What do you do with kids on Christmas day (if you don't travel or have a house full of people?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a family that does family Olympics. Lots of different games or challenges for points and they have a trophy they keep all year.

Bad idea. The littlest kids are at a disadvantage and don't always lose gracefully. Seems like a recipe for crying, tears, and disappointment.

Why do assume everyone is cut throat killer? I remember going to one and the kids just did the activities with no award ceremonies

[Anonymous]

8yo and two elderly grandparents in town visiting.

We do coffee/cocoa and Santa presents and stockings first thing.

Pause and do breakfast and watch the Disney parade.

Then the main round of gifts (from and to one another) and lunch. Afternoon play and quiet time. If snow, kid plays in snow. If no snow but warm-ish, we do a walk or playground (whoever wants to go). If cold, we do games or a craft inside.

Late day we drive to see lights, then do a last round of gifts (from extended family), then dinner and dessert.

Other than parade, I try not to have the TV on that day.

I am a scrooge and begin packing away decor in the evening.

[Anonymous]

We don't celebrate Christmas but when kids were younger, we enjoyed the day by heading outdoors, local hiking destinations were always uncharacteristically empty, so the kids could run wild. And dinner at a Chinese restaurant (or get takeout if kids are still full of energy).

To make the hike feel more special, maybe wear Santa hats and pack hot chocolate in a thermos?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a family that does family Olympics. Lots of different games or challenges for points and they have a trophy they keep all year.

Bad idea. The littlest kids are at a disadvantage and don't always lose gracefully. Seems like a recipe for crying, tears, and disappointment.

Why do assume everyone is cut throat killer? I remember going to one and the kids just did the activities with no award ceremonies

Just let it go, this is a bad idea for 3 little boys on Christmas Day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the younger set, we send them to daycare. If they’re open and we’re paying, they go.

On Christmas?? BS.

[Anonymous]

Cooperative board or video games should work. They also double up as gift ideas "from Santa".

[Anonymous]

Christmas Day hike!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know a family that does family Olympics. Lots of different games or challenges for points and they have a trophy they keep all year.

JFC who are these people?! How do parents have the energy for that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a family that does family Olympics. Lots of different games or challenges for points and they have a trophy they keep all year.

JFC who are these people?! How do parents have the energy for that?

It honestly sounds annoying to me. This is the kind of thing my mom and/or older brother would have organized for my family when I was a kid and the rest of us would have hated. Take a day that is already designed to be really relaxing and pleasant, and turn it into a competitive "forced fun" event. Christmas is the one day a year where every single member of the family receives gifts. So everyone has something to do or read or put together. The house looks festive, there's usually one big meal, and there are easy options for spending time together -- watch a holiday movie (or just a movie you all love), play a board game, or just relax in the same room listening to music while people do their own thing. WHY would anyone want to spend that time doing Family Christmas Survivor? It makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

We usually go to church, watch some classic Christmas movies, then go and visit a farm/petting zoo thing that has real life gentle reindeer that they let the kids hand-feed each year! That's always a big hit.

[Anonymous]

Sick competitive asshats

[Anonymous]

We have done a range of things, based on where we are and who we are with. We have had years when we spent Christmas with my parents/my siblings+ their kids and it was MAYHEM....wrapping paper, wrappers, everywhere, and the kids often eat like half of their candy from their stockings that morning and are completely dysregulated, overstimulated, and we basically do very little after that.....maybe a walk. That is actually overwhelming to me.

We've had years when we spent it with some family minus 1 of my siblings and her large family and that can be a bit much at times, but is usually much calmer. The kids usually go to the playground in the afternoon if the weather is nice to get their energy out and we'll all watch a movie.

We've had years when it was just our family and we took a nice family walk, had quiet time, watched a movie, ect.

Then we've had a number of years when we were traveling and in a beautiful place! We celebrated Christmas in Paris one year and had a quiet morning, opening our stockings, having a little brunch at our airbnb while watching a christmas movie and then went to the playground near the eiffel tower and a little christmas market.

Another year, Quebec city....presents, relaxing brunch, then sledding, snow play, and dinner at a restaurant.

Another time - Copenhagen: stockings, great buffet breakfast at our hostel (with live music) and then spent the rest of the day at Tivoli Gardens, an incredible amusement park that is open Christmas Day (but not Christmas eve). It was one of the best Christmases!!

Our years traveling with low-key gifts and less overstimulation have been our BEST christmases tbh.

[Anonymous]

Go drive around and look at xmas lights
Go to the park and make a snowman
Bake and/or decorate cookies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sick competitive asshats

Or maybe people who just enjoy things that are different from what you enjoy? Chill. Take the free advice that works for you, and ignore the rest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a family that does family Olympics. Lots of different games or challenges for points and they have a trophy they keep all year.

JFC who are these people?! How do parents have the energy for that?

It honestly sounds annoying to me. This is the kind of thing my mom and/or older brother would have organized for my family when I was a kid and the rest of us would have hated. Take a day that is already designed to be really relaxing and pleasant, and turn it into a competitive "forced fun" event. Christmas is the one day a year where every single member of the family receives gifts. So everyone has something to do or read or put together. The house looks festive, there's usually one big meal, and there are easy options for spending time together -- watch a holiday movie (or just a movie you all love), play a board game, or just relax in the same room listening to music while people do their own thing. WHY would anyone want to spend that time doing Family Christmas Survivor? It makes no sense.

My competitive family of origin- including me- would have LOVED it! We would have board game marathons, games of Risk that lasted a full week, games of HORSE on the basketball hoop, cookie baking competitions- and we all thought the friendly competition made these things even more fun! We'd sometimes give out prizes for things like board game marathons (like, winner gets to pick where we go to dinner or something, nothing major). To clarify, it wasnt necessarily on christmas, just other days where the whole family was home together. My current family (husband and kids) wouldnt enjoy this as much though.

It does make me look forward to big family vacations with my 2 brothers. We break out a board game like Monopoly the first night, and our spouses and kids slowly back away from us and go enjoy a movie while we play to the death over some drinks.