activities. From the tried and true family traditions, to logging a Hallmark Christmas movie or two, and trying a few new ideas. We have a busy holiday season with my work as a ski instructor picking up, a family wedding, and trips to visit as much of the family as we can. But I’ll be sure to sneak in a few fun Christmas activities while soaking up quality time with my family. The season is hard and busy, especially with young children, but it is oh so magical and worth it.
And with that, I wish you a very merry Christmas, a wonderful New Year, and a magical holiday season filled with adventures and coziness.
Pssst…You know the drill. Now tell me, what’s on your Christmas bucket list?
