Looking for a list of 100 ways to get in the holiday spirit? Peruse these Christmassy ideas to start your countdown to Christmas day.
But first, don’t miss all of the articles in the Christmas Well-Being series:
- Going Deep to Get Into the Christmas Spirit
- Alone at Christmas
- It Doesn’t Feel Like Christmas
- I Hate Christmas: a Mom’s Uncensored View of the Holidays
- Say “Merry Christmas” generously and to as many people as you can
- Blend in with the frenzy of last minute holiday shoppers – it’s a blast, there’s a true feeling of electricity in the air
- Attend a night church service, they usually shut off all the lights and have only candles burning – it’s a very magical feeling
- Elf Yourself!
- Attend a high school holiday concert – even if you don’t have kids
- Say Merry Christmas to everyone after the church service
- Put yourself in Christmasy environments, like shopping malls
- Play out in the first snowfall of the season
- Visit your hometown on Christmas
- Shop local; shop at small stores full of history, like a long-time hardware store
- Give an unexpected large monetary tip to somone
- Adopt an elderly person from a local nursing home, send them cards
- Remove the Christmas pressure
- Try new things
- Don’t start the Christmas festivities too early
- Turn off the TV and social media – go into “radio silence” – it’s quiet magical
- Carry on your culture’s holiday traditions
- Start new traditions – I have a kids’ Christmas album from childhood with a cute song entitled “It’s the Day Before The Night Before Christmas” and play that on that day.
- Secretly decorate a Christmas tree out in the middle of nowhere
- Have lots of Christmas secrets and surprises!
- Leave surprise gifts on the neighbor’s door step
- Buy a nostalgic Christmas toy from your childhood
- Reach out to house-bound and elderly neighbors/relative at Christmas
- Surprise the postman with a thank you treat
- Dress of goofy for a holiday 5k
- Get a scented holiday wall plug-in with spices like cinnamon and fir tree
- Change up your Christmas music playlist
- Challenge yourself to wrap a gift in the most gorgeous or creative way possible; rinse and repeat
- Make a grown-up wishlist, for more nostalgia, better yet, write your list in crayon
- Reminisce – watch old family Christmas movies from the past, or look at family photo albums
- Slow Christmas down – limit gift buying, giving, extra events and commitments and focus on the reason for the season
- Shop online just so you can have packages delivered to your door – that’s always an exciting little boost!
- Be alone in the December night outside looking up at the stars
- Play Santa or Mrs. Claus
- Play Christmas trivia
- Borrow a kid and experience Christmas through their eyes
- Read Christmas stories you’ve never heard of before – YouTube has some old classics that people read from a book
- Buy a gift for yourself early in January and then forget about it only to re-discover it in December
- Wear Christmas clothing!
- Recreate a Christmas photo from when you were young
- Wear a silly Christmas hat: elf ears, reindeer antlers, santa hat
- Dress your pet up for Christmas
- Buy real Christmas evergreens packed with pine fragrance that wafts in the air
- Play records on old LP vinyls – magical!
- Go out and join some Christmas carolers
- Visit a Christmas pop-up shop
- Enjoy seasonal drinks, such special holiday coffee, cocktail, or a holiday-themed malt or shake
- Grab some friends and go on a self-appointed Christmas lights judging contest; make some awards and leave them on the doorstep
- Visit a holiday lights drive through event while listening to Christmas music and drinking a Xmas beverage like hot chocolate
- Get an Advent calendar, wine calendar, beer calendar, LEGO calendar, and start counting down until Christmas!
- Make Christmas crafts with friends
- Prank a Christmas tree –
- Get back to your family for Christmas, or join another family if living away from home
- Buy some Christmas-themed candy
- Expand your horizons – learn about how Christmas is celebrated around the world
- Do your Christmas shopping throughout the year, so you can actually focus on Christmas during the real holiday season
- Watch the Macy’s Day Parade on Thanksgiving Day
- Setup a daily countdown on your cell phone
- Watch vintage TV commercials – there is something about throwbacks that slows the insanity of the world down
- Listen to old time Christmas radio or vintage kids’ Christmas albums
- Stand next to someone who is over-the-top excited for Christmas, and through osmosis, absorb all of their Christmas energy
- Dance like no one is watching, have you seen The Brazilian Couple on Youtube? Their adorable!
- If you’re in an apartment, bake the most Christmassy aromatic recipes to drive your neighbors crazy
- Focus of on funny Christmas stuff: funny jokes, funny Christmas movies, funny Christmas gifts, and funny Christmas pranks
- Walk into Hallmark and read all of the funny Christmas cards and start to snickering to yourself and then get weird looks from the rest of the customers
- Throw an ugly Christmas party
- Move Christmas decorations around in your neighborhood
- Cut snowflakes out of coffee filters and hang them on the window
- Play the most seductive, danceable songs, Christmas-themed or not, like Solomon Burke ~ Cry To Me or slap on some Ramsey Louis Trio.
- Enjoy a real fire in a real fireplace
- Decorate for Christmas in stages, enjoying it
- Make a Christmas ornament from a kit
- Make snow angels – play in the snow
- Attend a holiday parade
- Bake Christmas treats for friends and neighbors
- Send Christmas cards to someone who otherwise might not get them
- Have a family game night
- Make cinnamon scented christmas decorations
- Participate in your church’s holidays programs
- Leave treats out for the delivery guy
- Make your family’s traditional foods at Christmas
- Hang Christmas lights up outside of your house
- Take a plate of goodies to a local nonprofit of you choice
- Have an electronics-free night
- Play Christmas music on a piano or other instrument
- Have a cookie decorating party
- Create a holiday playlist of your favorite songs.
- Go ice skating at a local rink.
- Decorate your front door for Christmas
- Ignore your to-do list in December
- Light Advent candles, one each week of the season (3 purple, one pink – the pink is for the second Sunday before Christmas)
- Watch a holiday-themed theater production
- Plan a holiday-themed scavenger hunt
- Wear Christmassy jewelry
- Buy a Christmas floral centerpiece for your table
- Turn all the lights on and listen to Christmas music while gazing at the Christmas tree, drinking hot chocolate, and chatting with loved ones
- Offer to hang up Christmas decorations for others, or your church
- Plan to capture a family photo and great memories during the season
- Babysit for parents so they can go holiday shopping
- Add some photo ornaments to the tree from Christmas past
I hope these 100 ways to get in the holiday spirit have opened your eyes to all the fun holiday possibilities. Merry Christmas!