We're properly getting into the Christmas spirit over at our house, and are loving creating lots of new traditions for our little family. After all, Christmas is all about family and traditions.
One of the things I've seen on Pinterest and Facebook over recent years is Christmas Eve Boxes, and I fell in love with the idea. Of course, having Henry meant I needed to start the tradition straight away.
I love the idea of getting the Christmas joy started as early as possible (in December, I'm not completely insane), we get our decorations out on the 1st December and do little trips out to the local Christmas Markets. We have an advent candle, and next year will do advent calendars too. This year though just made sense to start our Christmas Eve Box, and I thought I'd share how I've done it, and on a budget too.
Now you can go all out and buy a beautiful box from Not on the High Street or Etsy, which come personalised, but they can be a little pricey, usually starting around £25 per box. Then you need to fill it each year.
I decided, after a trip to Homesense, to make my own. I picked up a gorgeous gift box for about £5.99, and it comes with a velcro tab to keep it closed. If you saw this post from the beginning of the month, you'll know I adore Homesense for Christmas buys, especially as they're pretty unique and often one of a kind.
To really make this box our own, I personalised it with these gorgeous gold and white striped stickers from The Range (another great place for unique and quirky buys, and loads of crafty bits!). I of course put stickers on the top of the box, but as I had so many, I decided to add a little note to the underneath of the box too.
What's inside our box?
I knew I wanted to include new pyjamas every year, perfect for putting on on Christmas Eve, and waking up in on Christmas morning. I picked up this adorable My First Christmas Sleepsuit from George at Asda. I love it probably too much, and the matching hat!!!
I've also included a book - just a random one for Henry's collection, but it will be the perfect bedtime story for Christmas Eve. As he's also getting books as Christmas presents, and I didn't want the Christmas Eve Box to over shadow his main presents, this one is from Poundland. But a books a book at the end of the day. The Works also do great affordable books too. As he gets older, we'll probably pick Christmas books to go in the box.
To go alongside the book, we've picked a Christmassy DVD too. We'll have snuggles on the sofa, in our Christmas pyjamas. Again, we've just gone for a cheap old classic - Happy Feet, because Henry loves penguins.
And what goes well with DVDs, well chocolate of course. . We'll must likely start that next year when he's properly eating as he's only just started weaning, with chocolate coins. We'll also be adding little hot chocolate sachets and mini marshmallows too.
And that's Henry's Christmas Eve Box, all on a little budget! We've got lots of room in the box to keep developing it, and of course ensure the PJs still fit inside each year!
Are you, or have you done a Christmas Eve Box? What's inside?
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